For the fifth month in a row, both the monthly and annual development is negative in total retail trade, according to Statistics Sweden. People cutting back on their consumption during a crisis is nothing new – but one thing we don’t want to give up is our subscriptions to dating apps.
According to the CEO of the dating app Tinder, the number of people who want to subscribe to the service has increased by 7 percent between July and September. The Match Group, which owns both Hinge and OkCupid, pulled in a record $810 million in the corresponding period, sending its shares up 16 percent in the same week.
These are results that not even Apple, Amazon or Meta could match, whose shares instead reached record low levels.
– Traditionally, the consumption of gambling, alcohol and tobacco has increased in times of crisis. Dating apps may represent a new way to escape from everyday boredom. It can also be the case that you simply want someone by your side in tougher times, says John Magnus Roos, consumption researcher at the Gothenburg School of Economics.
Wear-and-throw consumption – a habitual behaviour
When an economic crisis strikes, it is felt first of all in so-called “capital-intensive consumption”. You stop buying cars, white goods and furniture, which in good times can be replaced often, but in tough times can be worn with health. However, we continue to buy other goods.
– The everyday life we created, where we can constantly change our identity through consumption, it does not disappear just because we enter a recession. What happens is that we start consuming cheaper things. Fast-fashion is growing and the sale of cheaper make-up is increasing, says John Magnus Roos.
Since the 90s, our consumption patterns have become increasingly value-based. According to the Content Marketing Conference market survey from 2020, up to 90 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 25 state that they are happy to exchange their favorite brand for a new one – if it represents values that are consistent with their own self-image.
– The throw-away society is habitual behaviour. Although we are entering tougher times, we remain in the habit. It takes time to change behaviors and values, says Roos.
Watch the consumer researcher explain why we prioritize dating apps when the household coffers are tight in the clip above.