Fascinating research on spending during the recession

Want to read some fascinating personal stories from the recession? Check out this collection. 

Here's a really interesting study: Despite the rough economy, the majority of Americans still plan on spending money, according to the American Express Spending & Savings Tracker. 

Here are some of the specific results from the research:

- 60% of respondents said they intend to spend the same amount or more in the next 30 days.

- Consumers are less willing to spend money on vacations and eating. Last year, 25 percent said vacation was a priority expense this year; this year, only 7% said vacations were a priority. Meanwhile, last year, 24 percent said dining out was an important expense, compared to the previous year in which 8 percent said dining was expense. 

- Young professionals are more like likely to spend money. 

- Young professionals said they would most likely spend their money on clothing (65 percent), dining out (54 percent), and clothes (43 percent). 

What I find most interesting is that young people are still spending money, in spite of the popular belief that young people just don't spend anything because of digital economics and the culture of free--that is, thanks to free Internet services, young people just aren't used to spending anything. But if this survey is true, young people do spend money and, what's more, they expect to. The trick is to position your business to either entice young buyers to spend on what they care about or to leverage a creative business model. 

The bottom line is: Are you running your business based on what you think the world needs or what the world actually needs? The recession is a good time to ask this difficult question. 

The study has a lot of other interesting observations. You can read the article here. 

Posted via email from kleerstreem's posterous