Consumer spending is being reshaped by five converging forces. Macro shocks now hit wallets before prices move, rewarding brands built for stability. Inflation has forced consumers to ask whether a category belongs in their lives before choosing a brand. Income polarisation means two structurally different consumers coexist in the same market, each needing a different proposition. Leisure time is now displacing habitual purchase. And health has become the filter every category is judged by.
Delivery
This report comes in PPT.
Key Findings
The market shifts before the meeting room does
Geopolitical events and policy announcements now shift consumer spending intent within days, not quarters. The sweeping tariff regimes of 2025 triggered immediate consumer anxiety and spending restraint - well before any price change reached the shelf. The geopolitical turbulence of 2026 has reinforced the same pattern - each new escalation compressing the response window for brands operating on annual planning cycles closer to zero.
The first question is now: do I need this?
Accumulated price increases have forced a new first question before any purchase: does this category still belong in my basket at this price? Brand choice comes second. Products that fail the necessity test are not losing to cheaper competitors - they are being removed from the basket entirely.
Serving everyone now means serving no one
Low-income consumers have not stopped buying branded goods - they buy fewer, less often and with sharper scrutiny. High-income consumers have not stopped seeking value - they pay a premium only where quality is genuinely delivered. Both are underserved by propositions designed for an average consumer that no longer exists.
Attention is the new shelf space
Consumer time is now the scarcest and most competitive resource in the market. Brands that earn a place in leisure rituals, community occasions and social moments are sustaining relevance and volume. Those absent from these moments are becoming commodities that consumers buy on price alone.
Wellness now governs every category
Wellness has become the primary lens through which consumers evaluate purchases across food, beauty, apparel and supplements simultaneously. GLP-1 is the clearest proof: one health shift simultaneously restructuring demand in food, apparel, bridal, beauty, footwear and capital markets analysis. No sector is downstream of this trend.
Our expert’s view of Income and Expenditure
Key findings
Steering through shifting consumer economics
Top five trends in Income and Expenditure
Top five trends uncovered
The gap between announcement and action is now a competitive position
Lacteos Silvia: Format innovation as response to macro-driven income collapse
Knorr mini-meals: Format innovation as proactive consumer-protective response
Stability is the growth strategy that works in this environment
Consumers have permanently revalued what a basket is worth
General Mills Cheerios Protein: Rebuilding the category necessity case from within
Growth follows the brand that answers the necessity question first
In a polarised market, neutrality is not safety - it is irrelevance
Penny Italia Foreveryou : A distinct proposition for a growing, overlooked consumer
Kroger four-tier own label: Competing across the entire income spectrum
Opportunities at both ends, nowhere in the middle
Experiences are not competing; they are replacing
Harley-Davidson and Insta360: Scaling community-led consumption partnership
Wall’s launched "Minecraft" experiential ice cream for gamers
How to earn a place in the moment that matters
Health is the operating system of every category
David’s Bridal Fit Guarantee: The health economy reaches the wedding aisle
Mercedes-Benz Energizing Comfort: The car as a wellness environment
Where the health economy creates room to grow
Future implications
Opportunities for growth
NEW REPORT GUARANTEE
If you purchase a report that is updated in the next 60 days, we will send you the new edition and data extraction Free!