We’re just getting back up to speed after Easter, so we’ve prepared something a little different this week. Most of the time we’re looking out for what’s changing in the world and how it might affect you – this time we’re highlighting the things that don’t change, and probably never will. For one week only, this is the GWI oldsletter.
Scroll down for some delightfully unchanging data.
Stasis to power your week
🚚 If consumers around the world share one enduring thing in common, it’s a love of free shipping. In all of our tracked markets, it’s their number one desire when shopping online except in Egypt (where it’s cash on delivery) and Indonesia/Thailand (coupons). Not only that, it’s been the most requested feature every wave for almost a decade. GWI Core
📻 Radio stations have been transmitting for over a century. And even as streaming and podcasts have grown in recent years, it remains remarkably resilient. The amount of time consumers spend listening to the radio in a typical day has consistently hovered around the hour mark since 2012. Perhaps video didn’t kill the radio star after all. GWI Core
🦠 For obvious reasons, 2020 had some of the biggest data fluctuations we’ve ever seen. But when lockdown was first introduced in the UK, some things changed surprisingly little. There was less than a 4% increase in consumers watching prime-time TV, wanting brands to be authentic, and being interested in DIY projects. GWI Core
😐In our GWI USA survey, we give respondents 85 statements and ask if they agree with each of them. Given everything that's happened since it launched in 2020, you'd be forgiven for thinking that most of them have swung wildly up and down. But less than half of them have ever changed by more than 3 percentage points. GWI USA
🛍️ There’s one particularly good example of a statement that keeps attracting the same level of agreement. The number of consumers who buy from brands that reflect their values has never dropped below 17%…and has never risen above 18%. While it’s very easy to assume this behavior is going up; in reality, it’s not budged at all. GWI USA
From the archives
A bit of a twist this week: rather than scanning the horizon for glimpses of change in the world, we’re looking backward to past events that show how some things stay rock solid.
The economy is uncertain and yet people are still buying luxury accessories. The year is 1981. Or maybe 2009. Or perhaps 2022.
They’ve developed a reputation for being disillusioned, lazy (but entrepreneurial), and are the most diverse generation in history. Are they Gen Z, or Gen X in 1997?
If there’s one thing we know will pop up in the future, it’s a love of the past. Nostalgiatrulynevergoesout of fashion. (Yes, that’s multiple hyperlinks to prove a point).
If you’re worried about ChatGPT making you lazy, it’s perfectly natural; people felt the printing press would have the same impact on scribal monks.
We talk a lot about how unprecedented Covid was in 2020, but perhaps we overlooked lessons that were there for the taking from the (original) SARS outbreak in 2003. From the psychological distress and boredom of quarantine to panic buying caused by fake information, and restaurants cleverly adapting to a pandemic with new menus and home delivery, there’s a lot that was eerily similar.
Even the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 has interesting parallels like movie theater closures, social distancing, and mask mandates. Of particular interest – a Des Moines venue finding its returning customers regarded masks as “an imposition or a joke.”
At the very least you might think that getting emails from CEOs in March 2020 talking about “these unprecedented times” was previously unheard of. But you can find the same phrase popping up in a fire insurance ad from 1942.
Chart of the week
Our chart this week pays tribute to another consumer constant: price sensitivity. The types of products we buy may change, but cost will always be at the forefront of decisions we make. But even within that, there are patterns worth paying attention to.
What you see most of the time is Economics 101 – consumers want the best available product at the best possible price. But not every category is quite so rational. When it comes to skincare products, moisturizing effects are the most important factor, while performance trumps price for household essentials.
But it’s with our four-legged friends where price takes a back seat. Consumers prioritize the quality and nutritional benefits of pet food above all else, proving they truly want the best for their furry companions.
Local lowdown
Eternal Japan
Japan is possibly the best country to look to for long-standing cultural traditions. As an island nation, it’s had the same borders for centuries, while a high proportion of its population is ethnically Japanese.
It’s perhaps this sense of continuity that means consumers in Japan are more likely than those in any other country to think that their personal finances, the country’s economy, and the environment will stay the same over the next 6 months.
It’s all very suggestive of a Japanese proverb that reflects how stability in life is prioritized – "keizoku wa chikara nari", which translates into English as “continuation is power.”
