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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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Marketers may position Generation Alpha as the next big consumer cohort, but the real power behind their spending lies firmly with their Millennial and Gen X parents. From the designer sneakers children wear to the AI-powered math apps they use, it is parents who dictate the purchases—and, by extension, the market trends. For these parents, spending on their children has become a projection of their own aspirations, fears, and ambitions.

In the United States, the cost of raising a child to age 18 now exceeds $310,000, while in the United Kingdom, the figure surpasses $332,000 (£260,000) for couples. These estimates, which cover basic needs such as housing, food, education, and childcare, only tell part of the story. For affluent Millennial and Gen X parents, discretionary spending—on private tutoring, AI-powered learning apps, luxury children’s goods, and elite summer programs—adds a new, fast-expanding layer. What was once considered optional is increasingly framed as essential, as parents project their ambitions and anxieties through their children’s consumption.

In Southeast Asia, the same pattern is accelerating. In Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines, rising affluence is fueling demand for premium education, designer children’s fashion, and curated experiences. Parents are investing heavily in AI-powered tutoring platforms, coding bootcamps, and high-end family travel, viewing these as critical to giving their children a competitive advantage. These purchases are not merely about comfort or entertainment; they are treated as stepping stones toward social mobility and status preservation.

This behaviour—widely referred to as “projection spending”—is now a defining force in markets ranging from luxury retail to EdTech. By channelling their ambitions, values, and anxieties through their children’s consumption, Millennial and Gen X parents are reshaping sectors that were once thought to target only youth consumers. The economic power in the so-called Gen Alpha economy resides firmly with the generations raising them.

Asia’s Tiger Parents Get a Luxury Upgrade

In Southeast Asia, the traditional model of tiger parenting is evolving into an economy where affluence and ambition converge. Across markets such as Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines, parents are increasing discretionary spending on education, designer children’s goods, and curated experiences. In Singapore alone, household spending on education has historically accounted for over 5 percent of budgets, a figure likely to rise as premiumisation takes hold across the region.

Singapore exemplifies this shift. The country’s EdTech sector is projected to reach $2.2 billion by 2027, expanding at 13.6 percent annually, while across Asia, EdTech overall is forecast to grow at more than 30 percent each year through 2030. Platforms such as Geniebook, blending AI-driven personalised learning with human instruction, have become staples in middle- and upper-income households. The region’s scale is considerable, with an estimated 258 million children receiving private tuition, underscoring the depth of parental investment in academic advantage.

Image credit: Geniebook

Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest Gen Alpha market, is seeing children’s fashion emerge as another arena of status spending. Brands such as Hello Alyss have capitalised on the growing demand for premium, design-focused children’s apparel, with parents treating their children’s appearance as a reflection of family identity and ambition.

In Thailand and Vietnam, rising household incomes are translating into higher spending on enrichment classes, international schools, and premium goods for children. In these markets, middle-class parents are allocating a growing share of disposable income toward products and services they believe will provide their children with an advantage, reflecting the same status-driven spending patterns seen elsewhere in the region.

Vietnamese parents remain among the region’s most education-focused, often making significant personal sacrifices to ensure access to private education and enrichment programs. This cultural commitment to education as the primary path to social mobility is now paired with growing acceptance of tech-enabled learning models and international curriculums.

Family travel has also become a key focus for status-conscious parents. In Asia-Pacific, 87 percent of Gen Alpha and Gen Z now influence family travel decisions, pushing hospitality and tourism brands to design experiences that cater directly to children’s tastes. High-end resorts in Bali and Phuket now offer educational workshops, wellness programs, and social media-friendly activities, meeting parental demand for travel that is both enriching and socially validating.

Across Southeast Asia, Millennial parents are driving the rise of a projection spending economy where success is measured not just in academic performance but in curated experiences, status goods, and global exposure. Indonesia alone is projected to become Southeast Asia’s dominant market for Gen Alpha spending, underscoring the urgency for brands to recognise that parental influence remains the decisive economic force in these markets.

America’s Status Race Starts in the Stroller Aisle

In the United States, parenting has become a public-facing performance of status, ambition, and affluence. Millennial parents, many of whom delayed starting families, are now older, wealthier, and driving a surge in spending on high-end products and experiences for their children.

The economic scale of this behaviour is substantial. The estimated cost of raising a child to age 18 in the US now exceeds $310,000, but that figure obscures the additional layers of discretionary spending reshaping the parenting economy. From luxury strollers to influencer boot camps, parents are investing in their children not just for care but as extensions of their own identities and aspirations.

The rise of the baby tech economy illustrates this shift. The Snoo smart bassinet, retailing at $1,695, and the Doona stroller-car seat hybrid at $550 have become mainstream among affluent families, with sales buoyed by social media visibility. Brands such as UppaBaby dominate the luxury stroller market, with models like the Vista priced from $1,000, becoming as much a statement of parental identity as a functional item.

Image credit: UppaBaby Vista

This visibility extends to children’s own digital lives. The US remains the epicentre of the kidfluencer economy, where children on platforms like YouTube and TikTok command millions of followers and drive product demand. In recent surveys, over 55 percent of Gen Alpha parents say their children regularly request items seen in influencer content, while 37 percent of Gen Alpha tweens aspire to become influencers themselves. This dynamic has created a feedback loop where parents invest in photography equipment, curated experiences, and branded content opportunities for their children, often viewing influencer success as a new form of social capital.

The obsession with elite experiences has also reshaped the summer camp industry. Speciality camps offering STEM immersion, leadership coaching, and influencer training now charge fees exceeding $15,000 per season. Concierge services that handle packing and pre-camp preparations have emerged to serve affluent parents, further commercialising what was once a recreational pursuit.

Underlying these behaviours is a commercial system built on parental fear and aspiration. Brands have capitalised on Millennial parents’ anxieties around safety, opportunity, and social standing. Smart monitors, AI-powered tutors, and luxury camps are not marketed as indulgences, but as necessities for responsible, future-focused parenting. In this economy, good parenting is performed through purchases and curated experiences, and the market is more than ready to supply the tools and platforms to do so.

