In summary...
- In hard times, people don't want to spend the big bucks for luxuries.
- However, they still want luxuries to help "cheer them up".
- Hence, they buy more inexpensive "small luxuries" - like "lipstick". That's why it's called the "lipstick effect".
- For example, sales at L'Oreal (a cosmetics company) in the first half of 2008 were UP by 5.3%.
- This effect can be traced back to the Great Depression - so it's been happening in every downturn for a long, long time.
This suggests that a good business at the moment could be inexpensive "luxuries"!
Anyway, here are some articles to check out...
http://www.wordspy.com/words/lipstickeffect.asp
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/f...mists-say.html
http://www.theage.com.au/news/lifean...794327006.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/meredi...t_b_92597.html
It's an example of the type of business that can prosper in a "downturn"...
Any other ideas or examples?
Dien