You know how good the economy is by seeing how many Hummers are on the street. But we 2.5 per cent growth 1Q 2013, we go from Hummers to Hyundai, from Gap to Goodwill.
With 90% debt level, half-a-million debt per man woman and child, trading down is the least of our worries (Patriotic millionaires asked to pay more tax, instead of token donation of used computers or running shoes for write off).
Meanwhile, BRIC countries push up energy and environmental demand resulting in higher food costs.
Every summer, a bunch of senior citizens died of head exhaustion in their lonely Chicago apartments.
We said Goodbye to Dr Death. You can catch Al Pacino portraying him on HBO.
Here is our near-term play-outs : consumers retrenching i.e. value-shopping (Costco, Wal-Mart), the reincarnation of IKEA (renters nation) and office furniture, DIY online shopping (prosumerism meets e-com). In Micro Trends, the author already noted the return of knitting among teens.
The productivity movement is moving out of high-end enterprise, down to SME and public-sector (right!).
And the return of pig-ear antenna in our living rooms (Archie Bunker).
At the conclusion of President Obama town-hall style at Facebook, CEO Mark Zuckerberg offered his signature hooded sweat saying “in case you want to dress like me” (the joke in context was that President Obama was the only one who made Mark sweated out in suit and tie).
Japanese business men were asked to dress down to save energy.
If you are familiar with Japanese business protocol, you will know how off-script this is (loosening a tie while partying already was too much. Now they are in Hawaiian shirts).
Brazil, however, has no problem with these new austerity measures: they look at this as a prolonged extension of their Mardi Gras. So much for trading down in post-Recession era.
Just make sure to buy supplies in bulk. And no traveling this summer to ease energy pressures. No wonder online ad spending is on track to double-digit grow. That’s where the action is. And where talents are flocking into, one recruitment tweet (CV) at a time. Even resume email service has disappeared as twitter now takes over. Elevator speech has “traded down”.
Thang Nguyen 555 