Europe’s Fewer Kids, Higher Stakes Economy

Across Europe, low birth rates have reshaped family economics, with parents concentrating resources on fewer children. In Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and France, this has translated into intensified discretionary spending per child, particularly in education, luxury goods, and curated experiences.

Luxury brands are responding. The global market for luxury children’s products is estimated at over $40 billion in 2023, with European consumers accounting for a significant share. Fashion houses such as Dior, Gucci, and Burberry have reported steady growth in their children’s lines, reflecting demand from European parents who view high-end clothing as a discreet extension of family status. While this spending is less conspicuous than in the United States or Asia, the motivations are similar—parents seeking to invest early in their children’s cultural capital.

Image credit: Baby Dior

Education is another focal point for projection spending. In the Netherlands, enrollment in bilingual and international schools continues to rise, driven by parents eager to prepare their children for a globalised economy. In Spain and France, private tutoring and enrichment programs have quietly expanded, offering bespoke language, coding, and arts instruction outside the public system. These services, often discovered through niche networks rather than overt advertising, command premium fees among affluent families.

Family travel reflects the same patterns of discreet status consumption. European parents increasingly favour experiences that blend leisure with education, such as cultural immersion trips, private art tours, or wellness retreats tailored to children. Luxury hotels and tour operators have responded with packages that offer exclusivity and enrichment, catering to parents who view travel as a formative investment rather than a vacation.

While European parents may eschew overt displays of projection spending, the underlying behaviours mirror those seen in other regions. The emphasis on quality, exclusivity, and cultural capital has created lucrative niches for brands that can align with these values without appearing ostentatious. For businesses, understanding the subtleties of Europe’s parenting economy is critical—status here is communicated through craftsmanship, education, and experience, not spectacle.

The United Kingdom’s Boutique Upbringing

In the United Kingdom, projection spending has merged the country’s traditions of elite education with a modern appetite for boutique goods and curated childhood experiences. Millennial parents, many of whom came of age during economic austerity, are driving this shift, investing heavily in their children as an expression of both ambition and status.

Private tutoring has become a cornerstone of this economy, with British families spending around $7.5 billion (£6 billion) annually. On average, households engaging private tutors allocate approximately $3,450 (£2,750) per child each year, reflecting widespread parental anxiety over academic performance and university access. The post-pandemic years have seen a surge in the uptake of AI-powered tutoring platforms and personalised coaching services, further commercialising what was once considered extracurricular.

Beyond academics, the UK’s affluent families are fueling demand for boutique childhood experiences. High-end summer camps, offering coding, leadership, or arts immersion, now command fees upwards of $6,300 (£5,000) for two-week sessions, with waiting lists that mirror the country’s most prestigious private schools. Services catering to this ecosystem—such as personal shoppers and concierge camp packing—have emerged to meet demand from parents outsourcing even the logistics of these curated experiences.

Luxury children’s goods have also gained a firm foothold. British retailers report robust demand for premium baby tech, design-led nursery products, and sustainable children’s fashion, all framed as responsible investments rather than indulgences. Heritage and innovation intersect in the UK’s parenting economy, where parents seek to balance traditional markers of status, such as private education, with modern expressions of care, wellness, and exclusivity.

In the UK, projection spending may appear more restrained than in the United States or Asia, but the drivers are no less potent. The country’s parenting economy has become a hybrid of legacy privilege and boutique consumerism, creating opportunities for businesses that can straddle both. For brands, the path to British families lies in offering products and services that combine pedigree with personalisation, always mindful of the country’s cultural preference for understatement over spectacle.

Projection Spending Has Become the Market

Projection spending has moved beyond a byproduct of affluence. It is now a primary engine of growth for industries as varied as private education, luxury retail, hospitality, and digital technology. Across regions, the behaviour is consistent. In Southeast Asia, parents drive demand for AI-powered tutors and curated family travel. In the United States, they sustain the economies of kidfluencers, premium baby tech, and elite summer programs. In Europe and the United Kingdom, they blend heritage education with boutique experiences, using subtle consumption as a marker of status.

These are not isolated behaviours. They form a global, cross-sector economy in which children’s consumption is shaped almost entirely by the ambitions, fears, and status signalling of Millennial and Gen X parents. The result is a spending landscape where children may appear to be the target, but the decision-making authority remains firmly with the generations raising them.

Any brand that continues to approach Generation Alpha as independent consumers will misread the market. The economic power resides not in the children, but in the wallets and worldviews of their parents. Businesses that fail to account for this will struggle to capture loyalty, relevance, and market share in a consumer economy increasingly dictated by parental projection.

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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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Conducting online research in China is unlike anywhere else in the world.

With over 1.1 billion internet users in 2024, China accounts for over a fifth of the global online population. Nearly all of them, over 99%, access the internet via smartphones, making mobile-first behaviour not just common but standard.

Researchers won’t find Google, Facebook, or YouTube. The Great Firewall blocks these platforms. Domestic giants like Baidu, WeChat, and Tmall stand in their place, which dominate search, social interaction, and e-commerce across every tier of Chinese society.

China’s digital economy is expanding with both speed and scale. According to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, it reached ¥50.2 trillion in 2024, accounting for nearly 40% of the country’s GDP. That growth has produced a tightly regulated, platform-driven ecosystem where almost every transaction and interaction is digitally mediated, and often monitored.

The implications for research professionals and brands entering China are clear: global tools and templates rarely apply. Access, compliance, and engagement strategies must be localised, legally sound, and platform-specific.

Understanding the Market Research Landscape in China

At first glance, China may appear to be a single, unified market. But researchers who’ve worked on the ground know better. The country’s vast geography, regional economic disparities, and fast-evolving digital behaviour make it anything but monolithic.

One of the first challenges is the platform disconnect. Western tools and social platforms – standard in global research workflows – are largely inaccessible. Google Surveys, Meta’s ad platform, YouTube analytics, and even SurveyMonkey links can break or be blocked entirely. Instead, insights must be gathered through domestic platforms such as Wenjuanxing for surveys, WeChat for micro-panels and intercepts, or Douyin and Xiaohongshu for digital ethnography.

Understanding consumer behaviour within these ecosystems requires fluency in China’s unwritten rules of digital life. These include the importance of influencer-led recommendations, the use of e-wallets and super apps, and the power of social commerce, where shopping is often embedded within live streams or chat threads. Research here doesn’t just measure attitudes or preferences; it often captures behaviour in real time.

