The New Consumer’s trends report is back.
For four years, the digital media company has conducted surveys to determine how Americans are spending their money, and the survey has never been timelier than now, as record-high inflation forces consumers to shift their behavior.
In partnership with Coefficient Capital, whose investments include Oatly plant-based milk and the content marketplace Hodinkee, the fourth edition of the survey just premiered at Fortune Brainstorm Tech in Aspen, Colo. Surveying over 3,000 consumers in June 2022, including 15- to 18-year-olds for the first time, the report also features consumer data from Earnest Research and real-time consumer insights from Toluna.
The top takeaway might surprise you: While the pandemic is not over, “economic COVID” is finished—for the most part.
The survey found a return to normal in terms of air travel and restaurant dining, but respondents’ outlook was far from pre-pandemic norms—a full half said the pandemic will disrupt their lives for more than six months to come.
But COVID is no longer the top concern, in fact, it ranks fourth on the list. A vast majority of consumers (49%) said high prices are top of mind. Beyond that, generational differences begin to set in, with millennials caring most about sustainability in their consumption patterns. The New Consumer also digs into politics and the world’s richest man, polling Americans on whether Elon Musk would be a good leader of the country: 4% said he would (mostly men).
Included below in full is the 80-page presentation that The New Consumer’s Dan Frommer gave at Fortune Brainstorm Tech.
