CONSUMER TRENDS

Trends you should consider when developing your brand strategy

By our News Team | 2022

Going retro, going in-house and getting the last-mile delivery spot-on are all becoming increasingly important to the world’s consumers.

What are the major trends likely to impact brands in the second half of 2022? Expect the ‘rebirth of retro’, last-mile delivery’ and ‘the rise of in-house’ to be among them.

Africa-based trends analyst, Jonathan Cherry, recently spent time scrutinising the ‘Cross-category Trends’ section of the Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable Global Brands 2022 study and has highlighted some of the important changes that he believes are worth noting when compiling a comprehensive brand strategy. Among them:

Consumer trends

Image by Narciso1 from Pixabay

The rise (or rebirth) of in-house

Of course, in-house used to be the norm before globalisation. But recent supply chain disruptions have driven the point home that having more control of your value creation is a powerful strategic moat for a modern brand.

A good example of this Apple’s focus on developing the M1 and M2 chip in its machines. No more Intel inside – Apple is going the vertically integrated route. Retailers are also owning and promoting more of their own in-house brands, as opposed to just selling other people’s brands on their shelves.

Last-mile delivery

Almost every retailer has an e-commerce store in 2022. But where the real differentiator lies is in the success of the last-mile delivery to the customer. Most retailers fail miserably at this, and those that will ultimately win are those that are best at promptly and efficiently getting the product to the end user.

As an example, think about the vast difference in the customer experience you get with many of the grocery delivery apps available in some countries.

The ‘resale effect’ 

Consumers are increasingly choosing to buy new products from brands that they know carry a good resale value.

Resale has for many years been an important purchasing criteria in the auto market, but the same construct is now also relevant for clothing, household, and sport and leisure brands.

Resale economics is a growing and important branding trigger that will no doubt be influencing the manufacturing and second-hand strategies of many brands. Sustainability conscious consumers want to know that their old stuff isn’t going to end up in a landfill.

Retro revival

The rebirth of everything retro is nothing new. But what is being highlighted by Kantar is the want for more ‘retro experiences’. Consumers are looking for brands to take them back in time to a world before constant digital connection and cheap consumer goods.

Nostalgia has always been a powerful branding force and people are yearning for quality, originality and authentic artistic expression.

Read the full article here.

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