Then there are the legal and regulatory dynamics. China’s Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), which came into effect in 2021, mirrors aspects of Europe’s GDPR but with stricter localisation mandates. Researchers must store data onshore, obtain clear consent, and ensure complete transparency with respondents. Foreign firms conducting surveys without a local license risk heavy penalties or blocks.

Internet access itself is stratified. While national penetration hit over 76% in 2024, rural provinces and lower-tier cities still lag, especially in terms of speed, access to modern platforms, and digital literacy per CNNIC. A panel that works in Shenzhen might fail in Gansu.

In short, market research in China exists at the intersection of tight state oversight, massive digital adoption, and deeply localised behaviours. Without accounting for these dynamics, even well-funded research efforts can fall short, sometimes without realising it.

Define Your Research Objectives and Localise Your Strategy

No matter how sophisticated the tools or how generous the budget, market research in China will fail if the objectives aren’t adapted to local realities. This is where many global teams stumble – by applying Western assumptions to an entirely different cultural and regulatory framework.

Consumer segmentation in China can’t rely on income bands or generational labels alone. Social status is fluid, regional identities matter, and values shift across provinces. A tier-2 city in the East may be more digitally mature than a tier-1 city in the interior. Brands that define their target groups too narrowly or generically risk missing how identity and aspiration play out in Chinese daily life.

Consumer behaviour also looks different in a tightly surveilled digital space. Chinese consumers are more likely to self-censor, avoid specific topics, or express preferences indirectly. Questions that may seem standard in a US or UK survey about media consumption, personal values, or financial habits can backfire if not rephrased to account for local sensitivities. Cultural fluency matters not just in translation but also in tone, structure, and framing.

Even the method of recruitment can alter the reliability of insights. Research respondents in China tend to give more socially desirable answers, especially in group settings. This is rooted in the concept of “face” (mianzi), a powerful social dynamic that influences behaviour in personal and public spheres. Without careful design, your questionnaire might gather politeness rather than truth.

A one-size-fits-all approach to research design is also problematic due to China’s vast geographic and economic divides. What resonates in Shanghai may fall flat in Chongqing, and what succeeds in digital-first Guangdong may underperform in slower-moving provincial markets.

Before any fieldwork begins, market research teams must:

Clarify objectives in the context of China’s regulatory environment
Rework segmentation models to include region, tier classification, and platform usage
Pilot test surveys or interview guides to flag misinterpretations or mistrust
Prepare for multiple iterations: localisation is not a one-time edit

The most effective market research in China begins not with a script but with a reset. It discards assumptions and designs from the ground up, aligned to local behaviors, restrictions, and opportunities.

Choose the Right Market Research Methodologies

Choosing the correct market research methodology in China is a matter of access. With international research tools restricted or blocked, researchers must turn to local platforms, re-engineered workflows, and culturally calibrated approaches that work within China’s digital ecosystem.

Quantitative Research: Mobile, Embedded, and Localised

Online surveys remain a cornerstone of quantitative research, but success depends on domestic platforms. Tools like Wenjuanxing and Sojump are popular alternatives to SurveyMonkey and Qualtrics, offering full integration with WeChat, where Chinese consumers already live, shop, and communicate.

Incentives also look different. Instead of email vouchers, respondents are more likely to engage when rewards are offered via WeChat Pay or Alipay, and when surveys are designed for mobile-first navigation, short, vertical, and touch-friendly.

Researchers should also be cautious about using standard Likert scales or Western question phrasing. Translation is rarely enough. Questions like “How strongly do you agree with this statement?” may confuse or alienate respondents unfamiliar with abstract rating formats. Instead, behavioural prompts (“What do you usually do when…?”) often yield more honest responses.

Tencent’s survey tools account for over 60% of digital survey traffic in China, especially when embedded within WeChat mini-programs.

Source: Tencent internal data and industry reports

Qualitative Research: The Art of Listening Between the Lines

Focus groups, in-depth interviews, and ethnographic research still play a vital role in understanding Chinese consumers, but they require cultural dexterity. Participants may hesitate to share candid opinions in a group setting, especially if their answers could be seen as disloyal, impolite, or out of sync with others.

Skilled moderators trained in local dialects and non-verbal cues are essential. Many Chinese respondents may not openly contradict a brand or state dissatisfaction directly. What’s left unsaid, or said in euphemisms, can be just as meaningful as what’s spoken.

In rural areas and lower-tier cities, face-to-face intercept interviews or home visits may be more effective than digital channels, especially among older demographics with limited app literacy.

Example: A global FMCG brand could run taste tests for new snacks in Shanghai and Chengdu. While Shanghai participants might discuss flavour in marketing terms, Chengdu participants may reference family traditions and mealtime rituals. Both data sets will be valuable, but wildly different in tone and framing.

Platform-Based Research: Where Behaviour Happens

Increasingly, behaviour-based research on Chinese platforms is replacing self-reported data. Tools for social listening on Xiaohongshu, Douyin, and Weibo allow brands to track organic conversations, reviews, and influencer interactions in real time. This method offers rich, unfiltered insights only if researchers understand local slang, memes, and the fast-moving social codes that govern engagement.

Leveraging Live-Streaming and Digital Ethnography

An emerging trend in Chinese market research is the use of live-streaming interviews and digital ethnography. Researchers engage with participants through live video sessions, often via mobile screen sharing, to observe real-time decision-making processes during online shopping experiences. This approach provides insights into how consumers interact with algorithms, peer reviews, and promotional incentives.

Platforms like Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) and Kuaishou have popularised live-streaming commerce, where influencers showcase products and interact with viewers in real-time. Brands have adopted similar strategies for research purposes, allowing them to observe authentic consumer behaviours in natural settings.

For instance, during a live-streamed shopping session, a participant might discuss their thought process while choosing between products, revealing factors such as brand perception, price sensitivity, and the influence of peer recommendations. This method offers a richer, more nuanced understanding of consumer behaviour compared to traditional surveys.

