Understanding Retail Consumer Trends

want to know the dirty little secret about trend forecasting? while everyone's obsessing over what's "next," the real innovators are already capitalizing on what's here. i've spent weeks analyzing reports from YouTube, Meta, Spotify, and others. here's what's actually changing (and what's just recycled thinking): 3 massive shifts happening RIGHT NOW: 1. emotional depth revolution ↳ gen Z isn't asking for personalization, they're demanding real connection ↳ example: patagonia turning product repairs into community narratives 2. AI moving from behind the scenes to center stage ↳ we're shifting from AI-powered to AI-partnered ↳ brands winning: look at snapchat's AI characters giving style advice 3. hybridized experiences taking over ↳ physical spaces becoming content studios ↳ digital/physical divide? it's already disappearing bottom line: 2025's "trends" are unfolding in today's consumer behavior. the most successful brands aren't waiting for tomorrow - they're acting on the patterns hiding in plain sight. question is: what signal are you seeing today that you can act on while others are still planning for tomorrow? #FutureOfBusiness #Innovation #DigitalTransformation #MarketingStrategy #Leadership

You feel it in surveys first. Then you see it in earnings. 📉 Consumer sentiment has been sliding for months. Now it’s showing up in the numbers. PepsiCo just reported a revenue and profit decline, cutting its full-year forecast. Their CFO summed it up bluntly: “Relative to where we were three months ago, we probably aren’t feeling as good about the consumer now.” Translation: : ⚠️ The vibe is off. And it’s not just Pepsi: 🌯 Chipotle posted its first same-store sales drop since 2020. 🧺 Procter & Gamble says Americans are doing less laundry to save on detergent. ✈️ American Airlines and Delta Air Lines pulled full-year guidance, citing volatile travel demand. This isn’t a single company issue - it’s a sentiment shift at scale. From burritos to beverages, laundry loads to leisure travel - the pullback is emotionally driven. Not because wallets are empty, but because confidence is. And that brings me to one of my favorite niche fascinations: The weirdest recession indicators economists have tracked over the years. The ones that don’t show up in government data sets but do show up when your friend says “I’m just rewatching The Office again” and you understand something deeper is happening. 💄 The Lipstick Index: Coined by Estee Lauder's chairman during the early 2000s downturn. When times are tough, consumers skip big luxuries and go for small pick-me-ups, like a $12 lipstick instead of a $1200 handbag. Emotional arbitrage. 🩲 The Men’s Underwear Index: Alan Greenspan said it, not me. The theory goes that men delay underwear purchases when things are bad, because it's invisible and, let’s face it, not a priority. So if sales dip, watch out. 👗 The Hemline Index: A 1920s theory suggesting hemlines rise during economic booms and fall during downturns, supposedly because modesty (and practicality?) take over. 💅 The Mani-Pedi Barometer: Beauty services are often first on the chopping block when money gets tight. If your nail tech has open slots all week, it might be time to rebalance your portfolio. 📺 The Comfort Binge Effect: Streaming platforms like Netflix have noted spikes in rewatching comfort shows (Friends, The Office) during economic downturns. Less experimentation, more regression to the emotional mean. The economy doesn’t break all at once. It frays at the edges - in nail salons, snack aisles, and streaming queues. Anyway, I’m off to rewatch Friends instead of doing my laundry and make sure my hemlines are recession-appropriate.

I just watched a promising beverage brand disappear from shelves the moment their founder stopped traveling. Not because the liquid was bad. Not because the packaging failed. Because no one advocated for them when they weren't in the room. "My distributor should be selling my product." That assumption just cost a craft RTD brand $2.3M in wasted inventory. Your brand needs advocates even when you're not there. Here's how to build a self-advocate culture: 1. Stop thinking your distributor is your sales team. They're your logistics partner. I shadowed a major distributor rep last month. They presented 14 brands in 18 minutes. Your brand got 77 seconds. 2. Make your sell sheets distributor-focused, not consumer-focused. Distributor reps need 3 things: margin, velocity data, and selling points that fit in a single breath. A spirits brand I helped redesign their sales material saw sales jump 41% in 90 days. 3. Create a portable story, not a perfect one. "It's the only craft vodka that uses local potatoes and sells through twice as fast as the category average." That travels. Your 10-minute origin story doesn't. 4. Build a rep incentive program that's embarrassingly simple. $25 gift cards to the first 5 reps who place your product in a new account type. Complexity kills execution. 5. Treat distributor market managers like your board of directors. When they feel like partners, they act like partners. A non-alc brand I advise sends monthly "insider updates" to their top 10 distributor contacts. Distribution success isn't about getting picked up. It's about creating advocates when you're not in the room. What's one distributor advocacy tactic that's worked for your brand? Truthfully, Sam P.S. Need help building distributor advocacy systems? That's what we do at BevAssets. Or catch more insights on this week's DrinkUp Podcast.

