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Does consumer buying behavior change during economic crisis

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International Journal of Economics & Business Administration, pp. 33-48
Volume I, Issue (2), 2013

Does Consumer Buying Behavior Change During Economic

Crisis?

Vinod Sharma1, Jayant Sonwalkar2

Abstract:
Understanding of consumer buying pattern plays the most important role in the success of
any business organization. Hence, the core behaviour of consumer is also of great
importance and significance for a successful marketing experience and financial affluence.
However, consumer purchasing behaviour can vary severely and has a very intricate trend.
Consumer buying behaviour has been attracting the studies and interest of a large amount of
academician for a long time. The current financial downturn had a huge influence on the
economic and social aspects of consumers around the globe. Different behaviour has been
shifted through different level of economies, one of which, the Indian culture purchasing
pattern. For this reason, this research is aimed to focus on the changing trends in consumer
buying behaviour in the present global business crisis. This paper outlines at first, a portrait
of the new consumer, highlighting its main features, derived primarily from the need for
authenticity, which distinguishes it from the so called traditional consumer. Global economic
crisis, which turned out to be not only a financial crisis, but also one of capitalism, the new
consumer behaviour has encountered a series of changes. This paper also analyze the results
of some research realized in different countries in the recession period in order to highlight
the main changes occurred in the consumer buying behaviour and to draw a portrait after
the economic crisis.

Key Words: Consumer Buying Behavior, Global Economic Crisis, Business Crisis, Financial
Turndown

JEL Classification:

1
. Assistant Professor, Medicaps Institute of Technology & Management, Indore
2
Professor of Marketing, Institute of Management Studies, DAVV, Indore
 International Journal of Economics & Business Administration, I (2), 2013
34 V. Sharma , J. Sonwalkar

1. Introduction

Consumer behaviour has changed greatly over the last 25 years, but it has been
evolutionary and the seeds of change have been apparent for generations (Kar,
2010). The study has confirmed that the after global economic crisis led the
consumers to look for new landmarks. They became more economical, more
responsible and more demanding. Research conducted in different countries showed
that the recession had a strong economic and social impact on consumers (Kar,
2010).

Consumer behaviour is the study of the processes that individuals or groups go

through in making their purchasing choices in order to satisfy their needs. Usually
the buying behaviour takes many forms of consumer’s choices that can vary
depending on a broad set of factors such as, earning, demographics, social and
cultural factors ((Kar, 2010 & Drakopoulos, 2008). The consumer behaviour is a
combination of customer’s buying awareness combined with external motivators to
result in a change in the consumer’s behaviour (Kar, 2010). This is why most of the
economies around the globe shares one problem, because of the external influence
on the internal community aspects (Chaudhuri, 2006).

The study Consumer behaviour has been so long attracting many researches because
of its imperative importance to businesses around the world. By predicting
consumers’ behaviour, a business can understand consumers’ needs, and can work
on fulfilling the needs and meeting the expectations of their customers (Nistorescu
and Puiu, 2009). This would eventually help businesses to maintain their prosperity
and attain their long term goals. The context of this research can significantly help
businesses and professionals to uncover the changes that would possibly occur to
consumers’ buying behaviour as a result of the global financial crisis (Nistorescu
and Puiu, 2009).

During the 2007 financial crisis, the giant financial institutions and banks had
collapsed. The shortfall in the US financial system and the crisis of the US sub-
prime mortgage market had a ripple effect to other industrialized economies around
the world. The crisis caused disturbances to powerful European and Asian
economies putting them on the brick of deep recession. Other weaknesses in the
global financial systems have surfaces. Some financial instruments were too
complex and twisted which caused distrust in the global financial system. The crisis
 Does Consumer’s Buying Behavor Change
During Economic Crisis? 35

caused inflation and fluctuations in the prices of commodities, and hence, consumers
started to take a shifted action towards their needs and wants (Nistorescu and Puiu,
2009).