Recruit the Right Respondents

Getting the methodology right means little if the respondents don’t reflect the realities of China’s diverse consumer base. With a population that spans rural to hyper-urban, Gen Z to retirees, and everything in between, recruitment is one of the most critical and misunderstood steps in the research process.

Many international brands default to panels based in tier-1 cities like Beijing, Shanghai, or Shenzhen. While these metros offer easy access to digitally fluent, affluent consumers, they represent only a fraction of the Chinese population. Insights gathered here can skew overly optimistic or trend-forward, failing to reflect the slower adoption curves, different aspirations, and practical constraints of consumers in tier-2, 3, and 4 cities.

City-tier segmentation is often a more useful starting point than income or age alone. Lower-tier cities are home to emerging middle-class consumers with different brand loyalties, risk tolerances, and shopping rhythms. Mobile access may be high, but digital behaviour often centres on group chats, community influencers, or price-comparison apps rather than impulse buys or brand storytelling.

Trust is another factor. Chinese respondents are often sceptical of unfamiliar research invitations, especially those that appear to come from foreign entities. Privacy concerns are amplified by growing public awareness of surveillance and data misuse. Clear disclosures, local branding, and appropriate incentives – preferably distributed via WeChat Pay or Alipay – go a long way in building credibility.

Here’s a simplified framework for how to think about respondent targeting:

City Tier	Key Traits	Best-Suited Research Methods
Tier 1	Digitally native, trend-sensitive	App-based surveys, UX testing, livestream ethnography
Tier 2	Aspirational, price-conscious	Mobile ethnography, moderated interviews
Tier 3–4	Family-driven, value-oriented	In-person intercepts, voice-recorded diaries, local moderators

Recruitment also needs to reflect linguistic diversity. Mandarin may be the official language, but dialects like Cantonese, Shanghainese, or Hokkien dominate in certain regions, affecting not just how people speak but also how they think and respond. Ignoring these subtleties risks diluting the quality of the insights.

The goal isn’t just to find willing respondents. It’s to find the right mix of voices that reflect the layers of China’s consumer landscape – urban and rural, old and young, first-time buyers and category loyalists. That mix is what separates data from insight.

Choose the Right Local Partners

Conducting market research in China without the right local partner is like trying to navigate Beijing without a map or a VPN. Between strict data laws, platform-specific tools, and regional business norms, partnerships aren’t optional. They’re foundational.

Under China’s Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) and related cybersecurity regulations, foreign companies conducting market research must work with licensed local entities. These partners ensure compliance with data localisation rules, obtain the necessary permissions, and help navigate issues like respondent consent and secure data storage. Violating these protocols, even unintentionally, can result in blocked surveys, unusable data, or regulatory penalties.

But regulatory compliance is only part of the equation. The best local partners act as cultural interpreters, not just fieldwork executors. They know which platforms work in different regions. They can flag when a question falls flat or a concept may trigger political sensitivity. They often have pre-established panels or community connections that speed up recruitment without cutting corners.

Key traits to look for in a local research partner in China:

Transparency in methodology, recruitment, and sample quality.
Proven experience in your industry or category.
Strong digital capabilities, including mobile-first survey design and platform integration.
Multilingual moderation, especially for qualitative projects in regional markets.
Regulatory fluency, with up-to-date understanding of evolving compliance requirements.

Let’s say a global home appliance brand selected a local agency based solely on cost. Midway through the project, the agency ran unlicensed online surveys, resulting in platform shutdowns and a complete loss of data. The brand had to restart fieldwork, this time with a vetted partner, which cost both time and credibility.

In China, partnerships are not transactional; they’re relational. A good local agency won’t just execute your brief; they’ll help shape it, localise it, and protect it from avoidable missteps.

Analyze the Data with Local Context in Mind

Collecting data in China is only half the challenge. The other half, often overlooked by global teams, is interpreting that data through the right cultural and behavioural lens. Without context, even clean, well-structured datasets can lead to misleading conclusions.

Start with the basics: consumer expression in China is nuanced. Respondents often avoid direct disagreement or criticism, especially in group settings or formal interviews. This isn’t dishonesty; it’s cultural etiquette. The concept of “saving face” (mianzi) shapes how people share opinions, particularly when discussing sensitive topics like personal finances, government policy, or dissatisfaction with brands. What’s unsaid, or expressed obliquely, can carry more weight than a direct answer.

Quantitative surveys can be similarly distorted if global benchmarks are applied too rigidly. A net promoter score (NPS), for example, may skew artificially high or low depending on how Chinese respondents interpret the scale. A score of 7 might indicate strong satisfaction, not neutrality, because many respondents avoid giving top marks unless truly exceptional service is perceived. Translating scales, expectations, and phrasing without local validation risks entirely misreading consumer sentiment.

Researchers must also consider regional variability. An insight that holds in Hangzhou may fall apart in Harbin. Differences in spending power, brand exposure, education levels, and even platform usage create subtle but significant variations in interpretation. Treating China as a single market often results in data that’s technically correct but strategically useless.

Then there’s the issue of behavioural versus stated preferences. In tightly moderated environments like China’s internet, what consumers do often diverges from what they say. That’s why qualitative research, social listening, and mobile ethnography are vital complements to surveys. They surface the emotional and contextual drivers behind the numbers.

Finally, data storytelling matters. Stakeholders unfamiliar with the Chinese market need more than graphs; they need contextual framing. This might mean pairing survey results with platform usage maps, using participant quotes alongside heatmaps, or explaining why certain choices align with cultural norms.

In China, insight isn’t just about patterns. It’s about perspective.

Key Challenges to Be Aware Of

Conducting market research in China means navigating a minefield of legal, logistical, and cultural complexities. Even seasoned researchers can fall short if they overlook the structural challenges that shape the Chinese research environment.

Strict Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Laws

China’s Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) and Data Security Law impose strict controls on how data is collected, stored, and transferred. Unlike GDPR, which focuses on user consent, PIPL emphasises data sovereignty, requiring that data collected in China remain within its borders unless specific conditions are met. Cross-border data transfers require government approval and justification.

Cloud storage, survey platforms, and even incentives must comply. A foreign survey tool hosted outside China may be inaccessible or illegal. Researchers must use licensed, in-country platforms and work with authorised local partners to ensure compliance.

