Consumer Behavior Archives

The fastest way to read the economy might be through a grocery receipt.

In the United States, a staple as simple as frozen pizza has become a financial strategy, signalling how households manage cost, comfort, and consistency.

And the US isn’t alone. Across markets, pantry staples are doubling as economic sensors. In the UK, a jump in baked bean and private-label ready meal sales mirrors cost-of-living anxiety. In Japan, instant noodles remain resilient despite price hikes, especially premium options. In China, frozen dumplings are no longer seasonal but weekday staples. Each reflects how consumers behave when their budgets are under pressure.

For brands, these patterns aren’t background noise. They’re forecasting tools. The staples consumers cling to during disruption are often early indicators of more profound shifts in sentiment and strategy.

The psychology behind food choices

When financial stress sets in, consumers don’t just look for cheaper options; they look for control. Food becomes a tool to reclaim routine, reduce effort, and preserve small pleasures. In inflationary periods, what matters isn’t just price. It’s perceived value.

Today’s shoppers are making what behavioural economists call satisfying decisions: good-enough choices that balance budget, emotion, and effort. That explains the rise of “premiumised basics.” In Japan, consumers choose upscale instant ramen precisely because inflation makes dining out less accessible, and these products offer the comfort and experience of a restaurant meal at home. A frozen pizza or store-brand ready meal isn’t just a shortcut; it’s a psychological release valve.

Aggregated across millions of carts, these choices offer powerful signals. Brands that can spot the patterns early and build for them gain an edge.

Frozen pizza and the power of low-effort indulgence

In the US, frozen pizza has moved from the edge of the freezer to the centre of the meal plan. Sales reached $7.0 billion in 2024, reflecting growing demand for foods that balance indulgence and utility.

The pandemic normalised at-home dining, and inflation extended the habit. Frozen pizza delivers more than calories: it’s familiar, flexible, and low-friction. It substitutes for takeout, satisfies a group, and feels like a treat without requiring cooking skills. Consumers aren’t just trading down; they’re trading differently.

That shift has created space for brands like Screamin’ Sicilian and California Pizza Kitchen to position frozen products as restaurant-quality. Clear packaging, upscale branding, and perceived authenticity all signal that compromise isn’t necessary.

Evaluate your portfolio by the effort-to-satisfaction ratio. Consumers gravitate toward products that offer fast prep, emotional payoff, and cost consistency. Frozen pizza’s success shows how categories that meet these criteria outperform even in volatile markets.

UK shoppers trade brands for value

Baked beans have long been a UK staple, but recent sales data tells a deeper story.

In 2023, total baked bean sales rose 2.5%, but Heinz saw a 5.1% decline. Private labels surged, with Euroshopper and others gaining share. The shift is primarily driven by price sensitivity. As grocery bills rise, shoppers increasingly trade down to store-brand or value-tier options that offer similar taste and portion sizes at significantly lower prices. Loyalty to the category remains, but brand allegiance weakens when meaningful differentiation doesn’t match premium pricing.

The same is playing out in chilled ready meals. Tesco and Sainsbury’s expanded their value lines, and consumers responded. These aren’t subpar options as packaging, taste, and positioning have all improved. The new trade-down doesn’t feel like a sacrifice.

Legacy brands need to reassess elasticity. When brand loyalty erodes under pricing pressure, winning back market share means redefining value, not just dropping price. Functional improvements and narrative clarity are now essential to justify a premium.

Japan’s affordable upgrades

According to The Guardian, the price of instant ramen increased 20% over the past two years, but consumption remained high.

In Japan, inflation hasn’t dented demand for instant noodles. Nissin raised prices, yet consumption held steady. More surprising: it’s the premium SKUs that are growing fastest.

Consumers are seeking quality within constrained budgets. The appeal isn’t just cost; it’s comfort and cultural continuity. A bowl of gourmet-style ramen at home replaces an expensive lunch out. The transaction becomes emotional as much as practical.

Affordable premiumization is a long-term play. Consumers will spend a little more if the return feels meaningful. That means elevating basics, through taste, story, or packaging, to deliver a perceived upgrade without a price shock.

China’s modernised tradition

Frozen dumplings have become a year-round staple in Chinese households. Once reserved for holidays or family occasions, they’re now an everyday solution for time-strapped urban consumers. In 2024, the market reached $6.86 billion, with younger buyers, balancing long hours and shrinking leisure time, driving much of the demand.

This isn’t convenience displacing tradition; it’s adapting to new consumption habits. Frozen dumplings retain cultural relevance while offering speed, consistency, and modern formats.

Culturally rooted convenience products can unlock mass-market growth when paired with modern positioning. The key is to evolve the format and accessibility without stripping away the story.

India and the Philippines: Time-saving staples under strain

According to Future Market Insights, the ready-to-mix food market in India reached $440 million in 2023 and is projected to grow to $1.75 billion by 2033. Snacks and mixes form a dual growth engine, as consumers manage rising costs and time poverty.

These products aren’t replacing traditional meals; they’re reshaping them. Dosa batter and spice blends offer cultural authenticity without daily prep. Convenience without compromise is becoming a national default.

In the Philippines, canned sardines serve as both sustenance and security. With inflation averaging 6.1% in 2023 and over 20 tropical storms a year, demand for shelf-stable protein spikes in response to economic and environmental stress. Mega Global, which holds a 30% market share, invested over USD 1.7 million to expand capacity by 20%, betting on continued category growth. The company’s investment in expanded capacity is a bet that pantry-stable proteins will remain a default safety net.

In emerging and climate-vulnerable markets, brands win by delivering reliability. Food products that address economic or environmental uncertainty earn long-term trust. Packaging, shelf stability, and affordability aren’t features. They’re foundations.

Micro-trends as macro signals

The grocery aisle is a real-time indicator of consumer mood. It reveals where people are willing to compromise and where they won’t. In every market, different staples are rising for the same underlying reasons: they feel safe, smart, and familiar.

Country	Food Signal	Behavior Cue
USA	Frozen Pizza	Indulgent efficiency
UK	Baked Beans, Ready Meals	Brand elasticity
Japan	Instant Noodles	Affordable premiumization
China	Frozen Dumplings	Cultural speed
India	Mixes & Snacks	Time-cost optimization
Philippines	Canned Sardines	Resilience stockpiling

That’s not just retail behaviour. It’s brand insight. When inflation hits, when trust dips, when time disappears, the categories that survive aren’t the trendiest – they’re the ones that deliver.

The lesson for brands is clear: resilience lives in the ordinary. When the economic cycle turns again, the brands that stay in the basket will stay in the conversation.

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Once dismissed as retail relics, physical storefronts are making a surprising comeback – this time, powered by digital-first brands. From pop-ups to permanent flagships, online-native companies are opening brick-and-mortar locations not out of necessity but by design.

Amazon Style offers shoppers curated fashion based on browsing history. Warby Parker’s clean, minimalist stores blend seamlessly into upscale neighbourhoods, offering eye exams alongside Instagrammable interiors. In Bangkok, Pomelo Fashion invites customers to try on app-selected items in sleek fitting rooms before completing purchases from their phones.

It’s a reversal that reflects more than a retail pivot. While digital advertising remains cheaper in terms of pure reach, online CPMs average between $3 and $10, compared to $22 or more for traditional media, customer acquisition online is becoming less efficient. As competition intensifies and privacy changes limit ad targeting, many direct-to-consumer brands see digital acquisition costs climb, sometimes exceeding average order values. In this landscape, storefronts are emerging as strategic complements: part showroom, part service centre, part brand theatre. For these brands, it’s not just about footfall. It’s about reducing digital dependency and building loyalty through real-world engagement.

Why Physical Retail Now

For years, e-commerce promised a frictionless future – one-click checkouts, fast shipping, and endless inventory. But as digital storefronts multiplied, so did the challenges: skyrocketing customer acquisition costs, rising return rates, and a sea of sameness. Today, even the most digitally fluent brands are discovering that a website alone can’t deliver emotional connection or tactile trust.

Physical stores are filling the gap. A well‑designed storefront gives customers something the digital shelf can’t: the ability to touch, try, and experience. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, e‑commerce accounted for 15.3 % of total U.S. retail sales in 2023—a share that continues to rise quarter by quarter. While physical stores still drive the bulk of retail activity, the steady growth of online shopping, especially during major events like Black Friday, signals a lasting shift in consumer behaviour.

Still, not all categories follow the same trajectory. Furniture and home‑furnishing purchases increasingly migrate online; nearly 31 % of home furnishing sales occurred digitally in 2023. Consumer electronics remains split, with value and convenience driving online growth, but big‑ticket purchases often favour in‑store confidence. And goods like plants, outdoor supplies, garden products, and decorative home items, where touch, size, and immediacy matter, have stubbornly resisted complete digital takeover. Big‑box outlets continue to dominate these segments, with traditional furniture and outdoor‑living stores capturing the lion’s share of consumer spending.

In other words, the price tag and physicality of the item strongly influence where consumers choose to shop. You can order a lamp or phone online, but the comfort of a store still wins when it comes to the feel of a sofa, the freshness of a plant, or the scale of a patio set.

But these new retail spaces aren’t built for volume. They’re designed for impact. Brands are leaning into high-touch service, curated displays, and neighbourhood-specific assortments. Instead of acting as isolated outposts, these stores function as real-world extensions of the brand, driving online traffic, deepening engagement, and turning one-time buyers into repeat customers.

The playbook is shifting: Stores aren’t just about sales – they’re about staying top of mind in a distracted, digital-first world.

Pomelo Fashion’s Omnichannel Evolution

Founded in 2013 by David Jou and Casey Liang, Pomelo Fashion has emerged as a leading omnichannel fashion brand in Southeast Asia. Initially operating solely online, the company has expanded its presence with physical stores in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Central to Pomelo’s strategy is its “Tap.Try.Buy” service, which allows customers to order items online, try them on at a designated store, and pay only for what they choose to keep. This approach enhances the shopping experience by integrating the convenience of online browsing with the assurance of in-store fitting.

In May 2025, LeadIQ reported that Pomelo Fashion achieved $750 million in annual revenue, marking a substantial leap from the $38 million recorded in 2022

Pomelo’s expansion efforts have included entering new markets, such as Cambodia, where it partnered with Zando Group to establish a retail presence. Additionally, the company has focused on enhancing supply chain efficiency by implementing unified inventory systems and streamlining return processes.

By seamlessly blending online and offline experiences, Pomelo Fashion continues to adapt to the evolving retail landscape, aiming to meet the diverse preferences of its customer base.

Why online brands are opening stores

For digital-first companies, opening a physical store isn’t about replicating traditional retail – it’s about amplifying what already works. With online customer acquisition costs climbing and attention spans shrinking, many brands view stores as a channel for deeper engagement rather than just sales.

Stores offer what websites can’t: human connection, hands-on product trials, and immediate service. They create environments where discovery feels organic and tactile, and shoppers can linger, ask questions, and build trust. That trust often carries over into digital behaviour. According to Warby Parker’s most recent earnings report, customers who engage with online and retail touchpoints tend to have higher lifetime value.

For brands like Pomelo, stores also provide critical feedback loops. Each in-person interaction offers insights into fit, preferences, and regional trends – data that helps refine everything from product design to inventory allocation. Physical locations are no longer separate from e-commerce platforms – they’re extensions of them, working in sync to personalise the experience and drive loyalty.

The result is a more resilient retail model, one that spans screens and sidewalks.

The evolving role of the website

While physical spaces gain momentum, the brand website remains the nerve centre of the modern retail ecosystem. But its role is shifting – from being the sole point of sale to becoming a connective platform that bridges discovery, transaction, and service.

Today’s websites aren’t just digital catalogues. They power appointments for in-store try-ons, host loyalty programs, manage returns, and sync with physical inventory in real-time. At Pomelo, the app and website are critical to the “Tap.Try.Buy” model, allowing customers to browse, reserve, and purchase without friction. Warby Parker’s platform does the same, letting users schedule eye exams, browse local store stock, or complete an in-store purchase online.

For brands blending offline and online, the website is no longer the endpoint – it’s the interface. It carries the brand’s identity, handles the logistics, and learns from each customer interaction. As stores become more experiential, the website does the heavy lifting behind the scenes, ensuring a seamless handoff between channels.

The digital shelf might not be enough on its own anymore, but it’s more important than ever in making the entire system work.

