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Wednesday 5 March 2014

Millions Of Consumers Are Shopping Around


 In a bid to save money on everyday purchases, consumers are increasingly shopping around. Retail loyalty is not as strong as it once was, especially with regard to supermarkets and high street chains. Families who are trying to make their money go further are shopping around, online and in town, so they can find the very cheapest prices on the items they are hoping to buy.

This is great news for the consumer. It is a trend that is encouraging many shops to be far more competitive with their pricing. And while all the big retailers drop their prices to beat the competition, the consumer can benefit.

And there are many more ways that consumers have been changing their behaviour in recent years. A consumer survey has revealed that shoppers are much less likely to ‘go shopping for fun’. Normal working families are increasingly feeling the financial pressure as the cost of living rises and one result of this is that recreational shopping is not the first choice on a Saturday anymore.

In addition, household items that were often bought using credit facilities are now being purcashed with cash. The trend seems to show that families are less confident about accessing store credit, and in many cases, prefer to pay cash for items in sales or from online retailers who are selling goods at a much lower price.

EBay, for example, is enjoying huge popularity, with millions of people buying and selling goods and by-passing the retailers entirely. A healthy economy needs a healthy retail sector, and so this apparent change in the shopping behaviour of the majority of consumers is a strong indicator that the economy is still struggling. However, from a family’s point of view, where the goal is to live as well as possible within the available budget, it makes complete sense that they should be shopping around and only spending their money with retailers that are offering goods at a reasonable price.

The halcyon days of the 80’s when money seemed to be abundant and credit was easy to access, seem to be well in the past. And this may not be a bad thing at all.


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