The Great Firewall and Platform Restrictions

China’s internet infrastructure is isolated from the global web. Platforms like Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and even some international survey tools are blocked. Researchers relying on these defaults will see broken links, incomplete responses, or zero reach.

Understanding which local platforms dominate your category – WeChat for lifestyle, JD.com for electronics, Douyin for fashion – is essential for effective targeting and distribution.

Censorship and Sensitivity Triggers

Certain topics are politically or culturally sensitive. Surveys referencing religion, politics, or unapproved health claims can be flagged or blocked entirely. Even innocuous questions can trigger red flags if phrased poorly or translated without nuance.

Keywords are monitored. Platforms may moderate or remove open-ended questions without warning. Local partners can help navigate this, but only if they’re experienced in compliance and crisis management.

Bias in Responses

Chinese respondents often provide socially desirable answers, particularly in group settings or when speaking with foreign researchers. This is amplified by a strong cultural emphasis on harmony and avoiding confrontation.

The result is the overreporting of satisfaction, the underreporting of criticism, and the avoidance of direct disagreement. Without accounting for this bias, insights may appear overly positive or lacking urgency.

Regional Disparities

National statistics mask deep divides. According to the latest figures from the CNNIC, Internet penetration in major cities exceeds 85%, while some rural provinces lag well behind. Income, education, language, and digital fluency vary significantly across regions.

Research that doesn’t account for these differences risks skewing results and missing critical growth markets. A tiered city strategy, and potentially multiple fieldwork approaches, is often necessary.

Language, Dialects, and Double Meanings

Mandarin is the official language, but dozens of dialects are spoken across China, and translation doesn’t guarantee comprehension. Idioms, cultural references, and platform-specific slang all shape how questions are interpreted.

Professional translation is only the starting point. Effective market research in China requires back-translation, pre-testing, and review by native speakers familiar with the region and category.

Even well-designed research can fail if these barriers aren’t acknowledged upfront. The stakes in China are high, but so is the opportunity for brands that navigate these challenges with agility, respect, and local expertise.

Emerging Trends in Chinese Market Research

China’s market research landscape isn’t just evolving; it’s leapfrogging. As technology reshapes how consumers engage, researchers are adopting new tools and approaches that better reflect the speed, scale, and nuance of digital life in China.

Integrated Research Within Super Apps

WeChat has transformed from a messaging tool into a multi-functional ecosystem for shopping, banking, health, and more. Increasingly, research is embedded directly within WeChat mini-programs, enabling surveys, polls, and behavioural tracking to happen seamlessly in the same environment where users transact.

This integration boosts response rates and allows for real-time, contextual insights. For example, gauging user feedback moments after a purchase or app interaction.

Social Listening on Local Platforms

Global sentiment tools like Brandwatch or Talkwalker don’t scrape Chinese platforms like Xiaohongshu, Weibo, or Bilibili. To monitor what Chinese consumers are saying, researchers rely on local social listening tools that can decode hashtags, emojis, slang, and fast-evolving memes.

This form of ethnography has become essential for brands in categories like beauty, fashion, tech, and food, where peer recommendations, micro-influencers, and short-form content drive purchasing decisions.

In beauty, for instance, Xiaohongshu is often a more trusted source than a brand’s official site. Comments, before-and-after photos, and product comparisons offer deep insight into consumer expectations and unspoken needs.

Live-Stream-Based Research

As live commerce explodes, researchers use similar formats to study in-the-moment decisions. Participants join live-streamed product trials or share mobile screens during real-time shopping journeys. This allows moderators to observe how users navigate product detail pages, evaluate reviews, respond to promotions, and decide what to buy or abandon.

These sessions offer a window into algorithm-driven behaviour and allow researchers to identify digital triggers that wouldn’t surface in traditional interviews.

Gamification and Incentivised Micro-Tasks

Younger audiences are more likely to engage when research feels like a game or a challenge. Some brands now use gamified surveys, interactive quizzes, or platform-native rewards (like Douyin points or JD.com discounts) to increase participation and reduce drop-off rates.

Gamification also helps capture emotion or implicit reactions using image-based questions, timed responses, or swipe-to-choose interfaces, making it easier to analyze subconscious preferences.

AI-Driven Insight Generation

Artificial intelligence is increasingly used to clean, categorise, and analyse large volumes of qualitative data. Tools trained on Mandarin and regional dialects can now detect sentiment, group themes, and even flag contradictions in long-form responses or transcripts.

While human moderation remains critical, AI tools reduce turnaround times and help local teams scale research efforts, especially when tracking trends across vast volumes of user-generated content.

These emerging approaches aren’t experimental; they’re fast becoming the standard. In a market defined by innovation, brands that fail to evolve their research strategies risk falling behind the very consumers they’re trying to understand.

Winning with Cultural Intelligence

Success in China isn’t just about size or speed—it’s about understanding the systems, signals, and subtleties that shape how consumers live, decide, and spend. In a market where mobile usage is near universal, foreign platforms are blocked, and behaviours shift rapidly across city tiers, standard global research playbooks won’t cut it.

The most effective market research in China is never plug-and-play. It’s built locally, tested regionally, and interpreted fluently in culture and context. It demands partnerships with in-country experts, compliance with data sovereignty laws, and a deep understanding of what drives decisions on platforms like WeChat, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu.

However, the payoff is significant for brands willing to invest in this level of understanding. China offers not just scale, but a glimpse into the future of how digital behaviour, platform ecosystems, and consumer expectations may evolve globally.

Market research here isn’t just about validating concepts. It’s about uncovering what matters – on the ground, in the feed, and in the moment.

It is undeniable that the China today is a stark difference from the China of recent decades. The rapid pace of change means that research methodologies need to evolve to ensure ways of harvesting insights continue to stay relevant, up to date, and effective. That said for brands, and for market researchers, offline research does continue to provide ways into the cities and allows for the experiential aspect of research to really come to life, particularly if it is ethnographic in nature. ‘Lived experiences’ of consumers are best expressed and understood when offline research is applied. But at the same time, the digital dominance in China presents a real opportunity to leverage this medium as means to communicate and reach the hearts of where consumers are today by speaking their language and connecting with them where they are – their digital world.

FAQ: Market Research in China

Is it legal to conduct market research in China?

