Euromonitor: Key Themes Are Prices, Sustainability, and Healthspan
Korean Consumers Shift from "Vanishing Average" Spending to Planned Spending
Euromonitor International, a global data analytics firm (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 the differing spending habits of each generation and their business implications, and further offers insights into how companies can leverage these to create new opportunities. Euromonitor stated that three themes—prices, sustainability, and healthspan—are the key concepts for understanding the global consumer trends of 2025.
In Korea, "Wiser Wallets," a high-price-related consumer trend in line with the "Frugal Tech Consumers" of 2023 and the "Premium Frugal Tech" of 2024, has been selected as a major trend for 2025. Whereas the so-called "vanishing average" spending—in which extreme thriftiness coexisted with spending time and money on present-day satisfaction, centered on Generation Z—previously dominated, in 2025 strategic spending that considers priorities and future value is expected to become the norm as the economic downturn drags on indefinitely. Impulse purchases for stress relief and personal gratification are expected to decline, while the number of consumers who spend deliberately across all dimensions—cost, spending experience, and a product's long-term value—is projected to grow.
The global consumer trends for 2025 selected by Euromonitor are as follows. ▲Healthspan Plans: Consumer interest in extending their healthspan—living long while keeping body and mind healthy, rather than simply extending life expectancy—is higher than ever. Consumer perceptions of aging naturally, so-called "well-aging," are also gradually changing, and the pursuit of a lifestyle in which every stage of life is lived naturally and healthily, along with related spending, is drawing attention. ▲Wiser Wallets: Frugal tech continues to evolve. Thrift-oriented spending, which seemed as though it would be temporary, has now taken firm root in consumer behavior. Impulse purchases typified by revenge spending are declining, while planned spending that weighs cost, spending experience, and a product's long-term value across all dimensions is on the rise. Companies and brands must offer consumers not price alone but a composite of values, including the spending experience, cost, product, and future value. ▲Eco Logical: Consumer trust in sustainable products is now deeply established, and a growing number of consumers seek sustainable products in their use of everyday consumer goods (FMCG). High prices, however, remain a burden on consumers' purchasing decisions. ▲Filtered Focus: Consumers wearied by endless notifications and choices now want to spend as little time as possible making selections. Buoyed by this trend, live commerce—which introduces curated products to consumers in an easy-to-understand way and also facilitates simple payment—is growing in popularity. ▲AI Ambivalent: AI is rapidly permeating every aspect of consumers' daily lives. While some consumers worry about information leaks and question AI-generated outputs, they still cite AI as a trustworthy source of information.
Stella Vatcheva, Senior Head of Innovation Practice at Euromonitor, advised, "As more consumers grow cautious about consumption itself, they now seek products and services that are reasonable, perfectly suited to them, and that deliver value over the long term," adding, "To lead the way amid shifting consumer trends and drive growth, companies must now make consumer loyalty a business priority alongside product innovation."
Moon Kyung-sun, Head of Research for Euromonitor Korea, assessed that "in 2025, we will see consumption that steps back from showing off," and analyzed that as the shift toward a low-birthrate, super-aged society becomes tangible to consumers, an attitude of preparing for the future will be detectable in consumption in the coming year of 2025. She went on to say, "As discerning, more personalized consumption—staying true to the basics while drawing on the help of technology such as AI—becomes part of everyday life, a consumption journey in which people diligently look after both their physical and mental health and feel a sense of reward in their spending will draw attention not only from the MZ generation but also from middle-aged and older consumers, and I believe 'smart consumption' will be newly reshaped."