Economist Offers Multichannel Retailers Recession Insights, Post-Recession Action Plan

He pointed out that real wages are up 6 percent since last July. “I’m optimistic, because consumers have the means to spend,” he said. “They just don’t have the will.”

Emphasizing this challenge, Steidtmann pointed to three key issues/questions for retailers to ponder:

1. What’s changed with the consumer?
2. What will be the new business restraints once we come out of this recession?
3. What can retailers do about this?

As has been widely reported, among the biggest hindrances to consumer spending has been consumers’ unprecedented level of debt. “Consumers are being forced to deleverage, which will continue for some time,” he said, reminding the audience that from 2001 to 2007, the level of consumer debt increased by as much as it had the previous 40 years. “We literally went on an orgy of debt, going through a period of hedonistic gluttony.”