Mintel: Trust and value will be two top trends in 2018

Market research firm Mintel has listed four key trends it expects to impact North American consumer markets in 2018.

Mintel predicts that:

• Companies will take a stand, speak out and prove that they’re trustworthy as consumers reprioritize who and what they believe in.

• Greater opportunities will exist for brands to align their efforts with value and to prioritize bargain-hunting consumers as the stigma of shopping with a coupon is long gone.

• With widespread turmoil and unfavorable news at their fingertips, consumers will focus on self-care as they seek to better themselves in the year ahead.

• While humans have been using speech and images to communicate for thousands of years, technology will finally catch up through voice- and visual-based devices and software.

“We’re living in a post-truth and post-trust world,” said Carli Gernot, Mintel’s manager of trends/North America. “As consumers grapple with news that may or may not be ‘fake,’ with corporations acting in ways that foster mistrust, and with organizations voicing beliefs and philosophies, more consumers will reprioritize who and what they trust in 2018. In fact, just 5 percent of Canadians say they trust the news stories they read on social media sites, according to Mintel research. Today, trust has become one of the strongest drivers in how consumers choose products, services, and which organizations and politicians to support.”

Gernot said that consumers, on the whole, are feeling more positive about their money — 43 percent of Americans describe their economic situation as “healthy” in 2017, according to Mintel research, although they are still cautious with spending.

“More brands are focusing efforts to align with values, but value matters just as much to many consumers, and for a significant portion, it’s the most important factor in their shopping decision,” Gernot added.