Business: Consumer Trends In 2022

Consumer Trends : The volatile context in which we find ourselves requires companies to show their flexibility and be willing to adapt their offer to the new needs of consumers. Covid-19 has shaped the world, altering the rhythms of daily life and creating new habits in all areas in a structural way. For this reason, at a time when digital transformation is taking place, knowing the consumption trends for this 2022 is vital.

The consumer society of these years demands a generalized change in the public and private spheres that should take place in this decade. This study is a preview of what is to come and what we still have to build. Because the future does not come, it is created.

Greater Ethical Sensitivity

News about the collapse of textile factories, deforestation, mountains of waste and other problems related to consumption are becoming more frequent in the media. That is why causing the least possible damage to the environment through small gestures has become the goal of many  consumer Trends internationally.

The search for ethical consumption is already part of a lifestyle that is becoming more and more widespread. However, the growing connections of the world, both in terms of information and supply chains and flows of goods, have a direct consequence on consumption trends in 2022.

Consumer Trends who want to cause as little damage as possible to their environment must deal with a time-consuming flow of information that occurs in sometimes contradictory contexts and causes. The pressure to consume “correctly” grows as the amount of information increases. In this way, manufacturers are acting to offer users possibilities to integrate sustainability into their daily lives through small gestures.

In this way, Consumer Trends can easily find out how climate-friendly a company is compared to others and choose the greenest option.

The search for ethical consumption has become part of the lifestyle, image and self-care of many people. The optimization of the body and mind is followed by the need to understand and improve the impact of individual behavior not only on health, but also on the environment.

To improve your personal carbon footprint, more and more companies are offering apps and other tools to track your impact, both in the analog and digital worlds.

The Humanization Of Animals

The pet industry has experienced explosive growth. In the United States alone, nearly 85 million households have a pet, and in the last 30 years, pet ownership has jumped from 56% to 68% in all households, according to The American Pet Products Association.

Expenditure around pets skyrockets in sectors ranging from health and food, through fashion or technology. From snacks and delicatessen, to haute couture clothing. The data suggests that the demand for pet services will increase across all service touchpoints, making it another consumer trend in 2022.

Weddings, birthdays, exhibitions or beer for dogs. The big business of humanizing pets raises the paradox of how inhumane it is to humanize an animal. There has been a cultural change compared to previous generations. Pets’ relationship with technology has generated a growing demand for products such as GPS’s, cameras and health-conscious wearable devices such as heart monitors.

Do Taboos Still Exist?

Time passes, but taboos remain. The protection of freedom of expression, evolutionary development or even the weakened notion of sin, protected in the past by anachronistic religious dogmas, are not enough to continue to exist issues about which it is difficult for us to speak freely.

Advertising, driven by complaints from activist groups, begins to change the tone and script of the campaigns to end stereotypes and prejudices, through an intersectional perspective that encompasses voices that, until now, were silent. This will drive other of the aforementioned consumer trends during 2022.

The objective of this new marketing is not only focused on the visibility of popularly banned topics , but also has the intention of changing our perception of different realities that until now could be uncomfortable. 

Recognizing the taboos that affect us and converting these limitations into opportunities is key to normalizing the naturalness of discomfort that should not be such , letting go of ‘what will they say’ and thus being able to move forward in society. 

The Importance Of Food 

More and more people are aware of their diet and the food they eat. What is of concern is not only the preparation of the products and the eating habits themselves, but also the moral values that underlie them. The origin of food and the ecological impact of its production are taking center stage.

Biological and medical research have made their way into the food industry and everything indicates that human beings will be able to feed themselves efficiently without resorting to animals. Many companies are reflecting on how to tune all their work towards a greater food good, beyond focusing on communicating the benefits of their products.

New companies in the food industry compete for people’s attention using aesthetic products, exotic ingredients and unusual combinations.

For their part, Consumer Trends are adapting the diet to their individual lifestyle. In the new communication channels and social networks, the individuality of people is highlighted through new food combinations. Consumers themselves are trying to reduce their dietary emissions by choosing regional, organic and plant-based foods. For this reason, the creation of orchards anywhere and moral nutrition are two rising consumption trends in 2022.

Furthermore, synthetic biology enables the engineering of cells that can be used in food manufacturing. They can transform raw materials into nutritional components, providing safer, more nutritious and sustainable future food to improve people’s lives.

Individuality And The Cult Of “I”

Society demands to project a successful image in all areas of life. Social networks are a clear example of this need and, today more than ever, their inappropriate and narcissistic use can lead to distorted perceptions of reality, feelings of invincibility or hypersensitivity to criticism, among others.

In recent months, the media have echoed news featuring current figures who, far from admitting the error, have tried to justify, in many cases, what is unjustifiable.

For this reason, a debate is opened about the fine line that separates security and self-acceptance versus showing selfish, manipulative and little empathic behavior towards society as a whole.

An individual oriented to pleasure and hedonism where enjoyment and personal pleasure matter, placing himself in a very individualistic position of looking after, solely, his personal interests. An exposed society where we all look and at the same time are looked at all the time; where each subject is the object of his publicity”.

For this reason, in the face of social networks that promote an excessive cult of the self , new platforms are emerging that seek to return to authenticity and establish connections between equals.

NFTs: A New Avenue For Exclusivity 

The so-called “Crypto Collectibles” are digital objects that are stored in the blockchain, mainly in the form of tokens. So-called non-fungible-tokens (NFTs) are unique to each item and cannot be exchanged one-for-one like cryptocurrencies.

The authentication and limitation of these digital contents derived from the decentralized storage and the traceability of the transactions offered by the blockchain results in the option of generating articles that present artificial scarcity and that are constituted as rare collectibles in different sectors, such as art. , fashion, sports or video games, among others. In this way, NFT galleries have emerged.

For many, this technology is the right formula to maintain the exclusivity of different items, from trading cards to works of art, and allows the reestablishment of a market hitherto threatened by the ease of creating digital copies. NFTs are also positioned as a new investment channel.

Neo-Traditional Marketing 

In times when the maxim of ‘innovation as the key to evolution’ resounds everywhere, we are witnessing, perhaps paradoxically, the resurgence of costumbrismo in artistic styles in marketing and brand communication.

The topics are intensifying and the mythical “if it works, don’t touch it” gains evidence after the pandemic. Pride and nostalgia for the local culture returns. The decrease in globalization experienced in the last year and a half has encouraged the recovery of typical elements of folklore, in search of authenticity and a return to the origins that were being lost.

What was previously alien, now becomes your own. Brands are betting on typical and identity elements as a way to communicate their purposes. Marked codes such as fairs, vacant lots, taverns, catchy tunes, products with their own faces and popular names burst in again with the force of past times. On the other hand, social networks like TikTOk are very strong in the new digital marketing.

The Purpose Over The Product

The purpose of a brand has gone from being one more heading in the corporate mission statement, to becoming a fundamental pillar to convince consumers who are increasingly informed, aware and critical of the decisions they make regarding a brand.

This business purpose is not only based on not doing evil, but also on causing a positive impact in different dimensions , positively influencing the components of the value proposition. The key point of this type of consumer trend in 2022: buy what you believe in.