22nd January 2021
The driving forces behind the trends for 2021 are, unsurprisingly, resilience and adaptability. A new whitepaper from Euromonitor International has found the trends that will shape the coming year have been created, influenced, or accelerated by the COVID19 pandemic. The paper details the top 10 global consumer trends, which provides valuable insight and opportunity for those businesses that are willing and able to provide the goods and services sought by these consumers. Among the top 10 that are particularly relevant for the foodservice and hospitality sector are:
- Build Back Better. Consumers have an expectation that businesses will rebuild in an ethical and sustainable way. Businesses need to consider the impact on society and the environment when developing products and services. The demand is for a value-driven economy, not merely a profit-driven one.
- Crave Convenience. Impulse Occasions have been severely reduced due to the pandemic. For the business owner, reducing the anxiety of a consumer whilst they undertake their planned outings is the new ‘convenience’. Consumers are craving reduced queuing, social distancing, QR codes, tap-and-go options, and helpful, compassionate customer care.
- Playing With Time Staying at home, either willingly or by requirement, is a new part of life. Successful businesses will be those who provide solutions that address the consumer desire to maximise time, offer increased flexibility, especially with products and services that can be accessed from or near the home.
- Safety Obsessed. Called the new ‘health movement’, consumers have an increased health awareness. Reassuring your customers about hygiene and safety is essential. Businesses should look for innovative measures to reassure customers, which should be driven by the premise of less contact, same service, more hygiene.
Other trends explored in the paper talk around consumers’ need for thriftiness, our restlessness of a just world, and our embrace of open spaces. For the full report, click on the link below