Global Consumer Trends: Comfort

Table of Contents

OVERVIEW

• Catalyst
• Summary

INTRODUCTION: THE IMPORTANCE OF TREND-TRACKING

• Tracking consumer mega-trends is fundamental to long-term success
  • Trend-tracking insight 1: mega-trends can be classified in two ways according to desirable product/service benefits and societal complexities
  • Trend-tracking insight 2: trends are aligned with pre-existing, but evolving human values, attitudes, needs and behaviors
  • Trend-tracking insight 3: mega-trends can be broken down into trends and sub-trends to provide structure and clarity at a time of ' information overload'
  • Trend-tracking insight 4: manufacturers, retailers and researchers/futurologists perpetuate trends
  • Trend-tracking insight 5: adopting a broader, global perspective to trend-tracking facilitates better decision making by overcoming ' category myopia'
  • Trend-tracking insight 6: trends have longer-term implications than fads and can be categorized by evolvement
  • Trend-tracking insight 7: for every trend there is a ' counter-trend' while ' trend-crossover' is also an important phenomena
  • Takeouts and implications: a trend framework boosts the quality and frequency of insight generation ensuring maximum return from the broader market research processes in place

THE FUTURE DECODED: DECIPHERING THE COMFORT MEGA-TREND

• MEGA-TREND SYNOPSIS: Consumers want safety, simplicity, trust and indulgence in response to rising stress and uncertainty
• TREND: Cautious Consumerism: many individuals are concerned about the direction of society, are distrustful and skeptical of progress and change
  • SUB-TREND: Societal Pessimism: many global citizens bemoan the direction of society on a global, regional and national level
  • Key takeouts and implications: consumers feel somewhat let down by institutions and as a result are less confident and trusting
  • SUB-TREND: Skeptical Consumerism: a ongoing ' trust void' exists between organizations and institutions and individuals who rely on them
  • Key takeouts and implications: consumers do not inherently believe that all product claims are truthful
  • SUB-TREND: Risk Aversion: fears exist over (new) processes and progression associated with consumer products
  • Key takeouts and implications: consumer understanding of what goes into food, beverages, personal care and household care products has never been greater
  • SUB-TREND: Technophobia: as consumers embrace digital lifestyles concerns exist about an over-reliance on technology
  • Key takeouts and implications: technophobia is not particularly prevalent globally although there are certain contexts where individuals can adopt a more negative mentality
• TREND: Cocooning: the global financial crisis and the ongoing desire to ' shut off' from the wider world continues to shape global consumer attitudes and behaviors
  • SUB-TREND: Blinkered Optimism: many consumers adopt an overly optimistic view of their health as they shut themselves off from reality and they also look to outsource blame elsewhere
  • Key takeouts and implications: some consumers refuse to acknowledge and/or accept responsibility for lifestyle and personal problems such as poor health
  • SUB-TREND: Insperiences: bringing third places home and the resurgence of home-based consumption occasions
  • Key takeouts and implications: as consumers cocoon, they demand higher quality ' insperiences' that act as ' home comforts'
  • SUB-TREND: House-Proud Cocooning: as consumers seek sanctuary in the comfort of their homes, they become extra pre-occupied with upkeep
