The market meltdown is changing consumer behavior. And it will produce a new consumer.

Retailers tell me consumers are still buying, they're just not spending as much. Instead of a $20 bunch of flowers, it's now $10. People have been learning to live on less, and that will have massive implications for society.

Towards the end of last year, we were getting reports that consumers have become more cautious. "Consumers are going out and eating out less, buying at the time of the month they are paid, just browsing, and asking for price first or whether there are deals or coupons to be had. The frugality also is reflected in their asking whether a pair of shoes can be repaired, how long they last for kids, and whether a down jacket can be machine-washed."

The downturn has taken the simplicity movement and made it go mainstream, reports Marketing Daily. More people are streamlining possessions, they are shopping locally and they are selling their stuff on eBay and Craiglist. They are also buying private label brands, dining out less and scaling back on vacations.

A piece I have written here identifies seven new consumer types. They are:

Justifiers; who like spending but who need an excuse.
Scrimpers; who are trading down and going for stuff that's cheaper, like home-brand labels.
Ostriches; who act as if there has been no change.
Crash dieters; who have cut all non-essentials.
Treaters; who buy themselves special gifts from time to time, especially as a reward for their frugality.
Abstainers; who put off buying big items until they feel they can afford it.
Cloth-cutters; who reduce their spending on some items so that when they see stuff that is important, buy more.
Vultures; who seem to thrive in an economic crash because there are so many bargains.

Still, there will be others who will spend their money in different ways, going for quality and cutting out the stuff that's less essential. They are the ones who have moved their money from shares to high interest savings accounts. Instead of overseas trips, they have been investing in their own homes. And they are making sure their personal trainers and yoga teachers are on 24 hour call.

I predict that we will see the emergence of a new conservative consumer. Frugality will be the new chic. Instead of going over the top with spending, they will earn points by spending more carefully. And instead of giving gifts, they'll donate the money to charity on your behalf.

As demographic guru, KPMG's Bernard Salt predicts, we will see the rise of a new "judicious" consumer. "Next decade's judicious consumer must see how the product or service they are buying fits within the bigger picture. Is it green and clean? Is it a morally responsible product? Does it contribute to obesity, to child labour or does it contribute to the electricity grid? The judicious consumer is highly judgmental and makes decisions for themselves (or aligns with a group that makes judgments for them….Viewed within this context the impact of the recession on consumer values is not a matter of finding the next big thing to direct colour and design. (Although I do suspect that Asian themes will be strong influences on mainstream consumer preferences.) It will be more about the philosophy of consumption or at least on the projection of an image of moral consumption."

By:  leon                        Source

The property market in Great White North - Canada is highly promising and dominated mostly by investors who are interested in buying or selling vacation properties in the country. For all you prospective investors, I can say from my experience in the field of real estate that Canada is one such country which has a great real estate market. It offers a lot of opportunities to the foreign nationals interested in making investments in Canadian property – be it for commercial or personal purposes.

Those of you who are not quite aware of the term ‘real estate investment’, let me define it briefly. Real estate investments involve the buying and selling of land assets in order to gain profit. It has limited liquidity and intensive capital involvement. Such investments will be safest if you can buy a property at rock bottom prices. Through foreclosed homes, you can buy property at nearly half the market price.

Why invest in real estate?

Real estate investments come with a lot of long-term benefits. Firstly, the appreciation of property value as well as the rental income is quite an amount of money. Secondly, your investment can later on act as a collateral security for your future business or personal loans. Thirdly, it also has immense tax benefits. I was really impressed by all such benefits when I ventured in to the real estate business in Canada for the first time.

Depending on your budget and interest, you may choose from a number of avenues of real estate investment like commercial properties, duplex units, property development, resort units, and regional properties. The real estate market in Canada is quite favorable for the investors who would like to purchase properties for leasing out to the visitors, since travel and tourism is a big industry in Canada.

However, it is imperative on your part to do proper research of the market as well as the property that you are planning to invest in. Make an investment only when you are ready.

Thirty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africas District 9 as the worlds nations argued over what to do with them. Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi-National United, a private company uninterested in the aliens welfare they will receive tremendous profits if they can make the aliens awesome weaponry work. So far, they have failed; activation of the weaponry requires alien DNA. The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe, contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA. Wikus quickly becomes the most hunted man in the world, as well as the most valuable he is the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide: District 9.

Long time no blog…it’s summer after all. Garden updates abound. I usually hate photo-heavy posts. In fact I don’t recall making a post before with this many photos but in this case the pics are worth a whole bunch of words. First, a before/after view of my plot. Below taken June 20:

And from a different angle, taken today. For reference, see the poppies in the right upper corner of the garden? See if you can find them in the above picture. Two very small ones in the top left corner, towards the center.

Crazy how tall the tomatoes got huh? They’re totally out of control–they’ve busted out of their puny tomato cages and have moved out of the garden into the surrounding areas.  I harvested the first tomatoes today! a couple of grape-sized ones that were SO sweet, and a few of an early variety called Glacier that’s supposed to do well in the northeast. The tomatoes were good, not too sweet but so fresh tasting.

In all fairness, everyone’s gardens at Fox Pt. look fabulous:

Another angle (my plot is at the very end of this path):

OK, now check out the before/after of my basil. June 20:

Here it is today. Notice it’s already started to bolt. I spent a lot of time today harvesting and snipping flower heads to stop the bolting.

We’re going to be eating pesto all summer. This is not a bad thing–there are worse dishes we could be eating I suppose! (If I do say so myself, I make a mean pesto.)

More pics tomorrow: Poppies, friendly insects, and a mystery vegetable.

By:  Caroline Brown                        Source

© RonAlmog

There are probably few people that would install and utilize solar panels if they could. The problem is that they are large, expensive, and complicated. Konarka, a alternative energy company from Massachusetts has developed solar cells that are both flexible and transparent. These cells can be placed in between the panels of windows or vehicles, and then they can passively generate energy from the sun all day long. The idea would be that these Arch Solar Glass windows could be installed with very little trouble and could efficiently and cheaply help people conserve energy and offset their utility bills.

Granted, these cells are far less efficient than standard solar cells; they have an efficiency rating of about 6%; currently, other commercial solar cells have an efficiency of nearly 20%. Still, the idea is fantastic. If people simply replace their windows with more energy efficient ones, it would definitely help, but if those energy efficient windows also produce their own electricity, that would be fantastic. The process of installing windows in a house is much less intimidating than the idea of installing a solar rig on top of a house.

If Konarka can get its Arch Solar Glass project to fly, then I think people will start to see just how easy and viable installing solar panels can be. With any luck, in the near future, homes might be dumping energy into the grid rather than sucking energy out of it.

Via CNet News

By:  Jeff                        Source

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