What shopping will look like in 2050

If you walk into a store in 2050, you might not walk out with a bag. Instead, your personalised selections – curated by AI, informed by biometric data, and filtered through your sustainability preferences – could arrive at your door within hours, if not minutes.

Retail futurists envision spaces that act less like inventory warehouses and more like interactive brand labs. Physical stores may shrink in size but grow in sophistication, equipped with augmented reality mirrors, smart shelves, and real-time language translation for global shoppers. Facial recognition could trigger dynamic pricing based on loyalty status or previous purchases if consumers opt in.

Sustainability will likely shape store formats, too. Modular, low-waste layouts, carbon-neutral delivery options, and locally sourced assortments could become table stakes. Data from online and in-store behaviour will sync seamlessly, creating a “phygital” loop where discovery, trial, and purchase span both worlds.

But some things won’t change. Shoppers will still crave connection, story, and the confidence that comes from seeing and touching a product before committing. The brands that win in 2050 may look futuristic – but at their core, they’ll understand something timeless: trust is built person-to-person, even when powered by pixels.

Retail’s Quiet Reinvention

What began as a tactical move to lower return rates or offer fitting rooms has turned into something more fundamental: a rethinking of what retail means. Digital-first brands aren’t just entering physical spaces; they’re redesigning them on their terms.

These aren’t legacy department stores or big-box chains. They’re focused, frictionless, and hyper-intentional. Every square foot has a purpose, whether to host an eye exam, facilitate same-day pickup, or serve as a live feedback loop for product development.

The quiet reinvention underway isn’t about going back – it’s about moving forward with the tools, data, and expectations of a new era. The lines between online and offline are no longer blurred. They’re gone entirely.

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Consumer sentiment in the US took a sharp downturn in the first quarter of 2025, signalling growing anxiety about the economy as inflation fears and geopolitical tensions weigh heavily on households.

The University of Michigan’s consumer-sentiment index dropped to 50.8 in April, down from 57 in March, marking the lowest since June 2022. Inflation expectations surged to a 44-year high of 6.7%, deepening concerns about a potential recession. As fears of stagnant economic growth and rising costs persist, US households are not only deferring big-ticket purchases but are also shifting their spending habits. A 2024 survey by McKinsey found that 57% of consumers plan to postpone purchases of cars, electronics, and home appliances due to economic uncertainty. This behaviour reflects a broader shift in consumer priorities, where many opt to save for security rather than indulge in discretionary purchases.

In addition, more consumers are actively reconsidering their brand choices. According to Ipsos, one in four Americans have boycotted a brand in the past year over political or ethical reasons, signalling a more value-driven approach to spending. This trend underscores a more selective approach, with households prioritising purchases that align with personal values and long-term needs.

The Shift in Spending Behaviour Globally

Globally, households are tightening their belts in response to growing financial uncertainty. Consumer confidence has dropped significantly in the US and Europe, as evidenced by rising savings rates. In the US, savings deposits increased by 5.4% in 2024, according to major US banks, while credit card usage declined. Meanwhile, Europe’s savings rate surged to 13.5% in Q4 2024, up from 10.7% in 2023, indicating that consumers are prioritising savings over spending.

Retail sectors are feeling the impact of this shift. High-ticket purchases, such as luxury goods and cars, are down across key markets as consumers focus on essentials and future security. Reports from the European Central Bank show a marked decline in discretionary spending, echoing similar trends in the US.

While this cautious approach stems from immediate financial strain and long-term economic uncertainty, the shift is expected to shape the global economy in the coming months. Companies that can adapt – offering products aligned with consumer values, health, and sustainability – will be well-positioned to thrive in this evolving market.

Case Study: Frasers Group’s Strategic Store Closures Amid Economic Uncertainty

Image credit: X

Background:
Frasers Group, a major UK retailer owning brands like Sports Direct and House of Fraser, has faced challenges due to declining consumer confidence and increased operational costs. In response, the company has closed several stores, including its flagship, House of Fraser in Bath, which had been operating for over 200 years.

Actions Taken:
Frasers Group has been consolidating its physical retail presence, focusing on high-performing locations and expanding its online offerings. The company has also been investing in its luxury segment, with CEO Michael Murray expressing confidence in a rebound in demand for premium goods.

Outcome:
While facing short-term challenges, Frasers Group aims to strengthen its market position by streamlining operations and capitalising on the anticipated recovery in luxury retail.

The Impact on Financial Institutions and Retailers

As consumer behaviour shifts toward savings and caution, financial institutions and retailers feel the effects. Banks have reported an uptick in deposits, while credit card usage has decreased, signalling a change in how consumers manage their finances in uncertain times.

In the US, savings rates have steadily increased over recent years as consumers prioritise financial security. The Federal Reserve’s 2024 Financial Stability Report shows that household savings rates have remained elevated, with a marked preference for more liquid assets. This shift in consumer behaviour is attributed to ongoing economic uncertainties and the rising cost of living. Meanwhile, credit card debt, though still growing, has been growing at a slower pace compared to the previous year, with the Federal Reserve noting in its 2024 Report on Household Debt and Credit that credit card balances increased by 6.4% in 2023, slower than previous years’ growth. This suggests consumers are becoming more cautious with discretionary spending, opting to save more and use credit less.

Retailers are adjusting to these changing dynamics. For many brands, especially those in luxury and non-essential goods markets, the slowdown in spending has forced a reevaluation of strategies. High-end brands, which have long relied on the discretionary spending of affluent consumers, are facing challenges as more shoppers scale back on big-ticket purchases.

On the other hand, retailers in the wellness, health, and essential goods sectors benefit from this shift. A January 2024 McKinsey & Company report highlights that 56% of Gen Z consumers in the US consider fitness and wellness a “very high priority,” reflecting a continued commitment to spending on health-related products and services. McKinsey estimates that the global wellness market, valued at over $1.8 trillion, continues to grow at 5-10% annually, with significant demand for wellness products in emerging markets.

For financial institutions, the challenge lies in balancing the growing demand for savings accounts and low-risk investments with the need to provide consumer credit options. As fewer people rely on credit cards, many banks are exploring alternative forms of credit, such as buy now, pay later (BNPL) services, which allow consumers to make purchases without accumulating high-interest debt. While BNPL services have gained popularity, there are concerns about their long-term sustainability and the potential for increased consumer debt.

Ultimately, the growing trend toward saving and cautious spending drives significant shifts in the financial services and retail sectors. Companies that can adapt to these changes – offering value, flexibility, and products aligned with consumers’ evolving needs – will be well-positioned to thrive in the coming months.

How Brands are Adapting Strategies in Response to Consumer Behaviour Shifts

In response to the evolving consumer market, companies are implementing various strategies to align with changing preferences and economic conditions:

Enhanced Digital Engagement: Retailers use digital platforms to offer personalised shopping experiences. This includes leveraging data analytics to understand consumer behaviour and tailoring marketing efforts accordingly.
Flexible Pricing and Promotions: Companies are introducing flexible pricing models and targeted promotions to address price sensitivity. This approach aims to maintain customer loyalty while accommodating budget-conscious consumers.
Product Innovation and Diversification: Brands diversify their offerings to meet consumers’ evolving demands. This includes introducing new product lines that align with current trends, such as wellness-focused or sustainable products.

The Road Ahead: Implications for Economic Growth

The trend toward saving and cautious spending presents a complex economic landscape. While rising savings rates provide financial security for households, the slowdown in consumer spending could stall short-term economic growth. In Q1 2024, real personal consumption expenditures (PCE) grew just 1.3%, down sharply from 3.4% in Q4 2023. This slowdown reflects persistent inflationary pressures.

As discretionary spending contracts, sectors dependent on non-essential purchases, such as luxury goods and travel, face significant challenges. Bain & Company reports that global luxury market growth slowed to 3% in 2024, a stark decline from double-digit growth in previous years.

However, wellness, health products, and essential goods continue to see strong demand, driven by consumer interest in well-being and sustainability.

As consumer caution impacts overall economic activity, particularly in markets reliant on consumption-driven growth, policymakers and brands must adapt. Encouraging spending on wellness and essential goods, while promoting savings, could help stabilise growth. Companies that strategically align with these consumer priorities—through innovation, targeted marketing, and flexible pricing – will be better positioned to thrive despite economic uncertainty.

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Cash is disappearing from daily life across Southeast Asia. In 2019, nearly half of all transactions in Asia were made in cash. By 2027, that figure is expected to fall to just 14 percent, according to the Bank for International Settlements. Mobile wallets—once a convenience—are now overtaking physical currency as the region’s default mode of payment.

This isn’t just a shift in how people pay. It’s a full-blown rewrite of Southeast Asia’s consumer economy. From Bangkok to Manila, behaviour, access, and mobility are being shaped by QR codes, app-driven incentives, and an ecosystem of competing fintech platforms racing to own the checkout moment.

The scale of adoption is staggering. In the Philippines, over 90 million people—around 80 percent of the population—use GCash or Maya, according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. In Indonesia, QRIS transactions surged to 2.7 billion in 2024, up 66 percent from the year prior, based on data from Bank Indonesia.

Thailand logged more than 16 billion PromptPay transactions in 2023, cementing it as the country’s most common payment method. In Singapore, the SGQR system now supports over 30 digital payment schemes, allowing users to scan a single code and choose their preferred app—no cash, no card, no friction.

Unlike China and India, where single players dominate, Southeast Asia is shaping a multi-platform economy. Consumers aren’t just going digital; they’re actively choosing between wallets based on rewards, speed, and the ecosystem of services attached to each app.

The Regional Play

A landmark pact between five ASEAN countries is turning mobile payments into a regional system. Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines have linked their QR code schemes, enabling cross-border wallet use. A Filipino tourist in Bangkok can pay with GCash. A Thai traveller in Singapore can use PromptPay. No currency exchange. No new app. Just scan and go.

This isn’t just symbolic cooperation. It’s a practical leap toward regional commerce at digital speed. Consumers already expect to scan and pay anywhere. Now, the infrastructure is catching up.

More than 100 million tourists visited ASEAN countries in 2024. Many of them already live cashless at home—and now expect the same abroad. For small businesses, cross-border payments mean a wider market without new infrastructure. A QR sticker and a smartphone are all it takes.

Policymakers see this as just the beginning. Cross-border wallet use could soon expand to remittances, regional e-commerce, and subscription billing. Southeast Asia is quietly building the infrastructure to support a truly interoperable digital economy.

Platform Power and Wallet Wars

Beneath all this infrastructure is a more urgent contest—one for daily dominance. Wallets are no longer just payment tools. They are retail ecosystems, vying for attention, behaviour, and loyalty.

In Indonesia, ShopeePay, OVO, and Dana are locked in a three-way race, each tying payments to e-commerce, food delivery, and retail perks. In the Philippines, GCash leads with over 90 million users, while Maya carves out a younger audience through crypto, banking, and cashback. GrabPay holds ground in Singapore and Malaysia by weaving payments into transport and everyday services.

These wallets don’t just process payments. They offer credit, savings, loyalty points, insurance, and instant promotions. Consumers now choose where to shop based on who gives the better deal—not who’s closest or cheapest.

Brands are adapting fast. Retailers are building in-wallet offers and flash deals to stay top of mind. Banks are co-branding products to remain visible inside apps. In this economy, platform presence can matter more than price point.

Wallet ecosystems aren’t just changing how people pay—they’re changing how people choose. As competition heats up, the most powerful wallets are becoming retail platforms in their own right, collapsing the gap between promotion and purchase.

How Brands Are Winning in the Wallet Economy

Jollibee x GCash: Scaling Speed and Spend with QR Exclusives

Jollibee has turned mobile wallets into more than just payment tools. In early 2024, the Filipino fast-food giant piloted QR-only express counters in busy Metro Manila stores—accepting GCash exclusively for walk-up orders.

The results were immediate. Checkout times fell by 30 percent on average, with lunchtime throughput increasing by nearly 20 percent in the busiest branches. But the real advantage was behavioural. GCash-linked promotions—including “buy one, get one” bundles for specific meal sets—drove higher ticket sizes and repeat visits. Jollibee reported a 12 percent lift in average order value among wallet users compared to traditional cash or card buyers during the campaign window.

Beyond volume, the partnership gave Jollibee something more valuable: clear usage patterns. It tracked conversion by time of day, adjusted promotions instantly, and mapped how wallet users shop differently. The model offers lessons beyond fast food. QSR chains across the region are now experimenting with QR-linked incentives to boost order volume and loyalty.

