Nathan Toohey

The global recession has hit Russia's consumers hard, as in much of the rest of the world. However, unlike most of the rest of the planet, Russia's consumers have their own way of dealing with it - retail therapy.

A recent report produced by Nielsen research company, "Global Consumer Confidence, Concerns and Spending", which covers the first half of 2009, shows some stark differences between consumer behaviour in Russia and other countries.

Some 76 per cent of Russian respondents said that they had significantly changed their spending habits due to the crisis. That put Russia among the top 10 countries where consumers were hit by the downturn.

However, the research showed that Russians' first priority was to spend their disposable income on clothing. From October 2008 to April 2009, the number of Russians prepared to spruce up their wardrobes fell by 18 percentage points - from 70 per cent to 52 per cent. Nonetheless, this still put the nation in first place among the 28 countries surveyed, with the world average being 28 per cent spending their money on clothes.

Some 56 per cent of respondents worldwide said that they would spend less on new clothing, making it the number one cutback to save on household expenses. Worldwide, the most popular use of disposable income was savings, at 48 per cent.

Russians also occupied first place in their preference for spending on renovating and decorating their homes, although that figure had fallen from 46 per cent to 43 per cent in the last three months. The world average for spending on renovations and decorations was 22 per cent. 

In September-October 2008, Russia also held first place for buying domestic appliances and consumer electronics; according to the survey, this figure grew 1 percentage point compared to the first quarter of 2009, up to 34 per cent versus the world average of 21 per cent. It still fell well short of Russia's 52 per cent pre-crisis figure.

Some 37 per cent of Russians chose to spend their disposable income on travel and relaxation, which was significantly less than the 45 per cent recorded prior to the crisis.

A mere 7 percent of Russian respondents, however, said that they were ready to make investments. The world average for investments stood at 18 per cent.

Nielsen noted that since its research was conducted over the internet, it was somewhat skewed to the more well-off and better educated segments of society.