#consumer-behavior

#consumer-behavior

Every year, open enrollment forces Americans to confront a familiar dilemma: Pay more for coverage that delivers less, or gamble on going without it. This year, that choice has become even starker. Employers are shifting more costs to workers, marketplace premiums are poised to rise, fewer prescription drugs are covered by insurance, and 3.8 million people could lose insurance annually if Affordable Care Act subsidies aren't extended.

I think the news certainly makes things more complicated. I think people are confused. We had a terrific second quarter. We talked about the back-to-school business being pretty healthy, and yet we all see potential storm clouds on the horizon. So we're trying to be cautiously optimistic... You could stay up all night worrying... But in reality, our job is to make sure we create a better shopping experience for the customer.

In late October, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Atlas, a web browser with ChatGPT at its core. In Agent Mode, it can perform actions on your behalf, such as pulling together an online order. Elyse Betters Picaro, Senior Contributing Editor at ZDNET, tried it that day, successfully using it to place a same-day delivery order from Walmart. The experience was so positive that she then used it to buy Disney on Ice Tickets, which she said saved her some money and hassle.

Grocers have rebranded and grown their portfolio of private label brands over the past several years to cater to consumers pressed by inflation, and it's paid off as the highest-earning shoppers make up an increasingly large share of the economy. Nowhere is this more true than Walmart, the leading grocer since 2019, which launched a new private label called Bettergoods in 2024 that includes products that are plant-based, organic, or gluten-free.

Forget influencers and glossy magazines-this holiday season, Americans are turning to each other for shopping advice. New data from Trustpilot's National Write a Review Week campaign shows a 76% YoY spike in consumer reviews. The initiative, which ran October 20-24, attracted ~4 million visitors nationwide-a 63% jump from the same period in 2024-signaling how heavily shoppers are relying on feedback from real buyers. Trustpilot's AI and Black Friday shopping analysis reinforced the trend as 86% of shoppers checked reviews before making a holiday purchase.

A.I. is helping holiday shoppers empty their wallets at an unprecedented pace. U.S. consumers spent a record $11.8 billion online this Black Friday, according to Adobe Analytics, and are expected to shell out another $14.2 billion on Cyber Monday. Driving this shopping frenzy is a growing reliance on A.I. systems to recommend gifts, track prices and place orders. Shoppers are especially turning to chatbots to research products and hunt for deals.

Their unique experiences and values have impacted several aspects of culture, from consumer behavior and communication styles to lifestyle choices and relationship trends. As a result, certain fads and practices that were once popular have fallen out of favor with this influential generation. While some may bash millennials for their perceived aversion to traditional norms, it's important to recognize that their choices often reflect an underlying longing for authenticity, sustainability, and social consciousness.

It's easy to understand the reluctance to upgrade. Phones can do loads more than they could a decade ago, and their price tag reflects that. Their cameras are absurdly good, their screens run at buttery smooth framerates, and their hardware is powerful enough to let you play games just as easily as they let you edit video, join conference calls - or, let's be real, doomscroll. How much more juice do they really need with each generation?

Two Ways of Living Through Time Clock timers live by external time. They wake up to an alarm, eat breakfast at a designated hour, and arrive at work precisely when the clock dictates. Their day unfolds in neat, measurable units, each activity clearly marked by a start and an end. A clock timer's sense of order comes from synchronizing with the external rhythms of time.

Google's Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT were the two fastest-growing brands this year among consumers earning more than $100,000 a year, according to Morning Consult. The report measured interest in these tools by purchasing intent, which jumped sharply from the first quarter to the third quarter. Don't Miss: Brand awareness among this income group also skyrocketed. Gemini, for example, rose from 62% awareness early in the year to 78% by the third quarter. ChatGPT remains the most well-known AI tool, with 89% familiarity among high-income consumers.

The impact of social-media-driven, algorithmic advertising really can't be overstated. In just the past five years alone, we've seen the advent of TikTok and the total takeover of Instagram: visual venues that have shortened the distance between "seeing" and "buying" to nearly zero. These days, shoppers hardly ever leave their chosen app. This has completely eroded the old rules of e-commerce. Black Friday is in August now and lasts for 100 days. Back to School is all four seasons.

Meadow Lane, a gourmet grocer in New York City's Tribeca neighborhood, opened Friday at 11 a.m., attracting quite the line of hopeful and hungry shoppers. The brainchild of former venture capitalist Sammy Nussdorf, the store had a cult following before it had a physical retail space. He's been posting about the storesince June 2024, and some of his taste-tasting videos of the menu have gone viral.