Unilever Vietnam x ZaloPay: Closing the Loop on Sampling and Segmentation

Unilever Vietnam used mobile wallets for more than sales—it used them to test, learn, and refine. In a 2024 pilot with ZaloPay, the brand launched a digital sampling campaign for its new “urban essentials” personal care line targeting Gen Z professionals.

Consumers claimed samples directly through the ZaloPay app, but redemption came with a short quiz and opt-in to Unilever’s official account. In just three weeks, over 150,000 users participated. Of those, 17 percent converted to purchase. More importantly, the campaign delivered real data: which products got tried, how long users waited, and who came back to buy.

Traditional sampling often delivers little feedback and a lot of waste. This campaign flipped the script. For FMCG brands, it’s a path forward—less sampling waste, more segment-level insight, and faster market-readiness. It wasn’t just about targeting—it was about validating what a new segment actually wanted.

Wallets as Retail Real Estate

In Southeast Asia’s evolving consumer economy, mobile wallets are becoming the new shelf. They are visible, contextual, and central to purchase decisions. No longer just the endpoint, they’re shaping what happens before the sale is even made.

Wallets are now where discovery happens. Real-time promos, loyalty rewards, and flash deals make QR apps as influential as in-store signage. In Indonesia, ShopeePay’s “Deals Near Me” surfaces location-based offers that nudge shoppers toward one convenience store—or one coffee shop—over another.

UX Design is now strategy. What shows up on the payment screen—bundled meals, upsells, time-limited offers—can shift behaviour in seconds. In a recent survey, 62 percent of Southeast Asian wallet users said an in-app offer had changed their purchase decision in the past three months.

Brands are responding with wallet-native campaigns. In the Philippines, GCash partners with major retailers to launch app-exclusive bundles. In Vietnam, FMCG players are testing ZaloPay-only SKUs to gauge price sensitivity among mobile-first Gen Z consumers.

For marketers, this changes the playbook. Campaigns now live inside the moment—built into the wallet, not broadcast through media. And just like endcaps in a store, wallet placement is scarce, valuable, and judged by performance.

How Digital Wallets Are Closing the Financial Gap

While wallets compete for urban customers, they also unlock access for millions previously excluded from formal finance. The World Bank estimates that over 40 percent of adults in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam remain unbanked. Mobile wallets are changing that.

Street vendors, farmers, and gig workers are now building financial histories with every tap. In Indonesia, over 29 million small businesses use QRIS to accept payments. In the Philippines, GCash delivers welfare payouts, subsidies, and remittances, often to people who’ve never walked into a bank.

This shift is producing an entirely new class of consumers. They’re connected but overlooked—digitally fluent but invisible to most traditional marketing models. For researchers, the challenge now is to understand how financial access rewires habits and reshapes trust.

Wallet adoption may be booming across the region, but no two markets look alike. Some are dominated by one or two players. Others support overlapping apps, bank wallets, and homegrown fintechs. The variation speaks to different consumer needs and regulatory choices.

Comparing Wallet Ecosystems Across ASEAN

Country	Dominant Wallets	Notable Features	Estimated Adoption
Indonesia	Dana, OVO, ShopeePay	QRIS compliance, local cashback, offline ubiquity	70–75%
Philippines	GCash, Maya	Microloans, utility payments, crypto access	80–85%
Thailand	PromptPay, TrueMoney	Linked to national ID and digital welfare payouts	90%+
Singapore	GrabPay, PayNow, DBS PayLah	High QR interoperability, cross-border ready	95%+
Malaysia	Touch ‘n Go, Boost	Toll road integration, state-backed incentives	80%+

Sources: Central bank data, World Bank Global Findex (2024), platform reporting

What This Signals

The wallet boom in Southeast Asia is not a trend—it’s a system reset. It’s changing how value flows, how behaviour is tracked, and who gets included.

Consumers are gaining fast access to finance, but only through platforms that decide the terms. Governments see more. Banks lose ground. Retailers shift strategy. But the risks are real—ecosystem lock-in, data monopolies, and a widening gap for the disconnected.

Southeast Asia is building the prototype for a fully digital consumer economy. What works here won’t stay here. Markets with similar demographics will follow—some already are.

As wallets become embedded in daily life, they generate a stream of behavioural data that most traditional research methods cannot easily replicate. For brands and researchers alike, this shift is not just an operational upgrade—it is a structural advantage.

Who Gets Left Behind in a Wallet-Led Economy

Not everyone is tapping phones or using QR codes. Across Southeast Asia, millions still rely on cash, not by choice, but by necessity. As digital systems race ahead, they are leaving some consumers behind.

The elderly, rural communities, and informal workers without smartphones or stable internet still make up a large share of the population in countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. For many, wallets remain either out of reach or out of trust.

Even in cities, resistance is growing. Consumers worry about data tracking, fraud, and hidden fees. In Thailand, a watchdog recently warned about wallet-based lenders targeting young users with high-interest loans disguised as pay-later perks.

Cash still offers something digital doesn’t—trust. In many traditional communities, handing over bills is easier, more familiar, and more accepted. As merchants go digital, cash users risk being pushed out of the transaction altogether.

Governments face a balancing act: modernise finance without deepening exclusion. Incentives for wallet use should not come at the cost of cash access, especially in rural or unbanked areas. For brands, the solution lies in hybrid systems that serve both digital adopters and cash loyalists.

The danger of a wallet-led economy is not that it moves too fast, but that it forgets who isn’t coming along. Progress will be measured not just in QR checkouts, but in how well the new economy includes the voices, habits, and limitations of every consumer.

A View from the Future Consumer

Southeast Asia is not just adopting digital finance—it’s rewriting the rules. While Europe debates regulation and the U.S. sticks to cards, this region is designing a payment system that is mobile, fast, and increasingly borderless. Consumers aren’t waiting for banks to evolve. They’re building the next model themselves.

For brands, the implications are clear. The old playbook—national campaigns, static rewards, and linear funnels—no longer works. Today’s consumers jump across apps, currencies, and contexts without hesitation. The winners will meet them there, designing not for convenience, but for relevance at the point of payment. Pricing isn’t set in advance. It’s surfaced in the moment—shaped by wallet prompts, bundled rewards, or time-limited offers.

For researchers, this landscape offers something rare: behaviour in real time. Every wallet tap leaves a trackable decision—what was bought, where, when, and how the user was nudged. But knowing what happened is not the same as knowing why. That’s where research matters most. Ethnography, cultural fluency, and journey mapping are the tools that explain what dashboards alone can’t.

Research must move faster, go deeper, and sit closer to where decisions are made—in wallet ecosystems, in platform partnerships, and in the fast-evolving lives of Southeast Asian consumers.

Some brands are already blending behaviour data with on-the-ground insight. In Vietnam, a beverage company spotted rural sales spikes through wallet data. Field interviews revealed the link: payday loans disbursed on the same day each month. That single insight reshaped everything—from promo timing to pack size.

The next breakthroughs in understanding consumers won’t come from dashboards alone. They’ll come from pairing live data with lived experience—decoding what people do and why they do it. The future of research isn’t digital by default. It’s embedded, agile, and built inside the systems where decisions happen.

Consumer power is shifting from income to intuition—from how much people spend to how fluently they move through the ecosystems around them. Southeast Asia isn’t adapting. It’s leading.

Kadence International helps brands decode evolving consumer behaviour across Asia and beyond. To understand what drives tomorrow’s decisions, talk to our team.

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In 2023, more people moved to Charlotte, North Carolina than to New York City. Once known primarily as a banking hub, Charlotte is now among the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States, with its population increasing by over 15% in the past decade. Its rising appeal is part of a larger pattern: a quiet but powerful migration away from megacities to what demographers call “secondary cities.”

This isn’t just an American phenomenon. Across global markets, from India to the UK to Southeast Asia, mid-sized cities are absorbing growth once concentrated in capital centres. In India, cities like Coimbatore and Ahmedabad are drawing IT investments and retail developments. In China, Chengdu has added more new retail space than many first-tier cities, and consumer spending in tier-2 urban areas is growing at a faster pace than in Beijing or Shanghai.

Affordability is a clear driver. As housing prices and costs of living continue to rise in the world’s biggest cities, residents and businesses are seeking out more livable alternatives. But what’s notable is that consumption isn’t declining as people move. In fact, recent data from McKinsey shows that residents of US secondary cities are just as likely to spend on premium goods and services as their peers in larger cities. The same is true in markets like Vietnam and Indonesia, where new urban enclaves are seeing surging demand for fast fashion, electronics, and beauty products.

This shift challenges a long-standing assumption: that consumer growth follows the gravitational pull of megacities. Instead, smaller urban centres are establishing themselves as independent engines of demand. They are not satellite economies or overflow markets—they’re increasingly self-sustaining hubs with distinct consumption patterns, retail ecosystems, and growth trajectories. Understanding these evolving dynamics isn’t just about tracking migration. It’s about recognising where the next wave of market opportunity is taking shape.

The Urban Migration Redrawing Consumer Behaviour

The reasons behind this urban realignment are pragmatic. In the United States, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in New York City now exceeds $3,000 a month. In contrast, cities like Raleigh or Nashville offer not only lower housing costs but also rising job opportunities and improved quality of life. Remote work has made this trade-off possible for millions. According to US Census data, more than 8.2 million people relocated across state lines in 2023, and the majority moved away from the country’s most expensive urban centres.

In the UK, London saw net domestic outflows in every quarter of 2023, as younger workers and families opted for cities like Birmingham and Manchester, where housing is more affordable and infrastructure investments have been accelerating. A similar pattern is unfolding across Europe and parts of Southeast Asia, driven by both economic necessity and post-pandemic lifestyle recalibrations.

China’s urban development offers a sharper example. For over a decade, the central government has actively promoted growth in tier-2 and tier-3 cities as a way to reduce overreliance on Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. Chengdu and Hangzhou have emerged as digital and cultural hubs in their own right, attracting tech startups, luxury retailers, and young professionals seeking lower living costs and less congestion. Between 2010 and 2020, Chengdu’s GDP more than doubled, and consumer spending rose in parallel.

India’s Smart Cities Mission, launched in 2015, is another case study in how policy can redirect population and spending patterns. The initiative, aimed at improving infrastructure and governance in 100 mid-sized cities, has already resulted in faster retail expansion in places like Indore and Bhubaneswar than in Mumbai or Delhi. According to the India Brand Equity Foundation, consumer electronics sales in tier-2 cities grew by 23% year-on-year in 2023, outpacing metropolitan areas.

What links these movements is not a retreat from consumption but a reshaping of it. Consumers in secondary cities aren’t pulling back; they’re reallocating their spending. Travel, home improvement, wellness, and personal tech are among the categories seeing strong growth. Rather than dining out five nights a week, they may invest in premium groceries or upgrade their living space. Rather than fast fashion hauls, they’re choosing higher-quality basics from emerging local brands.

The geography of consumer demand is no longer centred on a few megacity powerhouses. It’s diffusing across a wider map—one defined by affordability, connectivity, and rising expectations. This new distribution isn’t temporary. It reflects a deeper recalibration in how people want to live and what they choose to prioritise when they have more control over where they are.

Rising Cities to Watch Across Global Markets

The rebalancing of population isn’t just reshaping where people live—it’s altering the architecture of consumption. Cities that once played a secondary role in national economies are now driving demand across key categories, from beauty and electronics to groceries and home improvement. These are not temporary trends. They reflect long-term investments, shifting demographics, and the redistribution of growth across geographies.

In India, urban expansion is no longer confined to Delhi, Mumbai, or Bangalore. Mid-sized cities like Ahmedabad, Kochi, and Coimbatore are seeing a surge in both population and retail development. Ahmedabad, now part of India’s key freight and industrial corridor, is drawing major logistics and manufacturing investment, boosting both employment and disposable income. Kochi, a port city historically associated with trade, is evolving into a service economy with rising demand for consumer goods, even as its organised retail recovery lags behind some peers. In Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore’s industrial economy has been buoyed by its emergence as a textile and engineering hub, contributing to increased uptake of electronics, fast fashion, and D2C brands among its aspirational middle class.

