Data watch - what happened to consumer spending in the UK recession?
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Print
Email
Tweet This!Save to Favorites
Recommend on Google+
Putting to one side all the newspaper and tv stories of how consumers behaved during the recent recession in the UK, what does the data show? What were the real trends and how did consumers behave compared with the long preceding period of economic growth in the UK?
We’ve put together a brief series of data charts which illustrate what happened to consumer spending (a key part of UK GDP) during the recession period (and before). Each chart is available on a single-page pdf. This might come in useful as a lesson starter activity - either printing them out as handouts or displaying the relevant charts on an IWB. Students could be asked to identify the key trends and changes in the data, and to identfy potential reasons for those movements.
For students researching the recent UK recession for AQA BUSS4, it might also be useful to compare the data in the charts with the evidence they have gathered about the strategic actions issues they have identified for their chosen firms and/or industries.
Here are the links to our data charts on consumers during the recession:
Consumer spending on durable goods (e.g. televisions, cars, electronic items):
Value of UK Retail Sales (an index of total retail spending):
Indicators of Consumer Confidence:
blog comments powered by Disqus
Unemployment and motivation [28 Dec 2011]
Strategies to revive the High Street: Mary Portas reports [13 Dec 2011]
Batten down the hatches - strategies for the next downturn [24 Oct 2011]
Marketing in an age of austerity - Live Well for Less [20 Oct 2011]
Shoppers switch stores as income patterns change [11 Oct 2011]
Strategies for success on the beleaguered high street [6 Sep 2011]
Motivation in a time of austerity - financial benefits become more important [27 Jul 2011]
Is the golf business coming out of the bunker? [7 Apr 2011]
Recession? Hair today, gone tomorrow [6 Apr 2011]
AQA unit 4 - some really good evidence here [29 Mar 2011]
The UK Economy - Economic Growth GDP [15 Mar 2011]
The UK Economy - Consumer Spending [15 Mar 2011]
The UK Economy - Unemployment [13 Mar 2011]
The Profit Margin Bloodbath of UK Recession [6 Mar 2011]
Britain is back in recession (well, consumers think we are) [23 Feb 2011]
The business impact of weak consumer spending [6 Feb 2011]
Its curtains for UK consumer spending [12 Dec 2010]
Britain’s changing High Street - Poundland, nail bars and empty shops [8 Dec 2010]
Euro Disney - an HRM & Finance Nightmare? [24 Nov 2010]
Recession-proof production at Fiat [20 Nov 2010]
JCB - A Great Case Study for Business Students [19 Nov 2010]
Cash flow Clue-doh! The Mystery is Revealed… [2 Nov 2010]
Start-ups - a surge in new businesses post recession [2 Nov 2010]
Sectors of the Economy - Online is Worth £100bn [30 Oct 2010]
Google, Profits and Diversification [16 Oct 2010]
Who ate all the pies? [17 Sep 2010]
Businesses prepare for the double-dip [13 Sep 2010]
Can small firms shrug off their recession trauma? [2 Sep 2010]
A beginners guide to GDP [30 Aug 2010]
How inflation affects consumers [27 Aug 2010]
Recession Strategy - Manufacturing Emerges Leaner and Fitter [25 Aug 2010]
Nissan profits from a recovery in demand [30 Jul 2010]
Dark days for the UK nightclub market [21 Jun 2010]
Emerging Stronger - How UK Businesses Responded to the Recession [14 Jun 2010]
BUSS4 - Recession Strategy Lessons from Four Female Entrepreneurs [6 Jun 2010]
Emerging from Recession - Manufacturing Leads the Way [1 Jun 2010]
Strategy Case Study - Vauxhall/Opel restructuring [24 May 2010]
BUSS4 UK Recession - Data Burn [15 May 2010]
UK Recession - Hotels Suffer Despite the Trend towards Staycations [3 May 2010]
Why Coffee Shops did so well during the UK Recession [25 Apr 2010]
A good example to use when explaining what firms do as they come out of a recession [22 Apr 2010]
Girl Power [12 Apr 2010]
Recession Survival Strategies Cost UK SMEs £16bn [31 Mar 2010]
UK Recession - What Happened to Redundancies? [30 Mar 2010]
Unilever in the recession - the CEO on strategy [25 Mar 2010]
How firms can make the most of the recovery [20 Mar 2010]
Wipeout Challenge - UK Recession [15 Mar 2010]
Motivation and management at John Lewis [11 Mar 2010]
BUSS4 and British Airways - a marriage made in heaven [1 Mar 2010]
Whiteboard Challenge - Drawing UK GDP [28 Feb 2010]
Recession strategy - what happens when a market dives by 30%+? [28 Feb 2010]
HRM priorities as firms exit the recession [27 Feb 2010]
Strategy in a recession - cost optimisation not cost minimisation [25 Feb 2010]
An interesting way to describe the Business Cycle [25 Feb 2010]
Strategy in a recession - Don’t Panic Mr Mainwaring! [25 Feb 2010]
Strategy in a recession - global innovators keep investing [25 Feb 2010]
