RMG 700 – Applied Retail Research
data analysis Assignment
I. Introduction
Today more than ever, there is a major and constant fear of an impending recession in Canada’s economy. A recession is a decline in any given country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for two or more consecutive quarters of a year. A recession normally takes place when consumers loose confidence in the growth of the economy and spend less. This leads to a decrease in demand for goods and services, which in turn leads to a decrease in productions, lay-offs and a sharp rise in unemployment rate. Inventors spend less as they fear stock values are likely to fall and thus stock markets fall on negative sentiment. Recessions may also be associated with falling prices or sharply rising prices. During recession consumer face a tough time fulfilling all their needs due to lack of income. Rising costs of food and basic daily items cause consumer more difficulties. When consumer spends increase portions of their monthly budget on necessities such as food, it leaves them less money to pour into the economy to help offset an economic slowdown (Borrington, 2011, p.55-75).
In this report we will analyze the impact of recession on consumer’s spending on big tickets, such as cars and washing machines. As stated above, during recessions, consumers often change their spending behavior because of the amount of disposable income available to consumer is low. This in turn leads to reduced spending power. At this point, consumers buy only those products that offer them real value for their money. This means that consumers will only buy what is necessary at a time, which lead to postponement of expansive purchases.
The Essay on Budget Government Spend Spending
The budget of the United States is a document that announces how much the government will collect in taxes and spend in revenues and how those expenditures will be allocated among various programs. The basic jist of it is how much money the government is going to spend and where it is going to spend it. There are three major areas the government spends this money: the country's defense, Medicare, ...
II. Summary of Understanding the Post-Recession Consumer
By understanding how consumers have behaved in previous recessions; how this compare; and how their past experience will affect their response this time, we can predict how consumers will behave postrecession. There are eight important trends categories for business. These eight trends are categorized on the basis of their maturity and whether they are likely to be accelerated or slowed by recession. The four key trends that are being accelerated by this recession are consumer demand for simplicity, a call for ethic business governance, a desire to economize, and a tendency to fit from one offering to another. The other four important trends are being slowed by recessions are green consumption, a decline in respect for authority, ethical consumption, and extreme-experience seeking.
Demand for simplicity is increasing because downturns are stressful and therefore increase people’s desire for simplicity. A call for ethic business governance is also accelerating through the recessions because people seek to punish the perceived sources of their dire circumstances. In addition, a desire to economize is also increasing as people who do not need to economize are pursuing a more wholesome and less wasteful life. Finally, a tendency to find from one offering to another is also accelerating because consumers could instantly find a profusion of brands or products to meet their needs but would just as quickly abandon any choices that somehow fell short.
Green offerings may struggle in recessions as consumers bypass expensive ecoproducts or trade down to cheaper alternatives. Public respect for authority is also declining because consumer’s going confidence in their own ability to find information in order to make smart choices. Ethical consummations and spending such as eating cage-free eggs and giving to charity, are falling as people focus on their own dire situations. Finally, extreme-experience is falling out of favor because they are expensive. (Flatters & Willmott, 2009)
The Essay on Washing Clothes
When people are growing up they often take everyday duties for granted, never learning how to perform them. This lack of information does not cause a problem until they realize they lack the knowledge to perform everyday tasks. Washing clothes”¦ sounds simple right? Well if you mess up the steps, or forget to put one in, you may end up with pink underwear and that is never good. One ...