Yes, but it must comply with China’s Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) and the Data Security Law. Foreign companies must work with licensed local research partners and ensure all data collection and storage happens within China, unless otherwise approved.

What platforms can I use for surveys in China?

Global tools like SurveyMonkey and Google Forms are often blocked. Common local platforms include:

Wenjuanxing (问卷星)
Sojump (金数据)
Tencent Questionnaire

These platforms integrate with WeChat and are compliant with Chinese regulations.

How do Chinese consumers typically respond to surveys?

Cultural norms like mianzi (saving face) can lead to socially desirable answers. Surveys should use indirect phrasing, behavioural questions, and localised framing to encourage more authentic responses.

What is the best way to recruit respondents in China?

Recruitment should be regionally tailored:

Use WeChat groups for urban panels.
Work with local community partners in lower-tier cities.
Offer incentives via WeChat Pay or Alipay to boost response rates.

Can I use social listening tools in China?

Yes, but global tools like Brandwatch may not cover Chinese platforms. Use local tools to monitor:

Xiaohongshu (RED) for product reviews and beauty trends
Douyin and Kuaishou for e-commerce behaviour
Weibo for sentiment tracking

Is live-streaming research really used in China?

Yes. Live-stream-based digital ethnography is growing fast. Researchers observe participants via mobile screen share while they browse or shop, offering real-time insight into how decisions are made.

How to conduct online market research in Asia: The Go-To Guide
Interested in understanding how to approach online research across other Asian countries? Download the guide here

Need help navigating China’s complex research terrain? Our Asia-based teams specialise in platform-specific, compliant, and culturally tuned research solutions. Contact us today.

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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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Across the world’s fastest-growing consumer markets, one force is reshaping purchasing behaviour, product design, and service delivery: women. From Jakarta to Los Angeles, women are no longer a niche segment—they’re central to growth itself. In the US and UK, they already influence over three-quarters of consumer spending. In Asia, their economic clout is rising even faster, redrawing the map of modern consumption.

What’s notable isn’t just the scale of that influence—it’s the nature of the change. In emerging markets, women are leapfrogging traditional consumption curves. According to McKinsey, 47% of women in countries like India, Vietnam, and Indonesia say they plan to increase spending on categories tied to personal growth—wellness, education, digital tools—compared to just over one in four women in advanced economies. This isn’t just a response to rising incomes; it reflects shifting expectations about autonomy, quality of life, and long-term self-investment.

From single professionals in China to ageing populations in Japan and Singapore, women are redefining growth on their own terms. They’re fueling demand for high-touch services, longevity-focused health tech, and mobile-first commerce. In Southeast Asia, young women are using digital platforms not just to consume—but to build businesses and financial independence.

This is not a trend. It’s a structural realignment. The She-conomy spans geographies, life stages, and every category of spend. For brands, marketers, and policymakers, the challenge isn’t acknowledgment—it’s action: understanding how women are reshaping demand, and where that momentum is headed next.

Different Markets, One Direction

The rise of female economic power doesn’t follow the same path everywhere—but the momentum is global. In India, government-backed financial inclusion through schemes like Jan Dhan Yojana has enabled more than 300 million citizens—many of them women—to open first-time bank accounts. This structural shift in access is now fueling demand for education, micro-loans, and digital retail across urban and rural markets. Similarly, Indonesia’s regulatory push around e-commerce transparency has helped build consumer trust, enabling a surge in women-led digital businesses on platforms like Tokopedia and Shopee. Nykaa, a beauty marketplace founded by a former investment banker, went public in 2021—marking a milestone in female-focused consumer growth.

Image credit: Proctor & Gamble

Procter & Gamble’s “Always #LikeAGirl” campaign not only redefined adolescent hygiene marketing, but also reshaped its internal product innovation cycle. After the campaign’s success—reaching over 90 million views globally and boosting brand recall by 50 percent—the company invested in localized product design for underserved markets, including pad sizes tailored for Southeast Asian schoolgirls. The initiative drove a double-digit lift in brand penetration across key markets and remains a benchmark in behaviour-led brand transformation.

In China, women are redefining middle-class aspiration. Deloitte’s 2023 research shows that women in Tier 1 and 2 cities are more likely than men to purchase premium goods across skincare, electronics, and wellness. These choices are not about luxury—they’re about control over value. Many are now the primary household spenders, even in dual-income families.

In the US and UK, women already drive the majority of consumer spend—but their influence is evolving. They’re outspending men not just in traditional categories, but also in fintech and auto services. A 2024 NielsenIQ study found their purchase journeys are longer, more research-driven, and shaped by peer networks—prompting brands to rethink UX and communications from the ground up.

Southeast Asia may offer the clearest view of how quickly women’s economic roles are evolving. In markets like Indonesia and Vietnam, digital access has unlocked dual roles: consumer and entrepreneur. Platforms like TikTok Shop and Shopee Live are powering a wave of direct-to-consumer businesses led by women—often without physical storefronts. Bain & Company reports that in mobile-first economies, women now account for a rising share of all digital transactions.

Where Women Are Rewriting the Rules

The impact of female consumers extends well beyond traditional categories like beauty and household goods. The real shift lies in sectors once built with male defaults, where women are now setting new expectations—and rejecting outdated design assumptions.

In personal finance, women are adopting mobile budgeting tools, peer-to-peer lending, and investment platforms at rising rates—especially when these tools align with their financial priorities. In Western markets, platforms like Ellevest and Emma promote financial empowerment. In Asia, the trend is more practical: Indian women using Google Pay or PhonePe may not see themselves as investors, but their steady use of digital finance tools signals growing engagement.

In mobility, safety and accessibility are guiding new design priorities. Ride-hailing platforms across Southeast Asia have introduced women-only drivers, privacy features, and emergency tools as core service offerings. In cities like Bangkok and Jakarta, working women are using these services more frequently, reflecting how tailored features drive adoption, according to Grab’s 2023 regional data.

Health and wellness, once narrowly defined, are now among the most rapidly diversifying sectors for female consumers. Femtech is moving beyond fertility into menopause care, hormone diagnostics, and cycle monitoring. In Singapore and Japan, women over 45 are emerging as key adopters of wearable health tech and at-home diagnostic kits, reflecting both aging demographics and demand for greater autonomy. In Vietnam and the Philippines, startups are addressing affordability and discretion through telehealth platforms and pharmacy access tailored to women across life stages.