  • Key takeouts and implications: as consumers spend longer in their homes, they become increasingly disposed to being houseproud
  • SUB-TREND: Homeworking: people are taking advantage of structural changes in labor markets and connective technology to embrace more flexible, home-based work
  • Key takeouts and implications: homeworking has been made considerably easier by improvements in the quality and reliability of connective technology
  • SUB-TREND: Home-grown: consumers are increasingly demonstrating a desire to become product cultivators
  • Key takeouts and implications: consumers are looking to save money during the economic crisis by becoming less reliant on store-bought groceries
• TREND: Ethnocentrism: ethnocentric preferences exacerbate favorability of national or local products and brands
  • SUB-TREND: Localism: consumers are embracing the ' locavore' movement
  • Key takeouts and implications: ethnocentric consumers prefer local products to ones from abroad
  • SUB-TREND: Ethnocentric tendencies can lead to the sporadic or longer-term boycotting or avoidance of ' foreign' products
  • Key takeouts and implications: consumers inherently distrust products and ingredients which come from foreign lands
  • SUB-TREND: Ethnic tensions and polarized attitudes towards immigration and ' outside influences' are prevalent across regions
  • Key takeouts and implications: despite efforts to encourage multiculturalism, tensions between consumers of differing ethnicities still exist across the globe
• TREND: Simplifying and Downshifting: consumers often aspire to a simplified, less complicated lifestyle and shopping experience
  • SUB-TREND: Choice Paralysis and Habitual Consumption: consumer confusion and choosing familiar brands/products
  • Key takeouts and implications: consumers often feel stifled by the amount of choice on offer
  • SUB-TREND: Selective attention: the ' attention economy' highlights the growing difficulty of engaging consumers
  • Key takeouts and implications: marketers are facing an increasingly challenging environment to get consumers' attention
  • SUB-TREND: The search for simplicity reflects the need to reduce physical and informational clutter and complexity in their life
  • Key takeouts and implications: many consumers are increasingly seeking to simplify life and will value products that align to this ideology
  • SUB-TREND: Austere Consumerism: consumers are buying in more tempered and considered manner, especially with the global financial crisis changing the outlook on consumption
  • Key takeouts and implications: consumers have contrasting views about austere consumerism depending on location
  • SUB-TREND: Family First: improving work/life balance and slowing down to facilitate more and better quality family time continue to be important priorities
  • Key takeouts and implications: consumers are making greater efforts to ensure that they spend as much time with their families as possible
• TREND: Nostalgic Consumerism and the ' Return to Real'
  • SUB-TREND: Buying nostalgic brands/embracing retro design
  • Key takeouts and implications: nostalgia is a relevant trend for consumers due to the comfort that it provides but its popularity is at the mercy of wider social situations
  • SUB-TREND: Traditional Consumption: consumers continue to embrace traditional favorites
  • Key takeouts and implications: consumers are torn between returning to the traditional or seeking out new experiences
  • SUB-TREND: The re-emergence of scratch cooking and ' home-made' products
  • Key takeouts and implications: consumers are rediscovering scratch cooking for a number of reasons