The psychological outcomes of the crash has extended worldwide as businesses

became receptive to the obstacles caused by this crisis especially regarding
expansion of their current projects and securing capital market investments for
future growth (Peter and Olson, 2007). The uncertainty that surrounded businesses
have naturally affected job security for employees, consumers has faced uncertainty
regarding their income, and the consumption level dropped. The sharp fall in the
stock market has caused many distressful events such as, reduction in credit, bank
failures, dismissal of workers, contraction in the money supply and closing down
businesses (Nistorescu and Puiu, 2009).

The new financial circumstances increased panic and uncertainty among consumers.
Many consumers around the world had fears related to their financial and material
safety. Besides reduced employment earnings, many household lost their lifetime
savings due to failure in the banking system or sharp decline in the values of their
houses and stocks (Arnould, 2002). The social impacts of the financial crisis can be
seen more obvious in the developing countries where the poor are being severely
hurt during the crisis as demand for their labour falls, prices of essential
commodities rise substantially and social services are cut. They find themselves
forced to pull children out of schools and the food is being rationed among the
family, with women the first to sacrifice their share (Amalia and Ionut, 2009 &
Arnould, 2002).

The general economic slowdown and rising unemployment forced household to

increase working hours or send additional members to the labour force. As a
consequence, household expenditure falls by as much as income (Amalia and Ionut,
2009). The consumers cannot prevent the fall in total expenditure and they tend to
adjust the basket of goods purchased. For example the expenditure on food and
necessities increases comparing to expenditure on clothes (Peter and Olson, 2007).

The crisis caused markets to contract and major changes appeared in their structure
(Chaudhuri, 2006). The buyers changed their buying behaviour. They start to worry
about their jobs and do not enjoy spending their money anymore. They postponed or
reduced a big amount of purchases related to leisure and entertainment. People may
 International Journal of Economics & Business Administration, I (2), 2013
36 V. Sharma , J. Sonwalkar

start buying less quantities, or switch to larger size items to avoid repeated
purchases. They also started to switch brands, and focus on price rather than quality
and they also have started to intensify the search on the web looking for valuable
bargains (Perner, 2008 & Drakopoulos, 2008).

The role of the government is rather important to protect consumers against inflation
by controlling and preventing prices from further increasing to ensure that the
purchasing power of consumers will not deteriorate causing serious problems such
as long term unemployment and poverty (Perner, 2008). This paper is realized first a
literature review in order to identify the determining factors of the emergence of
new consumer and to highlight the main features of this one. Further, through a
research from secondary sources, it was analyzed the main changes occurred in the
consumer buying behaviour during economic crisis.

2. Literature Review

Few decades ago, the driving force behind consumption was the desire of
individuals to improve their social condition through possession of material goods,
which ensured middle-class membership. But consumerism proved unable to make
people happier, especially by the fact that it did not cause an increase in welfare in
other ways than the psychological ones. Excessive consumption has created so-
called “paradox of happiness”, which is that once a basic level is provided,
happiness does not increase with income above this limit (Drakopoulos, 2008).

Consumer choices are made increasingly more and more on the basis of social
media information. In addition to deciphering the advertising message and reading
the websites of companies, consumers use different online formats (forums, chats,
blogs, etc.) to share ideas, to form communities and to contact their peers (Perner,
2008). As pointed by Kozinets (2010) social media is increasingly seen as a more
objective source of information and all these communities have a real existence to
their members and therefore have effect on many aspects of behaviour, including
buying behaviour.

Lewis and Bridger (2000) show that mutations in the new consumer behaviour
derives mainly from its desire to purchase authentic, stressing that the main
difference between these two types of consumers is that, while the consumption
behaviour of traditional consumer was largely motivated by a need for comfort, the
 Does Consumer’s Buying Behavor Change
During Economic Crisis? 37

new consumer behaviour is determined by looking for authenticity. Perner, (2008)

stated that consumer behavior involves the study of the processes which individuals,
groups, or organizations perform to acquire products, services, experiences, or ideas
to satisfy their needs and how these processes have impacted the consumer and
society. The role that consumers play in these days is very crucial to businesses'
survival. It is the driving force behind the success of many businesses, because most
of the contemporary consumers spend major time on buying decisions.

“The buying behaviour is considered a very complex phenomenon because it

consists of a wide set of prior and after purchase activities” (Hansen, 2004, p. 9).
The buying process consists of five stages. Starting from recognizing a problem or
in other words, recognizing a need that must be satisfied, the consumer then begins
to search for information related to that problem or need. After evaluating different
alternatives, the consumer makes the decision to purchase the most suitable
alternative and the final stage comes after purchasing, when the consumer evaluates
the choice being made. There are four distinctive classes of consumer buying
behaviour identified by the literature. What differentiate these classes can be
observed thorough the frequency of occurrence, emotional involvement, decision
making complexity and risk. These types are known to be: programmed behaviour;
limited decision making buying behaviour; extensive decision-making buying
behaviour and impulsive buying (Arnould, 2002).

Programmed behaviour (also called habitual behaviour) is distinguished by low

complexity and little information search, this process is usually known as routine
purchase of low cost items that consumer is used to buy out of habit: such as coffee,
newspapers, bus tickets, etc. (Learn marketing, 2008). Limited decision-making
buying behaviour involves reasonable level of decision making and relatively low
amount of information search in order to generate a purchase. An example of this
type can be the purchase of clothes when someone can easily get information on the
product and its quality and spend short time selecting the desired outfit (East, 1997).

The extensive decision-making buying behaviour is identified as being the opposing

type to the limit decision-making buying behavior (Foxall and Goldsmith, 1994). In
this process the consumer would spend a relatively longer share of time in
information search and would take longer period to make a decision regarding this
purchase because this process is usually adopted when purchasing infrequent
 International Journal of Economics & Business Administration, I (2), 2013
38 V. Sharma , J. Sonwalkar

expensive product that takes a large share of the consumer's income and involves
higher psychological risk (Peter and Olson, 2007).

The last type of buying behaviour identified by the literature is the impulsive
buying. It is a decision made unconsciously and induced by an external stimulus that
would make a specific product to appear attractive and irresistible to the consumer
(Wells and Prensky, 1997). It can be seen in the four listed behaviours above, that
the fundamental driving force behind these behaviour is the consumer's emotion. It
is the primary determinant of buying behaviour that is highly influenced by some
external and internal factors (Chaudhuri, 2006). Although emotion is a subjective
issue that differs according to individual attributes and situational contexts, it is still
regarded as the most elemental determinant of planned and unplanned buying
behavior (Havlena and Holbrook, 1986). The unplanned behaviour matches greatly
the impulsive buying which is driven mostly by emotional forces (Laros and
Steenkamp, 2005).

On the other hand, the planned behaviour is a result of rationality rather than
emotionality because planned behaviour is a complex process for the great deal of
information needed and the long time spent on selection. Although the planned
behaviour is primarily induced by emotions, it is still considered to be less emotional
than unplanned. The theory of planned consumer behaviour deals with the
consumer's perception of complexity. Simply stated, the planned consumer buying
behaviour is explained as how difficult the consumer selects and secures a product.
The level of complexity is driven by the opportunity cost of the alternatives as well
as the transaction costs like time, money and effort (Ajzen, 1991).

This theory also presents the concept of 'perceived behaviour al control' as a vital
component of the planned behaviour al intention. The theory explains the important
role of consumer's perception of complexity as well as the essential function of risk
associated with every purchase action (Posthuma and Dworkin, 2000). It is observed
that as the consumer's expectation of a negative outcome increases this increases the
level of perceived risk (Hansen, 2004, p. 6).

