Janet CollinsNew Economic Indicator
August 31st 2009 23:37
One of the things researchers into the state of the economy continually watch is consumer spending, what they are buying and how regularly they are buying it. During the last recession, it was generally believed that women spent more than usual on small items such as lipstick that made them feel a lot better.
Things have changed for the make up industry this time around. During the current recession, make up sales including lipsticks have actually fallen.
According to a report in The Washington Post yesterday, researchers in America have recently found a new indicator in consumerism to gauge economic movements and that is men’s undies. The Men’s Underwear Indicator, or MUI as it is known in the industry, is based on the theory that men buy less underwear in times of financial strain, stretching the purchases of them to longer intervals so sales of this product are a pretty good indicator of consumer confidence and trends. This indicator was not discounted by former Federal Reserve Bank chairman, Alan Greenspan,who included it in a report two years ago.
One research company, Mintel, found that growth in sales of men’s underwear started to slow last year. Data on sales of men’s underwear has only been collected since 2003 and Mintel predicts that the first real fall in sales of these products since then will be this year with a 2.3% drop.
According to the researchers, men buy an average of 3.4 pairs of underwear in a year but from from 2004 to 2008, single pairs of underwear purchases increased from five to eight percent, while purchases of packs of four or more fell slightly from 68 to 66 percent indicating consumers were tightening spending and only buying when necessary.
On a brighter note, Mintel also predicts that the drop will slow to 0.3% next year and that is a good indication of better days ahead.
Men’s underwear – a good Christmas present for 2009 maybe?
Sourced: The Washington Post
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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Lets all go out and buy our dads, boyfrends, friends and whoever else, undies for Christmas. It seems they are all in need!
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PS: Hmm..., I'm sure my girlfriend will know what to do, after she'd read your post! Lol
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Thanks for dropping by.