A couple of police officers leapt out and asked us to jump up and down. You what? They asked us again, but in a tone suggesting it was less of a question than a command. Up and down we jumped until told to stop doing so. The cops thanked us for our trouble and, jumping back into their vehicle, explained they were on the hunt for some lads who'd just robbed an amusement arcade.

But Lyst's Q3 2025 Index offers some perspective on the "hottest brands and products" over the last three months. The index, which analyzes shopper behavior from "more than 160 million annual users across thousands of brands and stores," featured French luxury retailer Yves Saint Laurent emerging at the top of the list for the first time. In second, third, and fourth place were Miu Miu, COS, and The Row, respectively.

If you want a sociological anecdote of how weird wins, look no further than online dating. Dating apps have shown us that people don't actually want the most "normal" partner. They want quirks that stand out. Hinge data shows that profiles mentioning a niche interest-like a specific video game or obscure hobby-are more likely to get matches than generic "I like to travel" statements.

When economist Thorstein Veblen coined the term "conspicuous consumption" in 1899, he was describing a new kind of social display: one where people bought goods not out of need but as "trophies of success." To Veblen, the emerging "leisure class" proved its superiority not by labor or contribution but by its seeming exemption from work and its power to waste.

Seeing an attractive face activates the brain's reward and social circuits releasing the feelgood hormone dopamine, writes Laura Elin Pigott, a senior lecturer in neurosciences and neurorehabilitation at London South Bank University. This hormone is also released when we happen to live up to a specific beauty standard, making this feel biologically gratifying. All is not lost though our perceptions can be retrained, apparently. The science makes it clear: our brains respond to what they're fed.

For decades, the alcohol category has been a reliable driver of trips and revenue for grocery retailers. But today, that consistency can no longer be taken for granted. According to NielsenIQ, alcohol sales in U.S. retail fell by nearly 3% in 2024 - one of the sharpest year-over-year declines in recent memory. Tariffs on imports and the popularity of non-alcohol alternatives and CBD products are creating headwinds.

There's little room for guesswork in digital commerce. Nowhere is that more apparent than during Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM), the annual battleground where consumer intent meets brand execution at full throttle. This year, the ability to capitalize hinges on how well companies use identity, AI and behavior to trigger the right engagement at exactly the right time. I'm talking about redefining what performance means in a landscape where attention is scarce, prices are politicized and shoppers are driven by data over impulse.

It's not news that many of the alcohol industry's brand managers seek to bring their products to cities where they themselves don't actually live. These people often live in cities like New York and Los Angeles and commute to smaller cities across the country in an attempt to integrate their brands. But while doing so, they often market through the lens of what's working in their home cities, not necessarily through the lens of what people in their target markets are actually doing.

In the 70s and the 80s, you had this early explosion of behavioral economics led by people like Daniel Kahneman, Richard Thaler. And then 20 years ago was the Freakonomics phenomenon. So you had Steven Levitt, an economist, and Stephen Dubner, a journalist, who wrote a book that popularized all of this thinking that attempted to show the hidden side of everything, what truly motivates us as economic actors. And the field took off behind this basic tagline that conventional wisdom is wrong.

A sandwich's carbon score highlights how even small daily choices connect to our wider environmental footprint. It's not unusual for people to share photos of their lunch. Now, they're sharing ready-made sandwiches labelled with carbon scores. These metrics show consumers how much of their "daily dietary carbon allowance" a humble sandwich consumes. As you can imagine, across social media, people expressed surprise not only at the scoring system but particularly at the idea of a "carbon allowance." But what is it really all about - saving the planet or selling virtue as a commodity?

Users increasingly want to spend less time on generalized sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and instead join online communities tailored to their interests, she believes. Natalie Dillon, a consumer investor at venture firm Maveron, says she's starting to see an increasing number of founders build interest-first networks. "At its core, consumer behavior is pushing a shift from performance to participation," Dillon told TechCrunch. "For the next generation, community isn't a feature layered on top of a product. It is the product."

During these uncertain times-shaped by shifts in trade policy and geopolitics-keeping the consumer top of mind is vital. "Our focus is just maniacally on the customer," said Corie Barry, CEO of Best Buy, during a fireside chat with Fortune 's Emma Hinchliffe on Tuesday. Barry noted that it has never been more important for her to understand and adapt to the distinct behaviors of different consumers.