The results of a new survey being released June 12 reveal that women are still fashionably shopping in today’s drooping economic climate and spending a lot of money.
The online survey was commissioned by Elle magazine. It was conducted in fall 2007 based on a composite scale of price sensitivity and annual expenditures.
Researchers identified a “recession-proof shopper,” who is at the median age of 29. She is affluent, with a median household income of $62,000: 65 percent were in the workforce, and only 52 percent worked full-time. Elle states they are passionate shoppers with 57 percent spending over $2,000 or more per year on clothes and 40 percent spending $750 or more per year on accessories and footwear.
The majority will be willing to splurge on shoes (75 percent), handbags (70 percent), beauty (68 percent), evening/special occasion products (63 percent), jeans (63 percent), jewelry watches (57 percent) and weekend clothes (52 percent), but not outwear/coats (41 percent) and workout clothes (18 percent).
Seemingly, there is negligence when it comes to the price of trendy products. Eighty percent are willing to pay more for the latest fashions and 81 percent agree that “price is not the most important factor—it’s getting just what I want.” Also, 79 percent agree “there are times that I buy clothing without even looking at the price.”
In 2008, 53 percent of recession-proof shoppers will spend as much or more than they did in 2007, compared to 34 percent of all other shoppers who will do the same.
About half of the 1,534 women surveyed shop in retail stores to look at, browse or purchase clothes or accessories on a weekly basis.
MRI Interactive, using a national population sample of women aged 18-49 from Survey Sample International, conducted the survey and identified that 8 percent of all women—which equals 5.4 million consumers—are recession-proof shoppers.