3. The Consumer Behaviour in Response to the Financial Crisis

The buying patterns of people tend to change during hard and stressful times such as
economic crisis (Nistorescu and Puiu, 2009). The consumer reacts to any change in
 Does Consumer’s Buying Behavor Change
During Economic Crisis? 39

the economic situation around him by changing his consumption. This happens due
to a change in the levels of his perception of risk. Financial crisis affects the
customers not only economically but also psychologically. People become more
money minded. They do not want to spend money on premium products anymore,
even if they still could afford to do so. They only buy necessities, switch to cheaper
brands and have a more rational view on promotion. They start to compare different
products and select based on price compromising quality (Nistorescu and Puiu,
2009).

The buying process in this situation can be transformed from being a programmed
behaviour or a limited decision-making buying behaviour to become the extensive
decision-making buying behaviour. In other words the buying behaviour before the
crisis was not based on extensive decision making and information gathering but
after the crisis the process became more complicated. Growing unemployment,
increasing inflation, “freezing” or even decreasing of wages, the decreasing of
purchasing power, bad economic situation are facts that affect the consumers in
almost all national markets. As long as people are reading more about economic
crisis and as long as the press is focusing in reflecting the crisis effects, there is a
psychological effect with negative impact on consumers (Amalia and Ionut, 2009).

The influence of the crisis on people can be reflected on their consumption. George
Katona (1974) suggests that many people believe that in a few months when prices
would be higher, they would have to spend more on necessities and therefore would
have smaller resources at their disposal for the purchase of desirable but
nonessential goods and services. Therefore inflation encourages the postponement of
discretionary expenditures. G. Katona (1974) also believes that during recession
people are motivated to save because of threats related to their jobs or income. The
saving rates decline as economic conditions improve. He suggests that saving more
or less is influenced by economic and psychological factors. But during hard times it
is difficult for some people especially those have been harmed directly either by
decreasing wages or those who were forced out of their jobs to save money because
they are left with less money that they rather have to spend on necessities.
In their study, P. Amalia and P. Ionut (2009) show that people are not the same and
not all the people have the same perception about a situation with negative effects
like economic crisis. The most important factors which model the consumer’s
behaviour in such a situation are: risk attitude and risk perception. Risk attitude
reflects consumer’s interpretation concerning to the risk content and how much he or
 International Journal of Economics & Business Administration, I (2), 2013
40 V. Sharma , J. Sonwalkar

she dislikes the content of that risk. Risk perception reflects the interpretation of the
consumer of the chance of being exposed to the risk content. Using the risk attitude
and risk perception factors, consumers can be segmented to:
 The panicked consumers: are those who have a high risk attitude and a high
risk perception. This kind of consumers is in an immediate stressful
situation. They are high risk averse and will try to avoid the risk. These
consumers tend to over react in crisis context. Any way it is expected that
panicked consumers to drastically cut their spending, to reduce consumption
and switching brands even product categories. They will eliminate major
purchases and will be focused on looking for best price. Thus, they are not
loyal to any brand; they are loyal only to the best price.
 The prudent consumers: are those who have high risk attitude and low risk
perception. Even if these consumers: they are risk averse and consider that
they are not in an immediate stressful situation because they are not high
risk exposed. Thus, these consumers are very prudent and carefully plan
their spending, postpone major purchases, in some cases switching brands,
they are very well informed in the purchasing process.
 The concerned consumers: are those who have low risk attitude and high
risk perception. Even if these consumers consider that they are high exposed
to the risk content they are not risk averse and usually they assume risks. So
their behaviour is determined first by the risk perception. This type of
consumers will plan their spending. This could happen only in case of risk
perception increasing. Also, this category will continue to do major
purchases but only if they make a “good deal”. If risk perception is
increasing they will tend to postpone major purchases. They tend to remain
loyal to the brands but in some cases they are able to switch to less priced
options, in these cases companies could introduce a lower version of the
premium or middle brand in their portfolio to retain them. Also it is
interesting that this type of consumers is ready to try new and innovative
products in spite of the hard times.
 The rational consumers: are those that have low risk attitude and low risk
perception. So they are not risk adverse and consider that they are not
exposed to the risk content. They avoid the information concerning to the
crisis effects and generally they maintain their “usual behaviour”. It is
expected that these consumers will not reduce their spending, and will
continue to buy their favourite brands and try the innovative products.
 Does Consumer’s Buying Behavor Change
During Economic Crisis? 41