APPENDIX

• Definitions
• Methodology
• Further reading and references
• Ask the analyst
• Datamonitor consulting
• Disclaimer

FIGURES

• Figure: Datamonitor' s mega-trends are having a long-term and substantive impact on the marketing landscape and can be grouped into two categories
• Figure: Consumer behavior and the innovations targeting it inevitably fit into a ' trend hierarchy'
• Figure: Datamonitor' s mega-trend framework helps set the agenda for the specific topics covered in the New Consumer Insight (NCI) research stream
• Figure: Trend tracking can be a source of (comparative) competitive analysis
• Figure: Trend development is dictated by both ' consumer pull' and ' manufacturer push' and Datamonitor offers the intelligence tools to capitalize on this reality
• Figure: In a consumerist global culture, the broad consumption spheres/segments transcend geographical borders which is another reason why adopting a broader approach is necessary
• Figure: Several factors distinguish a trend from a fad
• Figure: Opinion is somewhat polarized over whether technology is making society better
• Figure: The issues that contribute to consumer concern and related societal pessimism vary by region
• Figure: With the economic progress characterizing much of the last decade, Eastern Europeans became more satisfied with the direction of their respective countries
• Figure: The vast majority of Europeans are unhappy with the direction that their country is heading in
• Figure: There is widespread feeling among Europeans that crime represents a big problem in their respective countries
• Figure: Pessimism about the prospects for the next generation reflects the widespread societal pessimism in Europe, particularly the direction of events
• Figure: A lack of interpersonal trust in some European countries also reflects societal pessimism
• Figure: Societal pessimism is rife in the Americas as evidenced by Brazilian and US sentiment
• Figure: With the economic progress characterizing much of the last decade, Eastern Europeans became more satisfied with the direction of their respective countries
• Figure: There is widespread feeling among Europeans that crime represents a big problem in their respective countries
• Figure: A lack of interpersonal trust on a general level is particularly evident among Latin Americans, but less so in Canada
• Figure: Chinese citizens have the highest level of satisfaction about the direction of their own country while Japanese citizens are significantly more pessimistic
• Figure: Societal Pessimism among Indians has subsided considerably in the last decade
• Figure: The extent to which Asians consider crime to be a very big problem varies considerably by country
• Figure: Social trust among Asians is heavily polarized with the exception of China
• Figure: UAE and Saudi consumers are generally happy with how society is developing in their respective states
• Figure: Skeptical Consumerism: there are four reasons why trust and ethos based branding are of increasing importance
• Figure: Majorities in most European countries trust business less following developments in 2008-09
• Figure: A ' trust void' is apparent among Europeans when it comes to the nutritional claims made by food and beverage manufacturers and the integrity of food and beverages aimed at children
• Figure: Europeans believe that ' doctor branded' beauty products are far more credible than those which only tout anti-aging benefits
• Figure: Only Italians and Russians are relatively confident that declarations of ethical practices by corporations can be trusted
• Figure: Majorities in the US, Canada and Mexico trust business less following developments in 2008-09
• Figure: Little trust is displayed in food and drink claims by consumers in the Americas, particularly in the US
• Figure: Consumers in the Americas display a little more trust in personal and household care products
• Figure: A level of cynicism exists among consumers in the Americas when asked about the ethical practices of corporations
• Figure: Majorities in most Asia Pacific countries trust business less following developments in 2008-09
• Figure: Asians in emerging markets are showing more trust in food and beverages claims, while Australians are most skeptical about claims aimed at children
• Figure: In Asia Pacific, consumers are generally skeptical about claims made by personal care products and household care products
• Figure: Japanese, Australian and Korean respondents express considerable skepticism towards declarations of ethicality
• Figure: Europeans generally believe that functional food and beverages are better/safer than GM food but there is skepticism towards both
• Figure: Europeans are more concerned about the chemicals in household and laundry cleaning agents than parabens used in beauty products although this is arguably mediated by knowledge gaps
• Figure: Brazilian and US respondents are broadly favorable towards the addition of nutrients and other substances not usually found in food and beverages, but not through genetic modification
• Figure: Some consumers in the Americas display concern over the potentially harmful impact of chemical ingredients in personal and household care products
• Figure: In Asia Pacific, worries about genetically modified foods are prevalent
• Figure: In Asia Pacific, consumers express high concern about additives and chemicals used in products, particularly with household care and laundry products
• Figure: The vast majority of Europeans are in agreement that technology has improved everyday life
• Figure: Opinion in Europe is polarized about the future impact of technology progress on quality of life with Spaniards the most positive and Germans the most negative
• Figure: The majority of Brazilians and Americans believe that science and technological progress helps to improve their lives
• Figure: US citizens are somewhat wary that society is overly dependant on electronics and gadgets
• Figure: In Asia Pacific the level of skepticism about science and technology is generally very low