In China, government-backed decentralisation has helped elevate cities like Chengdu, Wuhan, and Hangzhou into powerful regional markets. Chengdu’s GDP surpassed 2 trillion yuan in 2023, underpinned by thriving sectors such as tech services, gaming, and high-end dining. Wuhan, long known for its manufacturing base, is diversifying into optoelectronics and biotech, helping shift consumer demand toward health and wellness products. Meanwhile, Hangzhou—home to Alibaba and a growing number of innovation hubs—continues to drive premium consumption, particularly among younger professionals seeking upgraded personal care, fitness tech, and lifestyle products.

In Southeast Asia, a cluster of cities is quietly gaining ground. Da Nang, once considered peripheral to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, has logged annual growth over 6% on the back of a booming service economy and increased tourism-linked retail. Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, saw retail sales top $100 billion in 2023, as more middle-income households gained access to modern trade and e-commerce. In the Philippines, Cebu posted a 6% increase in GDP last year, with infrastructure and tourism projects spurring demand for beauty, packaged food, and mobile tech.

In the US and UK, the shift away from megacities is most visible in cities like Charlotte and Austin, where population growth and GDP expansion have outpaced the national average. Charlotte has attracted a steady influx of residents and companies, with population now nearing 3 million and median retail prices having risen more than 50% over the last decade. Austin led US metro areas in GDP growth in 2023–24, thanks in part to its dual reputation as a tech and cultural capital. Across the Atlantic, Birmingham has attracted new retail entrants and commercial investment, while Bristol—one of the UK’s fastest-growing core cities—is seeing a younger demographic drive e-commerce and convenience spending trends.

What unites these cities is not their size, but their trajectory. They’re absorbing the momentum once monopolised by megacities, and in doing so, are becoming primary battlegrounds for brands competing across FMCG, luxury, and tech. Each reflects a different facet of a global shift toward distributed growth—one that rewards those who understand the nuances of local demand, not just national averages.

How Consumption Patterns Differ from Megacities

What’s emerging in these secondary cities isn’t just a new geography of growth—it’s a different style of consumption. While the megacities have long been the testing grounds for innovation, image-driven luxury, and niche categories, smaller urban markets are shaping demand through a blend of aspiration and pragmatism. Consumers in these cities are not necessarily spending less; they’re spending differently—guided by function, value, and a growing sense of local identity.

In these rising hubs, premiumization often takes on a more practical form. Rather than high-concept luxury or limited-edition drops, there’s stronger traction for what might be termed “everyday upgrades.” Products that offer quality, longevity, and status without signalling excess are gaining ground. In the US, for example, Uniqlo’s decision to expand into cities like Austin and Charlotte aligns with this mindset. The brand’s clean aesthetic, moderate price point, and reputation for functional basics resonate in markets where value is prized, but style isn’t overlooked. These are not anti-fashion cities—they simply reject the transience and markup that characterises fashion in New York or Los Angeles.

In China, L’Oréal has tailored its go-to-market strategies accordingly. The company segments its product lines and retail mix not just by income level, but by geography. In tier-1 cities, its high-end lines dominate marketing spend, while in tier-2 and tier-3 locations, there’s more emphasis on skincare basics with scientific credibility and accessible pricing. Offline retail formats also shift—with pop-up stores and mobile beauty trucks seeing greater success in secondary cities where e-commerce growth hasn’t yet plateaued, and where physical presence still builds trust.

One factor that consistently shapes behaviour in these markets is the multi-generational household. In many Indian and Southeast Asian cities, discretionary income is often pooled across family units. That influences purchasing decisions across categories—from appliances to packaged food—prompting brands to market not just to individuals, but to households as collective consumers. There’s also a preference for products that serve dual or extended purposes: tech gadgets that function across work and leisure, food brands that cater to both tradition and convenience, and beauty products positioned around self-care rather than indulgence.

There is, however, no uniform pattern. In the Philippines, the growth of Korean skincare brands in cities like Cebu is as much about digital influence as affordability. In Birmingham, the return of legacy department stores is tied to nostalgia and civic pride as much as retail demand. And in Chengdu, the rise of lifestyle cafés and boutique gyms reflects a younger population that wants access to the symbols of metropolitan living—without the daily grind of Beijing.

These cities are not diluted versions of their larger counterparts. They are developing their own consumer signatures, shaped by local infrastructure, employment patterns, and cultural nuance. For brands and strategists, the challenge lies in abandoning the notion of a one-size-fits-all urban consumer. The goal is no longer just market entry—it’s market fluency. And increasingly, fluency in these smaller, faster-growing cities may prove more valuable than reach in the capitals.

how-consumer-spending-varies-across-tier-1-and tier-2-cities

Implications for Brands

The changing face of urban demand calls for more than just expansion—it requires recalibration. As secondary cities gain economic influence, many of the assumptions that once shaped brand strategy are no longer reliable. Markets that were once considered peripheral now demand bespoke planning, grounded in the specifics of place rather than the generalities of national averages.

One immediate shift is the need for greater geographic precision in research. National surveys and tiered segmentation models often flatten regional nuance, failing to capture the complexity of cities like Coimbatore or Chengdu. For companies reliant on trend forecasting or demand modelling, that means moving from regional sampling to localised data capture, often city by city.

Product development and inventory planning are also evolving. In India, brands like Mamaearth and Plum are adjusting their SKUs for tier-2 and tier-3 cities, shifting from large-format products to smaller, trial-sized offerings that match local price expectations. In the US, national retailers like Target have refined their assortments in cities like Charlotte and Nashville, prioritising core everyday goods while reducing premium or seasonal inventory that underperforms outside the major metros.

Media planning is undergoing a parallel transformation. As digital access expands in emerging urban centres, traditional broadcast budgets are giving way to city-level targeting across mobile platforms and social commerce channels. Short-form video, regional influencers, and WhatsApp-based promotions are becoming more effective in places where ad fatigue hasn’t set in and trust in peer-to-peer recommendations remains high. In markets like Vietnam, TikTok is now the primary discovery channel for beauty and electronics purchases in cities outside Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, according to recent industry data.

Even logistics, often treated as an operational concern, is now central to brand reputation in smaller cities. The rise of same-day and next-day delivery expectations—previously confined to tier-1 cities—is now common in places like Cebu or Bristol. For many brands, the challenge isn’t reaching these markets, but reaching them reliably. That’s led to increased partnerships with regional fulfilment services, and in some cases, internal investments in micro-warehousing and localised dispatch.

This redistribution of consumer power is forcing brands to move beyond scale and standardisation. The era of national uniformity in messaging, product lines, and delivery models is fading. In its place is a more fragmented but arguably more dynamic landscape—one where understanding the pulse of smaller cities is becoming essential to staying relevant in the broader market. Brands that treat these urban centres as strategic priorities, not afterthoughts, will be the ones best positioned to grow as the next wave of consumer demand continues to take shape outside the old capitals.

The Future Is Smaller, Faster, and Closer Than You Think

The cities driving the next era of global consumption won’t always be the ones on postcards. They won’t host the Olympics or top the rankings for financial centres. But they will be where new preferences are formed, where loyalty is won, and where growth happens quietly until it isn’t quiet anymore.

This is not a temporary correction or a cost-of-living workaround. It’s a structural shift. In many ways, secondary cities are better attuned to the values shaping modern consumerism: access, flexibility, and balance. These are places where people can afford to live and choose how they spend, not just how much.

For brands, the path forward lies in proximity—not just geographic, but cultural. Success will depend less on scale than on sensitivity. Less on dominating share of voice in capital cities, and more on understanding how tastes evolve in places that rarely make headlines but increasingly make markets.

The middle is no longer a middle ground. It is the next frontier. And those who invest in it early will not just meet new demand—they’ll define it.

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Thailand is embarking on a bold economic initiative that intertwines fiscal stimulus with digital innovation. The government has launched a digital wallet scheme, providing eligible citizens a one-time payment of ฿10,000 (approximately USD 275). This initiative aims to invigorate local economies and accelerate the nation’s transition to a cashless society.

The program is being rolled out in phases, with the third phase targeting 2.7 million young individuals aged 16 to 20. These recipients will receive the funds through the Thang Rath app, a government-developed platform to facilitate digital transactions. The funds are intended for use within local communities, with certain restrictions to ensure the money stimulates domestic consumption.

Thailand’s digital wallet initiative aims to stimulate economic activity and promote digital transactions. The program’s first phase targeted 50 million citizens aged 16 and above, each receiving ฿10,000 (approximately USD 275) through a digital wallet. This approach is designed to encourage spending within local economies and accelerate the country’s shift towards a cashless society.

Thailand’s digital wallet program is a significant case study in integrating fiscal policy with digital technology. By distributing funds through digital means, the government stimulates the economy and encourages the adoption of digital payment systems, potentially influencing consumer habits and financial behaviours.

From Handout to Handset

This is money designed to move markets. Thailand’s ฿10,000 (USD 275) digital wallet credit is distributed exclusively via mobile apps. It has clear boundaries: it must be spent within a designated time period, in specific geographic areas, and only through participating merchants equipped to handle digital payments. The delivery mechanism is the government-backed Thang Rat app, which uses national ID verification to register users and link them to eligible purchases.

The program injects short-term liquidity while strategically embedding digital transactions into routine life. Access requires digital fluency – scanning codes, verifying identity, and transacting within the PromptPay ecosystem. The interface has been streamlined for ease, but the implications are layered. Thailand is accelerating the normalisation of app-mediated spending across demographics and regions.

Financial institutions and major digital wallet providers are working behind the scenes to integrate merchant systems and stabilise the transaction flow to ensure rapid uptake. This isn’t limited to major retailers. Many small vendors, from noodle stalls to corner pharmacies, are registering to accept payments. The digital wallet scheme demands not just consumer participation, but full-scale merchant onboarding into a cashless economy.

This is a behavioural leap for millions of Thais who still rely heavily on cash. But for younger recipients, the transition feels intuitive. Many live on their smartphones, accustomed to social commerce, e-wallet promos, and gamified savings. What the government is effectively doing is placing a financial incentive on behaviour they’re already inclined to adopt.

In this way, the program is a behavioural nudge packaged as an economic policy. It’s teaching people how to spend in a new way, and rewarding them for doing it quickly.

A Timed Windfall for Local Commerce

Businesses across Thailand are preparing for increased consumer spending driven by the digital wallet program. The requirement for funds to be used within a specific period encourages immediate spending, prompting merchants to adjust their pricing strategies and promotional activities accordingly.

Food stalls are printing QR codes, retailers are adjusting shift schedules, salon owners, café managers, and shopfront vendors are updating signage to remind passersby that e-wallets are accepted here. The shift is visible and urgent in provinces where cash has long dominated daily transactions.

In Bangkok’s inner districts, chains and convenience stores are doubling down on digital promotions. Buy-one-get-one offers, bundled discounts, and mobile flash sales are being calibrated to coincide with the disbursement dates. The psychology behind it is clear: create immediacy, trigger impulse purchases, and keep consumers in-app and on-premise.

Meanwhile, mom-and-pop stores in Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, and Phuket are entering the formal financial ecosystem for the first time. Participation in the program requires digital onboarding. The upside: access to new customers flush with government-backed spending power. The risk: failing to move quickly could mean missing the wave altogether.

Consumer behaviour is expected to be fluid but focused. Analysts anticipate that essentials and small indulgences, like meals, home goods, and personal care, will dominate early spending. But discretionary categories, especially fashion and electronics, could also benefit, particularly if retailers tailor offerings to fit within the ฿10,000 bracket.

This is a demand surge programmed into the system. Every player, from a street vendor selling grilled pork skewers to a regional supermarket chain, is being pulled into a countdown economy, where readiness and responsiveness could decide who gains and who gets left behind.

Digital Payments Go Mainstream in Thailand

The timing of Thailand’s digital wallet rollout is no accident. With PromptPay already embedded into daily life through peer-to-peer transfers and utility payments, the infrastructure for mass adoption was quietly laid years ago. What’s happening now is a sudden acceleration, where digital payments are no longer a convenience, but a condition for participation.

The mechanics are simple: the digital credit can only be spent via QR code transactions within the Thang Rat app or partner platforms. While younger, tech-savvy consumers may find the digital wallet system intuitive, older demographics and small businesses in semi-urban or rural areas face challenges in adopting this technology. Efforts are underway to support and educate these groups to ensure inclusive participation in the program.

This forced familiarity is a powerful lever. In previous government subsidies, such as the “Half-Half” co-payment scheme, uptake of digital payments spiked, but often reverted once the incentive expired. The difference this time lies in scale, urgency, and exclusivity. With no offline alternative, digital behaviour becomes the default.

