A New Era of Consumer Frugality

I don’t know what frugal means. Do you?
Fear not, for I have googled it. As we do.

1) Sparing or economical with regard to money or food.
2) Simple and plain.

I’m sure to have come across this word before, but never in this particular context – that is my physical context, not the word’s. I am in Canada now. Sitting in a Harry Potter-esque hall at UBC. I am reading through my new marketing textbook and wondering how I got here. If I were at my home university in South Africa, I would have at least 150 people in my class, I wouldn’t have my name tag on my desk, I most certainly wouldn’t have an i-clicker and, to be honest, I probably wouldn’t be reading my marketing textbook.

The article I am reading is entitled The New Era of Consumer Frugality (pg 27). It speaks about a change in attitude that has come about with the recent economic crisis and the new found “thriftiness” of consumers. What initially grabbed my attention about the article was not my confusion at the word frugality, but the De Beers advert accompanying the article. The statement “Here’s To Less” poses the idea of a jovial toast, but then juxtaposes it with the word, “Less”. That’s odd. So I read on…

Until I got to a question in the article that struck me, “What does the new era of frugality mean to marketers?”
It’s a question all today’s businesses must face. And one whose answer will determine their success in an ever-changing market. De Beers has done it so well by maintaining the portrayal of long-standing luxury whilst convincing the reader that diamonds are a necessity. They did this at the height of the economic crisis by doubling their marketing budget.

I wonder how other businesses will fair though. Businesses who, when faced with the economic downturn, may have had to decrease marketing budgets. Perhaps it won’t just be an era of frugality entered by consumers, but businesses as well. And, in fact, maybe moving forward means being frugal.