According to Ang S. H. (2001), these changes in consumption behaviour arising

from an economic crisis may be moderated by personality characteristics. These
include the degree to which consumers are risk adverse, value conscious, and
materialistic. Risk aversion pertains to the degree to which an individual feels
comfortable with unfamiliar circumstances and is willing to undertake chances.
Value consciousness refers to the importance an individual places on getting the best
deal or quality for a fixed price. Materialism concerns the importance an individual
places on physical possessions as a reflection of his station in life to others.
New trends in consumer behaviour emerged as a result of the economic recession. A
study conducted by Paul Flatters and Michael Willmott (2009) identified these new
trends.
 A demand for simplicity: during recession consumers are used to limited
offers and they tend to simplify their demand, so after the crisis it is
expected that consumers will continue to buy simpler offerings with greatest
value.
 Discretionary thrift: even the rich people are economizing, although they
don’t have to. They revealed their dissatisfaction with excess consumption.
They started to recycle, buy used goods and teach their children simple and
traditional values.
 Mercurial consumption: Today's consumers are ‘agile’ they act fast in
response to price change, and have the ability to switch brands looking for
the least price sacrificing the quality and loyalty.
 Green consumerism: this trend has slowed during the recession because
people are not willing to pay more for products that has close substitutes
with cheaper price. The demand for green, environment friendly has
declined but it is anticipated to recover after the recession.
 Ethical consumerism: people are less donating for charity, animal welfare
etc, because they are focusing on their families' welfare. This trend is
expected to recover slowly after the recession.

The results of an online survey, realized by Market Probe International (in 2009 and
2010), on 5700 adults in 7 markets (SUA, Brazil, UK, France, Netherlands, Japan,
China) show three keys to understanding the relationship between consumers and
society in the post-crisis period:
 “In USA 90% of US consumers believe that they are currently living in a
recession. This is an indication of how recession caused by the financial
crisis influenced consumer behaviour. 56% of US consumers feel that their
 International Journal of Economics & Business Administration, I (2), 2013
42 V. Sharma , J. Sonwalkar

lifestyle has been impacted by the recession. Suddenly, consumers were

forced to revalue their spending and shopping choices. For 72% of US
shoppers, lower prices have a high amount of influence over where people
do their shopping”.
 “The same survey was conducted in Spain and the results showed that 82%
of Spanish consumers believe that they are currently living in a recession.
53% of Spanish consumers feel that their lifestyle has been impacted by the
recession. More than one-in-three UK consumers experienced a worsening
financial situation, falling job security and falling confidence in the housing
market in 2008 and 2009”.
 “In the South East Asia, 78% of Chinese customers have felt some impact
from the financial crisis and middle-class consumers in the 19 to 45 age
group are feeling the most pressure. (82%) of South Korean consumers
believe that they are currently living in a recession. Over one-third of
Japanese shoppers are giving up some of their favourite brands to save
money”.
 “In the Arab world about (59%) of consumers in the United Arab Emirates
(UAE) and 30% in Saudi Arabia believe that their country is in a state of
recession, research shows that consumers are adjusting their consumption
behaviour s. (38%) of Saudi and (37%) UAE consumers have changed their
lifestyle as a response to the global economic downturn. Luxury brands have
become an essential part of the Saudi Arabia and UAE standard of living as
consumers are willing to pay higher prices for products that they believe
will bring them social status”.