Retailers, both large and small, are expanding their digital loyalty ecosystems, leveraging infrastructure that’s already in place. Meanwhile, independent merchants are being trained through government-led and private sector initiatives, many of whom accept mobile payments alongside cash for the first time.

There are structural benefits too. Digital transactions bring transparency, reduce leakage, and pull more activity into the taxable economy. For financial institutions and fintech platforms, it’s a rare moment to onboard users en masse, expand digital credit histories, and introduce adjacent services like microloans and savings tools. What was once novel, QR payments and app-exclusive deals, is now baseline behaviour. Habits form, preferences evolve, and expectations reset.

For Thailand, this isn’t just about going cashless. It’s about normalising a new rhythm of consumption, one mediated by apps, verified by biometrics, and reinforced through constant interface with digital payment systems.

Programmed Consumption and the Rise of Directed Demand

Thailand’s digital wallet program doesn’t simply encourage spending; it shapes it. By placing parameters on how, where, and when the ฿10,000 can be used, the government has introduced a form of economic steering rarely seen at this scale. Unlike traditional cash stimulus, which relies on recipients to allocate funds freely, this initiative narrows consumer choice and concentrates activity into predefined lanes.

The logic is deliberate. Restricting usage to local businesses prevents capital leakage to international e-commerce platforms. Limiting the timeframe creates urgency. Requiring digital payment methods brings consumers and merchants into closer contact with formal financial systems. By specifying where and how the digital wallet funds can be used, the government effectively directs consumer spending towards specific sectors and regions, aiming to boost local economies and encourage digital payment systems.

This creates a behavioural moment for consumers. Faced with a ticking clock and a limited range of vendors, they are more likely to make purchase decisions that are reactive, needs-based, or convenience-driven. This doesn’t eliminate agency, but it does channel it. The consumer becomes a participant in a curated economic script.

Retailers are adapting quickly. Some design promotions that align with the wallet’s value cap, offering bundles or tiered discounts pegged just under ฿10,000. Others are integrating in-app incentives, such as exclusive digital deals or gamified rewards. It’s not a one-off campaign. It’s a moment for brands to convert compliance into long-term connection.

There are also downstream effects. Data trails emerge as millions engage in digital-first transactions over a condensed period. Purchase preferences, time-of-day activity, and location-based behaviour are logged in real time. This creates a trove of behavioural insights for tech partners and financial services firms, potentially reshaping how credit scoring, product development, and localised marketing unfold in the months ahead.

Similar experiments have been attempted globally, particularly in conditional cash transfers. But Thailand’s version is uniquely digitised, centralised, and transactional. It offers a test case in how programmable money can accelerate economic recovery and behavioural adaptation.

Understanding how different consumer groups respond to this stimulus is essential for long-term strategy. Young adults, already comfortable with mobile interfaces, adapt rapidly, but older consumers may show resistance or partial adoption. Rural users face infrastructure gaps that could slow uptake or reshape spending patterns around trusted local merchants. Urban Gen Zs may spend impulsively and favour experiential categories, while Gen X participants lean toward utility-driven purchases. These behavioural distinctions matter for segmentation, pricing, and product development, particularly as brands look to refine future targeting based on wallet usage data.

New Norms in Marketing and Merchandising

The digital wallet program is forcing businesses in Thailand to rethink the fundamentals of how they market, merchandise, and manage demand. Digital credit may be temporary, but behavioural ripple effects influence how brands present themselves online and in-store.

At the heart of this transformation is timing. With a strict window in which the funds must be used, consumer attention is compressed. That changes the marketing calculus. There’s no luxury of a long lead funnel or sustained brand storytelling. Campaigns must hit fast and deliver clear value. QR codes aren’t just payment methods; they’re now marketing triggers, embedded in posters, flyers, and social posts that tie spending to immediacy.

Product curation has also shifted. Brands are building product bundles priced just below the ฿10,000 threshold, creating psychological cues for consumers to spend the full amount. Some offer flash deals that reset daily, while others push limited-time bundles through retailer apps or LINE commerce channels. These are not just promotions but engineered conversions calibrated to align with the digital wallet framework.

Inventory planning, too, has become more dynamic. Mid-sized retailers and national chains are using digital dashboards to track wallet-driven demand in real time, enabling rapid stock reallocation. Categories like food delivery, personal electronics, cosmetics, and small household appliances are spiking, especially among younger consumers already fluent in app-centred shopping habits.

The new challenge is coherence for businesses operating in both physical and digital spaces. Messaging must be synchronised across touchpoints, inventory systems must be tightly integrated, and customer service needs to anticipate a wave of first-time digital shoppers. This isn’t just a surge; it’s a behavioural onramp for consumers who have never interacted with a loyalty program or browsed a brand’s offerings through an app.

Loyalty itself is being redefined. With state-funded money in play, consumer allegiance becomes fluid. People are less concerned with brand heritage and more focused on price, accessibility, and in-app rewards. The brands that win in this window may not be the ones with the longest history, but the ones that adapt fastest to this new consumption model.

A Testbed for Market Entry and Innovation

Thailand’s digital wallet stimulus is becoming a live laboratory for market entrants and tech innovators. The initiative presents a rare opportunity to observe real-time consumer responses at scale, under state-structured conditions, by creating a compressed environment of digitally enabled, time-bound consumption.

This moment offers more than a demand bump for global brands and startups exploring Southeast Asia. It provides behavioural proof points. Which price points resonate with a digitally empowered consumer base? How do young adults prioritise purchases with a fixed wallet balance and expiration date? What formats – QR discounts, app-based coupons, social-first promotions – translate into immediate action?

For global brands operating in Thailand, the closed-loop nature of the wallet system introduces new constraints. Transactions are restricted to pre-approved domestic merchants using Thai QR payment infrastructure, sidelining international platforms and foreign e-commerce flows. This forces global players to rethink their localisation strategy, not just in language or pricing but also in payment compatibility, compliance with local fintech protocols, and partnerships with Thai digital ecosystems. Without local enablement, access to wallet-driven demand is effectively off-limits.

These are questions that typical market entry research can only approximate. But in Thailand right now, the data is unfolding in real time.

Retail tech platforms are already responding. Point-of-sale solutions are being retrofitted to accommodate PromptPay and Thang Rat app syncing. Loyalty software providers are rolling out integrations tailored for the short-term stimulus. Meanwhile, financial institutions are watching new patterns emerge around credit top-ups, digital wallet storage, and tiered savings, insights that could inform broader regional product development.

For brands considering market entry, the digital wallet rollout reduces uncertainty. It forces clarity around key operational requirements: payment infrastructure compatibility, smartphone-optimised UX design, local partnership strategy, and promotional agility. Previously theoretical risks like payment fragmentation and uneven digital engagement are unfolding in real time, offering rare visibility.

There is also a broader story unfolding around interoperability. Local players that capture wallet-based spending may quickly gain bargaining power in distribution deals or tech partnerships. New winners could emerge, not just based on product strength but also on their ability to move quickly, adapt nimbly, and serve a new type of Thai consumer who expects digital fluency as the norm.

In this way, the program becomes more than a fiscal initiative. It is a proving ground for what works in digitally conditioned economies, and a barometer for how brands, especially those eyeing ASEAN growth, should rethink their playbooks.

Beyond the Wallet

The digital wallet program is temporary, but the behavioural architecture it introduces is anything but. Thailand’s push toward app-based, conditional cash disbursement may be a one-off stimulus. Still, it functions as a prototype that could shape the long-term relationship between consumers, digital ecosystems, and the state.

At a policy level, it hints at future mechanisms for targeted fiscal relief. With a national app tied to ID verification, merchant QR capability, and geofenced rails, Thailand has the infrastructure for agile, targeted interventions. Imagine fuel subsidies issued directly to drivers’ wallets, or education grants tied to purchases at approved vendors. Thailand is effectively building the scaffolding for programmable transfers that move beyond welfare and into consumer engineering.

For brands, this shifts the horizon. Suppose public spending can be deployed with this degree of precision. In that case, market strategy must now factor in state influence – not just regulation or taxation, but direct participation in how demand is created, distributed, and spent.

It also raises questions about data sovereignty and consumer privacy. Every transaction under this program is logged, time-stamped, and geolocated. While much of the data is anonymised or aggregated, tracking purchasing behaviours at this scale gives policymakers and platforms a new level of visibility and responsibility. Transparency, ethical use, and public trust will become defining themes as similar programs proliferate.

For consumers, the wallet scheme introduces a new normal, not just in how they pay but also in how they engage with money. Spending has become traceable and digitally shaped. This could foster a generation of Thais who expect convenience, traceability, and flexibility from every financial interaction—expectations that will extend far beyond this program.

In the broader Southeast Asian context, Thailand’s experiment is being watched. Governments from Vietnam to Malaysia are exploring their own pathways toward digital inclusion and financial modernisation. If Thailand’s model successfully drives lasting consumer habits, similar regional models could be accelerated.

What remains unclear is whether these behaviours will stick. Will consumers continue favouring QR payments, or will familiar cash habits resurface? Much will depend on how embedded digital convenience becomes in daily transactions and whether follow-up incentives, merchant retention, and habit reinforcement mechanisms remain. This presents a live opportunity for market researchers to track post-stimulus drop-offs, digital payment stickiness, and evolving consumer loyalty under real-world conditions.

If replicated across ASEAN, this state-led digital payment model could redefine how governments stimulate economies and how brands prepare for demand. Thailand’s model offers a scalable blueprint in markets like Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, where digital infrastructure is expanding but financial inclusion remains uneven.

There’s also a broader possibility: what begins as a one-off wallet scheme could evolve into a prototype for Universal Basic Income trials delivered via fintech. Conditional, trackable, and segmentable, such frameworks would allow governments to deploy aid, test responses, tweak incentives, and monitor outcomes in real time.

Thailand’s digital wallet initiative illustrates the growing interplay between government policy and consumer behaviour. For businesses, this underscores the importance of aligning with digital platforms and payment systems increasingly influenced by public sector strategies.

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Jollibee is rewriting the rules of global fast food.

After a strong financial year, the Filipino fast-food giant is entering 2025 with around USD 364 million earmarked to open as many as 800 new stores worldwide. That would push Jollibee’s total store count past 10,000, a staggering figure for a homegrown chain once dismissed as quirky outside Asia. But this is no vanity expansion. The brand’s global push reflects a more profound shift at home, where demand for quick, affordable meals surges, defying inflation, reshaping food culture, and fueling a new era of fast-food dominance in the Philippines.

This isn’t just about chicken and burgers. It’s about how one brand’s rise is capturing the cravings of an entire nation.

Fast food emerged as the most popular choice for dining out, particularly among chicken and burger lovers. Quick-service establishments accounted for over half of the industry’s total revenue, generating over USD 7 billion in 2023. Since then, the segment has been dominated by homegrown players, led by Jollibee Foods Corporation, whose portfolio includes Mang Inasal, Greenwich, and Chowking. McDonald’s remains a distant second, operating under the exclusive franchise of Golden Arches Development Corporation. As demand rises, local chains expand into provincial areas, while international brands continue to enter the market, adding more variety to Filipino tables.

Whether students meet after class, families treat themselves on weekends, or office workers order lunch through an app, the momentum is clear: Filipinos are dining out, ordering in, and doing it more often.

This revival isn’t a return to the past. It’s an acceleration. The pandemic disrupted routines and deepened appreciation for fast, reliable food options. A more mobile, value-conscious consumer emerged who now sees fast food as affordable and dependable.

Demand for fast food stays strong in the Philippines

The latest research indicates that consumer spending on food services remained steady despite elevated inflation rates, with quick-service restaurants showing particular resilience. Budget-friendly combo meals, seasonal promos, and tiered pricing have helped brands stay within reach for everyday customers.

For many, an under-two-dollar value meal is more than just food. It’s an accessible treat, a small reward at the end of a long day. In uncertain times, the routine of fast food offers something dependable.

Global ambition with local roots in the Philippines

Jollibee’s international footprint is a calculated strategy powered by years of steady domestic growth and rising demand from Filipino communities abroad. From Los Angeles to Riyadh, queues outside Jollibee outlets speak to nostalgia and a global appetite for distinctly Filipino offerings.

