Living with uncertainty.
As we enter 2024, uncertainty and volatility remain unavoidable facts of life. And once again this year, getting to the heart of consumer thinking and behaviour will remain a key priority. a reliable source to develop your offerings and reinforce your brand promise.
While the phenomena of consumption - and deconsumption - are now well known thanks to recent published studies, putting aspirations into perspective and understanding them on a macro level in order to reconcile the different findings and deliver a more systemic vision are rarer. And this is precisely the purpose of our observatory on TrendsLabTM which analyses the Company from this systemic angle to deliver a new storytelling and identify future challenges.
The year 2023 has been characterised by multiple tensions, with consumers retreating into their immediate world (home, family) while at the same time adopting increasingly paradoxical behaviour, sometimes defending everything and its opposite. For example, demonstrating for the planet in the morning and ordering on Shein in the evening (sales growth by a factor of 10 between June 2020 and June 2023, 3rd fashion chain where French 18-44 year-olds spend the most, behind Vinted and Kiabi). What can we learn from this?
What we know for sure.
Once again this year, we will see major tensions between beliefs, aspirations and behaviour (the 'say-do' and 'do-do' gaps). Inflation, purchasing power, the need for security, and social networks are continually complicating and reshuffling the deck in terms of behaviour. This is illustrated by the apparent contradiction between the desire to protect the planet and the explosion in air travel (+52.4% between March 2022 and March 2023).
In terms of customer relations, our observatory TrendsLabTM points to 3 transversal aspirations. Brands that succeed in implementing them by rethinking their experience through this prism are more likely to grow faster than their competitors in their market:
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- Less mental workload. We live in an increasingly liquid society, characterised by an acceleration of flows (of time, images, interests, work, etc.) made possible by technology. But this society is stressful, tiring and, for many, alienating, and calls for even greater simplicity, practicality, immediacy, fluidity and security. This affects customer journeys, payment methods, products, services (delivery) and business models (subscription). How to reduce the mental load on customers is a good question to ask.
- More choice. Because we need to re-enchant our lives, expectations of chosen and accessible experiences remain a source of adherence and over-consumption. Not experiences that impose themselves on us and upset us, but experiences that we choose, inexpensive options, supplements to an offer; especially if they bring a surplus of emotions and sensoriality.
- No more links. Faced with a fragmenting society and increasing individualisation, the aspiration to rebuild the collective at various levels is an emerging trend, which can be seen in a number of different phenomena (the decline in teleworking and the return to the workplace, links between generations but also between people and nature, and even with living beings as a whole). Its impact affects services (sharing, second-hand goods, etc.), products and services (see the growth in pet supplies), and communication and marketing methods (even greater personalisation). In the same vein, short-term communication methods will undoubtedly favour 'hotter' channels, more face-to-face meetings and more voice in interaction.
Conclusion
From a marketing perspective, this leads me to make 4 observations about the cultural relevance of brands:
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- Firstly, it is essential to focus on improving customer satisfaction as part of a more holistic understanding of aspirations.
- Clearly identify your strengths in order to reinforce them, and remove the obstacles in the customer journey, whether you are a leader or a challenger, in order to rekindle the reasons for choosing you.
- Move away from a 'soft' positioning or a 'mid-range' offering to connect with expectations of experience and engagement.
- Finally, thinking in terms of service to create an ecosystem that complements the product is a solid area for innovation. And hospitality expertise could become a broader reference point.
After reading these trends, we're convinced that you already know which one to activate in 2024. But if you'd like to discover the current or emerging aspirational dynamics in your market and work on your short- and medium-term challenges, our experts are here to help.
We wish you an inspiring and successful year.
Florence Hussenot
