Sox First

Last year, I did a blog entry looking at the way consumer patterns have changed in the recession. The earlier this year, I did a piece looking at thrift chic, the latest trend where people are embracing frugality and a new conservatism. The lessons of the 1930s taught us that when an economy runs into trouble, people turn tribal.

Now the Financial Times tells us that a new shopper is emerging from the crisis, one that embraces quality and value, not quantity. Now it's all about "voluntary simplicity" and a rejection of the behaviors of the past which had embraced excess. Now excess is sinful and it's likely to stay that way for at least the next decade or so. That is, until the next boom.

• Rise of the new consumer
• Consumer credit and the Fed's paper chase
• Global consumer confidence crashes
• The new consumer