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Grand Total |
Count of canada.economy | 0.74% | 3.15% | 19.81% | 30.37% | 27.22% | 15.00% | 3.70% | 100.00% |
III. Data Analysis (reproduce from assignment #5)
There were 5 percent of respondents that postponed the purchased of washing machine and 12.59 percent of respondent postponed the purchased of cars because of economic uncertainty. Most of the respondents were not interested in purchasing washing machine or car. 11.65 percent of respondents did not postpone their purchased of washing machine. There were also 20.74 percent of respondents that did not postpone their purchased. This was probably because there were only few households that were affected by economic uncertainty. Most of households rated the Canada’s economy at stage four (based on the table above), they didn’t think that Canada’s economy was in a stable position or in recession position either. This was probably the main reason why the percentage of households that postponed the purchased because of economic uncertainty were lower than percentage of households that did not postpone their purchased of car and washing machine. According to the data above, there were 18.2 percent of respondents that needed replacement for their washing machine postponed the purchased because of economic uncertainty and 67.3 of them purchased the washing machine. While only 3.4 percent of those who did not own a washing machine and 3.5 percent of those who did not a replacement for their washing machine postponed the purchased because of economic uncertainty. Most of the people that did not own or did not need replacement for their washing machine were not interested in the purchased.
The percentage of respondents that postponed the purchased of cars because of economic uncertainty were much higher than washing machines. There were 15.5 percent of those who needed replacements, 12.7 percent of those did not need replacement and 7.4 percent for those who did not own any cars. This is probably because car’s price is much higher than washing machine. There were 56 percent of respondents that need replacement for their cars purchased new cars.
The Essay on Electric Cars Vehicles Percent Gasoline
Potential Environmental and Social impact of ELECTRIC CARS A wise person once said that: The only thing that we know about the future is its uncertainty. This uncertainty opens the world of opportunity to us, allowing progress to pave the road to tomorrow. Over the past fifty years, the automobile has become our primary way of transportation and not only for leisure, but a necessity for most ...
IV. Data Analysis (new results)
These table above were the cross tabulation between Canada’s economy and postpoment of cars purchased, and Canada’s economy and pospotments of wasching machined. These table showed that the economic uncertainty leads to postponemen of expensive purchases, such as cars and wasching machine. There was not a single person that postponed the purchased of cars or waching machine when the economy was stable (stage one).
As the respondents thought that the economy was starting to get worse, the percentage of respondents that postponed the purchased of expensice items were increasing. There were 23.5, 22.1 and 27.9 percent of those who postponed the purchased of cars when the economy was in stage three, four, and five, respectively. There were 18.5, 29.6, 18.5 and 25.9 percent of those who postponed the purchased of washing machine when the economy was in stage three,four,five and six, respectively. From this we know that people started to postpone the purchased of expensive items when the economy was in the stage three. At stage three, there were 23.5 percent of those who postponed the purchased of cars and 18.5 percent of those who postponed the washing machine. Cars had higher percentage than washing machine this is once again proof that the higher the price the more likely they will postpone the purchased. People tend to postpone their purchase for expensive items at early stage.
V. Conclusion
In conclusion, consumer postponed purchased of big-ticket items such as cars and washing machines during times of economic uncertainty. From the data analysis above, we know that car had higher percentage of those who postponed the purchased. This is mainly because car’s price is much higher than washing machine. During recession, the availability of disposable income is low. Therefore, consumer’s spending power is also low. They will spend most of their money on basic necessity. People also start to postpone the purchased of expensive items when there is only a slight decrease in the economy. Most people started to postpone the purchased when the economy is at stage 3. This shows that there are a positive correlation between consumers’ behavior of postponing the purchased on expensive items and economic uncertainty. In other words, the percentage of consumers postponing the purchased on expensive items increased as the economic uncertainty increased.
The Essay on Economy Car Suv Vehicle Vehicles
Roughly ten years ago the modern, trendy vehicle of the day became the sport utility vehicle (SUV), and still the SUV craze is hitting America full force with its promising features and seemingly all-around versitality. But are these vehicles as benign as they seem? In truth, these SUV's are a major gas consumer, a waste, and a major pollutant to the environment. One of every four vehicles sold in ...
VI. References
Borrington, K. (2011). Business Studies (3rd ed., pp. 55-75).
Flatters, P., & Willmott, M. (2009). Understanding the Post-Recession Consumer. Retrieved April 7, 2014