Customers have changed during the recession - how does marketing respond? [19 Feb 2010]
Strategies for the Recession - Insights from Six Restaurant Group CEOs [19 Feb 2010]
BUSS4 - winning insights into recession strategy from annual reports [18 Feb 2010]
A CEO’s take on the effect of the recession on UK restaurants [18 Feb 2010]
Marketing strategy in a recession - is attack better than defence? [17 Feb 2010]
Advertising in the recession - perfect storm or perfect opportunity? [17 Feb 2010]
Branded coffee shops prove resilient to the UK recession [17 Feb 2010]
Recession turns the UK into a fast-food nation [16 Feb 2010]
Strategic reaction to the UK recession - notes and observations [9 Feb 2010]
UK companies conserve cash in the recession - bad news for shareholders? [8 Feb 2010]
Strategies in a recession - pay freezes stay in place [8 Feb 2010]
Business strategies as we emerge from the recession [7 Feb 2010]
UK Recession - Some Winners and Losers [5 Feb 2010]
Companies that thrived in the UK recession - theme activity [1 Feb 2010]
Recession Tracker for UK Economic Data [1 Feb 2010]
Opportunities for Poundland in the recession [1 Feb 2010]
Video case study - substitute goods benefiting from the recession [1 Feb 2010]
9 business survival tips for getting through the recession [1 Feb 2010]
Strategy in a recession - Fusion Systems [1 Feb 2010]
Business priorities in a recession [1 Feb 2010]
Flexible working thrives in the recession [1 Feb 2010]
What business students can learn from how businesses have handled the recession [1 Feb 2010]
Introducing business and the economic environment with Darling’s debt dilemma [27 Jan 2010]
BRICS - Economic Growth in the Emerging Markets (Interactive Guide) [18 Jan 2010]
Flight to value has its impact on the Charity Shops [12 Jan 2010]
Where Does Your Money Go? [16 Dec 2009]
Offshoring and Small Businesses [3 Dec 2009]
High street trends - pop-up shops and Poundland niche [28 Nov 2009]
Q&A - What is globalisation? [27 Oct 2009]
Q&A - What are the main causes of unemployment? [27 Oct 2009]
Q&A - What has happened to unemployment in the UK? [27 Oct 2009]
Managing Cash Flow - Beware the Economic Recovery [26 Oct 2009]
Pigging Out in the Recession [26 Oct 2009]
Revision Presentation - Business Cycle and Economic Growth [18 Oct 2009]
V-Water - from start up to exit [4 Oct 2009]
March towards incorporation gathers pace [3 Oct 2009]
Demand is booming for UK Cinemas [16 Sep 2009]
Is a recession the perfect time to launch a technology start-up? [14 Sep 2009]
Kick-start for retail business [12 Sep 2009]
The tills are alive with the sound of Woolies [3 Sep 2009]
Motivation in practice - how not to do it - lessons from Britain’s bosses [1 Sep 2009]
Revision Presentation - Unemployment & Business [30 Aug 2009]
A dramatic fall in business investment [27 Aug 2009]
Plastic car is a blast from the past [25 Aug 2009]
BUSINESS TEACHER RESOURCE NEWSLETTER
Get first news of business teaching resources, ideas and other materials from tutor2u. Over 9,400 business teachers from the UK and around the world receive our regular teacher email newsletters. Sign up for free here!
Popular Topic Tags
recession, demand, prices, price, unemployment, profit, economics, costs, investment, inflation, supply, employment, trade, competition, gdp, risk, china, debt, euro, entrepreneur, capacity, production, innovation, downturn, tutor2u, revision, pay, exports, manufacturing, confidence, profits, food, incentives, banks, strategy, globalisation, aqa, expectations, oil, csr, usa, startup, retailers, housing, productivity, sterling, supermarkets, takeover, google, economies of scale, mortgage, cash flow, advertising, quiz, leadership, property, buss4, tesco, economic growth, video, efficiency, enterprise, motivation, stakeholders, apple, deflation, corporate social responsibility, ebea, market share, airlines, pricing, taxation, merger, slowdown, bank of england, acquisition, interest rates, market failure, borrowing, competitiveness, sustainability, product life cycle, credit crunch, budget deficit, aqa business studies, facebook, twitter, aqa business, bbc, nelson thornes, philip allan updates, starbucks, philip allan, monopoly, diversification, recruitment, organic growth, stocks, training, oligopoly, starter activity, shareholders, uk economy, poverty, emerging markets, dollar, government failure, retailing, management, suppliers, buss1, marketing mix, tim harford, cpi, branding, opportunity cost, breakeven, government spending, hodder education, vat, product, customer service, eu, losses, wages, evaluation, india, external growth, wealth, environment, edexcel, location, promotion, technology, information failure, business studies revision, sources of finance, franchise, aqa gce business, elasticity, regulation, spare capacity, welfare, jobs, economic cycle, marketing, zondle, strategic direction, british airways,View all tags for the Business Blog
