I had an email from the centre for Media Research this morning with insights from a recent study entitled “Marketing to the Post-Recession Consumers.” The report breaks consumers into four distinct groups:

• Steadfast Frugalists
• Involuntary Penny-Pinchers
• Pragmatic Spenders
• Apathetic Materialists

The general theme of the report is that the purchasing behaviours of these groups are likely to remain for some time, so Marketers’ thinking around how their customers are buying their products and services needs to change.

The main characteristics of the Steadfast Frugalists are:

• 6 in 10 are women.
• Composed of people from all age groups; however, fewer from Gen X and Gen YThe most disciplined in their behaviors and seriously committed to self-restraint Many of these individuals deemed themselves tightwads even before the recession
• 29% of individuals in this group considered themselves tightwads in this survey

…and Involuntary Penny-Pinchers:

• 6 in 10 are women.
• Over-represented by people in their 30s and 40s.
• Involuntary Penny-Pinchers are the most severely affected, financially and emotionally, by the recession.
• Their new-found frugality for the most part has been forced upon them. Half have not saved any money for emergencies
• 38% in this group exceeded their income last year, indicating that they were not that disciplined to begin with
• Marketers will find this group to be quite challenging to influence mainly due to their lower/diminished capacity to spend.

…Pragmatic Spenders:

• 6 in 10 are men
• Over-represented by people in their 60s, and from the Northeast and West
• Over a third of the people with greater than $75,000 HHI are in this group
• Pragmatic Spenders have the greatest capacity, both financial and psychological, to willfully resurrect their past spending patterns
• Their approach to spending is tempered with caution; they have cut back and are engaging in thrift like others but seem less troubled by the recession.
• Pragmatic Spenders will be the most attractive to marketers given their above-average financial wherewithal

… and Apathetic Materialists:

• 22% in the population.
• Slightly more men than women.
• Over-represented by people in their 20s (Gen Y)
• The least changed in terms of their spending habits and future intentions
• More younger, single people with limited disposable income at the moment
• Apathetic Materialists will be an attractive target for youth-oriented marketers

Here are some key stats from the report:

You can purchase the full report here.