it occurred to me this weekend that if/when the economy ever returns to monotonically increasing, u.s. consumer consumption rates may never return to what we consider to be "normal" levels of the last 20 years. surely not of the last 5-7 years, that is for sure. i read about The Compact where folks have decided to literally buy nothing new for a year...except for health/medical necessities like food, medicine, toilet paper. if this becomes a way of life, as opposed to a fad...a preference, in combination with undoubtedly lower credit availability caused by lower risk tolerance, it will certainly change the business outlook going forward. i wonder if any marketing departments are modelling a sustained reduction in consumption rates, as a worst-case.
i work in consumer electronics and in my mba class, we are supposed to dream up some product or service that we will research and pitch to VC's at the end of the quarter. a fabulous opportunity, but i find myself really nauseated about thinking of some new widget that folks should buy. i'm trying to think of a service, or a way to increase efficiency, that would have value to people - something around saving energy, for example.
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