The recession hit and the country panicked. Jobs were lost, banks were demonised and consumer confidence plummeted.

In order to survive and cut back on spending, shoppers learnt new behaviours. These behaviours included shopping around for products, researching products online, buying own branded goods or visiting cheaper supermarkets, using voucher codes from VoucherSeeker and being more prepared to haggle for items.

The recession is now over (so we are told) so does this mean that we shall go back to buying branded products at face value?

Supermarkets and grocers would very much like this to happen. Their stores are seeing people become more choosy about which products to buy and watching their money much more carefully. Stores like pounds shops, Lidl and Aldi are all seeing increased spending.

In fact, Time for Dessert? Ten Emerging Trends in the Food & Drink Sector and How to Respond, launched by Barclays Corporate and Verdict Research has found that consumers were holding on to these behaviours, having realised their saving potential.

Shops are finding it harder to convert visitors into shoppers as people keep a close eye on their expenses.

Simply put, retail outlets are now going to have to work much harder in order to once again entice customers.

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When it comes to spending women are quite brilliant. We can spot a bargain anywhere, can spend all day in town and not spend a penny. We can spend an hour in town and come back with a car….. We know where to get the bargains from either the high street or the internet and we can sniff out a good bargain from miles away!

According to research by Empathica, 72% women moderately to significantly cut their spending during the recession, compared to just 62% of men.

However, it may be that men and women are choosing where to save and spend. One in ten men admitted to stopping eating out, whist only one in five women said they stopped going to restaurants to save money.

The use of voucher codes also has an impact, as 48.3% of women would be tempted to use a voucher codes for a meal out, whilst only 39.8% of men would be tempted.

This research does not show that women are better than men when it comes to spending, merely that men and women have different approaches to spending.  Whilst men will cut back on things such as eating out, women will allow themselves little treats such as meals out, whilst cutting back on other luxuries.

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The recession has finally ended! We all weathered the storm to varying degrees of success, but now we can loosen our belts, sit back and relax a bit more as the money rolls in and we can once again buy branded products right? Erm… wrong.

Research by Asda’s Income Tracker has found that we are actually no better off than a year ago.

Annual growth in earnings declined rapidly through the recession, with earnings growth still struggling to recover.

The research also found that many Asda customers are expecting 2010 to be a difficult year, with many still worried about redundancies and job security.

All in all, although technically out of the recession, the country is still feeling the effects and are remaining cautious about spending. Consumers are still no better off due to the lack of annual growth in earnings.  It will be a while before consumer confidence is back and until then, consumers are to continue with their shopping habits.

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