Consumer Trends and Behaviour Outlook 2023
2023 presents an incredible opportunity for brands to anticipate and meet changing consumer needs and expectations. Brands looking to capitalise on the upcoming year will need a deep understanding of their consumers and preferences to gain competitive advantage and capture market share. We surveyed 1000 nationally representative consumers across Ireland to uncover if and how these preferences and behaviours will change in the New Year. The three main topics explored were Consumer Goals, Preferences and Behaviours. Further, into the research, we delve deeper into specific topics such as alcohol and meat consumption.
The results have been explained below and are also available to view on our dashboard here.
Key Findings:
- 50.49% of participants have goals / New Years resolutions for 2023
- The top 3 goals for 2023 are to exercise more, eat healthier and save money
- The top 3 ways participants plan to increase sustainability are recycling more, turning off the lights and reducing use of single-use plastics
- 35.80% of participants plan to research more before they purchase in 2023
- 37.28% of participants plan to reduce alcohol consumption in 2023 and 35.01% do not plan to reduce alcohol consumption
- 63.71% of participants won’t be changing their frequency of meat consumption this year
- The most popular reasons for reducing meat consumption are health reasons, that it is too expensive and environmental reasons
- 39.94% of participants feel somewhat positive and 18.54% feel very positive about 2023
Consumer Sentiment For 2023
Q: What is your overall feeling commencing 2023?
This question demonstrated that the most common feeling among consumers is optimism (28.6%). The second most common feeling is anxiety (20.12%) and the third is happiness (10.65%).
Out of the respondents who feel pessimistic, 63.04% are Male and out of the consumers who answered angry, 75% are Male. Out of the people who are unhappy coming into 2023, 32.26% of them are 35-44. Of the people who are angry coming into 2023, 37.50% are 55-64 however out of the people who are relaxed coming into 2023, 31.82% of those are also 55-64.
From these findings, optimism is the leading emotion amongst consumers heading into 2023, trailed slightly by a feeling of anxiety and happiness. We can assume that a large majority of consumers are in good spirits as we begin a New Year.
Consumer Goals
Q: Do you have any particular goals/New Years resolutions for 2023?
50.49% of participants have goals/New Years resolutions for 2023, 37.48% don’t and 12.03% are unsure. Of those who are unsure if they have any goals for 2023, 61.48% are Female.
Q: What are your goals for 2023?
There is almost a tie between the top three goals participants have. 63.87% wish to exercise more, 58.79% wish to eat healthier and 59.57% wish to save money. Following this was 40.43% who want to travel more and 39.06% who want to spend more time with family. Of those who selected that they have a goal to learn a new skill/hobby in 2023, 65.38% are Male. When asked what participants’ particular goals are for 2023, out of the participants who said ‘read more’, 35.29% of those are 35-44.
Eating Healthier
Q: How do you plan on eating healthier in 2023?
76.74% intend to eat more fruit and vegetables, 63.46% intend to reduce their sugar intake and 56.48% intend on eating fewer takeaways. Of the participants who selected reducing salt intake, 58% of those are Male.
Saving Money
Q: Which of the following are you trying to cut back on while saving money in 2023?
63.93% of consumers wish to cut back on takeaways, 54.75% wish to reduce their eating out in restaurants and 48.98% will go out to pubs less. Females are likely to cut back on certain factors such as groceries (68.93%), takeaways (62.05%) and eating out at restaurants (60.48%). Out of those planning on saving money in 2023, 39.20% of those planning to cut back on entertainment are 35-44, 39.13% of people planning to cutting back on holidays are 35-44 and 38.05% of those planning to cutting back on household bills are also 35-44.
Sustainability
Q: How do you plan on becoming more sustainable in 2023?
74.58% plan on recycling more, 73.73% plan on turning off the lights when not using them and 69.49% plan on reducing their use of single-use plastics. Out of the participants planning on composting as a result of becoming more sustainable, 56.90% of those are male. The 35-44 age group is also prevalent in the sustainability category with 39.02% of those planning on reducing use of single-use plastic being 35-44, 44.83% of those planning on composting food waste being 35-44 and 38.10% of those planning on buying fewer clothes being 35-44.
