Consumer Response to Crisis : A Time-Series Analysis of Purchases and Use of Promotions for Beer Product Category

During those periods when consumers' purchasing power decreases, retailers must develop commercial policies according to the new situation. In this context, promotions that may involve monetary savings for the consumer may look especially attractive. However, to propose commercial policies in accordance to the economic situation without unnecessarily reducing the retailer's profit margin, there is a need to analyze the change of consumer behavior facing the new economic scenario and, in particular, the consumer response to the different types of promotion. Therefore, the present work aims at analyzing the evolution of consumer behavior through the purchases of a product category (i.e. beer) and the consumer response to promotions, concluding from scanner data for a five-year period the existence of changes as it delves into the recessive process and differences in the intensity of response to different types of promotion