• Figure: A downward global economic cycle is the precursor to a renewed phase of cocooning behavior
• Figure: Despite health statistics indicating the contrary, Europeans are generally satisfied with their health although less so about their physical fitness
• Figure: Brazilians and Americans are far more satisfied with their general health than physical fitness
• Figure: Japanese and Korean consumers are the least confident about their general health and overall nutritional quality of their diets
• Figure: KSA and UAE consumers are overly sanguine when assessing their health in general
• Figure: Europeans are moderating their eating habits in light of the economic downturn, lowering the frequency of their eating out occasions and cooking from scratch more often
• Figure: Despite the economic downturn intensifying a cocooning mentality, a desire for comfort and indulgence means the majority of Europeans have not sought to significantly change their spa/salon usage habits
• Figure: Though Europeans are choosing to drink less often in on-trade venues, they are not trading up in their choices of alcoholic beverages at home to a significant extent
• Figure: US and Brazilian consumers are cutting back on some eating expenses, primarily by cocking more from scratch at home
• Figure: Brazilian consumers have been making more effort than Americans to reduce their visits to spas and salons in order to save money
• Figure: Self-reported on-trade visits among both Brazilian and US drinkers were down in 2008-09, but this was not fully compensated by a conscious effort to drink more frequently at home
• Figure: South Koreans in particular appear to be cutting down more on their meal spending in order to save money
• Figure: In an effort to save money, Japanese consumers appear less concerned about cutting down on their usage of spas or salons, while South Koreans exhibited the most behavioral change
• Figure: Asia Pacific consumers, more than their global counterparts, report that that have been making more conscious efforts to drink more frequently at home
• Figure: UAE and Saudi consumers have been cutting down on out-of-home meals
• Figure: MENA consumers are making conscious efforts to use spas and salons less often as they look to make monetary savings
• Figure: French and Russian consumers are particularly houseproud, which is in stark contrast to Italians
• Figure: Brazilians are particularly houseproud, which is consistent with the prevalence and importance of ' Visual Culture' in the country
• Figure: Japanese consumers do not subscribe to the notion that they are houseproud
• Figure: Knowing the origin of groceries has become more important to Europeans in the past few years
• Figure: Consuming locally produced food and drinks is more important to European consumers than locally produced alcoholic beverages
• Figure: The origin of grocery products has become significantly more important to consumers in the Americas
• Figure: Locality is less influential in shaping the actual food and alcoholic beverage preferences of both American and Brazilian shoppers
• Figure: Consumers are displaying a higher concern about where the groceries they buy come from than whether the products are produced locally
• Figure: More than one-in-five consumers across the five Asia Pacific markets covered are frequently trying to purchase food and drinks products locally to where they live
• Figure: Generally regional consumers are keen to purchase locally produced food and beverage products
• Figure: In the UAE, Australasians, Europeans and North Americans are the making the least effort to purchase locally produced food and beverage products
• Figure: Regional consumers increasingly want to know where their groceries come from
• Figure: European consumers are deeply skeptical regarding the trustworthiness of foods imported from other countries
• Figure: Some concern over foreign grocery products can be seen among consumers in the Americas
• Figure: Asia Pacific consumers are concerned about the origin of products they buy, with consumers in the more developed markets especially skeptical about imported food products
• Figure: Regional consumers feel, on balance, that foreign brands are sufficiently aware of cultural and regional variations in taste
• Figure: Regional consumers, incensed by the Mumammad cartoon controversy, cited Western disrespect as the underlying cause of the dispute
• Figure: Though more consumers believe immigration to be a good thing than a bad thing, there are sizable numbers embracing opposite perspectives
• Figure: Chinese consumers are the least tolerant towards consumers of different nationalities/ethnicities
• Figure: Consumers want to slow down the pace of life and form stronger relationships with loved ones
• Figure: Europeans display contradictory attitudes in that they believe that choice is too varied, but list it as an important factor in determining where they shop for most of their groceries
• Figure: Europeans tend to choose brands that they are familiar with and trust when considering purchases of foods and non-alcoholic beverages
• Figure: A sizable percentage of Europeans tend not to notice new products in the personal care sector
• Figure: Around half of European consumers are brand loyal when it comes to purchasing household cleaning and laundry products
• Figure: Europeans display relatively high brand loyalty regarding their alcoholic drinks purchases
• Figure: Mixed attitudes to choice proliferation can be seen among consumers in the Americas
• Figure: Experimentation and a wide variety of products are not particularly evident among consumers in the Americas
• Figure: Attitudes towards choice in personal care products show variations in the Americas
• Figure: Habit is important in guiding household care product choices of Brazilian and US consumers, although many are at least somewhat attentive to new product releases
• Figure: Habit and loyalty mean consumers in the Americas regularly purchase their favorite alcohol brands
