#10things brands must ask themselves in 2022

The message from 2021 is that the significant change in consumer behaviour across key categories due to the pandemic and looming climate change threats, is that every brand has to revaluate whether they are still relevant to their market; and if they are doing enough to thrive, not just survive. In Trend Hunter’s latest additions to its consumer insights for 2022, it suggests brands ask themselves the following questions:

1. How is your brand making sustainability more accessible?

Luxury designers are trying to be more sustainable through upcycling, using waste materials to create new products, as consumers across all income groups are increasingly making sustainable purchase decisions.

2. How could your brand better differentiate itself from competitors?

An emerging trend is for skincare oil brands to add formulations for problem skin, like anti-inflammatory oil, instead of just oil-free product. Brands need to tap into a growing curiosity among consumers in this space – and other categories – to differentiate themselves from their competitors with innovative new product lines that show new thinking in even traditional categories.

3. How could your brand better balance health with indulgence?

Health trends mean that many brands are looking for healthier alternatives to their products, such as the trend for pizza brands to offer healthier, low-carb pizzas for consumers who follow ketogenic diets for overall health.

4. How could your brand better balance quality with convenience?

With the complete disruption of the restaurant industry over the past two years, those that are still in business, are increasingly offering home delivery or products consumers can purchase for home use. Frozen pizza products and specialist sauces and meal kits are some of the product innovations that restaurants have had to introduce to survive during the various lockdowns and pandemic waves.

5. How is your brand adapting with consumers’ growing industry knowledge?

Another skincare trend is for body washes with chemical exfoliants to improve the skin and treat conditions such as dryness or body acne. The key insight here is consumers’ growing knowledge of ingredients for their skin types. This more scientific approach by consumers to choosing skincare products, means that brands can prioritise ingredients that consumers are drawn to.

6. How is your brand prioritising customer wellness?

‘Happiness hacking’ is one of those buzzwords that has emerged to combat the stressful times of the past few years and led to brands looking for ways to boost their consumers’ moods. This has led to the rise of products, from happiness-focused apps to mood-boosting essential oil kits. “The ongoing pandemic, financial stressors and general lifestyle disruptions that consumers continue to face has resulted in high, prolonged stress levels in the average consumer. This shift explains the growing prioritisation of ‘wellness’, as people look to find meaning and happiness in their daily rituals despite the strain they’re under,” Trend Hunter reports.

7. How is your brand authentically aligning itself with its customers’ values and needs?

Self-care products are using braille to help people with visual impairments access products, as brands in a range of industries are becoming more inclusive to aid disabled persons in accessing their products. Younger demographics are more diverse and socially concientised to be inclusive, so they demand brands that align with values of diversity, accessibility and sustainability,

8. How is your brand adapting to consumers’ changing expectations?

As consumers expect brands to cater to their individual needs, brands are becoming more innovative in developing products that impact their consumers lives. Still in the prolific skincare category, brands are now developing face and body washes that promote their ability to protect the skin’s natural barrier, as that is what consumers with dry or sensitive skin want.

9. How is your brand catering to the demand for ‘clean’ products?

‘Clean’ ingredients in products that the public consume or put on their bodies is also an absolute priority for brand growth in these categories in the future. For example, another skincare trend is to drop silicone as an ingredient in serums, moisturisers and sunscreens. “More brands are catering to this growing demand by removing ingredients that are considered to be unnecessary or harmful by some consumers,” says Trend Hunter.

10. How is your brand catering to its more informed customers?

Due to social media, consumers are more informed than ever before due to the accessibility of information; and savvy, knowledgeable consumers are more likely to turn to brands that offer scientifically effective ingredients.

To download Trendhunter’s 2022 free trends report, click here.

Main image credit: Pixabay.com.

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