So what are savvy shoppers doing?

Acxiom® Corporation, a leading US-based company in the interactive marketing services field, has released the first issue of its Retail Consumer Dynamics Study (RCD), an industry-specific analysis of US consumer shopping behaviour and attitudes in today's difficult economic times. The study revealed variations in how each consumer segment looks at the economy today and how that perception affects whether and how they will defer spending; the type of stores they will visit; and generally how they go about their daily shopping.

RCD is based on an integrated data set combining consumer survey study findings with Acxiom's consumer demographic, life stage and lifestyle information. The survey was conducted by BIGresearch, a consumer intelligence firm, and the analysis using 18,924 panel data points was performed by Acxiom.

“Even though all consumers are facing huge economic uncertainty, their responses differ - and not along conventional demographic lines,” said Jie Cheng, vice president of analytics and consumer insights at Acxiom. “Rather than thinking in simple terms of who is spending more versus who is spending less, this study allows us to see how consumers are making their decisions on when and where to shop and what to purchase.”

The study identifies nine consumer behavioural segments that provide retailers with new, actionable insights to improve their ability to connect with key consumer targets. The study places these segments in three distinct groups reflecting consumers' potential future behaviour - those likely to loosen up on spending sooner, those not likely to change from current behaviour, and those tightening spending and retreating further.

Insights drawn from this distinctive study allow retailers to anticipate shopping patterns and plan accordingly.

Key research findings include:

• “Savvy Spenders” (mostly married, affluent, both young and mature, living in outer suburbs and rural communities) are more likely to spend sooner than other segments, given some improved circumstances
• Of the “Savvy Spenders,” 37 percent are shopping sales more often
• “Savvy Spenders” favour department stores for their combination of category offerings and brand/price options
• Those likely to shop more online are the “Tight with Purpose,” who are married with children, upper middle income with professional or management careers
• The “It's My Life” segment - mostly affluent young consumers maintaining a child-free city lifestyle - are not letting current economic conditions change their shopping behaviour.

They shop in category killer stores to benefit from the blend of brand selection and price.

“This challenging economy creates an exceptional opportunity for retailers and consumer product manufacturers to target direct messages to specific consumer segments in order to sustain and maximize a return on marketing investment,” said Jim Harold, industry executive for retail and consumer markets at Acxiom.

“We're pleased to see Acxiom applying the consumer insights from our surveys to create actionable guidance for their clients. The combination of our ongoing consumer panel surveys with their PersonicX® consumer life stage segmentation system provides an accurate look at how the weak economy is affecting shoppers,” said Gary Drenik, president and CEO of BIGresearch.

The RCD study is powered by Acxiom's InfoBase-X, claimed to be the largest, most accurate, comprehensive and multi-sourced data collection of US consumer information in one source. PersonicX is the company's household-level segmentation suite that places US households into one of 70 distinct segments and 21 life-stage groups based upon specific consumer behaviour and demographic characteristics.

For a copy of Acxiom's Retail Consumer Dynamics study, link to http://www.acxiom.com/retailconsumerdynamics.