Evolving Consumer Landscapes: Key Socio-Demographic Trends Driving Consumer Choices

Introduction

Prevailing consumer trends are fundamentally underpinned by socio-demographic and socio-economic factors. These factors serve to shape our societies, and, when considered in context of the ascendancy, or otherwise, of particular consumer trends, can be used as a powerful input to explain current consumer attitudes and behaviors, and also to measure future trends and their likely success.

Features and benefits

• Detailed data on key indicators across 8 themes: Demographics, Wealth, Work, Home & Family, Education, Urbanization, Migration, & Connective Consumers
• Quantitative analysis on over 30 factors such as population size and growth, employment by sector, spending by category, average incomes, etc
• Helps you to understand the underlying forces that shape consumers’ lifestyles, mindsets and priorities, and thus the development of consumer trends
• Historic and forecast data allows you to track the evolution of the consumer audience, with consequences for future planning
• Covers 20 countries across 5 regions and is essential for all businesses looking to understand the basic forces shaping the modern consumer

Highlights

The shifting center of gravity in populations that are getting older makes it imperative for the industry to understand and respond to the fact that accepted truths about key consumer cohorts will be tested and need adjustment. The emphasis placed on Young Adults as the prime target for marketers will need to be moderated out of necessity.The changes in household status and size have much to do with the lengthening of certain lifestages. People are remaining single for much longer, couples are putting off marriage and having children, and longer lives lead to a longer empty nester/Senior lifestage. The market opportunity in this is that consumers are stretching out various stages.The opportunity for meeting the trading up needs of increasingly sophisticated new middle class consumers in the high growth markets is there. But businesses must however consider that the largest scale opportunity is still that based on ""serving the underserved"" - the overwhelming majority of low income consumers in those countries.

Your key questions answered

• What are the key categories for consumer expenditure?
• How are income levels changing and what effect will this have on consumer behavior?
• Are consumers spending less and saving more in light of the global economic crisis and will this change over time?
• What is driving the aging of populations globally and how will this affect our marketing approaches in the future?
• How are household structures changing and what could this mean for consumer-facing businesses?

Table of Contents

OVERVIEW

Catalyst
Summary

THE FUTURE DECODED

Introduction: Consumer trends are shaped by the demographic, economic, and cultural factors that define our modern societies
DEMOGRAPHICS: Population changes and composition are among the most basic influences on market opportunity
Population size and growth: stagnant population shifts in the 'Old World' of Europe contrast with the greater dynamism seen in the 'New World' and emergent high growth markets
Population by age: aging populations are affecting socio-economic, political and consumer priorities
Populations by gender: gender balanced societies are the norm internationally, but the Middle East and Africa buck the trend
Fertility and birth rates: declining fertility in the developed world adds to the aging of populations and the ascendancy of high growth markets
Life expectancy and death rates: life expectancies globally are becoming more consistent, although a divide persists between the developed and developing worldLife expectancy and death rates form the final component in the overall assessment of population trends. While these are changing over time in a positive way, (namely, lengthening life expectancies for individuals and stability or reduction in death rates), the international picture is characterized by significant variations between high growth markets and the developed world, showing that inequities will continue to persist for the foreseeable future.
Key take-outs and implications: population trends are putting the onus on responding effectively to aging societies
WEALTH: Rising incomes and greater choice shape consumers' expenditure priorities
GDP: GDP/income levels show great disparity based on development, with obvious consequences for CPG opportunities and price point setting
Income by quintile: population growth and economic conditions fuel growth at the bottom of the income ladder
Expenditure by category: high growth market consumers' consumption is still motivated by basic food needs, while developed market consumers' spend most on housing and utilities
Key take-outs and implications: wealth serves as a powerful indicator of market opportunity throughout all levels of society
WORK: Global workforces are being reshaped by economic evolution and post-recessionary realities
Employment and unemployment: the economic crisis has defined the recent history of employment globally
Employment by industry: the service economy is the dominant model globally
Developments in communications mean that homeworking is redefining consumers' daily working lives and thus their consumption patterns
Key take-outs and implications: negative economic trends and the continuing move toward the services sector are currently defining consumers' working lives and their subsequent consumption behaviors
HOME AND FAMILY: Family and household arrangements are becoming ever more complex
Family status: family structures are becoming more diverse and breaking from traditional forms
Marriage: the strength of traditional family models as expressed by marriage rates is increasingly tested in postmodern societies
Divorce rates: family fragmentation is expressed by the propensity for divorce, although numbers are actually falling in many key markets
Household size: family sizes are falling as traditional units break up and diversify, and as parents have fewer children
Age at first child: New parents are getting older
Living arrangements: homeownership rates echo economic circumstances
Key take-outs and implications: increasing diversity in family structures and lifestages makes it harder to compartmentalize consumer groups
EDUCATION: Education trends echo the challenges of socio-economic development and the financial strains of higher study
Secondary education: high growth markets continue to tackle the need to extend secondary education, while developed markets contend with the effects of demographic decline
Rising higher education penetration in high growth markets contrasts the faltering rates recorded in many leading developed countries
Key take-outs and implications: educational levels have profound developmental consequences for both individuals and their countries

URBANIZATION: Intra-national migration patterns continue the historic trend of urban growth at the expense of rural society
Urban drift from rural areas characterizes the modernization of society
Key take-outs and implications: urban drift reinforces the position of urban centers as the drivers of consumer markets
MIGRATION: Internationally mobile populations and their influences are bringing both diversity and homogeneity to markets worldwide
Total and net migration: the economic crisis has slowed migration to leading markets globally, although it remains stronger away from the high growth markets
Key take-outs and implications: migration is fueling the coalescence of consumer attitudes and behaviors globally
CONNECTIVE CONSUMERS: Communication and media consumption are reshaping consumers’ interactions with each other and the products they consume
Broadband penetration defines the era of fast, global consumer connectivity
Mobile phone penetration: global connectivity is being established on the widest basis by the proliferation of mobile communications technology
Key take-outs and implications: modern communications are enhancing connectivity globally and offering new opportunities for marketers to reach consumers

APPENDIX

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