Euromonitor: Key Themes Are Prices, Sustainability, and Healthy Longevity
Korean Consumers Shift From "Missing Middle" Spending to Planned Spending
Euromonitor International, a global data analytics company (Korea Country Manager Choi Seung-yong), announced its five major global consumer trends for 2025 on the 14th (local time).
Euromonitor's "Top Global Consumer Trends 2025" report analyzes differing spending habits across generations and their business implications, and further offers insights into how companies can leverage these trends to create new opportunities. Euromonitor stated that three themes—prices, sustainability, and healthy longevity—are the key concepts for understanding global consumer trends in 2025.
In Korea, "Wiser Wallets," a consumer trend related to high prices that follows on from the "Frugal Tech Consumers" of 2023 and the "Premium Frugal Tech" of 2024, is cited as a major trend for 2025. Whereas spending previously centered on Generation Z was dominated by the so-called "missing middle"—in which extreme frugality coexisted with spending money and time for present-day satisfaction—in 2025, as the economic downturn drags on indefinitely, strategic spending that considers priorities and future value is expected to become the norm. Impulse purchases made to relieve stress or for personal gratification are projected to decline, while a growing number of consumers will engage in planned spending that weighs cost, the consumption experience, and a product's long-term value across every dimension.
The 2025 global consumer trends selected by Euromonitor are as follows. ▲Healthspan Plans: Consumer interest in extending healthspan—living long with a healthy body and mind rather than simply increasing life expectancy—is higher than ever. Consumers' perceptions of aging naturally, so-called "well-aging," are gradually changing, and spending related to pursuing a lifestyle of living naturally and healthily at every stage of life is drawing attention. ▲Wiser Wallets: Frugal tech continues to evolve. Savings-oriented spending that once seemed temporary has now become fully rooted in consumer behavior. Impulse purchases—epitomized by retail-therapy spending—are declining, while planned spending that takes into account cost, the consumption experience, and a product's long-term value is on the rise. Companies and brands must offer consumers composite value—not price alone, but the consumption experience, cost, the product, and future value. ▲Eco Logical: Consumer trust in sustainable products is now deeply established, and a growing number of consumers seek out sustainable products in their use of everyday fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). However, high prices remain a burden on consumers' purchasing decisions. ▲Filtered Focus: Consumers, worn out by constant alerts and choices, now want to spend as little time as possible making selections. Live commerce, which introduces curated products to consumers in an easy-to-understand way and even facilitates simple payment, is gaining popularity on the strength of this trend. ▲AI Ambivalent: AI is rapidly permeating every aspect of consumers' daily lives. While some consumers are concerned about information leaks and question the results AI produces, they still regard AI as a reliable source of information.
Stella Vatcheva, Senior Head of Innovation Practice at Euromonitor, advised, "As more consumers become deliberate about consumption itself, they now seek products and services that are reasonable, perfectly suited to them, and deliver value over the long term," adding, "To stay ahead amid shifting consumer trends and drive growth, companies must now place consumer loyalty alongside product innovation as a business priority."
Moon Kyung-sun, Head of Research at Euromonitor Korea, offered the assessment that "in 2025, consumption will step back from being about outward display," analyzing that as Korea's shift into a low-birth, super-aged society becomes tangible to consumers, an attitude of preparing for the future will be detectable in spending in the coming year of 2025. She continued, "I believe 'smart consumption' will be newly recalibrated as a consumption journey—one that stays true to the basics while drawing on the help of technology such as AI to become more personalized and discerning, diligently caring for both physical and mental health and finding fulfillment in spending—draws attention not only from the MZ generation but also from middle-aged and older consumers."