Consumption is trending towards "seeking authenticity" and "pursuing practicality". How can brands find a new narrative in the changing trends?
Written by A Zhi and Zhang Bingbing
In the past year, the consumer market has not been particularly vigorous. The weakening of future expectations has made people's choices more conservative. The low-price involution caused by excessive supply has spread to almost every category, and brand management challenges are emerging one after another. Practitioners in this field all have a similar feeling.
However, this cannot be simply and crudely summarized as a consumption downgrade. Changes in the supply and demand relationship have brought about structural adjustments, and changes in the market, channels, and supply chains have also given rise to new opportunities. For example, in the process of value chain reconstruction in offline retail, not only has the innovative business format of discount retail emerged, but also the membership-based warehouse model represented by Sam's Club has maintained growth.
In the final analysis, consumption is about people's business. In the incremental cycle of the market, there are too many demands waiting to be met. Being cheap can be a barrier, and being expensive can also be. But when the external environment enters the stock cycle, demand mining and user matching become a relatively complex problem, and entrepreneurs especially need to find a new consumption narrative in the changing trends.
"Chinese consumers who have experienced the changes in the entire consumption environment are increasingly returning to the essence and focusing on a truly perceptible consumption experience. What will happen in 2025? We have summarized two words, one is seeking truthfulness, and the other is being practical." Xiao Mingchao, a well-known trend and marketing expert, and the founder and CEO of Trend Insight, pointed out at the 2025 Consumption Trend Conference held on December 26. Today, we have entered the era of individual narrative. Consumers have a more extreme desire for product quality and explore more practical new-quality experiences. When consumption moves towards 'seeking truthfulness' and 'being practical', consumption should return to its essence and business should be demystified.
As an innovation strategy and content marketing company based on consumption trends, Trend Insight has continuously released the "China Consumption Trend Report" for 9 years, aiming to provide trend strategy guidance for enterprises and brands.
Reviewing the changes in the consumer market in the past year, Xiao Mingchao believes that "the most important change in the consumption structure in 2024 is that people are paying more attention to necessary consumption, family consumption, and self-spiritual enrichment." Relevant statistics from Trend Insight show that the top five areas of increased consumer spending in 2024 are children's education, health and wellness, travel, self-improvement, and personal hobbies. And In the direction of consumer spending in 2025, the consumption of the 'inner small world' that cares for oneself will continue to heat up.
When consumers move towards the "era of material abundance", the single-layer product function can no longer bring new consumption significance, and consumers are constantly seeking and exploring the meaning of consumption. New scenes, new experiences, new social senses, and new ritual senses, which trends will become the key to triggering consumption?
Interpretation of Consumption Trends in 2025
In the "2025 China Consumption Trend Report" released by Trend Insight, "seeking truthfulness" and "being practical" are designated as the key words for 2025. The emergence of this trend is behind the awakening of consumers' self-awareness and the profound influence of national policy orientation.
Xiao Mingchao pointed out that 2025 will be a leap year for the Chinese consumer market, and a series of new consumption trends are emerging. At the conference, Trend Insight officially released the "Top Ten Consumption Trends in China in 2025", which are Quality Awakening, Mindset Reconstruction, Offline Rebirth, Taste Bud Adventure, Efficacy-Oriented, Well-being Care, Nearby Reconstruction, Brand Centripetal Force, New Chinese Rhythm, and Enjoying AI.
Photo taken at the conference site
With the change in consumer mentality, quality has become the most important keyword. More rational and pragmatic consumers are no longer simply pursuing cost performance, but are constantly looking for "quality-price ratio" products that are both excellent in price and quality and just right.
Xiao Mingchao pointed out: "We found that consumers' requirements for price are decreasing, but this does not mean a decrease in quality requirements. On the contrary, consumers' pursuit of quality is endless, and quality has become the key to their sense of happiness." This view is supported by Trend Insight's research data, with 81.7% of consumers believing that "buying products with a particularly matching price and quality makes me feel happy."
It can be said that consumers have entered a balanced stage of "excellent quality and price", and what they need is a sense of happiness obtained at a lower cost, and emotional value has also become a key force driving purchasing behavior. This change is not only prominent in the traditional consumption field but also reflected in the popularity of emerging entertainment products such as talk shows, short dramas, Guzi, and Jellycat.