Consumer Preferences
Goals gave us a good insight into the way consumers are planning for 2023 and what will be most important to them. Looking at preferences next, it is important to understand if common practices and preferences of consuming will be changing in 2023, therefore, we asked:
Q: Going into 2023, do you intend to make any changes on the way you shop?
Participants are making changes to the way they shop with 35.80% saying that they will research more before they purchase. 30.37% say that they will buy less but better quality goods. Interestingly, out of the participants who say that they will shop online more, 60.75% are male and out of the participants who say they will buy less but better quality goods, 61.04% are Female. Out of the people planning on shopping online more, 28.04% are 25-34 however out of the people who are planning on shopping in-store more, 27.17% of those are also 25-34 showing a split between this age group.
Consumer Behaviours
Looking at certain behaviours in more detail gives a good indication of what goods will be important to consumers this year and how they may be planning to change.
Alcohol
Q: Do you intend on reducing your alcohol consumption this year compared to last year?
We found that here is almost an even split between people who are/aren’t planning on reducing their alcohol consumption this year. 37.28% say that they are and 35.01% said that they are not. 19.23% of participants are unsure if they will reduce or not.
Out of the people who are planning on reducing their alcohol consumption we asked:
Q: Where do you intend on reducing your alcohol consumption the most?
53.17% plan to reduce their consumption at home and 41.80% plan on reducing it outside of the home. Looking at the people planning on reducing their alcohol consumption outside of the home, 30.38% of those are 25-34.
Observing the same group again:
Q: Do you intend on consuming more non-alcoholic drinks (i.e. non-alcoholic beer/wines/spirits) due to you reducing your alcohol consumption?
46.83% don’t plan on consuming more non-alcoholic drinks (ie. non-alcoholic beer/wines/spirits) whereas 38.62% do plan on consuming more non-alcoholic drinks.
Meat Consumption
Q: Will you be making any changes to your meat consumption this New Year?
A staggering 63.71% of participants won’t be changing their frequency of meat consumption this year. 19.82% of participants will be somewhat reducing their meat consumption and 3.94% will be significantly decreasing their meat consumption in 2023. Out of the people who plan to significantly increase their meat consumption, 84% are Male and out of the people who plan to significantly decrease their meat consumption, 60% are Female.
Q: Why are you planning to reduce your meat consumption going into 2023?
The most popular reason for reducing meat consumption is health reasons with 34.02% of people choosing it. The next most popular reason is that it is too expensive (29.46%) and the third most popular is environmental reasons (23.65%). Out of the people who are reducing their meat consumption because it is too expensive, 73% are Female and of the people who plan on reducing it due to family/friends’ influence, 66% are Male. Looking further at people planning on significantly increasing their meat consumption, 39.13% are 35-44.
Q: Do you expect to consume more ‘meat-free’ alternatives as a result of reducing your meat consumption going into 2023?
Of the people who do expect to increase their consumption of meat-free alternatives (116 people), the top three alternatives participants expect to increase consumption of are meat-free burgers (71.55%), meat-free sausages (51.72%) and meat-free mince/meatballs (50%). For Males, meat-free mince/meatballs, meat-free burgers and meat-free chicken were the most popular. Looking particularly at the people who plan on increasing their consumption of meat-free bacon/pudding, 37.50% are 35-44, out of people who are increasing consumption of meat-free deli slices, 40% are 35-44 and out of people increasing consumption of meat-free ready meals, 35.42% of those are also 35-44.
Conclusion
Overall, we can see that consumers have a number of goals and changes on the horizon in 2023. Whether that be decreasing their alcohol consumption (37.28%), buying less but better quality goods (30.37%) or exercising more (63.87%).
Finally, asking participants ‘How positive/negative are you feeling for 2023?’, showed that 39.94% of participants feel somewhat positive and 18.54% feel very positive. Out of respondents who are feeling very positive about 2023, 29.79% are 35-44 and out of the people who are feeling very negative about 2023, 30% are 45-54. With that, we can be hopeful for a favourable year ahead!
This research was conducted by Bounce Insights on 16 December 2022. 1000 nationally representative participants were surveyed. Results can be viewed here.
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