In 2024, Jollibee Foods Corp opened new stores across North America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, adding to its diverse portfolio that includes Smashburger in the U.S., The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and Yonghe King in China. Its global network spans over 30 countries, with stronghold cities like Toronto and Dubai seeing expansion fueled by the diaspora and growing mainstream interest.

But the push outward is rooted in confidence built at home. JFC’s record earnings have created room to double down on international markets, and the brand’s ability to localise, while staying true to its core identity, has become its competitive edge.

Regional QSRs take root beyond Metro Manila

While major players dominate the headlines, a quiet transformation occurs in provincial cities. Homegrown fast-food chains like Mang Inasal (also under JFC) and Potato Corner are seeing rapid expansion in tier-2 and tier-3 areas, where demand is driven by a growing middle class and increased infrastructure investment.

Cities like Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, and General Santos have become new frontiers for QSR growth. These markets value familiarity, affordability, and local relevance, and regional chains are responding to these preferences with rice-based meals, grilled dishes, and snackable comfort food.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) notes that regional retail hubs posted double-digit growth in food service in 2024, a sign that the fast-food phenomenon is no longer concentrated in major urban centres. For brands, this shift signals the need to build hyper-local strategies, not just nationally but by province, city, and even neighbourhood.

Global fast-food chains step up competition in the Philippines’ quick-service market.

Jollibee may dominate the local scene, but it no longer stands alone. International quick-service brands are scaling up in the Philippines, eyeing the same value-driven, convenience-loving consumers.

McDonald’s Philippines, which opened its 700th store in 2024, continues to match Jollibee’s momentum with localised offerings and digital upgrades. Popeyes and Shake Shack are expanding footprints in Metro Manila, while brands like Tim Hortons and Five Guys are testing growth in urban centres. Each new entry promises variety and the pressure to compete.

What’s different now is the intensity. With a young, urban population and rising mobile penetration, the Philippine QSR market has become a battleground for homegrown and global players. Store count is only one metric. The real contest is for relevance: who can adapt, respond, and resonate fastest with local tastes and lifestyles?

Fast Food Menus that speak the local language

Taste is local, and brands are listening. Filipino diners want more than burgers and fries. They expect flavour profiles reflecting regional preferences and seasonal cravings. That’s why spicy chicken, sweet-style spaghetti, and ube-flavoured desserts are staples, not novelties, across fast-food menus.

Before launching new items like Spicy Tuna Pie or ube-flavoured desserts, Jollibee conducts sensory testing and product trials to gauge appeal across regions. JFC’s 2021 Sustainability Report outlines a quality assurance process that includes sensory evaluations and physicochemical analysis, ensuring every product meets both safety standards and consumer taste expectations.

Jollibee continues to lead with offerings designed around Filipino palates, from its best-selling Burger Steak to newly launched spicy Tuna Pie variants. McDonald’s Philippines has followed suit, bringing back its Twister Fries and McSpicy lines while experimenting with rice-based meals and desserts like the Ube McDip.

This localisation trend isn’t limited to Filipino chains. Even global brands are learning to localise faster, rolling out limited-time items that reflect local tastes. Product development has become both a marketing tool and a competitive differentiator, allowing brands to stay top-of-mind in a saturated landscape.

Sustainability now comes standard in fast food chains in the Philippines

Sustainability is no longer a side note—it’s influencing what Filipinos order, how often they return, and which brands earn their trust. Jollibee’s “Joy for Tomorrow” program has moved beyond recycling pledges and into action, including energy-efficient store designs, reduced food waste, and stronger partnerships with local farmers.

Other fast-food players are following suit. Biodegradable packaging, cage-free sourcing, and ingredient transparency are making their way into the mainstream. These shifts speak to a consumer base that wants convenience without compromise. The cost of a meal now includes a calculation of impact, and brands that take that seriously are gaining ground.

The screen is the new QSR storefront.

Ordering food has become a tap-and-go experience. Mobile apps, third-party delivery platforms, and social commerce are no longer add-ons; they’re central to the Filipino consumer journey.

In 2024, Food Industry Asia reported that nearly 60% of quick-service restaurant orders in Philippine cities were placed through digital channels.

Foot traffic has given way to app traffic, with brands competing on flash deals, loyalty rewards, and free delivery to stay top of mind.

Digital payments are now part of everyday life in the Philippines. In 2024, usage among adults aged 15 and up hit 33%, a steep climb from just 3.2% in 2018. The shift mirrors the rise of mobile-first ordering and in-app transactions, especially in fast-paced urban dining.

Jollibee’s mobile ordering platform has expanded its features, allowing personalised recommendations, pre-orders, and seamless integration with payment apps. McDonald’s Philippines, GrabFood, and Foodpanda continue to lead in delivery convenience, but newer players like TikTok Shop have begun to influence food discovery and promo-led conversions.

Fast food is no longer just about what’s on the menu; it’s about how quickly, easily, and enjoyably it can be accessed.

Where Gen Z eats, posts, and connects

For Gen Z in the Philippines, fast food isn’t just a meal; it’s part of the social fabric. Chains like Jollibee and McDonald’s have become informal meeting places, study zones, and TikTok backdrops. With free Wi-Fi, student discounts, and sleek interior revamps, fast-food locations are evolving into lifestyle spaces for a digital-first generation.

Over 70% of Filipinos aged 15–24 visit a fast-food restaurant at least once a week, not only to eat but also to socialise, stream content, or work on school assignments. The ambience, affordability, and accessibility make these venues a go-to choice, especially in areas with few alternatives.

QSR brands have noticed. Jollibee’s recent store designs incorporate more seating zones, charging stations, and group-friendly configurations. Meanwhile, McDonald’s continues to roll out McCafé-style concepts with a café vibe. Marketing also leans heavily on youth-driven platforms. Jollibee’s TikTok content, for instance, regularly goes viral thanks to campaign hooks that merge pop culture, food hacks, and humour.

This convergence of dining, content creation, and community adds a new layer to how fast food functions in Filipino society. It’s not just about convenience or flavour; it’s about belonging.

Innovation behind the fast-food counter

Fast food has always been about speed, but now it’s also about smarts. Behind the counter, brands adopt AI-driven inventory systems, real-time analytics, and predictive modelling to optimise operations.

On the consumer side, personalisation is becoming standard. Delivery apps suggest orders based on time of day, while loyalty platforms trigger tailored promos and gamified incentives. In 2024, over 8 in 10 Filipino consumers ordered fast food through delivery apps, the highest in Asia, making digital innovation a make-or-break factor for staying relevant.

This tech transformation isn’t just about convenience. It’s how brands scale, adapt, and survive in an economy where expectations move faster than supply chains.

A new flavour of identity in Philippine QSRs

Fast food in the Philippines has evolved from an occasional indulgence into a defining thread in everyday life. It reflects shifting routines, modern appetites, and a generation that blends tradition with convenience.

Jollibee’s global rise is not just a business story; it’s a cultural signal. It shows how a local brand, deeply rooted in national identity, can compete on the world stage without losing its soul. At the same time, the growing presence of foreign QSR players and the embrace of digital-first experiences suggest that Filipino consumers are increasingly cosmopolitan in their tastes, but still loyal to brands that understand them.

Jollibee’s QSR expansion isn’t just about chicken. It’s about claiming a cultural and commercial space that reflects where Filipino consumers are headed, and how fast the world is learning to follow.

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The next wave of edtech growth isn’t being engineered in boardrooms or classrooms. It’s unfolding in bedrooms, dorm halls, and digital chat groups – where students turn smartphones into production studios and learning platforms into launchpads. Armed with ring lights and revision hacks, Gen Z creators are transforming how education is marketed, consumed, and experienced.

As the creator economy collides with online learning, edtech firms increasingly tap into student-led content to drive adoption and engagement. These are not traditional brand ambassadors. They’re 17-year-olds making calculus go viral on TikTok, undergraduates breaking down coding concepts on YouTube, and peer influencers creating community-led momentum that no ad spend can replicate.

It’s a shift that goes beyond marketing. The rise of peer co-creation is shaping the very future of digital education, raising questions about influence, equity, and outcomes. And as both Western and Asian edtech platforms double down on this strategy, one thing is clear: the line between learner and creator is rapidly disappearing.

Students take control of the edtech narrative.

This behavioral shift isn’t accidental. It’s a direct outcome of how Gen Z and Gen Alpha navigate the world: socially networked, algorithm-aware, and deeply influenced by peer credibility.

For today’s learners, discovering an edtech platform through a classmate’s Instagram Reel or a late-night TikTok “study with me” session holds more weight than a polished brand campaign. Tutorials, crash courses, and day-in-the-life videos now double as endorsements, often outperforming official content in reach and relatability.

Behind the scenes, edtech companies are starting to adapt. Instead of focusing solely on institutional partnerships or top-down content strategies, platforms nurture creator ecosystems. Sometimes, they quietly offer toolkits, early access, and micro-incentives to student influencers who generate organic traction. The logic is clear: trust is the new currency, and students trust each other.

This peer-powered loop doesn’t just drive engagement – it shapes product design, fuels viral growth, and turns users into evangelists. For edtech brands seeking to scale in saturated markets, the most strategic growth play may be letting students take the mic.

Khan Academy builds influence through relatability.

In the US, Khan Academy is leaning into student-powered storytelling without making a spectacle of it. While the platform’s core content remains institutionally produced, its growth on social media owes much to an informal network of young creators – high schoolers and college students explaining how Khan helped them prep for the SATs, ace AP exams, or survive algebra.

Rather than launching overt influencer programs, Khan Academy benefits from what marketers might call “earned influence.” Creators like Thomas Frank—whose YouTube channel has over 3 million subscribers and more than 183 million views – frequently reference tools like Khan Academy in their tutorials. These mentions – organic, peer-driven, and peppered with personal success stories – carry a resonance that brand messaging rarely matches.

The result? A constant stream of creator-led endorsements embedded in motivational reels, test prep rundowns, and “study with me” live streams. The platform’s visibility continues to grow not through ads but through creators who view Khan as part of their academic survival toolkit. For students, it’s not just a resource. It’s a badge of belonging.

Classplus taps regional creators to drive depth over scale.

In India’s competitive edtech landscape, Classplus has carved a distinct path by empowering educators to run their online classrooms. But increasingly, it’s students who are amplifying its reach. On Instagram, ShareChat, and even WhatsApp groups, testimonials and tutorials recorded by learners in Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali are helping the platform penetrate beyond metro cities into India’s vast tier-2 and tier-3 markets.

These are not slick influencer campaigns. Often filmed on low-budget phones with minimal editing, the content reflects real student experiences – test scores, improved confidence, or simply how a Classplus module helped crack a tough exam concept. The authenticity resonates, especially among first-generation digital learners seeking guidance in their native language.

Classplus hasn’t ignored the trend. The company has begun quietly supporting these student creators by spotlighting their content on its official channels and offering resources to help structure their narratives. In some cases, creators have even evolved into local brand champions – hosting peer workshops, leading Telegram study groups, and shaping how the platform adapts to regional needs.

While many edtech players chase national scale, Classplus is betting that peer-led credibility in small communities may prove more sustainable (and more powerful) than mass-market advertising.

Zenius turns TikTok into a learning laboratory.

In Indonesia, Zenius is rewriting the rules of student engagement by meeting Gen Z exactly where they are – on TikTok. The platform, which offers curriculum-aligned content for K-12 learners, has seen a surge in student-driven explainers, study hacks, and motivational clips that blend humor with academic rigor. What might once have been dry exam prep is now delivered with trending sounds, meme formats, and an unmistakably local voice.

Rather than competing for attention, Zenius has embraced this creative energy. Its team actively encourages students to remix educational content into short-form videos and even runs nationwide creator challenges to spark participation. Top-performing videos – like a viral breakdown of Newton’s laws using motorbike stunts – don’t just boost app downloads. They position Zenius as a platform that understands and reflects the student mindset. Zenius’s own TikTok account, @zeniuseducation, has built a substantial following, demonstrating the platform’s resonance with Gen Z audiences in Indonesia.

The strategy taps into more than entertainment. By enabling students to co-create and share learning moments, Zenius is fostering a sense of ownership and community. Creators become informal tutors, and learning transforms into a social experience – one that travels through peer networks far faster than traditional classroom methods.

For a generation that learns in bursts, scrolls for validation, and values authenticity over authority, Zenius is proving the future of education might look a lot more like the For You Page.

