Released September 9, 2009

RALEIGH, N.C. – Many changes are expected to result from the recession. One is the way that business operates, particularly in the products and services offered to consumers. Can you speculate on any themes buyers will see in the coming years?

Mike Walden, North Carolina Cooperative Extension economist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University, responds:

"In the last couple of decades, we were really riding high. And of course, I'm talking about the average consumer now, certainly not everyone. The average consumer really almost had it all. They were able to afford much better quality in terms, for example, of the homes they bought. Homes became bigger, more amenities. The vacations they took. The clothing they bought. So we really had a good run.

Many think that the recession has sort of put an end to those gravy days, that even though the economy will eventually recover, income growth will be very slow.

I think businesses are realizing this. They're realizing they're going to have a different consumer to deal with once we get out of this recession. And so I think what businesses will be trying to do is to provide products and services to consumers that appear - appear - to be of the quality that consumers were used to prior to the recession but are much more affordable.

Call it quality on a budget; I think that's going to be the new business objective. Now that's going to be a big challenge for businesses, and it's also going to be a challenge for consumers. Consumers will have to be able to detect if, yes, I am paying more and getting something better, or is it just all fake and phony. But I do think this is going to be the new focus in the future of how can we get what looks like more - in fact, many times is more - but on a budget that is much less than in the past."

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http://www.ncsu.edu/project/calscommblogs/news/archives/2009/09/economic_perspe_443.html