Marketing Forecast from Ad-ology

You know it’s bad when consumers cut back spending on Fluffy and Fido. In 2009, fewer consumers shelled out fewer dollars for toys, collars and grooming products. After surging over 17.6% between 2005 and 2009, the growth rate last year slowed to 2.5%. Many industries would have been happy with a 2.5% growth rate in 2009 but pet supply vendors have long been accustomed to a rosier picture and they are also laying the groundwork to entice consumers to open their wallets again as the economy recovers.

Licensing continues to be a marketing workhorse for many companies. Retailers typically purchase licensed products from a wholesaler which may already have an agreement in place with the licensing company. As sales occur, the licensing company gets both an upfront royalty and an ongoing percentage of sales, not unlike a business franchise. Products that displayed or represented licensed characters or ‘entertainment properties’ generated $11.12 billion in 2009 sales.

Ad-ology Research recently updated their Industry Marketing Insights report for Sporting Goods Manufacturers.

To understand the full extent of the recession in the U.S. consider the 2% drop in e-commerce spending in 2009. Total spending for the year leveled out at $209.6 billion and was broadly divided between travel e-commerce spending at $79.8 billion and retail e-commerce spending at $129.8 billion according to comScore.

As the lessons learned from the near-collapse of the financial system continue to spread, consumers are feeling the repercussions from the credit card industry. Between June of 2009 and February of 2010, the number of consumers who do not have a credit card grew 52.6%. Currently, nearly 1 in 3 consumers do not have credit cards.

Ad-ology Research recently updated their Industry Marketing Insights report for Fence and Gate Contractors. The following are the predicted Top 5 Opportunities/Challenges from the report for this industry for the upcoming 12 months:

* Many residential neighborhood associations are banning chain-link fences.
* Consumers are increasingly interested in eco-friendly materials.
* Decorative wrought-iron gates and fences are a popular trend.
* The do-it-yourself market is growing, which is challenge to this industry.