Top 10 consumer trends for 2017 launched

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Last year was defined by uncertainty and consumers have reacted to this by tightening their purse strings – with growth in global consumer expenditure slowing to 2.4% in real terms – the lowest rate of growth since the financial crisis.

“Consumers are now more demanding of products, services and brands than ever before and are using digital tools to articulate and fulfil their needs. They want authenticity in what they buy and expect elements of personalisation in mass produced as well as upscale items,” states author, Euromonitor International’s consumer trends editor, Daphne Kasriel-Alexander.

Highlighted trends

• Ageing - A changing narrative: Older consumers are transforming what it means to be older in terms of lifestyle. They are keen consumers of health and beauty products and receptive to tech developments.

• Consumers in training: Children with more power than just family consumption influencers, are exposed to online influence and buying opportunities

• Extraordinary: Accommodating consumers of larger sizes with changes in fashion, wearables, travel

• Faster shopping: Impatient consumers, brands responding with speed-up business models in fast food, grocery, shipping, fashion sectors

• Get real - the allure of authenticity: Brands using customers' photos, home sharing apps share local information, natural food, real-world holiday

• Identity in flux: Consumers looking for their identity in a post-gender world, thinking more collectively and brands being forced to rethink just who their audiences really are

• Personalise it: Examples of democratisation of personalisation abound around the globe, from travel to media to clothing to toys

• Post-purchase: Convenience goes beyond fulfilling customer and actually predicts them, including the post transaction period

• Privacy and security: Volatile world causing anxiety to consumers - focus is on personal safety and that of loved ones

• Wellness as a status symbol: Healthy living is becoming a status symbol, consuming “stuff” not the sole indicator of wealth anymore, shift of consumer interest in wellness.

To download the free report, go to Euromonitor.com.