Global Consumer Trends: Comfort

Global Consumer Trends: Comfort published by Datamonitor in September, 2009. This report consists of 190 pages and the price starts from US $ 3995.

Introduction

Abstract

Introduction

The Comfort mega-trend is driven by demands for safety, escapism, simplicity and tradition. In many ways, the Sensory versus Comfort mega-trend trade-off represents the problems associated with balancing a desire for new experiences and change with desires for stability and familiarity.

Scope of this research

• Detailed trend analysis outlining what constitutes ' value' for consumers (trends are, after all, a reflection of what' s important to consumers)
• Global in focus, but also offers country-by-country and sector-by-sector insights thereby catering to top-line or more specific information needs
• Covers all major FMCG sectors, but also with applicability to wider consumer goods audiences
• One of 10 dedicated mega-trend reports outlining the most important issues shaping global consumers' buying behavior both now and in the future

Research and analysis highlights

Good trend-watching is about taking the bigger-picture approach. Adopting a broader global perspective to trend-tracking facilitates better decision making by overcoming ' category myopia' . Monitoring the broader FMCG environment will enable bigger picture learning that can be applied more specifically

A considerable ' trust void' is apparent in Europe when it comes to commercial enterprises in general and the specifics of the product they produce and market. Datamonitor research has found that consumers across the continent do not automatically accept stated product claims

Only a minority of consumers in the Asia Pacific region stated that they found food products and ingredients imported from other countries to be either ' trustworthy' or ' very trustworthy' . Given that the majority of consumers are predisposed to distrust foreign ingredients, this is a significant proportion of the market to potentially lose out on

Key reasons to purchase this research

• Understand the significance of the different Comfort-aligned trends across territories and FMCG sectors to help support market diversification plans
• Save time and gain maximal insight by using this ' one-stop-shop' resource which offers a clear and up-to-date framework for understanding consumers
• Access data from two waves of global primary research to increase the likelihood of being ' on-trend' with NPD and marketing activities

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

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