Throughout history, “shopping” has involved taking a trip, planned in advance, to a favorite store that a consumer made time for. The ecommerce revolution upended that predictable relationship and activity, and today consumers’ brains have again been rewired as it pertains to shopping, thanks to mobile technology and social media. That may usher in one of the industry’s biggest shifts in consumer behavior: The “always-on” consumer comes highly informed with specific demands around price, ingredients, delivery options, production methods and much more.
These wide-ranging requirements have radically transformed the retail and brand landscape over the past five years. To better understand how consumer preferences and priorities keep changing — as well as the resulting impact on brands — the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV), in association with the National Retail Federation, conducted a research study of 18,980 consumers in 29 countries. The study, "Meet the 2020 consumers driving change," looks at shopping habits, drivers of brand and product choice, consumption patterns and consumers' willingness to change behavior based on a variety of personal values and beliefs.