shifting how we viewed digital took chubbies from an 8-figure, negative-profit ecommerce store to a 9-figure, profitable omnichannel brand as a digital-first brand believing DTC was the future, this was a tectonic shift we wish we realized it sooner...would have saved many a sleepless night so you don’t make the same mistakes we did, here’s 1) the mistakes 2) 3 lessons 3) 3 actions you can take today let's do it *the mistakes* at chubbies we built our ecommerce business to 8 figures of revenue before we really understood the role of digital for consumer brands for the first few years, we were fully bought into the ecommerce revolution we thought the role of digital was to offer a convenient place to purchase items you love without the hassle of going to a retail store we thought online retailers were competitors we wanted to own the transaction for brand control and support our ability to measure LTV: CAC since DR, discounts, ROAS and revenue mattered most at the time then we almost went out of business *3 lessons* 1) digital is not for transactions, it's for connections as we deconstructed our business to find scalable profitable growth, we realized the internet’s true value to brands it was not just a vehicle for transactions the value of the internet to consumer brands was that the internet had become the house of brand the internet became where consumers connect with brands across social networks, mailing lists, websites, etc the internet was the place consumers share their thoughts and emotions towards brands freely and openly in a way that billions of people could consume the internet was where consumers learned about their favorite brands, diving into the story and purpose our realization was that this basket of digital behaviors towards our brand was our brand 2) the best way to see the impact of brand was by being omnichannel truth be told, we couldn't make brand work the way we needed it to when DTC only only later did we learn that the measurable impact of "brand marketing" was far higher when we started to be available more broadly in retail compared to being DTC only ...but we had to get into retail (and show up the way we wanted) to make this possible 3) leaning into number 1 ALSO generated the retail demand that made number 2 possible (something we didn't fully realize the value of at the time) *3 actions you can take today* 1) take a hard look at the assumptions driving your view of digital DTC are they still correct? do they need to be reassessed? given where you are as a brand, what's the right strategic view for YOU 2) if the connection vs transaction view resonates, vet your internal capabilities to see if they match what's needed to build those connections put simply, do you have an internal content machine? 3) broaden the definition of 'customer' add the retail buyer into your filter when thinking about how to maximize desire for your brand hope this helps 

According to 𝘦𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳, U.S. influencer marketing spend will hit $𝟭𝟬.𝟱𝟮𝗕 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱—a full year ahead of schedule. • 2024 growth revised up to 23.7% (from 16.0%) • $1.37B in additional spend added to the 2025 forecast • Global market: $35.1B (still just ~4% of global ad spend) • YouTube and Instagram are each pulling in $1B+ more than TikTok    Even with this momentum, influencer marketing is still small relative to the $926B global ad market. There is plenty of room for growth. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗜𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀? Most advertisers approach influencer marketing through a media lens. This overlooks one of the most impactful aspects of influencers - the parasocial relationships. Audiences feel emotionally connected to creators. Creators influence behavior in ways traditional ads can’t: • 49% of consumers make purchases based on influencer posts • 30% say they 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 than six months ago • Daily social media time jumped from 95 mins (2014) → 143 mins (2024) This isn’t just attention—it’s influence. Anyone can by impressions. An emotional investment is far more valuable. 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶-𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 In addition to the parasocial aspect creators bring sooo much to they table: • Credibility • Built-in distribution • Platform-native content/understanding • Audience insight straight from the frontlines • Creative & production They're a swiss army knife of knowledge, production, creative, and distribution. 𝗗espite influencer marketing having been around for 20+ years we’re still early in the adoption curve, it's still new for most advertisers and • YouTube 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 passed 50% penetration with U.S. marketers • Digital video only surpassed TV ad spend in 2023 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 57% of Gen Z wants to be influencers. Social media dominates attention. While influencer marketing is 20 years old there's still so much room for growth. Brands that recognize and embrace creators will be set up for long term success. Because, as VidCon co-founder John Green put it, "number of eyeballs is a terrible metric". His message to brands (which I wholeheartedly agree with) is, that, "if you want to stay in the eyeballs business, that’s fine. I don’t blame you. It is a good business (albeit a shrinking one). But you risk losing relevance with an entire generation of people who look to video not just for distraction but also for engagement and connection." Listen the latest Creator Economy Live podcast where Keith Bendes and I discussed this topic AND sat down with James Del of Passionfruit to explore the future of creators, brands, and advertising. https://lnkd.in/g8Y9BZbe

