Consumption has hit the brakes in Canada.

The pandemic is transforming the lives of consumers. They are becoming much more prudent.
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After a decade of growth followed by a drop in 2019 and accelerated by the pandemic ever since, consumption enthusiasm is stuck in neutral.

 

Our consumption enthusiasm index has definitely hit the brakes!

Canada, 2011-2021, Panorama Study

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After the recession of the late 2000s, the marketplace became a very exuberant place. Consumers’ appetite for consumption and innovation grew steadily until 2018 – a frenzy that responded to their equally growing desire for gratification.

The year 2019 signalled a break. Consumers began to be more cautious, which echoed their rising concern about the uncertainty and complexity of life today and their sense that they were losing control over their lives.

In 2020, the pandemic accelerated this shift toward caution, which remained quite stable in 2021.

The opportunity for brands that appeal to consumption enthusiasts.

The best approach with this group is to ritualize the purchasing act as much as possible, as well as the use of products and services by enhancing the attributes that provide gratification, pleasure, stimulation, play, etc.

The entire user experience, from the product or service to its applications, should be reviewed for the purpose of optimizing the gratification consumers derive from it.

From the in-store or online experience, from the packaging to the merchandising, to every channel used for marketing communications: every touchpoint can be tweaked to optimize the pleasure these enthusiasts derived from it.

The opportunity for brands that appeal to the most cautious consumers

With these customers, you need to have the courage to encourage them to reduce their consumption to the minimum, to tell them not to buy anything if they don't really need it. Frugal consumption based on essential needs, that features repairing and a circular economy (Patagonia, for example).

What’s key is to identify on which side of the trend your users, prospects and audiences are located.