What’s Next for Five Categories Disrupted Most by 2020?
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The past year’s events have been especially challenging for the consumer world’s critical industries. Suzy has the insights that can propel them through the coming recovery.
In what is now year two of the COVID-19 crisis, vaccines are being distributed, social distancing restrictions are being eased, and more government assistance appears to be on the way. Now is the time for brands to prepare for a post-pandemic world.
To help, Suzy partnered with Microsoft on a study of five key industries that have faced disproportionate consumer-driven disruption over the last year. Dubbed “State of the 5,” the study centered on the travel, retail, health and wellness, technology, and finance industries.
Here’s what the data and insights say is on the horizon for these categories, as the economic recovery picks up speed.
Travel
People spent so much time in their homes in 2020 and prioritized comfort. But, as Matt Britton, co-founder and CEO of Suzy, said in a recent webinar about the study, State of Change: Five Industries Facing Continued Consumer Disruption, comfort has come at the expense of adventure and excitement.
“Once this pandemic starts to clear up, how much of a whiplash will there be going from that comfort state to an excitement state?” Britton pondered. Travel is the category where we’ll find an answer to that question.
According to the joint study, consumers have a fear of missing out. Therefore, it might be fair to predict that, when consumers feel comfortable going long distances away from their homes, they will put a significant portion of their savings — more robust now than in decades — toward travel experiences.
However, pinpointing exactly when consumers will enter that comfort threshold remains a difficult task.
44% of people who responded to the survey agree that safety concerns make them more hesitant to travel. Nearly half the consumers who said they did want to travel revealed that in the near future they’ll only consider domestic destinations.
“Consumers may not know when they’re actually getting on a plane or going on a trip, but they’re planning travel,” said Geoff Colon, Head of Brand Studio at Microsoft Advertising, in response to the study’s findings. “It’s a good time if you’re in the travel industry to figure out how to reach a lot of those consumers.”
Retail
Some retail companies, particularly tech-driven ones like Amazon and Shopify, have thrived in the pandemic. But small businesses that were not positioned to pivot toward digital platforms have been disproportionately harmed by the pandemic.
Consumers love shopping online but are torn between the convenience of digital and big box brands versus supporting small businesses. 68% of the survey’s respondents said they feel it’s important to support local retailers, but only 27% say their spending in this category has increased.
“The demand for shopping will be there,” Britton said, “but the demands on people’s time will be increased, and because of that, for a consumer to want to go into a retailer, I think the offering needs to span beyond just a product or service that’s being sold.”
Britton added that consumers will require an “experience” when they go into a store, “because if it’s just about the transaction, they’re just going to do that on Amazon.”
Health and Wellness
“Health and wellness is front-and-center now in a way that it wasn’t,” Britton noted. “The question is: What’s the form factor of health and wellness coming out of this crisis?”
The likely short answer is: it’s gone digital. A third of the “State of the 5” survey respondents said they feel comfortable interacting with their doctor or other healthcare service workers through video conferencing. With boosted digital accessibility has come increased expectations for personalized care, which Colon says is something society should embrace.
“This is a welcome area that can be really interesting, that has a lot of implications moving forward in terms of growth in this area, how to personalize health care a little more,” he observed.
Technology
“Technology has really seeped into every part of the business world, culture, and society,” Britton said. “But there certainly were technological disruptions galore during the pandemic that are going to have lasting implications on the consumer coming out of it.”
One insight gleaned from the study says that tech adoption and excitement for it is growing rapidly among consumers, but people are also more concerned about privacy, social interaction, and connection than they ever have been. Colon and Britton also noted there’s a rise in “cybersickness,” where too much screen time can lead to nausea, headaches, and, particularly with the rise in video-conferencing calls.
As people grow more aware of — and frustrated with — these screentime side effects, brands will have to respond.
Using pop-up chatbots as an example, Colon said on behalf of companies, “We have to think about that in terms of customer experience moving forward, like, ‘Hey, do people really want to be interrupted by another pop-up, or do we just give them the contact information, so they can solve the problem that they’re looking to solve?’”
Finance
With all the economic uncertainty that came from the pandemic fallout, it’s perhaps not surprising to see that 53% of the Suzy/Microsoft survey respondents said they feel it’s more important than ever to get a handle on their finances. A little under half of them also said they want to improve their financial literacy.
Brands should prepare to interact with a more financially savvy consumer; however, they should also ready themselves for eager-to-spend consumers. 41% of respondents revealed they’re putting money aside to save for things they can’t afford right now.
“I believe that coming out of this we are going to see a huge boom of luxury purchases and big-ticket purchases,” Britton said. “We’ve already seen it with the housing market … We’re going to see it in the auto space; I think the luxury goods space is also going to take off because consumers have been saving up money.”
For more insights into the state of these industries, watch the webinar at Suzy.com.