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Britt Beemer America's Research Group articles most recent first Consumers Postponing Major Purchases; Jewelry Hardest Hit Furniture Buying Index Falls in May Consumers Shift Spending To What They Need, Not What They Want Furniture Buying Index Drops Two More Points; Wal Mart Expands Home Furnishings In Midst of Sluggish Furniture Sales Beemer - Many Retailers In Free Fall After Disappointing December August Retail Sales Surge; Home Furnishings, Accessories Lag behind Expert Predicts Back-to-School Spending to Grow Meagerly in 2007 Retail Shopping Takes A Holiday Early Indications Are For A Frugal First Quarter Independent Retailers Outperformed Chain Stores In December Britt Beemer Lowers Forecast of Christmas Retail Sales to 2.7% Rise Over Last Year; Lack of “Must Have” Item to Blame Want To Drive Shoppers Away? Decorate Stores Less and Don’t Say “Merry Christmas” 2006 Q4 Shoppers Study Revealing; Cyber Monday a Hoax, Biggest Retail Push Will Be After December 15th 10 Trends For Retail Christmas 2006 Survey; Parents Cite High Gas Prices As Primary Reason For Limiting Back To School Spending Families Reduce Summer Spending As Gas Prices Rise Or Was It? New Survey Casts Doubt On Rosie Black Friday Survey; Bargain Hunters Drive June Results Top 10 Retail Stores For April; Discounts Drive Traffic Survey Says Americans Extremely Optimist About The Future 37% Of Shoppers Noticed Less Christmas Decorations In Stores; Spent Less As A Result America’s Research Group; Shopping Levels Increasing But Still Expected To Be Lackluster 3.2% Over 2003 Lack Of Hot New Product Weighing Heavily On Holiday Shopping Survey Of Thanksgiving Weekend Shoppers; "We're Not Impressed"; 45% Say Discounts Not Enough Britt Beemer’s Christmas 2004 Sales Forecast; 19% Will Spend More Since Bush Was Reelected Seven Things Your Store’s Appearance Tells Your Customers Britt Beemer Cites Convenience As Key To Drawing Male Shoppers Beemer Lowers Christmas Sales Projection to 4.2% Increase This Year Compared To His Earlier 4.8% Sales Increase survey 31.0% of Americans Who Planned to Shop Thanksgiving Weekend Did Not Get Around To It Study Shows 11% Increase In Consumer Spending For Appliance, Electronics, Computers Britt Beemer Predicts 4.8% Increase In Holiday Spending survey Furniture Leads All Categories For Shopping Levels Over Labor Day Weekend survey Consumers Plan to Spend 10% More on Back to School Furniture Buying Index Up One Point Buying furniture is on consumers’ minds, but not a top priority Shopping Is Not a Big Priority for Many Americans The Incredible Shrinking Customer Base How Loyal is Your Customer? The Loyalty American Consumers Have Towards Brand Products

I've never seen a drop such as this in almost 30 years of surveys.
Britt Beemer commenting on the severe drop in retail jewelry sales

According to data released by America's Research Group, existing debt and credit card bills are pressuring consumers to spend less. Consumers interviewed this weekend about their shopping patterns in December expressed their reluctance to buy anything more than the essentials. The first America's Research Group/UBS survey revealed that more shoppers are buying only on-sale items and no one is buying new items not on sale.

"Retailers are experiencing their most challenging time in three decades," said C. Britt Beemer, CEO and founder of ARG. "Our survey over the weekend confirmed that consumers are in deep hibernation and there is no sign that they will wake up this spring or that the retail outlook will pick up any time soon," he added.

A third (33.2%) of American consumers today, compared to 23.6% last year, said they are pressured by debt and credit card bills. Almost twenty-nine percent (28.8%) said they are buying only the essentials and on-sale items. This compares with 17.9% who were buying only essentials last year. Those buying new items not on sale are almost nil (4.8%) in 2009 from 10.8% last year.

In this atmosphere, many consumers are postponing major purchases. Of those who did postpone a purchase:

-32.7% didn't want to spend right now,
-26.4% worried about job/financial security,
-15.4% said it was "more than they wanted to spend."

Internet shopping is also down to 27.4% of consumers saying they have bought something on the Internet from 30.5% in 2008.

In general, consumers now don't shop at stores that don't help them save them money, thus discount stores and membership warehouse clubs are seeing more traffic; others less:

-Discount stores – traffic up to 99.3% in 2009 from 90.1% in 2008,
-Membership warehouse clubs – traffic up to 26.5% in 2009, from 23.0% in 2008.
-Major department stores – traffic down to 15.3% in 2009 from 27.5% in 2008,
-Jewelry stores – traffic down to 1.2% in 2009 from 15.4% in 2008,
-Mall apparel stores – traffic down to 17.2% in 2009 from 22.0% in 2008.

Commenting on traffic at jewelry stores, Beemer said, "I've never seen a drop such as this in almost 30 years of surveys."

The America's Research Group/UBS 2009 Consumer Mind Reader™ Survey consisted of 1,000 telephone interviews conducted Friday, Saturday and Sunday, January 9-11, 2009, at America's Research Group headquarters in Charleston, SC. The error factor is plus or minus 3.8%.

America's Research Group is one of the nation's foremost consumer research and strategic marketing firms. CEO Britt Beemer is a key resource and advisor to leading brands and top retailers. He is author of The Customer Rules, a new book published by McGraw-Hill.