4. Transformation In Consumer Buying Behaviour During The Economic

Crisis

The global economic crisis has determined many changes in the consumer behaviour
and has led the vast majority of consumers to look for new landmarks: they became
more economical, more responsible and more demanding. Many market researches
realized in the last three years showed that.

An U.S. study realized in 2009 by Booz & Company, which involved a total of 2000
consumers, confirmed that a “new frugality” appear at the beginning of the recession
and highlighted the first two years of declining consumption per capita, was so
 Does Consumer’s Buying Behavor Change
During Economic Crisis? 43

strongly rooted among American consumers and it changed their consumption

patterns in such a manner that is expected to persist even if the economy recovers.

This new frugality, characterized by a strong awareness of the value that dictates
compromises in terms of price, brand and comfort, became the dominant mentality
among U.S. consumers, as shown by M. Egol, A. Andrew Clyde and K. Rangan
(2010).

The study mentioned above revealed that 65% of American consumers increasingly
using coupons more often, preferring to buy at low prices at the expense of comfort
shopping, focusing on saving. The new frugality and value consciousness, which
now directs consumer behaviour, does not apply to products such as “opening price
point” (OPP) (produced with the lowest prices at branded retailers). Consumers
continue to buy the products at different prices, in turn they need more reasons to
justify the purchase, regardless of price segment of which the product belong. They
refuse to buy at higher price unless they clearly perceive quality advantage. If they
are loyal to some brands, they prefer to wait for a price drop, by promotions or
discount coupons.

Inherent behavioural differences in this new frugality are reinforced by

demographics, including income, gender, ethnicity and age. For example, although
in general, consumers buy products in different price categories, there are certain
segments of the population (such as women, people with low income, middle-aged
people) seeking to make savings, buying products at reduced prices (Egol et al.,
2010).

A study made in 2009 on a sample of 2400 people in France, U.S. and UK, by Euro
RSCG C&O, in partnership with Harris Interactive, was aimed at understanding the
factors that influence preferences and consumer choices and sketching a portrait of
him after the crisis. The study showed that most consumers surveyed changed their
consumption behaviour by adopting a logical standby or a replacement,
distinguishing their purchases or dropping different brands.

Thus, before being interested in the price of products, consumers are asking
questions about their usefulness (64% of respondents wonder whether they really
needed, 60% if the product could not find a lower price elsewhere and 59% if they
can afford to acquire). In the context of crisis, perhaps contrary to many
 International Journal of Economics & Business Administration, I (2), 2013
44 V. Sharma , J. Sonwalkar

expectations, quality is what comes first for the consumer before the lower price.
Consumers surveyed defined quality by: looking for healthy products (42%),
looking for strong and sustainable products (47%) and for responsible products
(http://www.eurorscgco.com).

5. Proposed Solutions & Recommendations

The government role is fundamental in trying to overcome some problems

associated with the Global Financial crisis. Its intervention is essential to ensure that
consumers are not affected adversely by this crisis by subsidizing the essential
commodities like food. This would prevent increasing the prices in the future.
Controlling the prices would be in favour of the consumers who have lost their jobs,
wages and life time savings. There is a need for government to provide regulations
to protect consumers from the effect of the global financial crisis, especially the
poor.

Government must take actions to restore responsibility, accountability and

transparency to the national and international markets by creating legislative and
institutional structures to reduce undesirable effects of the global financial crisis
especially in the financial sector due to its vital role which affects all the aspects of
society.

Government should be ready to step in especially after the credit squeeze which has
affected vital services and this harmed the poor especially in food and housing
sectors. It should put restrictions on businesses that do not work in favour for
consumers. Education is a fundamental factor that assists consumers to take more
rational decisions regarding the uses of their disposable income. This is rather
impossible for a population where financial studies are not part of their compulsory
education. It is highly suggested that financial studies to be included as appropriate
in the public schools as a core subject to be studied by all students.

