Whatever consumers’ mood may have been over the past decades, brands and marketers have always had something just right for it. Down in the dumps? Forget your woes and boost your endorphins with a little retail therapy. Feeling unloved and unappreciated? Treat yourself to a little TLC with some of these good things you deserve. Bored? Just look at all the exciting things we have to set your pulse racing! In love? Find something wonderful to show that special person how much you care. On top of the world? Celebrate with a shopping spree!
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Archive for the ‘Shopping’ Category
The Relationship Between How You Feel and What You Buy
New Consumer Sighting: GoodGuide’s Transparency Toolbar
Yesterday, GoodGuide released a tool they say will help shoppers instantly reorganize any retail website around their personal values. Once installed in your web browser, the Transparency Toolbar reveals whether products you’re shopping for are safe, healthy, green, and socially responsible.
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New Consumer Factoid
Americans shaved $3.7 billion off shopping bills in 2010 by redeeming 3.3 billion coupons, according to NCH Marketing Services.
Image credit: Creative Commons/KaCey97007@flickr.com
| Tags: coupons, New Consumer, thrift 
Post a Comment | in New Consumer, Shopping, Uncategorized, Value
Smarter Shopping at Supermarkets
We know from our global studies that consumers are getting smarter, using new technologies and communications channels to find the best deals and team up with others to gain the advantage at retail. Looking at the U.S. sample in our New Consumer study, 74 percent of mainstream consumers and 87 percent of leading-edge Prosumers said they are smarter shoppers now compared with a few years ago. Sixty percent of the mainstream and 82 percent of Prosumers also admitted to being more demanding shoppers these days.
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| Tags: consumer empowerment, Deloitte, Euro RSCG, food, Retail, social media, thrift Post a Comment | in New Consumer, Prosumers, Shopping, Uncategorized, Value
Extreme Couponing II
In April, we posted about the trend of “extreme couponing.” Today, Advertising Age looks at the issue and shares research findings showing that coupon use has actually fallen over the past decade. What’s on the rise is the extreme variety–a phenomenon that runs counter to the notion of coupons as loyalty builders.
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| Tags: coupons, extreme couponin, thrift Post a Comment | 3 Comments | in Consumerism, Marketing, New Consumer, Prosumers, Shopping, Uncategorized, Value
Zero-Packaging Grocery Store to Open in Texas
Last fall, we wrote about London’s Unpackaged grocery store. Now the packaging-free concept has come to the United States, courtesy of a group of entrepreneurs in Austin, Texas. They’ve created the country’s first ever “package-free, zero waste grocery store.” Specializing in local and organic ingredients, In.gredients will replace unhealthy, overpackaged products with local, organic, and natural foods; the new store also hopes to foster a sense of community with cooking classes, gardening workshops, and art shows.
Check out the video below and read the full story on GOOD.
| Tags: conscious consumption, food, GOOD, In.gredients, mindful consumption, New Consumer, organic, packaging, simplicity movement, Sustainability, waste Post a Comment | 3 Comments | in Corporate/Brand Leadership, Eco-Consciousness, Growing Up, New Consumer, Shopping, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Values
In the Spotlight: SocialVest
We know from our studies that people are looking to consume in a more socially and environmentally conscious way. We know they support companies with a purpose beyond profit, and we know a majority are looking to become more involved in one or more causes. We’re seeing all sorts of companies beginning to cater to these impulses with ventures that help consumers feel good about their purchases and investments without requiring much time, effort, or money–which, as we all know, are often in short supply.
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New Consumer Sighting: The “Slow Home” Movement
Earlier today, Amy Beth Cupp Dragoo of ABCD Design published a post on her thoughts and experiences as an increasingly mindful consumer. In it she shares a wonderful definition of the “slow home” movement, which is tightly connected to the mindful consumption movement we’ve described in our book, studies, and on this site. In her words:
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Can Businesses Make Consumers More Mindful?
An interesting piece by Terry Slavin in The Guardian, reporting on last month’s Guardian Sustainable Business Quarterly event. In it he discusses how leading companies such as Marks & Spencer in the U.K. are committed to pushing consumers toward a more sustainable lifestyle. An excerpt:
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| Tags: conscious consumption, CSR, green, Guardian Sustainable Business Quarterly, Marks & Spencer, Mike Barry, mindful consumption, New Consumer, packaging, provenance, recycling, reputation, Retail, Sustainability, waste Post a Comment | 2 Comments | in Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate/Brand Leadership, Eco-Consciousness, Growing Up, New Consumer, Purposeful Pleasure, Shopping, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Values
Frugality Holding Strong
Euro RSCG’s New Consumer study found signs of a populace grown weary of throwaway culture and the constant quest for more. Looking at the U.S. stats:
- 87% felt good about themselves when saving money
- 49% were getting a sense of satisfaction from reducing their purchases during the downturn
- 52% claimed they wouldn’t go back to their old shopping patterns even when the economy rebounded
- 48% were making an effort to buy fewer disposable goods
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| Tags: Ali Dibadj, conscious consumption, consumer spending, Euro RSCG, financial crisis, frugality, mindful consumption, New Consumer, Recession, Sanford C. Bernstein, The Citizen, thrift, values, waste Post a Comment | in Consumerism, New Consumer, Recession, Rightsizing, Shopping, Uncategorized, Values
