2022 dealt some turbulent economic circumstances for US consumers. 

From price hikes and inflation to talks of a recession, conditions haven't necessarily made for happy and confident consumers. 

So as people finish up their holiday shopping, we were curious to know how they're feeling heading into the holidays, what their budgets looked like this year, and how inflation impacted their purchasing behavior.

Keep reading for our key takeaways. 

 

Consumer Sentiments

When surveying our sample, we found that more than half (51%) reported their price sensitivity is higher this holiday season than last. With the majority rating their sensitivity a 4 out of 5. 

But this doesn't appear to be a holiday-induced spike. In fact, we've been tracking price sensitivity since July with our inflation study. 

Our data shows that current numbers are right on par with what consumer's reported just 5 months ago. Confirming that while inflation may have slowed, consumer confidence has yet to bounce back. 

And all of this has led to some mental strain, with half of consumers reporting their stress levels are higher than last holiday season.

So what does that mean for brands? 

Meet consumers where they are- this holiday season and beyond.

Keep your ear to the ground and take the time to understand what is affecting your core customer base and use that information to inform your messaging and marketing campaigns. 

Right now, people are concerned about their financial futures and they are more likely to be cautious with their spending. 

So take this time to prioritize your customer relationships over transactions.

 

On Consumer Gift Spending

Despite signs that inflation is slowing, it still looms large over many consumers. With 73% saying inflation has or will impact their 2022 holiday shopping.

So, it should surprise no one that 47% of consumers are spending less on gifts this year. 

But how will they be using that budget? A few categories took the lead. 

The data below shows the percentage of people who plan to purchase gifts in a given category: 

Splurging  

Even with a tight budget- some things are worth spending a little more. 

This year, quality is king, with 67% of people saying they would gladly spend more on higher quality gifts. 

Convenience and fast delivery are also key drivers, with 33% willing to pay more for an easier shopping experience and speedy shipping. 

And of course, we brand loyalty is still a factor. Nearly a third of people are willing to spend a bit more on gifts if the product is from a brand they know and trust. 

 

BONUS: Holiday Travel Snapshot

While we doubt the airports will be anything remotely resembling empty this winter, people are reporting lower rates of holiday travel due to financial stress. 

In fact, the majority (58%) of consumers have no plans of traveling this holiday season. 

And for those that are, only 12% say they will be flying to visit friends and family or take a holiday vacation. 

 

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After a long wait, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have (finally) arrived! 

And if you’re anything like the SightX team, then we have no doubt you’re excited to catch this year's games.

Maybe it's the amazing feats of athleticism that keep us watching. Or perhaps it's the zero-to-hero stories we watch play out right before our eyes. 

Whatever it may be, it captivates us every two years. So our team decided to dig a little deeper. 

In our latest study, we engaged with US respondents to better understand why they love the Olympics, and how they plan on watching the 2020 games. 

Here is what we found: 

Key Findings 

80% of people surveyed are planning to watch at least some Olympic coverage.
The most common reason to watch the games was the excitement of cheering on the USA. 
Of the new sports added in 2020, surfing is what respondents are most looking forward to watching. 🤙
Nike is (by and large) the first brand that comes to mind when people think of the Olympics. 

 

Generational Differences 

As we are known to do, we decided to take our analysis a step further to see if there were any generational differences when it came to Olympic viewing.

But interestingly enough, we found that while our ages may differ, our Olympic preferences are quite similar.

Baby boomer, Gen X, and Millennial respondents all had similar levels of passion and excitement for this year's games. And they even all seemed to agree on the reason: they love cheering on team USA.

But (as usual) Gen Z respondents did have some notable differences.

Between 29%-35% of respondents from older generations planned to watch the opening ceremonies and as much coverage as possible afterward. But, for our younger respondents, that number was just below 6%.

The majority of our Gen Z respondents made it very clear: they won’t go out of their way to watch the games, but if it’s on and it’s a sport they enjoy, they might watch.

Similarly, their top reason for watching the Olympics was simply a love of competitive sports.

 

Hang Loose 

In case you missed it, the IOC approved five (well, technically six) new sports for this year's games. Some of these sports- surfing, skateboarding, karate, and sport climbing- will be making their Olympic debut in Tokyo. While baseball/softball will be returning after a brief hiatus.

With the inclusion of these new sports, we wanted to know what people were most excited to watch.

To our surprise, we found that the overwhelming majority of respondents were looking forward to watching surfing above all. And unsurprisingly, baseball wasn’t far behind- it looks like fans are ready for the game to make its Olympic return.

Unfortunately, skateboarding and sport climbing saw little-to-no love, as both were firmly planted at the bottom of our list. But we have a feeling that might change once people get the chance to give them a try.

Happy watching!

 

And Their Implications for Consumer Insights Leaders

Four weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic and much has already been said about consumer behavior. However, not much has been reported about the psychology of people- their fears, hopes, stress management skills, and maybe, most importantly, the way they view the road ahead.

So, what’s to come after this is all over? What ‘normal’ will consumers go back to?

