Marketers’ Takeaway: Consumer Behavior Changes During a Recession
Every time a recession hits, and even when rumors of it coming echoes in the market, businesses and consumers change their behaviors. So, unless marketers spot these shifts in consumer behavior and modify their strategies accordingly, the recession will strike them down.
Read on to learn how B2B consumers typically act during economic downturns and what marketers can do to tackle the same.
Switch From External Sources to In-House
Budget cuts are the instant repercussions of a recession. Businesses start spending every penny cautiously and try to run as many processes as possible in-house. They begin cutting ties with external sources and only depend on outsourcing for something that in no way can be managed internally. So, businesses on the other side of this B2B picture need to strengthen their core offerings and market them well to show their consumers that the latter cannot do without them.
Lookout for Cheaper Options
Now even if consumers continue to use your product/service and don’t cut you off, they will definitely look for cheaper options in the market. And, if and when they find a similar offering that meets their requirements, they would switch to it in a snap.
So how do you ensure that your consumer won’t ditch you and go to your rivals?
You can offer your premium products at discounted rates; that way, your revenue numbers would keep rolling, and you’d succeed in retaining your customers.
Another hack is to revamp your cheapest product with new appearance and features and heavily promote it. That way, your consumers would see that you’re providing more than your competitors at the given price, and you ensure your revenue doesn’t drop. So, it’s a win-win.
Something Out of the Box
The recession creates a vicious cycle where a business tightens its spending, leading to lower revenue numbers, which in turn leaves the business with an even lesser budget to spend. This goes on and on, causing businesses to incur huge losses that take years to recover from. Now, breaking this cycle is possible if a business leverages a product that not only provides value to every single dollar but makes them thrive in the face of a bad economy.
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Originally published: Consumer Behavior Changes During a Recession