• Figure: Asia Pacific consumers tend to agree that there too much choice exists in the grocery market, but that choice is influential on where they do most of their shopping
• Figure: Consumers in Asia Pacific are more attentive towards new food products than soft drinks
• Figure: Personal care/beauty consumers in developing markets tend to be more influenced by habit or preferred brands, especially in Indian and China
• Figure: Japanese consumers are least attentive towards new household cleaning and laundry products, and are less influenced by habit or preferred brand
• Figure: Japanese and Korean consumers are more attentive to new alcoholic drinks and are less influenced by brands
• Figure: Product range is important to regional consumers
• Figure: The overwhelming majority of Europeans agree that there is too much advertising for them to comprehend each message on its merits
• Figure: The majority of consumers in the Americas agree that there is too much advertising
• Figure: Most consumers in the Asia Pacific region agree that there are too much advertising nowadays
• Figure: The majority of Europeans aspire to be living a less complicated lifestyle
• Figure: Feelings of tension and overwork are commonplace for Brazilian and US consumers
• Figure: Many Asia Pacific consumers view leading a less complicated lifestyle as important
• Figure: Stress levels have worsened significantly in the UAE an Saudi as the wider implications of the global financial crisis have influenced the region
• Figure: UAE and Saudi respondents were more content with their sleep routines than the global average
• Figure: Nearly a quarter of UAE and Saudi consumers are dissatisfied with their daily energy levels
• Figure: UAE and Saudi consumers unhappy about their work-life balance
• Figure: UAE consumers have seen their work-life balance worsen dramatically in 2009
• Figure: Leisure time maximization has becoming increasingly critical in the UAE and Saudi Arabia
• Figure: Materialism is far more apparent in Russia than elsewhere in Europe
• Figure: Attitudes to wealth and credit in the Americas are not particularly positive and have become less so over the course of 2008-09
• Figure: Consumers in North-East Asia place a lot of emphasis on accumulating material possessions
• Figure: In these straightened economic times credit is seen by many UAE and Saudi consumers as a means to maintain lifestyle
• Figure: More than a third of Europeans are dissatisfied with their work-life balance
• Figure: The importance of spending time with friends and family has increased for many Europeans in recent years, perhaps in recognition that they have not been doing this enough
• Figure: Spanish consumers in particular are finding it more important to maximize their leisure time
• Figure: Nearly a third of Russian parents consumers feel that they are not able to spend enough time with their children
• Figure: Consumers in the Americas actually display a reasonably high level of satisfaction with their work/life balance
• Figure: Socializing with friends and family continues to gain importance with consumers in the Americas
• Figure: Maximizing leisure time is another important factor that Brazilian and US consumers have attached increasing importance to in recent years
• Figure: There are relatively high levels of satisfaction over the amount of time spent with children among US parents
• Figure: Japanese and Korean consumers express the least satisfaction with their work-life balance
• Figure: Only a small proportion of consumers in Asia Pacific believe it has become less important to spend time with their friends and families
• Figure: Maximizing leisure time is important for consumers in Asia Pacific with high tempo lifestyles
• Figure: Korean parents are the most dissatisfied with the time spent with their children
• Figure: Many regional consumers are unhappy with their work-life balance
• Figure: More regional consumers are happy with the amount of time spent with their children compared to their overall work-life balance
• Figure: Spending time with friends and family has become an growing priority for many MENA consumers
• Figure: MENA consumers have become significantly more leisure conscious over the last two years
• Figure: There are different forms of nostalgia, some of which provide more mass marketing opportunities than others
• Figure: A lack of consumer confidence in difficult times is the main driver for nostalgia and traditional products
• Figure: Nostalgic consumption is a trend in Europe that has been building up over several years, though in some countries more than others
• Figure: In 2006, US consumers were not making radical changes to their consumption on the basis of nostalgic appeal
• Figure: Authenticity is important to MENA consumers
• Figure: In Germany and the Netherlands in particular, there appears to be a resurgence and/or ongoing preference for established/traditional flavors
• Figure: A desire to experiment with new flavors is not wholesale among consumers in the Americas
• Figure: Asia Pacific consumers from more developed markets are less likely to have tried new and exotically flavored products
• Figure: Around half of Europeans cook evening meals from scratch at least five times a week
• Figure: Although Europeans say that authentic foods and beverages are appealing, this factor does not necessarily sway them to make product purchases
• Figure: Scratch-cooking is already fairly common among consumers in the Americas
• Figure: Authentic food and drinks is an appealing concept to many consumers, but this is not reflected by a high influence on consumption patterns
• Figure: Korean consumers are making the most effort to move from consumption of convenience foods to meals cooked from scratch
• Figure: Asia-Pacific: products marketed as authentic or home-made appeal to consumers but not necessary considered as an important influencer in decision-making
• Figure: Regional consumers are making more of an effort to cook from scratch
• Figure: Home made and ' authentic' food and drinks products are very popular regionally
• Figure: There are differences between consumer values and attitudes