The following study was done across many industries, exploring the state of mind of those of us, sorry, all of us staying at home. It explores how this situation impacts our discoveries, health, coping, education, and consumption patterns. Responses were captured from 1,000 U.S. based consumers, representative of the general population.

 

1. General Consumer Comfort Levels for Social Activities

When it comes to the concern of contracting Coronavirus, 66% of respondents reported being either concerned or really concerned. When asked about their mental health, consumers rated their stress and anxiety levels an average of 5.9 out of 10. 

We then asked for their feedback in the following scenario: "when the CDC, Health Officials, and the Government announce that it is SAFE to stop social distancing and resume to our (new) normal lives, assuming your income is intact, we would like to ask you about the comfort you would feel with the following activities..."

Respondents were asked on a 5-point scale from Disagree to Agree to what extent they would be comfortable engaging in various activities.

I would feel comfortable going to/riding/flying, etc.

Gatherings of family and friends followed by going to restaurants and bars were the two activities that respondents reported they would feel most comfortable to resume once health officials announce it’s safe to do so.

As expected, activities that include large(er) crowds- like going to casinos, live concerts, or attending sporting events- were at the bottom of the comfortability list for the general U.S. population. While the level of discomfort remains consistently high across all age categories, younger respondents, ages 18 to 38 (Gen Z and Millennials), tended to report anywhere between 3% to 10% higher comfort levels.

Consumer Insight Implications:  Target younger segments and small group events.

If your business involves a group setting, explore offerings you can provide to younger audiences, to the extent your business model allows it. Similarly, see what you can offer for small group events and gatherings.

 

2. Brand Advertising and Outreach

When we asked consumers if they think it is appropriate for brands to be advertising their products and services during this time, 61% thought it was appropriate, 32% felt ambivalent, and only 7% thought it was inappropriate. However, this is likely to evolve the longer the lockdown is in place. 

Diving in deeper: 

• 53% of consumers were interested in hearing about new product offerings
• 63% were interested to hear about any changes in pricing 
• 55% were interested to learn more about new delivery options or offerings.

Consistent with these findings, when asked “What do you think are some of the best things brands can do for their customers at this time?” approximately 35% of respondents wrote about a brand’s capability and willingness to offer products and services that fit within the price they can afford (e.g. lower prices, discounts, new offers, etc.), followed by 10% voicing the need for brands to have or develop delivery options.

Many of the remaining open-ended answers included themes around making sure that brands have their products available, take care of their employees, offer coupons or discounts, and provide good customer service.

Consumer Insight Implications: Follow-up with choice-based studies

Getting the optimal pricing and product offering has always been critical, but now more than ever. As consumers have become more sensitive, it is now crucial for consumer insights teams to identify price sensitivity across various population segments and identify optimal offerings and attributions.

There are two ways brands can address this: 

Conduct price sensitivity segmentation studies to include survey and/or CRM data.

OR

Conduct studies utilizing conjoint and max-diff experiments (ideally with an automated solution)

 

3. Alcoholic Beverage Shopping: A Time for Discovery

32% of respondents reported consuming more alcohol. Moreover, 29% reported shopping online for alcoholic beverages. Those on-line shoppers shared that they were shopping for both familiar and new products. Because, if you’re drinking more, wine not try something different?!

Consumer Insight Implications: What behaviors and products will stick?

On-line beverage shopping presents an opportunity for discovery, which is good news for the beverage industry. Perhaps it’s a coping mechanism, or maybe it’s the lack of access to bars and restaurants, coupled with newfound free time, that's facilitating some behavioral change.

As always, follow-up studies are key to digging into the why behind the changes we see. One insight only presents opportunities for more discovery and understanding of your segments.

 

4. Food: Potential New At Home Behaviors

Across all food categories (canned, perishable, frozen, shelf-stable, and bottled drinks) the results were more straightforward. In all categories, over 50% of consumers are still getting their products by physically going to a store.

The following three options for food purchasing were almost a tie across all categories: curbside pick-up from the store (13.8%), delivery through the store’s website(13.7%), and order from a website/app and shipped to your home (e.g. Amazon) (9%). 59% of consumers are still buying the same food items they were buying pre-COVID-19, but 25% of people were buying new items.

Consumer Insight Implications: What behaviors and products will stick?

Similar to the alcohol category, websites and apps are an increasingly viable option for grocery shopping. How many of these users are new to these apps? Will this behavior stick when they are more comfortable going out in public?

Finding out what items are being purchased, that weren’t before, could give some insights into how consumers are behaving at home and perhaps what new product ideas can meet those needs.

 

5. Health & Wellness

66% of respondents remain concerned about contracting the coronavirus in the upcoming three months. 50% report they are not likely to see their doctor in the next 4 weeks for routine check-ups for ongoing conditions or regular visits.

When we asked respondents to select all the activities that are helping them manage stress, watching movies was the most common activity (67%), followed by staying connected to family and friends (57%), and snacking (44%).

Lastly, 53% of respondents reported being comfortable with Telehealth/Telemedicine, suggesting that this trend will only continue to grow in popularity. 

This is another data point that begs the question: what behaviors that were ‘corona-induced’ will take hold and maintain once the economy is back-up and running? 

