After living through a global pandemic for two years, it is no surprise that consumer needs and habits have changed drastically. Unfortunately, many businesses have struggled to keep up with all the changes and seize new marketing opportunities. Now that we’re living in the new normal, marketers must redefine their buyer persona and rediscover its essential characteristics. To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of the latest global consumer trends.
Social Commerce Growth
The subgroup of electronic commerce, social commerce, is evolving rapidly. According to some reports, by 2026, it’s expected to reach $2.9 trillion. Although the consumers were initially distrustful, they embraced the new shopping opportunities. Some brands and small businesses have found their place in the new market and have thrived ever since. However, putting their trust in social media retailers doesn’t mean consumers will abandon in-store shopping. It still remains their favourite way of buying products along with online retailers, such as Amazon, Etsy, AliExpress, etc.
Brand Humanisation
Over the past few years, influencer marketing and user-generated content have been the biggest marketing trends in the world. The reason why these particular trends became so popular is that they relied on storytelling. Thanks to this technique, brands have become humanised. Consumers don’t want to shop from robotic companies but from human-like retailers. Through storytelling, they develop deeper bonds with their favourite brands that help them reveal their habits and preferences. In turn, brands profit from this bond in many different ways. For example, consumers can deliver personalised, interactive, and immersive experiences.
Environmentally Responsible and Sustainable Products
Consumers think twice before they decide to put their trust in a particular brand. With climate change and the environment as pressing matters, they find environmentally eco-friendly processes and sustainability essential brand values. Thanks to their sustainable products, brands achieve 5 to 6 times higher sales growth than others. More and more consumers want to continue enjoying their favourite products guilt-free. That’s why most of them don’t mind paying extra for ethical and high-quality products. As a result, this consumer trend will become prevalent over the next few years.
Influencer Marketing
No matter how many marketing approaches emerge, word of mouth will remain one of the strongest tools for recommendations. However, referrals from friends, family, and coworkers have got competition — influencers. It can be said they’re the byproducts of the social media world that continue emerging every day. Consumers trust their favourite influencers more than the people in their surroundings when it comes to purchasing decisions. Most influencers have become experts in a specific niche or industry. Online users can find them on any social network and discover new products or services.
Simplified Technologies
The pandemic affected older consumers in more than one way, forcing them to change their habits. Consequently, they’ve started embracing various benefits of digital technologies. Instead of resisting the change, they chose to rely on digital options to improve the quality of their lives. Today, most of them are familiar with different technologies and comfortable using them day in and day out. Since they’ve become online shoppers, businesses’ technologies and processes must be more straightforward than ever. Otherwise, the so-called Digital Seniors will have to go straight to competitors to satisfy their needs.
Consumer Privacy
Despite the continuous evolution of technology, Internet users still have some doubts regarding their privacy. Their biggest concern is how safe their data is shared online during payment or registration processes. Even though they trust certain brands, they feel their privacy has been violated when they discover tracking cookies on their devices. On the bright side, more and more brands are taking the matter seriously and doing what they can to protect their customers at all costs. They’re willing to earn their customer’s trust by being transparent about how they collect and analyse data.
Conclusion
Marketers could have seen some of these trends coming before the pandemic because they’re technology driven. Others share common traits such as convenience and quality. Manufacturers and marketers should keep them in mind when devising future strategies for greater success.
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