Moderate and ethical spending key trends for 2010, says Mintel
The organization’s predictions are optimistic for the coming year, largely dealing with how consumers will react as the economy recovers. Its seven top trends for 2010 reflect a broad change in mindset, with ‘resilience’, ‘re-evaluating’ and ‘stability’ making the list.
Director of Foresight at Mintel Richard Cope said: “While in 2009, fear played an important role in shaping consumer behaviour, 2010 will see a return of confidence and adaptation to overcome the restraints previously imposed on consumers.”
However, despite growing confidence, consumers will be adapting to the new economy, Mintel said, moving away from excessive spending toward moderation. The organization suggests that brands can capitalize on this change in behaviour by offering different product options at different price and benefit levels. Mintel said that its research has shown that over half of Brits buy more on promotions and 28 per cent have cut back on luxuries.
Cope said: “Balance has become the new mantra. As consumers find they are able to spend again, we’ll see balanced spending and balanced consumption as key characteristics of next year.”
Nevertheless, ethical sourcing and sustainability will become more important than ever during 2010 as brands look to build trust, Mintel predicts, saying “transparency is no longer a differentiator for brands; it’s a requirement…Ethics will play a large part in rebuilding brands.”
Its research has shown that nearly half of British adults view environmental and ethical issues as important, and 90 per cent of Americans buy green products at least sometimes.
“For businesses to rebuild brands through ethical efforts, they’ll need to connect with consumers, giving them an emotional reason to buy. As consumers demand more from the companies they do business with, they’ll want ethical responsibility to be a chief concern, creating more scrutiny on ethical claims than ever before,” it said.
