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C2DE Consumer Market Assessment 2008
Key Note Publications Ltd, Sep 2008, Pages: 129
The socio-economic base of the UK population has been changing slowly but steadily during the past decade (i.e. since the late 1990s), with the proportion of adults classified as C2s, Ds and Es declining (whereas ABs and C1s have been increasing in terms of their percentage of the total population).
There have been significant changes in the clothing market since the beginning of the current decade. The discount fashion sector has experienced a boom, with a number of retailers thriving as their appeal has expanded to encompass middle-class shoppers as well as their traditional C2DE consumer base. Major supermarket chains have also increased their presence in the clothing market.
Since the start of 2008, low consumer confidence has affected retail sales across the board. Increasing competition between the discount, supermarket, middle-market and designer clothing sectors — which are all attempting to attract the same groups of consumers — is likely to have even more marked effects during the second half of 2008.
Food inflation is a notable feature of the current economic climate. The prices of many basic food items — including bread, milk, butter, rice, cheese and meat — rose considerably during 2007 and the early part of 2008. This was due to a number of factors, including: increases in the price of crude oil; poor harvests throughout the world; demand for bio-fuels, which are produced from staple food commodities; and greater demand for processed foods from developing countries.
As at September 2008, the effects of price inflation in the UK food market have yet to make themselves felt completely with regard to changes in shopping habits, but it is likely that there will be an increase in the number of consumers shopping from supermarkets' value ranges, as well as growth in the usage of discount food retailers.
The growth in home ownership among C2DE consumers — which began during the early 1980s, when council tenants were given the right to buy their homes — has given them more incentive to spend time and money on their home surroundings, leading to an explosion of interest in `do-it-yourself' (DIY) home improvements.
However, the `credit crunch', and the consequent troubles in the housing market, are causing rapid changes. Falling house prices, combined with a tougher stance on the part of mortgage lenders, mean that homeowners are more vulnerable than they have been for many years; indeed, repossession orders are on the increase.
The rise of budget airlines, combined with widening Internet access, has revolutionised travel for many consumers: there has been a growth in independent booking of holidays, and of short-haul flights to Europe.
The UK budget hotel market has also experienced strong growth, working on a similar model to the budget airlines, with Internet booking being particularly important.
The `digital divide', i.e. the fact that C2DEs were slower than ABC1s to have access to the Internet, meant that travel habits for C2DEs changed more slowly during first half of this decade than they did for ABC1s. Although there has been an increase since 2005 in the proportion of C2DEs researching and booking their holidays on the Internet, this has been at a slower rate than among ABC1s.
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