These shifts reflect decades of economic, social, and technological change converging in real time. What is different now is visibility. The women’s market is no longer niche—it is investable, influential, and forcing transformation in sectors not traditionally shaped by female demand, including fintech, mobility, and health tech.

Rethinking Design for the Female Majority

Consumer behaviour is evolving faster than the systems built to support it. Despite women driving growth across nearly every sector, many products remain designed around male defaults—whether by oversight or inertia. In fields like automotive, banking, healthcare, and workplace technology, critical design choices still overlook the needs and realities of female users.

Nowhere is this design mismatch clearer than in financial services. Across markets, women tend to value stability, long-term planning, and goal setting over short-term speculation. Yet many platforms still emphasise speed, risk, and accumulation. A 2023 Oliver Wyman survey found that over half of women in Southeast Asia viewed financial products as inaccessible or irrelevant—not because of digital literacy, but because the products failed to reflect their priorities.

Healthcare reveals one of the most persistent blind spots. For decades, male-centric clinical research has left significant gaps in diagnostics and treatment for women. These oversights still shape healthcare delivery and insurance coverage. In Japan and Singapore, women over 50 are among the fastest-growing patient segments, yet services for chronic conditions, menopause, and mobility are often limited or unaffordable. Femtech startups are stepping in, but without the scale or policy support to reach the broader market.

Consumer technology still lags in addressing women’s needs. Smartphones rarely include standard safety features designed with women in mind. Fitness trackers overlook menstrual and hormonal health, and voice assistants often reinforce gender bias. In some markets, this leads to disengagement. In other countries, it fuels innovation: in India and the Philippines, women-led startups are designing platforms from scratch, prioritising safety, affordability, and multifunctionality.

For brands, the challenge is not cosmetic. Designing for women demands more than surface-level updates. It means rethinking assumptions embedded in product development, data models, and leadership itself. As the She-conomy grows, so do the costs of exclusion. Closing the design gap requires leadership accountability—not just marketing rhetoric.

What Not to Do When Marketing to Women

Don’t	Why It Fails
Gendered design shortcuts often alienate modern female consumers who prioritise function over form.	Treating all women as one group ignores differences in age, culture, income, and priorities.
Don’t lead with empowerment clichés	“You go girl” slogans ring hollow if the product lacks practical value or doesn’t solve a real need.
Don’t assume women want pink	Gendered design shortcuts often alienate modern female consumers who prioritize function over form.
Don’t condescend with messaging	Oversimplified language or tone that assumes low knowledge damages trust and credibility.
Don’t rely on stereotypes	Positioning women only as caregivers, beauty-focused, or emotional overlooks their broader influence and aspirations.
Don’t retrofit male-first products	Adapting products originally built for men often leads to poor usability and overlooked needs.
Don’t ignore life stages	Focusing only on young women misses major opportunities among midlife and older female consumers.
Don’t fake inclusion	Representation must go beyond the ad campaign—real credibility comes from leadership, product, and service decisions.

Missing the Market by Missing the Point

The commercial case for investing in women is well established, but execution continues to fall short. Brands still underestimate the complexity of female consumer behaviour—not due to a lack of data, but because of how that data is misread or dismissed. Treating women as a monolith remains one of the costliest errors in modern marketing.

In the US and UK, many campaigns have embraced empowerment messaging while ignoring product relevance, pricing, or usability. Ads that celebrate confidence often fail when paired with offerings that fall short of real needs. The backlash is commercial as much as cultural. A 2023 Deloitte survey found that over one-third of women aged 25 to 45 stopped buying from brands they felt misunderstood them. The figure was even higher in India and Indonesia, where younger women are more likely to switch brands and shape peer behaviour online.

The issue is not intent but misalignment. Many of the fastest-growing brands in women-led markets succeed by focusing on function rather than messaging. In Vietnam, one mobility app gained traction not through slogans, but by addressing concerns raised by female riders—identity checks, well-lit pickup points, and transparent routing. Adoption among working women grew without a single reference to empowerment.

Companies that invest in contextual insight are outperforming. In Japan, a healthcare retailer overhauled store layouts after research showed that women over 60 were avoiding certain aisles due to privacy concerns. The brand responded with discrete consultation areas, improved lighting, and redesigned shelving. Within a year, footfall among older female customers rose by nearly 30 percent.

What Women Want (From Brands)

Need	What It Looks Like in Practice
Relevance	Products designed for real needs, not stereotypes—e.g. femtech beyond fertility, financial tools that reflect life goals.
Usability	Seamless design, not just surface-level inclusion—e.g. ride-hailing safety features, discreet health services.
Affordability	Accessible pricing without sacrificing quality—especially in fast-growing markets like Vietnam and India.
Trust & Transparency	Clear language, evidence-based claims, and no pinkwashing—particularly in health, finance, and wellness.
Representation	Women reflected in design teams, leadership, and brand storytelling—not just the marketing campaign.
Adaptability	Services that shift with her life stage—e.g. elder health tech in Japan, career-focused financial planning in the US.
Privacy & Safety	Built-in protections in tech, mobility, and healthcare—not retrofitted add-ons.
Cultural Relevance	Localized products and services that reflect regional values, needs, and constraints—not one-size-fits-all solutions.

Why Understanding Women Is No Longer Optional

The She-conomy is not a passing phase. It reflects a structural shift in global spending power, accelerating across both developed and emerging markets. The error lies in expecting it to resemble earlier waves of women’s influence, limited to specific categories or life stages. Today, women are shaping not just what gets purchased, but how products are designed, services delivered, and brands evaluated.

At Kadence International, we see this shift firsthand. Our studies show women driving outsized momentum in sectors such as personal finance and tech-enabled healthcare. What stands out is their behavioral precision: women are more selective, more digitally fluent, and more likely to switch brands based on trust, relevance, and values. While many claim to design for women, few engage with the complexity behind that label—spanning income, culture, and lived experience.

