Home improvement retailers have been hawking DIY as an empowerment tool for some time, but the downturn has seen some other brands looking to the same strategy. Consider iSold.com. The U.K. real estate service, backed by supermarket chain Tesco, is offering a package that includes home valuation, online and print advertising, and agent-led open houses for £999 and up. The service aims to straddle the line between pure online selling—via eBay, for example—and agent-lead sales. Considering that U.K. real estate agents earn 1.5 to 2 percent on each home sale, according to the iSold site, the package could save sellers thousands of pounds. Home owners are responsible for negotiating selling prices and meeting with prospective buyers, but that could be a good thing for iSold. Owners made to feel helpless by the recession might like a turn in the driver’s seat.
Photo Credit: http://www.isold.com/
In Spain, the downturn has not yet slowed, and the economy is still under a dark cloud. Brands are feeling this lack of oxygen, and new campaigns are few and generally conservative. One area where we’re seeing some activity is brand stores. This trend is being accelerated by the real estate crisis, which has created lots of cheap opportunities. Finally brands are playing with shops as experience spaces for consumers.
Cairo’s newest consumer trend is the rise of a Facebook marketplace, with people selling everything from used books to jewelry to designer fashions from Paris via Facebook groups. In a struggling Egyptian economy, many retailers have been forced to increase their prices. So people are drawn to some of the bargains on Facebook (one seller is offering designer handbags for 20-30 percent less than the original price), as well as the ability to select items from the comfort of their own homes. Online shopping has never been much of an option here in Egypt—there aren’t many domestic online retailers, and buying from abroad entails paying high customs fees and involves credit card complications. Facebook has therefore provided Egyptians with a local online shopping option. While this heralds trouble for shops and upscale department stores, Facebook represents a massive opportunity for entrepreneurial individuals taking a chance on a sleepy retail market.
Talking to consumers one hot day in a lower-income neighborhood of Manila, we stopped by one of the street stores called “sari-sari” (roughly translated, “we sell all kinds”) for refreshment. Excitedly, the storekeeper offered us the hottest drink among the street toughs—Nutri-C, a do-it-yourself, two-in-one energy drink/vitamin C concoction.
Even as the crisis was affecting most businesses, it became clear that this was an opportunity for others. A few days after the president’s speech, a newspaper ad for IMPAC, one of the biggest paint shops, read, “Quarantine? Take the opportunity to waterproof your home in the next few days.” Comex, another paint supplier, also urged consumers to do some home improvement: “This weekend, make a new home out of your house. Make a new look for your home.”
Spurred by limited budgets, a revival of interest in tradition and a new affinity for natural products, more women here are using everyday supermarket items to make homemade beauty products. They are using traditional formulations for nourishing hair, skin, nails, etc.—passed down through the generations—or coming up with their own and sharing them among friends. The modern twist? 
The recession opens up opportunities for brands to identify gaps in the market and create products that provide affordable indulgence. Here’s one good example:
