Profiting From Consumer Mega-Trends in Asia Pacific: Individualism

Published by: Datamonitor

Published: Dec. 11, 2009

Table of Contents

Overview

Catalyst

Summary

Table of Contents

Table of figures

INTRODUCTION: THE IMPORTANCE OF TREND-TRACKING

Tracking consumer mega-trends is fundamental to long-term success

Trend-tracking insight 1: mega-trends can be classified in two ways according to desirable benefits and societal complexities

Trend-tracking insight 2: trends are aligned with pre-existing, but evolving human values, attitudes, needs and behaviors

Trend-tracking insight 3: mega-trends can be broken down into trends and sub-trends highlighting that trend frameworks provide structure and clarity at a time of 'information overload'

Trend-tracking insight 4: manufacturers, retailers and researchers/futurologists perpetuate trends

Trend-tracking insight 5: adopting a broader, global perspective to trend-tracking facilitates better decision making by overcoming 'category myopia'

Trend-tracking insight 6: trends have longer-term implications than fads and can be categorized by evolvement

Trend-tracking insight 7: for every trend there is a 'counter-trend' while 'trend-crossover' is also and important phenomena

Takeouts and implications: a trend framework boosts the quality and frequency of insight generation ensuring maximum return from the broader market research processes in place

THE FUTURE DECODED: DECIPHERING THE INDIVIDUALISM MEGA-TREND

MEGA-TREND SYNOPSIS: Self reliant and self expressive Asia Pacific consumers want more personal and customized brand experiences

TREND: Growing self reliance and respect for individual freedoms and rights characterizes global consumer societies, including in the Asia Pacific

SUB-TREND: Respect for individuality, democracy and individual freedoms is growing, but not without exceptions

Asia Pacific consumers, though still existing in comparatively more collectivist consumer cultures, are ever keener to display their individuality

Key take-outs and implications: the growth of individuality creates a more engaged, confident and vocal consumer

SUB-TREND: Taking responsibility and 'taking care of me' are key features of individualistic orientations

Consumers in Asia Pacific are paying more attention to their own health and financial wellbeing

Key take-outs and implications: marketers must capitalize on the proactive, assertive nature of today's individualistic consumers by tapping into what is important to them

SUB-TREND: Living alone: the growth of single person households and 'compact living' is a particularly important trend as urban living becomes more common

Consumers in Asia Pacific are increasingly disposed to living alone

Key take-outs and implications: living alone is an extension of societal individualism and leads to distinct consumer needs that can be targeted with specific product features and benefits

TREND: Personal branding: the 'branded self' has become a feature of more individualistic, self-orientated values and lifestyles

SUB-TREND: 'Brand me': purposeful grooming and image management is important in today's visual culture

Attitudes towards self-branding (and brands more generally) differ vastly across the Asia Pacific region

Key take-outs and implications: appearance consciousness and beauty products are heavily aligned with consumers' attempts to self-brand

SUB-TREND: Self-improvement: the continual pursuit of success and acquiring new skills is something that shapes consumer lifestyles

Consumers in the Asia Pacific region are striving to climb the social ladder and gain new experiences

Key take-outs and implications: industry players must help people be 'better consumers'

TREND: Self-expressive and personalized consumerism continues to gain prominence in the Asia Pacific region

SUB-TREND: Self-congruent consumerism: choosing self congruent brands is an important trait of individualistic, self-orientated consumer behavior

There is a high demand for self congruent brands in Asia Pacific

Key takeouts and implications: people today increasingly purchase on the basis of whether a product conforms to their self-image

SUB-TREND: 'Make-it-for-me' consumerism: more demanding and sophisticated consumers, combined with the desire to be treated as individuals, increasingly welcome personalized products and services

Consumers in Asia Pacific want products which solve problems that they personally experience

Key takeouts: personalization/customization benefits fulfil important needs, both for consumers and for producers looking to differentiate their offerings in saturated consumer markets

SUB-TREND: Customer made: adaptive and participative consumerism

'Crowdsourced' products are growing in popularity in Asia Pacific

Key take-outs and implications: losing control of brand development does heighten risk, but consumers increasingly want to interact with brands on their own terms

APPENDIX

Definitions

Methodology

Further reading and references

Ask the analyst

Datamonitor consulting

Disclaimer

List of Figures

Figure 1: Datamonitor's mega-trends are having a long-term and substantive impact on the marketing landscape and can be grouped into two categories

Figure 2: Consumer behavior and the innovations targeting it inevitably fit into a 'trend hierarchy'

Figure 3: Trend tracking can be a source of (comparative) competitive analysis

Figure 4: Datamonitor's mega-trend framework helps set the agenda for the specific topics covered in the New Consumer Insight (NCI) research stream

Figure 5: Trend development is dictated by both 'consumer pull' and 'manufacturer push' and Datamonitor offers the intelligence tools to capitalize on this reaity

Figure 6: In a consumerist global culture, the broad consumption spheres/segments transcend borders

Figure 7: Several factors distinguish a trend from a fad

Figure 8: There are numerous compelling drivers driving individualism

Figure 9: Post-materialist values emphasizing self expression and individuality are driving influences in the trend towards growing self reliance and respect for individual freedoms and rights

Figure 10: Expressing individuality is a core need for consumers across the Asia Pacific region

Figure 11: The creative capabilities of Asia are being increasingly revered on the global stage

Figure 12: A Mandarin version of Charles Saatchi's popular 'Your Gallery' concept has been launched to help Chinese artists gain global exposure

Figure 13: Asia Pacific consumers have become more concerned about their own health than the wellbeing of the environment around them

Figure 14: In Asia Pacific, achieving a personal feeling of satisfaction plays a large part in consumers' motivation to clean their homes

Figure 15: Following the financial crisis, majorities across Asia are paying closer attention to their finances

Figure 16: Asia Pacific consumers strongly feel that financial management is an individual responsibility

Figure 17: The impact of the credit crunch has made Asia Pacific consumers more reluctant to rely on credit in order to fund their lifestyles

Figure 18: Growth in the percentage of single person households is most apparent in China and Korea

Figure 19: Products designed for compact living will be increasingly sought after

Figure 20: Personal branding is a concept that has gathered momentum in the last 10 years

Figure 21: Personal branding guides reflect an ongoing cultural shift towards maximizing individual capabilities, particularly for achieving occupational success

Figure 22: Koreans and Indians are extremely brand conscious, whereas Australians are less so

Figure 23: Asia Pacific consumers are more likely to engage in beauty routines in order to boost their own self-esteem than to look professional at work

Figure 24: In a mentality that conforms to the ideology of 'self branding', Asia Pacific consumers believe that physical attractiveness will ultimately be advantageous in making progress in life

Figure 25: When it comes to cleaning the home, consumers in Asia Pacific are generally equally motivated by self-interest and the interests of others

Figure 26: From building confidence to the art of 'picking up', there are a growing array of self-help books tapping into the mentality to self-improve

Figure 27: Enrolment into tertiary education is comparably high in Korea and Australia

Figure 28: There are slight but consistent improvements in tertiary enrolment throughout Asia Pacific as consumers seek to further their education and future prospects

Figure 29: Asia Pacific consumers strive for occupational success but believe that they are underachieving or undervalued in the workplace

Figure 30: Consumers in Asia Pacific, especially in India, China and South Korea, are more concerned about seeking new challenges now than they were two years ago

Figure 31: A consumers' self concept is multidimensional and is heavily influenced by cultural differences

Figure 32: Asia Pacific consumers firmly believe that brands reflect personal attitudes, and strive to define themselves through consumption

Figure 33: Chinese and Indian consumers are becoming increasingly accustomed to purchasing brands as a means of self-expression

Figure 34: Four key personal benefits as well as the additional ease of customizing have driven the trend toward more personalized consumer packaged goods

Figure 35: Asia Pacific consumers believe it is important that products are suitable for their individual requirements

Figure 36: In Asia Pacific, customization is not as important a factor to consumers in food and beverage choice as others

Figure 37: Personalized nutrition and nutrigenomics are emerging themes and reflect a crossover between the health and individualism mega-trends

Figure 38: Customization is more important to Asians in personal care products than foods and beverages

Figure 39: Customization is deemed most important in cosmetics but least important in fragrances

Figure 40: Personalized beauty regimes are still relatively niche but are gaining traction as situational and personally adaptive beauty solutions are increasingly sought

Figure 41: Consumers' media orientations are changing, with participative and engaging social media becoming more important

Figure 42: Manufacturers are giving consumers the ability to customize and express themselves through branded products via packaging and basic aesthetic modifications

Figure 43: Consumers in Asia Pacific can now become more involved in the creative side of businesses

Figure 44: Crowdsourcing is feeding the much sought-after market for individualized goods

Figure 45: There are differences between consumer values and attitudes

Abstract

• Detailed trend analysis outlining what constitutes 'value' for consumers (trends are, after all, a reflection of what's important to consumers)
• Offers Asia Pacific focused consumer insight, benchmarked against global sentiment, to cater for contextualized region-specific information needs
• Covers all major FMCG sectors, but also with applicability to wider consumer goods audiences
• One of six mega-trend reports which outline the most important issues shaping current and future buying behavior in the Asia Pacific region

• Outlines the significance of individualism-aligned trends across Asia Pacific countries and FMCG sectors to help support market diversification
• Save time and gain maximal insight by using this 'one-stop-shop' resource which offers a clear and up-to-date framework for understanding consumers
• Access data from two waves of global primary research to increase the likelihood of being 'on-trend' with NPD and marketing activities

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