How-Student-Creators-Are-Shaping-the-Future-of-EdTech

The influence dilemma behind student-led learning

As student creators gain traction, edtech companies navigate a delicate balance between engagement and responsibility. What happens when learning starts to look more like content creation? For every viral study hack or exam tip that spreads across TikTok or YouTube Shorts, there’s the risk of misinformation, burnout, or unintended pressure to perform for views.

Experts are divided. Some argue that co-creation fosters deeper learning, with students reinforcing their knowledge by teaching others. For example, an academic review of TikTok’s role in education cautioned that while it increases engagement, the brevity and virality of the content can undermine conceptual depth and accuracy, especially when non-experts are involved.

Others warn that when education is filtered through the lens of likes and shares, rigor can give way to popularity.

There’s also the question of transparency. As platforms begin to reward creators – either through visibility, free subscriptions, or direct payments – questions around sponsorship disclosure and authenticity are becoming harder to ignore. In a space where trust is everything, even the perception of promotion can erode credibility.

Mental health concerns are mounting, too. Students doubling as creators often juggle schoolwork with self-imposed content calendars, leading to stress, screen fatigue, and anxiety around performance metrics. Without clear boundaries or institutional support, the model risks amplifying the very challenges it aims to solve.

“TikTok is redefining how students access information, but it’s not a substitute for structured learning. Educators must help students think critically about the content they consume.”

-From the study: TikTok’s Influence on Education, ResearchGate

The blending of learning and influence isn’t inherently flawed, but it demands stronger guardrails. If student creators are to shape the future of education, platforms will need to offer more than visibility. They’ll need to offer support.

Learning becomes a networked, creator-powered ecosystem

The convergence of student influence and educational technology is no passing trend; it’s reshaping how learning is discovered, delivered, and defined. What began as a handful of creators posting revision tips has evolved into a decentralised learning ecosystem where peer networks hold as much sway as professional educators.

Many edtech brands are adapting. Some invest in tools that allow creators to track engagement and refine their content. Others are experimenting with monetisation models, giving high-performing student educators a path to income or certification. Features once exclusive to influencer platforms – analytics dashboards, branded content guidelines, creator portals – are quietly being layered into the backends of learning apps.

The implications are global. In the West, the trend is accelerating around standardised testing, college prep, and niche STEM content. In Asia, it’s unlocking growth in local language education and expanding access in low-bandwidth, mobile-first environments. While the pace may differ, the destination is the same: education that is personalised, social, and driven by those closest to the experience.

For brands, the message is clear. Students aren’t just users anymore. They’re builders of trust, momentum, and meaning. And in a market where attention is earned – not bought – platforms that empower them will lead the next generation of education.

Why this matters for brands

For brands operating in or adjacent to education, the rise of student creators is both a growth lever and a governance challenge. The decentralisation of influence, from institutions to peers offers unmatched authenticity and reach but also introduces new variables around accuracy, accountability, and impact.

The platforms that will lead are not those that simply ride the trend but those that help shape it responsibly. That means investing in tools that empower young voices while embedding safeguards: content verification, mental health resources, and transparent disclosure practices. Aligning with creators is no longer just a marketing strategy; it’s a responsibility.

Students have become trusted messengers in a market where attention is earned, not bought. But with that trust comes a new mandate for brands: to amplify wisely and build ecosystems that value innovation and integrity.

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You’re watching a livestream. A pair of sneakers flash on screen, not as a hard sell, but as part of the host’s outfit. Before the segment ends, you’ve clicked, carted, and checked out, without ever intending to shop.

This is ambient shopping.

In 2025, 69% of consumers report making purchases while doing something else: scrolling through social media, watching content, or listening to a podcast. The shopping journey has diffused into everyday digital moments, becoming less of an event and more of a background behaviour.

What used to be a deliberate act – searching, comparing, deciding – now happens through exposure. Commerce has folded itself into the scroll, the stream, the story.

This isn’t just a shift in attention span. It reflects a new consumer posture, where intent is optional and interaction is often unconscious.

The Context Collapse of Commerce

Shopping no longer requires a shift in mindset. It happens mid-scroll, mid-stream, mid-conversation, folded into the same feed as entertainment, news, and personal updates.

The boundaries that once separated commerce from content have eroded. A beauty tutorial triggers a purchase. A meme account becomes a storefront. Livestream hosts don’t just entertain; they convert.

This is the new consumer environment: one feed, many functions. People don’t open shopping apps with intent. They encounter products passively, in spaces curated for relevance, not retail.

Brand Signal: Amazon x MrBeast
In 2024, Amazon partnered with YouTube creator MrBeast to produce Beast Games, a Prime Video series built around high-stakes, creator-driven competition. While not a direct shoppable integration, the collaboration signals Amazon’s long-game strategy: embedding its brand deeper into entertainment ecosystems where Gen Z and millennial audiences already spend time. As retail and media converge, partnerships like these reflect how commerce can grow ambiently through cultural relevance and presence, not just transactions.

In 2024, social commerce accounted for an estimated 19% of global ecommerce.

Social platforms have adapted fast. TikTok’s algorithm surfaces trending items before users realise they’re in demand. Instagram’s native checkout makes the path from discovery to purchase nearly invisible. Shoppable links, tagged products, and dynamic ads create an ecommerce layer that moves with the user.

There’s no funnel here. Just frictionless moments where curiosity meets convenience.

Designing for the Distracted

In a world of ambient shoppers, attention is fleeting and rarely focused. Products are chosen in seconds, often without sound, sometimes without context. Design has to do more with less.

For brands, this means optimising for recognition, not explanation. Packaging needs to pop on a 6-inch screen mid-scroll. Labels must convey function at a glance. Logos should be legible when compressed into a corner of a carousel ad.

Functionality also shifts. Shoppers aren’t always in a buying mindset, so products that solve immediate needs, such as hydration, energy, skin repair, and comfort, are more likely to convert. In beauty and personal care, this has driven a wave of minimalist formats: stick balms, on-the-go sprays, and single-dose sachets. In food, snackable and resealable dominate.

The sensory layer matters. Swipeable palettes shimmer under livestream lighting, stickers shift colour in motion, and packaging textures mimic velvet or gloss, begging for thumb contact. These cues don’t explain the product; they tempt the finger before the brain can even catch up.

Ambient shopping is designed without a captive audience. Relevance has to surface instantly, or it’s lost.

Ambient Influence – From Intent to Impulse

The traditional path to purchase is dissolving. Search, compare, decide – these steps still exist but no longer happen in sequence. In ambient shopping, influence works in reverse. Exposure comes first. Intent may never form.

Context drives the sale: who shared the product, where it appeared, and what mood the consumer was in. Algorithms precisely track these signals, building behavioural clusters that predict, not prompt, buying moments.

Brand Signal: Sephora’s Instagram Shoppable Posts
Sephora, a global beauty retailer, has effectively utilised Instagram’s shoppable posts to streamline the customer journey from discovery to purchase. Sephora allows users to explore product details and make purchases without leaving the app by integrating product tags into their posts and stories. This strategy has enhanced the shopping experience by reducing friction and meeting consumers where they are most engaged.

A user who lingers on fitness content might be served hydration tablets in the next reel. Someone who pauses on travel vlogs sees compression socks, not because they searched for them, but because the algorithm anticipates utility.

This isn’t personalisation as we knew it. It’s predictive proximity – placing the right product near the right emotion, habit, or setting. Instagram and TikTok deploy dynamic ad creatives that shift based on what users last hovered over, paused on, or bookmarked, even if they never clicked.

Every swipe, scroll, and second becomes part of a real-time model that interprets potential intent from ambient behaviour. That interpretation drives conversion.

The Market Research Mandate

Understanding ambient shoppers requires more than surveys and segmentation models. These consumers may not recall what they bought, let alone why. Intent is ambient, actions are reflexive, and memory is unreliable.

Market research tools—built around conscious decision-making—fall short. What’s needed is continuous visibility into behaviour as it unfolds. Passive metering, in-the-moment mobile intercepts, and digital ethnography are becoming essential to decoding this new mode of commerce.

Brands are replacing static personas with dynamic behavioural profiles, updated in real time through telemetry: app swipes, click paths, video completion rates, and dwell time. This data doesn’t just measure attention; it reveals patterns invisible to the consumer.

Ethnographic insight is also evolving. Researchers now observe not just what people say they do but how they behave when no one’s asking. Ambient commerce, by nature, hides in plain sight. To surface it, insight teams are embedding themselves within ecosystems – gaming platforms, live stream chats, private group DMs – where shopping happens without ever being called shopping.

Why It Matters

Ambient shopping disrupts marketing, product timing, UX, packaging, and platform strategy. Brands that fail to adapt may not only lose relevance; they may simply fade from view.

Brand Signal: MAC Cosmetics

MAC Cosmetics has leaned into AR-powered try-on tools, allowing Instagram users to experiment with lipstick shades in real time. These filters helped turn scroll time into trial time, extending product discovery into personal content streams.

The implication is clear: brands that rely solely on declared data will miss what matters. To serve the ambient shopper, research must become ambient too.

What’s Next: Invisible Interfaces, Voice Commerce, and Haptic Nudges

Shopping is dissolving into digital life. Sometimes that happens in a social feed. But increasingly, it occurs in a voice command, a wearable, a smart mirror, a YouTube scroll, or a fridge notification. The next wave of ambient shopping will be always on, always listening, always ready to act.

These moments are powered by a new layer of frictionless tech, voice-first commerce, smart home replenishment systems, in-car commerce experiences, and ambient computing that adapts to real-time behaviour.

Brand Signal: Walmart’s AI-Powered In-Home
In 2024, Walmart rolled out an AI feature that automatically restocks essentials in customers’ refrigerators based on usage patterns. By integrating replenishment with its InHome delivery service, Walmart has moved purchase decisions from conscious action to predictive automation.

Brand Signal: In-Car Payments Go Mainstream
As of 2024, fourteen global automotive brands offer in-car commerce solutions across fifteen countries. From paying for parking and fuel to ordering food, these systems turn dashboards into checkout counters, merging mobility with purchase convenience.

Smart assistants are already facilitating purchases through simple voice commands. But as they integrate with recommendation engines and personal data ecosystems, they’ll shift from reactive tools to proactive curators. A fridge that restocks based on dietary shifts. A speaker who suggests skincare before seasonal dryness hits. These systems won’t ask what you want. They’ll anticipate what you’ll need, then quietly deliver it, embedded into the devices that already know your routine.

Wearables and haptics will deepen the loop. Wearable-triggered shopping moments are already in play – whether it’s a subtle wrist vibration during a product drop, or biometric signals prompting contextual offers in sync with mood, movement, or health data.

Even ambient environments are joining in. TVs enable one-click buys mid-show, car dashboards suggest pit-stop promotions, and public displays respond to proximity and profile. Shopping doesn’t interrupt the experience; it rides alongside it. It’s not just ecommerce anymore; it’s ambient computing in retail, where the interface fades and the environment itself becomes the point of sale.

The future of retail isn’t about transactions. It’s about presence. The most successful brands will be those that adapt to being everywhere without feeling intrusive.

The Commerce You Don’t See Coming

The most powerful shopping moments no longer look like shopping. They’re quiet, quick, and nearly invisible, tucked between the stories we watch, the songs we stream, the feeds we skim. And yet, they’re redefining how products are discovered, evaluated, and bought.

Brands that chase attention will lose to those that understand absence. Ambient shoppers don’t want to be interrupted. They want relevance to find them – seamlessly, silently, when the moment feels right.

This isn’t about optimising for clicks. It’s about designing ecosystems that respond to presence, not prompts. Shopping becomes part of the atmosphere, not an activity. The opportunity lies not in louder campaigns, but in quieter cues – signals that align with context, emotion, and rhythm.

As digital behaviours blur and physical spaces become interactive, the lines between life and commerce will continue to dissolve. Invisibility, not innovation, will define the winners. The question for brands is no longer how to break through, but how to blend in – with precision, purpose, and a deep understanding of the shopper who never meant to shop.

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Rising inflation and economic uncertainty were expected to put an end to discretionary spending for middle-income households. Instead, consumers are making room for indulgence. Across the US, UK, and Europe, households earning moderate incomes continue to prioritise non-essential purchases at rates far closer to affluent consumers than economic models predicted. McKinsey’s 2024 Global Consumer Sentiment Survey found that 42% of middle-income respondents in developed markets still plan to spend on travel, dining out, and personal care in the next year, just nine percentage points lower than high-income households.