Gen Z is swooping in to save brick and mortar. We've spent years talking about the "retail apocalypse" and the death of in-person shopping. But something unexpected is happening: According to an article by CNBC, nearly 63% of Gen Z respondents did holiday shopping in stores. Only about 50% said they would make purchases on retailers’ websites and apps during the season, lower than any other generation besides baby boomers. They're ACTIVELY choosing to visit malls and physical stores. But why? The answer lies in how Gen Z views shopping: It's a social experience, not just a transaction. They're combining digital discovery with physical validation The immediacy of in-store purchases appeals to a generation used to instant gratification. And physical retail offers a break from endless scrolling and digital fatigue This isn't your millennial's mall trip. Gen Z blends digital and physical: --TikTok for discovery --In-store for experience and immediate gratification --Social shopping with friends IRL --Mobile payments and digital loyalty programs in physical spaces The future of retail isn't digital OR physical. It's both. Smart brands are creating omnichannel experiences that cater to this hybrid shopping behavior. What's old is new again. Who would have thought the generation that grew up with smartphones would be the one to resurrect physical retail?

Retail spending was about as flat as it could be last month, meaning consumers spent about the same amount on retail such as gas, clothing, food, cars and online shopping as they did the month prior. Typically, retail trade grows slightly each month, and in March we saw a big jump as consumers likely preemptively made purchases in preparation for tariff price increases. Today’s early estimate — which will be revised — suggests a pullback may be beginning. People tend to reduce spending on discretionary items when the economic outlook is grim or uncertain. We’ve seen consumer sentiment souring over the past few months as people find it difficult to know what to expect with new and developing economic policies, and generally that negative sentiment translates into behavior changes. Even though tariff talks of late suggest the impact of these import taxes won’t be as dramatic as initially thought, they still represent a pretty significant shift in trade relations with the potential for real effects on the economy. Though today’s wholesale #inflation numbers and earlier consumer inflation figures suggest inflation continues to cool, that’s expected to change as price increases on imports make their way into the U.S. #economy. Most (85%) of Americans have concerns about the evolving tariffs, according to a recent NerdWallet survey. Their concerns include affording the things they need and even a potential #recession. As such, 45% say they’ll be spending less on non-necessities in the coming 12 months, a sentiment that appears to have made it into today’s hard economic data. Aforementioned NerdWallet survey stats: https://lnkd.in/gAaZe5ii

