While 12 consecutive interest rate rises might be trying to slow the economy, the average Australian's love of shopping hasn't slowed at all, according to Australia's pre-eminent comparison shopping Web site, Myshopping.com.au.
Andrey Tyshchenko, managing director of Myshopping.com.au said that interest rate rises had simply made Australians more savvy when it comes to making luxury purchases, a scenario supported by recent findings from technology analyst, Forrester Research.
"People love to shop and, in tougher times, will seek to find new and better ways to purchase something, before they throw in the towel altogether," Tyshchenko said. "We've seen that via the increase in visitors to our site, in addition to the average amount of time users are spending on it."
In its paper, Strategies For Interactive Marketing In A Recession, released last month, Forrester Research said that while conventional wisdom stated that experimental media tend to get cut in tough economic times, social applications like communities, social networking sites, and word-of-mouth marketing are actually proving themselves.
"Social applications like discussion forums are better than advertising at helping people in the consideration phase when they're on the fence about purchasing," said Forrester Analyst, Josh Bernoff.
"In a recession, improving consideration will be more cost-effective than blasting awareness messages at resistant consumers."
Tyshchenko said that he wasn't surprised at the news that Myshopping.com.au was becoming more popular as shoppers sought to compare notes before finalising their purchase decision and nailing a bargain.
Len Rust is publisher of The Rust Report