A new report by Corus Entertainment released to MiC recently reveals that women are taking even more active control of their finances in these uncertain times. The new Corus Her Report After the Crash Survey June 2009, measured the impact that the economic downturn has had on the lives of Canadian women, and spanned an online panel of 2,600 women aged 18 to 70 across English Canada.
‘As a result of the economic downturn, we sort of suspected that maybe women are taking on an even bigger role, and we saw [on] a couple of occasions that they’re becoming even more involved than they were before in the family budgeting, and more involved than they were before in making sure that everybody stays on that budget,’ Mark Leslie, director of research at Corus, tells MiC.
While personal spending is relatively stable, women are scrutinizing their spending/budgets more carefully. ‘They’re much more cautious in terms of their spending habits because of what’s happened – the news that they’ve heard, maybe what’s happened to their investments; they’ve become much more cautious about how they’re approaching the application of their money,’ says Leslie. ‘There’s a noticeable distilling of what are necessities and what are nice-to-haves.’
The study also found that brand perception is still key: women will find ways to buy trusted brand names. While women don’t want to downgrade to cheaper brands, they are interested in enhanced value, with price, quality and reputation coming up as the most important factors in determining what to buy. ‘It speaks to the fact that women continue to be interested in quality and reputation,’ Marilyn Orecchio, director of sales, Corus Women’s Portfolio, tells MiC. ‘This is especially true when you’re talking about anything that has to do with their kids.’
Green was also still a priority, as women are concerned about leaving behind a healthy environment for their children.
‘Women don’t want to trade down; they buy the brands they buy for a reason,’ adds Leslie. ‘But what we see now is that because of this cautious mindset, the day of value – everyday low price – may be coming to the fore a little bit more.’
Angus Reid’s Vision Critical division handled the survey’s tech, software, recruitment and panel management, and NY-based consultancy co Seldman Research Lab did questionnaire design and analysis for Corus. The blind study was done in three waves: Apr. 30 – May 6; May 10 – 22; June 1 – 19.
