Consumer Trends 2025 - Planning as Control

Socioeconomic turbulence creates considerable uncertainty and anxiety for the last few years. Political changes, new taxes, redundancies further make the future seem bleak. The trust in governments, companies and other authorities is decreasing. There is no one that can guarantee our future; only we can.?

This external uncertainty wakes up people’s inner warrior and warriors by definition are self-starters, committed and persevering individuals fully in control of everything that happens. And this is what customers are doing now. Their inner warriors are up and they are in control, not you!

What does that mean to brands? Well, customers will be exercising their need for control in everything they do. We had a big taste of it just as the pandemic started. Customers calling out? brands for not doing enough, demanding hyper-personalised experiences and getting giddy at the chance to co-create something with their favourite brands. These are all various manifestations of human sense of control.?

This need for control is actually what feeds human basic need for safety, safety we haven’t been really feeling recently. And because no one seems to be there to make us feel safe, we need to. One way to create some remote sense of control and safety is through planning. Planning expenses, comparing deals and waiting for the right moment to purchase are just some such consumer behaviors. The popularity of price comparison tools have been increasing. The impulsive purchases might still feature strongly as they are an emotional coping mechanism, but can often lead to guilt and shame and will be reduced to the levels of a typical ‘lipstick effect’.

As many brands’ business models rely on impulsive spending, especially in the luxury market, reframing marketing and advertising strategies will become crucial not only to success, but survival. For other brands, providing price promises and comparison tools, added value and AI assistants helping customers make more informed and rational decisions will be winning you customer trust.?

The benefits? Increased commitment to your brand, higher loyalty, positive word-of-mouth, higher sales in the moment (I know, sounds contradictory, but it’s often an effect), higher CLV and higher market share.

Are you ready to put customers in control?

Download our full Consumer Behaviour Trends 2025 Report here: https://humanising-brands.com/consumer-behaviour-trends-2025-report/

Not sure how to best embed this trend into your brand strategy, marketing and even retail design? Talk to us.

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