Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

The impact of the subprime mortgage market problems is continuing to make American consumers jittery.

News of housing foreclosures, problems with mortgage lenders and heavy debt, among other things, has put the American consumer in a skittish mood.

A lot of consumer thinking is based on where someone lives or what their income level is.

For example, 52 percent of people living in the midwest believe the economy is declining, while only 39 percent of those in the West do. Concerning those being worried, 63 percent in the East are fearful, while a much smaller 52 percent in the living in the South say they're worried.

As far as how people in different income brackets view the economy, those in lower income brackets believe the believe the economy is declining, with 52 percent of those making under $35,000 saying that. In contrast, of those making over $75,000 yearly, 41 percent believe the economy is in decline.

What this says to me, is discount retailers will continue to be challenged in sales, as lower-income people pull back on spending. While the same may happen with luxury retail sellers, if sales do drop, it shouldn't be as drastic as discounters.

Last quarter luxury retailers performed much stronger than discounters, as this study confirms is the trend at this time.

For us managers, whether consumers see things right or not is irrelevant, we need to understand they are becoming increasingly concerned and fearful on where things are at this time.

We probably need to market to those concerns to keep sales from declining.