Consumption and emotional compensation in economic crisis

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

The present work project aims to study the Portuguese consumer attitude towards non essential goods during economic crisis. It is inspired by a recent trend described in the media as the Lipstick Effect. In order to address the abovementioned objective, we conduct a research that includes an exploratory phase (Case Studies) and a descriptive phase (Questionnaires). Please note that we do not aim to define “economic crisis”, the concept in the work project is “perceived economic crisis”. The analysis reveals that Portuguese women reflect a need for emotional compensation during economic crisis and so, despite facing budget constraints, they still make expenditures on non essential goods. The non essential goods where female consumers maintain their expenditure are essentially related to Beauty Care and Telecommunications.