The resilience of discretionary spending in the face of rising costs defies conventional economic assumptions. It is not a case of irrationality or denial. It reflects a shift in how consumers measure value. After years of pandemic-driven disruption, middle-class buyers are increasingly framing small luxuries as essential to emotional well-being, not as reckless spending. An affordable meal out, a short domestic trip, or a new skincare product carries more than monetary worth. It represents normalcy, reward, and agency in an environment where larger financial goals often feel less attainable.

This trend is not a short-term reaction to inflation, nor is it purely sentimental. It is structurally rational behaviour shaped by stress, lifestyle adjustment, and evolving definitions of security. Spending on modest treats provides a sense of control and immediacy when long-term stability—home ownership, retirement savings—feels increasingly out of reach. Consumers are not abandoning caution; they are recalibrating what prudence looks like in real terms.

Understanding this shift is critical for brands, retailers, and policymakers. Indulgence spending among the middle class is not a deviation from rational economic behaviour. It is an adaptation to new realities, where emotional resilience and quality of life have become primary considerations alongside price and necessity.

Tight Budgets, Sharp Choices

The pressure on household budgets is real. Inflation has driven up the cost of essentials—housing, food, energy—leaving less flexibility for discretionary categories. Yet rather than abandoning non-essential purchases altogether, middle-class consumers are reprioritising with striking precision. The pattern is visible across the US, UK, and Europe: subscription services are among the first to be cancelled, big-ticket electronics are postponed, and plans for major home renovations are shelved. But the impulse to carve out space for small luxuries remains intact.

KPMG’s 2024 Middle-Class Financial Priorities report highlights this shift. In a survey of households earning between 75% and 150% of median income, nearly 60% reported cutting back on monthly expenses such as media subscriptions and dining delivery apps. However, the same respondents overwhelmingly indicated an intention to preserve budget for “quality of life” items, including occasional dining out, personal care products, and leisure travel under 500 miles. The data suggests that discretionary spending is not vanishing—it is being filtered through a more selective lens.

A similar rebalancing is evident in Europe. OECD research published earlier this year shows that while the ownership of new vehicles among middle-income households declined by over 8% between 2022 and 2024, spending on local travel, cultural events, and speciality food purchases held steady. In the UK, Deloitte’s 2024 consumer tracker found that middle-income households were 30% more likely to describe smaller, experiential purchases as “essential for well-being” than they were before the pandemic.

The underlying dynamic is a redefinition of value. Consumers are moving away from evaluating purchases solely on cost or prestige. Instead, the metric is experiential reward—whether a purchase delivers emotional uplift, stress relief, or a sense of personal investment. A $50 skincare product or a weekend away is justified not by indulgence for its own sake, but by what it represents: a manageable, affirming investment in quality of life.

This sharpening of priorities is not a retreat from financial responsibility. It is a recalibration. Households are preserving choice and pleasure even as long-term goals grow more distant. The middle-class response to inflation is not to close the wallet entirely, but to spend carefully, reinforcing emotional resilience where it matters most.

Where the Money Is Still Flowing

The resilience of middle-class discretionary spending becomes clearest when looking at where the money continues to move. Small luxuries, particularly those offering immediate personal gratification without long-term financial strain, are absorbing a disproportionate share of discretionary budgets. These are not extravagant purchases but considered indulgences—choices that allow consumers to feel rewarded without incurring future economic risk.

Dining out remains one of the strongest performing sectors. Mastercard SpendingPulse data from early 2024 showed that spending at fast-casual and premium-casual restaurants in the US rose by 8% year-on-year, even as fine dining bookings declined. Consumers are trading down from high-end experiences but refusing to give up the social and emotional value of meals shared outside the home. In the UK, Statista reports that visits to casual dining chains increased by nearly one-fifth compared to 2022 levels, concentrated among households earning £30,000 to £70,000 annually.

Beauty and skincare purchases are following a similar trajectory. McKinsey’s 2024 Global Beauty Survey found that middle-income consumers accounted for nearly half of the growth in skincare sales across Europe and North America, often favouring mid-tier brands offering “clinical-grade” results at accessible prices. Rather than abandoning beauty spending, buyers are shifting toward products that promise tangible outcomes—improved skin health, self-care benefits—over prestige branding. The emphasis is not on conspicuous consumption but on self-affirmation.

Domestic travel, particularly short-haul trips, has also proven remarkably resilient. According to Mastercard’s travel trends report, bookings for domestic leisure trips under 300 miles rose by 12% in the US during the past year, primarily driven by middle-income households. European markets such as France and Germany showed parallel trends, with regional rail and car rental bookings outperforming international air travel. Travel, even scaled down, remains a critical outlet for recreation and stress relief, viewed as a justifiable investment rather than a luxury.

Personal wellness has evolved from a niche concern to a consistent budget item. Deloitte’s 2024 Health and Wellness Tracker found that expenditures on fitness apps, meditation subscriptions, and nutritional supplements rose by nearly 15% among middle-income consumers compared to 2022. Spa treatments and boutique fitness sessions also saw modest but steady gains, especially when bundled into affordable packages. Wellness is increasingly framed not as optional self-indulgence but as proactive health maintenance—a narrative that middle-class consumers embrace even under financial strain.

What ties these sectors together is not mere resilience but strategic prioritisation. Consumers actively choose experiences and products that deliver emotional payoff without undermining longer-term financial goals. Small luxuries have become part of how households navigate financial pressure, balancing restraint with resilience.

How Indulgence Looks Different Around the World

The appetite for small luxuries is global, but its expression varies sharply across markets. Cultural context, inflationary pressure, and recovery patterns from the pandemic shape how and where middle-class consumers indulge.

In the United States, experience is taking precedence over material accumulation. Mastercard’s 2024 SpendingPulse report shows that while retail sales for durable goods have slowed, spending on travel, dining, and entertainment continues to climb. Middle-income households prioritise activities that create memories and offer a sense of immediacy, even as they pull back on home goods and apparel. The pattern reflects a broader recalibration, where the value of money is increasingly measured in lived experience rather than possessions.

The United Kingdom mirrors this behavioural split, though with sharper trade-offs. Ipsos data published earlier this year indicates that middle-income British households are aggressively trading down on everyday essentials—switching to discount supermarkets and delaying home improvements—while deliberately protecting spending on experiential categories. Budget airline bookings, concert attendance, and dining at independent restaurants remain surprisingly resilient. The message is clear: not all spending is negotiable, even under pressure.

In continental Europe, the indulgence lens often narrows toward artisanal quality. In France and Germany, Euromonitor reports that while overall household budgets have tightened, purchases of artisanal food, skincare, and local leisure travel have held steady or even grown modestly. Consumers are not abandoning discretionary spending, but are redirecting it toward smaller, more meaningful pleasures that emphasise craftsmanship, locality, and authenticity.

Southeast Asia presents a different dynamic, driven by digital acceleration and aspirational consumption. In Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines, middle-income consumers are investing in affordable upgrades—beauty products, domestic travel, and entry-level tech such as smartphones and wearable devices. According to Bain & Company’s 2024 Southeast Asia Digital Economy Report, there has been a surge in beauty e-commerce, with mid-tier brands seeing the fastest growth among urban middle-class buyers. Here, indulgence is closely tied to self-improvement and digital connectivity rather than traditional luxury markers.

China and India present a distinct dynamic. In China, middle-class consumers focus on premium health, wellness, and education-related services. Mastercard’s 2024 China Consumption Outlook shows strong growth in short domestic leisure travel, boutique fitness memberships, and “new luxury” beauty brands that offer substance over logo appeal. In India, indulgence is often family-centred. Euromonitor data highlights that spending on family experiences—mall outings, cinema, casual dining, and affordable domestic holidays—is being prioritised, even as households economise on electronics and apparel. The middle class is seeking small windows of joy that offer collective, not just individual, payoff.

Across these regions, indulgence spending is far from homogeneous. It is shaped by cultural narratives about success, wellness, and emotional reward. Yet the underlying behaviour is consistent: even under inflationary strain, middle-income consumers are unwilling to surrender the experiences and products that sustain a sense of control, progress, and personal value.

Why Indulgence Feels Necessary, Not Excessive

The persistence of small luxuries in strained economic times is not a matter of consumer irrationality. It is a rational psychological response to prolonged stress, uncertainty, and shifting social norms. For many middle-class households, small indulgences have moved beyond occasional rewards to become a form of emotional maintenance—a way to reassert agency and sustain morale when broader financial goals feel increasingly distant.

Much of this shift can be traced to the post-pandemic “live for today” mindset. After years of deferred plans and disrupted routines, consumers across income levels have shown a greater willingness to prioritise present-day satisfaction. Behavioural economists point to the acceleration of hedonic adaptation—the tendency to return to a baseline level of happiness despite external changes—as a key factor. When future security feels less certain, spending on immediate emotional uplift becomes a practical way to protect mental well-being.

American Psychological Association research on stress-related spending supports this view. A 2024 report found that nearly 60% of middle-income consumers in the US admitted to occasional “treat spending” as a coping mechanism, with the majority framing such purchases not as extravagance, but as essential self-care. Similar patterns emerged in the UK and Singapore, where smaller, experience-driven expenditures were linked to lower reported stress levels in middle-income groups.

Social behaviour further reinforces the normalisation of indulgence. Small splurges—dining out, a weekend getaway, a new skincare regimen—are highly visible on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Sharing these moments has become part of how consumers construct narratives of resilience and self-investment. The effect is cumulative. What once might have been considered unnecessary spending is now broadly perceived as a reasonable way to manage life’s pressures.

Rather than retreating into austerity, many middle-class consumers are making conscious choices to maintain emotional balance through manageable rewards. In modern economic conditions, where traditional markers of financial progress are harder to achieve, these decisions are not acts of recklessness. They are strategies for preserving stability, dignity, and optimism in everyday life.

Small Luxuries, Big Opportunities

For brands, the persistence of small indulgences offers more than a temporary sales opportunity. It signals a deeper shift in how consumers assign value—one that demands careful strategic recalibration. Positioning products as accessible rewards or emotional enhancers, rather than as markers of status or success, will increasingly define market relevance.

Middle-class consumers are not looking for extravagant gestures. They are seeking personal moments of satisfaction, convenience, or self-expression that fit into constrained budgets. Products that deliver relaxation, confidence, or small affirmations of progress resonate far more than those that lean heavily on traditional luxury cues. In this environment, storytelling around personal value matters more than aspirational branding. A meal kit that saves time and creates family rituals, a skincare serum that represents self-care rather than vanity, a local mini-break that restores mental clarity—these are the narratives gaining traction.

The danger for brands lies in misreading the room. Overemphasising luxury, exclusivity, or aspirational distance risks alienating a consumer base that values relatability and tangible benefit over status. Innovation must centre on affordability without sacrificing the experience of quality. Smart packaging, modular services, and tiered product lines are helping some brands maintain margins while broadening emotional appeal.

Real-time market research is critical to navigating these shifts. Understanding which categories of small luxuries matter most—and how definitions of indulgence vary between regions, income brackets, and life stages—allows brands to tailor offerings with precision. Blanket assumptions about “affordable luxury” no longer hold. The brands that invest in nuanced, behaviour-led insights will be the ones best positioned to capture loyalty in an economy where emotional and financial resilience are increasingly intertwined.

Indulgence in an Age of Restraint

Discretionary spending among middle-income consumers is too often dismissed as irrational, a stubborn refusal to accept economic reality. This view misses the point. Small indulgences are not acts of denial. They are structural adjustments to a world where traditional financial milestones—home ownership, long-term savings, upward mobility—have become harder to secure. Preserving moments of joy, autonomy, and emotional stability has become a rational survival strategy.

Understanding these patterns is critical for anyone forecasting the next phase of consumer behaviour. Micro-indulgence is more than a passing phenomenon. It is a leading indicator of broader consumer sentiment, revealing how confidence, stress, and hope are negotiated at the household level. Brands and policymakers that fail to track these shifts will misread the market, mistaking emotional recalibration for economic irrationality.

At Kadence International, our global research shows that middle-class indulgence is not a short-term reaction to inflationary pressure. It is an embedded behavioural shift, one that will continue to shape spending across sectors well beyond the current cycle. Those who frame their growth strategies around emotional consumption, rather than rigid income segmentation, will be best positioned to capture resilience spending in an economy where financial caution and the pursuit of quality of life are no longer at odds, but deeply intertwined.

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