Banks and Financial institutions have an incredibly important role to help avoid
another financial crisis by simply explaining to their clients the nature and features
of their financial products. By clarifying the consequences of acquiring this
particular product consumers can avoid loans or credit that are hard to repay or a
very risky investment. There is a need to spread the awareness through consumer
 Does Consumer’s Buying Behavor Change
During Economic Crisis? 45

protection associations, to help consumers achieve the greatest possible benefit

using their disposable income. Many consumers especially the illiterate don’t have
knowledge of the effects of the financial crisis and find it hard to cope with the
difficult circumstances that the whole world is living through. Consumers should
start focusing on long term planning. They must plan for their kids’ future to be able
to meet financial obligations for their college tuition. Saving is an important action
toward securing for retirement period. It is a way to remain financially stable and
normally feel more secure. In order to be able to increase the savings plan,
consumers have to follow the planned behaviour suggested by the literature earlier.
By planning the purchases ahead of time consumers can avoid extra spending caused
by unplanned purchases and as a result saving rate will increase. To avoid the
problems associated with rising healthcare cost it is very crucial to set aside money
in a dedicated healthcare savings account or keep a credit card on hand in case of
emergencies.

6. Conclusion

The world is facing tremendous economic challenge. The US subprime crisis in

2007 negatively affected a number of well-developed economies including India.
The financial crisis is known as a multi-dimensional trend, which has various
impacts on economic stability and social life. In this context it is highly observed
that one of the most rigorously impacted sections of the Indian economy was the
consumer buying behaviour.

Consumer buying behaviour is seen as a collection of decision-making processes,

which are determined by some internal and external factors. However, the most
influential factor is recognized to be the external economic instability that Indian
consumers experience. The depressing effects of the financial crisis have hit the
overall consumers purchasing behaviour effecting both planned and unplanned
buying behaviour.

Every feature of the socio-economic situation has substantially changed not only the
way the consumer purchases, but especially what they are buying and why they are
buying. In developed countries, consumers are more economical, more responsible
and more demanding than traditional consumers. Currently, consumers are
increasingly aware of all aspects involved in purchase of products, from design,
safety, and origin to their social and economic impact. Thus, consumers have
 International Journal of Economics & Business Administration, I (2), 2013
46 V. Sharma , J. Sonwalkar

become more vigilant and more aware of their ability to influence the world with
their consumer choices (Salzman and O’Reilly, 2010).

During the economic crisis a series of parallel steps have made their presence,
resulted in the consumer orientation on organic products or on fair trade products.
Thus, a particular point of view, the crisis served as a mini electric shock,
announcing a new era, maybe the era of responsible consumption.

In Mansoor (2011) opinion, the main changes in the new consumer behaviour,
which are the result of economic recession, could be summarized as follows:
 The need for simplicity: During recession consumers are accustomed to
limited offers and tend to simplify their demands, so that after the crisis is
expected that they will continue to accept simple offers, but with greater
utility.
 Temperance: Even rich people save, although they are not required to do so.
This is one way they show their dissatisfaction on excessive consumption.
They began to recycle and to teach children traditional values.
 Smart consumption: Consumers today are ‘agile’ and act quickly to price
changes, with the ability to change brands looking for the lowest price,
sacrificing the quality and loyalty.
 Green consumerism: This trend slowed during the recession because people
are not willing to pay more for certain products that can be substituted with
others with cheaper price. The demand for environmentally friendly
products has declined during the economic crisis, but anticipated a recovery
after the recession.
 Ethical consumerism: People are less willing to charity actions, because
they are more concerned about the welfare of their families. In this case, is
expected to rebound slowly.

In author’s opinion, there are many models available on consumers purchase

behaviour in different situation but there is no model available on consumer
purchase behaviour so the work has to be done on this area to prepare a model
during economic crisis.

References
 Does Consumer’s Buying Behavor Change
During Economic Crisis? 47

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