A new McKinsey survey of 25,000 consumers in 18 countries reveals trends in how people are spending their time and money.
Some “duh” findings, but also some things that are really interesting and even paradoxical.
Among the highlights:
-
People are spending more time alone and online (duh!)
-
But, ironically, social media (particularly influencers) have become consumers’ least trusted source of information. This is true across ages and income groups and in every country except for China. And this looks much different than it did just one year ago, but marketing budgets haven’t yet caught up to that reality.
-
Gen Z is the highest splurging generation around the world, although it isn’t clear from the report if this is because of their generation, per se, or because much of Gen Z is in its 20s, people are marrying and having children later, and therefore they have more disposable income.
-
But while people are splurging more in certain categories, they are also trading down in other categories. Not necessarily buying more private label, but often buying their preferred brand just in lesser quantities, which is different from the 2008 recession when people shifted significantly to private label.
-
Gen Z is less into “organic” and “natural” than older cohorts but are much more into “protein.”
-
People are buying local, especially in the EU. Local, to be specific, means domestic brands (not necessarily just from the farmer’s cart down the road.)
In the Q&A linked above, the authors conclude by noting that brands are able to respond to these trends more quickly, thanks to AI helping create marketing content and push innovations and new products into market at a fast pace.