Our latest report, Think Forward: The Liveable Web explores the five key trends set to shape social over the next 12 months. In this blog, we take a look at the trend ‘Intentional consumerism’ which sees culture becoming more critical of consumerism and people wanting brands to help them find more sustainable ways to derive joy from their spending habits.
For the longest time across online and IRL spaces, social status was linked to how much money someone could spend, in flashy displays of financial independence. Now, though, a new wave of social users who value sustainability over splashing the cash are offering up a counter-narrative, that’s gaining traction fast.
In their thriftiness culture, clout comes not from having new items. It comes from a shopper’s ability to display mindful consumption habits – if that is, they’re consuming at all. Trends like #deinfluencing have seen a rise in content about cherishing what you have instead of bowing to pressure to buy, buy, buy. Don’t mistake it for cozzy livs economy penny-pinching or another minimalist moment in the culture, Marie Kondo 2.0. Intentional consumerism is a radical shift in the entire online discourse around spending, with new spiritual, financial and climate crisis-informed clarity.
#Underconsumptioncore – celebrating the continuous use of items until they’re worn out, from water bottles to old tees – is just the tip of the intentional consumerism iceberg. Feeds have been full of content asking the question: why shop till you drop when there’s satisfaction and personal expression to be found in curating what already occupies our homes? See, for example, the recent #fridgescaping micro-trend, in which users organised items in their fridges in aesthetically satisfying ways.
Well-worn products, meanwhile, have become aspirational within this movement – a symbol of a social user’s admirable appreciation for longevity (see the flood of videos in which Gen Z girlies personalise old handbags). For brands, all this poses a question – how do you sell to an audience increasingly averse to buying?
Read about how brands like AKT, Gymshark and e.l.f. Cosmetics are embracing and responding to Intentional Consumerism, and the lessons marketers can learn in Think Forward: The Liveable Web. Download your free copy now for this, and all five trends.