Many brands think they have an omnichannel strategy… But what they really have is multichannel. Here’s the difference (and why it matters): 👉 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 = Separate touchpoints that run in parallel. Each channel works on its own website, store, email, social — but they’re disconnected. 👉 𝗢𝗺𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 = A unified ecosystem where data, experiences, and interactions flow seamlessly between channels. It’s one continuous journey, not fragmented steps. Why should you care? 🔹 𝗢𝗺𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲. 4% more in-store, 10% more online, and their lifetime value is 30% higher than single-channel customers. 🔹 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿. 89% customer retention rates, vs. 33% for companies with inconsistent touchpoints. 🔹 𝗠𝗶𝗱-𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲. They can build cohesive systems faster than enterprise giants bogged down by complex infrastructure. It’s not just about being present on multiple platforms anymore. It’s about orchestrating every interaction, so the customer feels recognized — wherever they engage. 💡 Imagine this: - A customer researches online → visits the store → gets a personalized follow-up email reflecting both interactions. - They’re recognized by the system across all channels, from web to mobile to in-person. That’s not the future. It’s what winning brands are doing today. So the question is — are you still running multichannel… or are you ready to embrace 𝗼𝗺𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹? P.S. If you found this helpful, consider resharing ♻️ — someone in your network might need to hear this too. --------------------- I'm Raoul Didisheim Pain Points I solve: ⦿ You need your new brand to get noticed. ⦿ You need to update your online presence to regain lost market share. ⦿ Your exit strategy is solid, but your online presence requires polishing to maximize the sale price. 𝗟𝗲𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀

Grateful to be featured in the "Shoptalk Hot Takes" interview by Blenheim Chalcot and ClickZ.com alongside George Looker to unpack omnichannel commerce. 5 key takeaways and tactics from my conversation: 1. Design for Customer Continuity, Not Just Channel Expansion 💡 71% of customers expect brands to personalize interactions across every touchpoint. Tactical: Map out customer journey across channels, then design experiences that recognize and reward continuity—cart persistence, loyalty rewards, browsing history sync, etc. 2. Build the Infrastructure: Unify Data Streams Across All Touchpoints 🧠 Data fragmentation = missed opportunity Tactical: Integrate POS, e-commerce, mobile, social, and marketplace data into a centralized data lake or unified commerce platform. 3. Establish a Single Source of Truth for Customer Profiles 🔍 Brands with unified profiles see up to 2x better campaign performance. Tactical: Implement Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) to consolidate behavioral, transactional, and engagement data into unified customer profiles. 4. Partner Strategically for Scale, Not Just Stack ⚙️ A bloated tech stack doesn’t equal agility As I noted, Retailers are getting sharper about which partners can scale with them. Ecosystem efficiency matters more than ever. Tactical Step: Audit your tech stack and partnerships consistently. Prioritize partners that offer extensibility, future-proofing, and proven omnichannel success. 5. Measure What Matters: Unified KPIs Across Commerce 📈 You can’t optimize what you don’t measure holistically Tactical: Align your analytics stack to report holistically across channels—tie marketing to merchandising, CX to LTV, and inventory to revenue. 🧠 Bottom line: think holistically, move strategically, and build ecosystems that scale experience with agility, not just transactions. Complete list in comment 👇 #ecommerce #omnichannel #unifiedcommerce

The retail customer experience has changed forever thanks to AI. But it's really different today vs. 5 years ago. Let me explain: Five Years Ago... “Best-seller” recommendations. AI-driven tools mostly sorted shoppers into broad categories, leading to cookie-cutter suggestions. Chatbots were scripted and inflexible, often unable to handle real-time changes in inventory or complex customer questions. Predictive analytics were nascent. Forecasting focused on historical sales data rather than real-time signals. Customer Journeys lacked synchronized data. Shoppers experienced one offer in-store and a disconnected experience online. Supply Chain insights largely relied on static spreadsheets, causing delays in restocking and missed sales opportunities. December 31, 2024... Advanced AI uses purchase history, browsing behavior, and contextual cues to shape customized product offerings. Conversational AI handles returns, provides order updates, and even suggests complementary products. Natural language processing ensures smoother, more organic interactions. Predictive intelligence uses real-time data from multiple sources such as social trends and even weather patterns to anticipate shifts in demand, optimizing inventory distribution. Omnichannel integration means buying, returns, and post-sales service function seamlessly across physical stores, mobile apps, and e-commerce sites. AI is the backbone role in harmonizing data. Smart supply chain systems adjust restocks automatically and reroute shipping for efficiency. Fewer out-of-stock items, better stock rotation, and tighter coordination between vendors and retailers. Finally, and here's the wow factor, high-fidelity image recognition, computer vision, and generative AI let consumers visualize products on themselves or in their environments with far greater realism and accuracy. Link to Kolor-Virtual-Try-On in the comments. Just amazing. #ai #retail #customerexperience #machinelearning #digitaltransformation