More than trading down: How consumers really shop and buy during a recession

Explains that the idea that all consumers trade down during recessions is overly simplistic.

Marketing in the COVID-19 recession

This article is part of a series of articles from the WARC Guide to Marketing in the COVID-19 recession. Read more.

Spending practices

During every downturn, the narrative about consumers turns to trading down. Intuitively, it makes sense that when wallets are thinner, price matters more. Hence, this gut instinct about economizing tends to dominate business planning during slowdowns. Yet every downturn sees brands and retailers that move in the opposite direction. So while this intuition about consumers is not wrong, it is not entirely correct either.

Trading down is the straightforward idea...

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