What lies behind this is people's "inward exploration" need - gradually getting rid of the shackles of external expectations and pursuing sincere emotional satisfaction and inner peace. In this process, what consumers are pursuing is far from a simple product entity, but rather hoping to reshape personal order through consumption and achieve "mindset reconstruction" for spiritual nourishment and emotional healing.
After the rapid development and wide penetration of e-commerce, offline retail is experiencing a rebirth. Xiao Mingchao believes: "When people have stayed in the virtual world for a long time, the demand for a sense of reality and experience will burst out again. Therefore, embracing the new world of entities and offline in 2025 will become a new direction."
According to the "2025 China Consumption Trend Report" by Trend Insight, in 2024, offline consumption continues to show vitality, and industries such as culture and tourism, movies, and accommodation have shown considerable growth. At the same time, outdoor activities, as a healthy leisure and relaxation method, have become more deeply rooted in people's hearts. The survey data shows that 43.9% of respondents have significantly increased the time they spend participating in outdoor sports compared to last year.
In addition, Xiao Mingchao pointed out that consumer demand is driving the trend of hierarchical consumption, and health, technology, and efficacy have become the driving forces for consumers to be willing to pay a premium. From this, we can see that the taste bud adventure has become a new trend to meet the diversified sensory needs, the embodied AI companionship is integrating into daily life, and the prevalence of the efficacy-oriented approach is promoting the rapid growth of segmented products. The brand centripetal force is still strong, and the return of the new Chinese rhythm has made regional culture, intangible cultural heritage, and Oriental aesthetics shine again.
Reconsidering Consumption in a Longer Development Dimension
It is not difficult to see from the ten key words summarized in the "2025 China Consumption Trend Report" by Trend Insight that consumption has overall entered a new trend that emphasizes the quality-price ratio and the experience economy.
In recent years, with the stable material demand, the trend of the stock update and upgrade of durable goods consumption has gradually become obvious. Liu Tao, deputy director of the Market Economy Research Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council, pointed out at the conference: "When the per capita GDP reaches a relatively high level, the consumption of durable goods more shifts to the stock adjustment stage, especially in aspects such as automobiles, home appliances, and housing. The prominent characteristic of residents' consumption behavior is to replace goods with poor performance and outdated ones with goods with better performance and quality."
Among them, as a core consumer good, automobiles are most obviously affected by the macro structure and policies. Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers shows that from January to November 2024, the sales volume of new energy vehicles was 11.262 million. The "Two New" policies (scrap and update, replacement and update) introduced in 2024 are expected to subsidize more than 5.2 million vehicles, which has a significant stimulating effect on sales.
At the same time, upgrading means a further refinement of consumer demand. The "mass" consumption demand is waning, and instead, it is replaced by the niche consumption scenarios under meticulous cultivation. Zhao Weihua, a professor in the Sociology Department of the Wenfa School at Beijing University of Technology, believes that from the perspective of products and services, more attention should be paid to the personalization of the experience: "Go deep into the corresponding consumer groups and cultivate in a niche direction that can touch their emotions."
The most frequently mentioned case at the conference is the tomato and egg stir-fry jointly created by Kraft Heinz and Huang Tian'e. Facing the problem of low penetration of Western condiments such as ketchup, Kraft Heinz deeply binds ketchup with the most common dish in the Chinese home-cooked food scene - tomato and egg stir-fry. In scenarios such as mother's signature dish and the first time cooking, the association between the product and daily life is deepened. Cai Hong, the Chief Marketing Officer of Kraft Heinz China, said: "A good product is very important, but it is meaningless if it is not applied to a specific scenario."
The change in the consumer group is another definite long-term trend. Mao Jun, an associate researcher at the Institute of Electronic Commerce of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, pointed out that with the "new elderly" entering the public eye, the silver-haired economy has become an economic force that cannot be ignored: "In recent years, nearly 20 million 'new elderly' enter retirement every year, and for this group of people, many corresponding supplies are insufficient." Taking elderly rehabilitation products as an example, there are more than 20,000 categories in the world, and China is an important producer, but the consumption volume is expected to be less than 1/10, and there is still a large gap in the consumption end.
Although today's entrepreneurs have reached the extreme of involution in terms of "technique", it is never too late to start a consumption business. Every tiny innovation may change the development direction of the product or even the industry. This requires brands to be able to adapt to the changes and move forward. In the future, the diligence of enterprises in strategy may be even more crucial.