Planning for tomorrow's consumer

The financial decisions of American consumers are swayed by a multitude of forces. Business cycle fluctuations and vagaries in fashion are short‐term influences. Long‐term determinants include changing demographics and structural economic shifts, such as double‐digit inflation, abnormally high borrowing costs and Federal economic policies. Because of their collective effect on consumer spending, saving and borrowing habits, these developments foretell profound strategic implications for American business in the 1980s.