Fair Weather Fans: With Colorado’s focus turned to the Sustainability Opportunities Summit this week, it’s worth checking in on consumers’ appetite for green products. The LA Times reported on Tuesday that absent the high cost of gasoline, hybrid car monthly sales have declined over 60% since their peak in April of last year. While the economy is certainly responsible for some of this haircut, a more revealing indicator is the days-on-lot number. While a traditional gas Toyota Camry will now sit three times longer on the sales lot compared to July of last year, a hybrid Camry will sit at the sales office an astonishing 34 times longer than it did nine months ago.
Fair Weather Fans, Duex: Recent data suggests that Asian consumers, a group historically maniacal about brands, may be turning away from brand-name purchases in the weakening economy. According to the Boston Globe, Japanese consumers – habitually loyal to Sony and Panasonic – are now seeking cheaper value alternatives, considering imported brands, and scouring online reviews for cheap options that deliver on quality. For example, the list of the top ten selling laptops in Japan now includes 6 foreign companies, where only a year ago that number was two. A similar trend is hitting car buyers in Singapore where more are looking to cheaper Korean options as opposed to Japanese brands, according to this piece from The Business Times. If consumers get burned by these purchases they will likely come running back to their trusted brands when fatter wallets return; but if the lower cost products deliver on expectations, how will the premium brands recover?
