What Consumers Keep During A Recession

In "What Consumers Cling To In Lean Times," the current Business Week suggests why health care hasn't shown its usual level of immunity to economic downturns.

What are consumers clinging to? Hint: cellphones - yes. Cable TV - no.

"People have a fairly consistent game plan for dealing with a recession," says John Berry, a vice-president at GfK Roper Consulting. "The list of things they cut back on is very consistent, and that points to opportunities for grabbing people through those shifts in their behavior."

"People tend to eschew products deemed frivolous or overpriced. But that doesn't keep them from embracing new technologies—even items that carry high price tags. The condition, of course, is that the products are seen to deliver good value for the cost."

It may be that health care's prices have finally gotten so decoupled from reality that consumers no longer see good value being delivered for the cost.

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