Consumer Insight Implications: Connection while being entertained is paramount.

While the media and entertainment industry is currently struggling in this environment, content is still king. Consumers still want to engage but have alternative ways of doing so. A follow-up to explore the various categories of entertainment content, across various audience segments would be worthwhile.

Unsurprisingly, snacking is a major method of stress management, yet many are still trying to stay healthy by exercising. Good luck folks! And please share your tips if you manage to balance the two! But, the fact that two of the highest reported activities are "snacking" and "staying healthy" suggests that many people may be seeking healthy options for snacking that can help them both manage stress and stay healthy.

Telemedicine also seems here to stay, and it will become important to understand all the human drivers, motivations, and challenges when it comes to adopting it at scale.

 

6. It is Time for Education

During troubling economic times, those who can afford it, tend to explore expanding their education and professional development to strengthen their resumes.

In the interest of better understanding the state of consumers’ career development, we asked “are you interested in pursuing further education/professional learning in the next 12 months?”

Slightly over 39% expressed a form of interest in either online or on-site learning. And 44% reported having a strong interest to start further education as a direct result of the current pandemic.

Consumer Insight Implications: The trend of online education will continue to accelerate. But the question remains: How fast and in what areas? 

While there will be greater opportunities to develop relevant educational content, it will be important to segment and find your optimal users. The online experience will need to be one that meets the consumer where they are and with whatever topics they deem interesting.

 

7. Environment & Electric Vehicles

Prior to COVID-19, significant conversations were already happening in all industries around sustainability, the environment, and how to change the behavior of everyday consumers to become more environmentally friendly.

One of the leading categories remains to be electric vehicles. Unfortunately, 77% of respondents reported not being willing to buy an all-electric car if they needed to purchase one. The three biggest reasons preventing them from buying a car were:

1) Too expensive (52%)
2) No place to charge in my area (39%)
3) The car’s range on a single charge (33%)

However, the fourth reason people didn’t own an electric vehicle was that they didn’t have enough knowledge to feel comfortable purchasing one (32%).

Consumer Insight Implications: Educate the masses. 

Changing consumer perceptions on electric cars still has a long road ahead. Pricing remains the number one challenge, whether it’s valid or not. But as the responses show, the onus now may be on the electric vehicle manufacturers to increase their educational outreach.

Only time will tell how we all, as consumers, will respond once we find ourselves back out in the economy- in whatever form that may take. The only thing we are certain of now is that we are uncertain.

So, we research. We engage people, ask questions, and do our best to understand with the hope we can offer educated guesses as to what the future holds.

In the meantime, stay safe, healthy, and reach out if we can help you navigate and understand this current environment and prepare for what's to come.

United Talent Agency (UTA), one of Hollywood's top major talent agencies conducted a consumer study on "Media and Entertainment in the Time of Coronavirus" that found, among other things...

90% of concertgoers have sought to replace the live music experience while under “safer at home” restrictions in the time of COVID-19

UTA IQ, the agency’s data and analytics group, teamed up with market research platform SightX to produce the 56-page study, surveying nearly 1,100 respondents.

UTA says in the study’s overview, "But we also sought to put numbers and facts behind what we believe inherently: that entertainment content emerges as a critical beacon in dark times. It is indeed an ‘essential service’ when factoring the mental and emotional toll that social isolation has taken on nearly every American."

The study returns significant takeaways about the live music landscape, revealing a strong shift toward a wide array of virtual events, with more than one in four saying they’ve already attended a virtual concert, movie night or watch party, fitness class, masterclass or university course and/or a virtual event or conference.

A majority (55%) of live music fans say they are streaming catalogue content from their favorites and 48% of those say the have watched footage of old concerts and other performances. Particularly among the 25-and-under demographic and women, 49% of concertgoers have watched content on social media to fill the void.

46% have turned to livestreaming, and 28% of those have paid to watch a livestream. 25% of the general population have already participated in a virtual/livestreamed concert, and 37% of the general population say they plan to participate in a livestreamed concert.

Significantly, approximately 7 in 10 concert attendees who participated in a livestream concert during this time of social distancing say they plan to continue doing so even after live music events return.

One finding of concern to the live business is that while most concert-going consumers say they miss live, fewer than half say they plan to go to a concert or music festival of any size within the first month of eased stay-at-home regulations.

But it also could signal a time of opportunity. "This hunger for live music, coupled with hesitation regarding future concert-going, sets the stage for accelerated innovation in live music," the study finds.

Respondents, perhaps unsurprisingly, are seeking out comedy- which bodes well for comedians returning to live performance, and should serve as a guidepost for those considering live streaming events in the meantime, with 40% of respondents saying they would like to see livestreamed, stand-up comedy.

Among the study’s conclusions: "Prior to COVID-19, the appetite for virtual concerts was limited. Now, optimizing the virtual experience may be critical to the future of live music. Music tech companies have quickly begun to legitimize the livestream business through ticketing and offering community-based features that hope to replicate the shared experience of attending a live event."

For the full report, click here.

For additional COVID-19 related research from SightX ,  see our study on consumer psychology or learn more about how consumer behavior is shifting across industries. .