This is no longer about targeting a segment—it’s about rethinking how demand itself is defined. Behavioural segmentation, real-time research, and co-creation are no longer strategic extras. They are foundational tools in a consumer economy increasingly shaped by women’s expectations, choices, and values. The companies succeeding are not simply measuring sentiment; they are building systems that evolve with it.

For brands and policymakers, the stakes are no longer theoretical. Designing for yesterday’s consumer while today’s buyer reshapes the rules is a fast path to irrelevance. The She-conomy is not a trend to follow—it is the future to build for. Those who fail to act will not merely fall behind. They will lose the right to be in the conversation.

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In theory, younger consumers should be leading the green economy. Gen Z and millennials routinely rank climate change among their top global concerns, follow sustainability influencers, and expect brands to take a stance on everything from packaging to politics. But in practice, their purchasing behaviour last year tells a different story.

According to McKinsey, the percentage of Gen Z and millennial consumers in Western markets who ranked sustainability as a top purchasing factor dropped noticeably in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous year. Willingness to pay more for eco-friendly products, once a defining trait of these generations, is also declining. In fashion and CPG categories in particular, demand for green-labelled products is increasingly conditional on price parity. When faced with economic pressure, even the most vocal proponents of sustainability are defaulting to affordability.

The data mirrors a pattern captured in our Green Brand report: while most consumers say they care about sustainability, fewer are willing to compromise on convenience, performance, or price to act on it. Gen Z respondents across markets still express high levels of environmental concern, but that concern is no longer translating into behaviour when budgets are tight. One of our report’s starkest findings is that even those who consider themselves eco-conscious rarely let that identity drive final purchase decisions unless the value proposition is unmistakable.

This isn’t a retreat from climate concern. It’s a recalibration. As the cost of living continues to rise, the question isn’t whether people care—it’s how much they’re willing to pay to prove it. Brands that built their messaging around values alone now face a harder truth: today, value is back in charge.

Why Price Is Outweighing Principle

There is no shortage of public support for sustainability. In our Green Brand report, concern about environmental issues remains high across generations, especially among Gen Z and millennials. But concern and commitment are diverging—and fast.

While younger consumers continue to express strong interest in climate action, their ability to act on that interest is constrained by more immediate economic realities. High inflation, stagnant wages, and escalating rent costs are forcing difficult trade-offs. The result is a growing gap between intention and execution, particularly when sustainable products carry a higher price tag.

Our research shows that while the majority of consumers globally say sustainability matters to them, few follow through if the greener option costs more. In the UK and US, this drop-off is especially pronounced. A majority of Gen Z respondents in these markets describe themselves as environmentally conscious, but fewer than a third said they would consistently choose a sustainable product if it were more expensive than a conventional alternative. In Southeast Asia, the tension plays out differently.

In countries like Indonesia and Vietnam, younger consumers often express optimism about sustainable living, but price sensitivity remains high. In lower-income urban areas, premium-priced green goods are seen as aspirational but out of reach.

Across regions, the pattern is consistent: concern remains high, but economic pressure is shifting priorities. In many cases, consumers expect brands to absorb the cost of sustainability. Our data reveals that a growing segment of buyers believe it’s the company’s job—not theirs—to make products sustainable without charging more. This expectation is reshaping how value is judged, particularly in categories like food, fashion, and household goods, where switching between brands is easy and driven by price.

What’s fading is the assumption that people will pay more for principles. A rising number of consumers are now treating sustainability as a baseline expectation rather than a bonus feature worth a premium. In doing so, they are redefining the terms of brand trust—placing the burden of responsibility squarely on the supplier, not the shopper.

When Green Marketing Meets Market Reality

For years, brands that positioned themselves as sustainable leaders were seen as future-proof. Marketing strategies emphasised recycled fabrics, low-emissions sourcing, refill programs, and purpose-driven storytelling. But that return is now beginning to stall—particularly as price tags no longer align with consumer priorities.

Fashion is one of the clearest case studies. Mid-market brands that led with environmental credentials—organic cotton, closed-loop production, carbon offsetting—are facing stagnant growth as customers opt for cheaper alternatives with fewer claims and fewer caveats. Some DTC labels that built their reputations on sustainability are quietly shifting messaging away from mission and toward price, discounts, and durability. The signals are subtle: fewer lifestyle montages about purpose, more emphasis on value-per-wear.

In the beauty sector, refillable packaging and clean ingredient lists once helped newer entrants differentiate themselves. But our Green Brand report found that in mature markets, especially the US and UK, those features are no longer enough to justify a higher price. Many consumers now expect sustainable packaging as standard—and increasingly reject the idea of paying extra for it.

This creates a bind. According to the report, more than half of Gen Z and millennials still believe sustainability should be a priority for brands. Yet those same consumers are often unwilling to pay more for products with environmental certifications unless they also deliver a personal, tangible benefit. The disconnect is particularly acute in categories like skincare and cleaning products, where brand responsibility is expected—but the price premium is not tolerated.

A recent McKinsey analysis on consumer sentiment echoes the frustration felt by sustainability-led brands. Many are investing in responsible sourcing and packaging, only to find those efforts do little to influence final purchase decisions. Analysts have described this behavior as part of a growing “green fatigue”—where price and convenience consistently override eco-focused messaging, particularly in sectors like beauty, apparel, and household goods.

Automotive brands are facing their own version of this. While electric vehicle adoption is growing, brands that leaned heavily on sustainability messaging without solving for infrastructure, affordability, or maintenance are struggling to scale. Consumers might support the idea in theory, but without practical solutions, the value case remains unconvincing.

The tension isn’t going away. If anything, it’s becoming sharper. Brands are learning, sometimes reluctantly, that belief in sustainability doesn’t always translate into action. And when value is promised but not delivered, the backlash is quick.

What Consumers Actually Want From Sustainable Brands

The rules have changed. Consumers aren’t walking away from sustainability, but they’re no longer accepting vague virtue signals or price premiums in exchange for loosely defined ethics. The demand now is for relevance, utility, and clarity—sustainability that works for them.

What’s Driving Sustainable Purchase Today:

Priority	Consumer Expectation
Health & Safety	Products must offer tangible benefits—like being toxin-free or allergy-safe—not just eco
Durability	“Buy less, buy better” resonates—if durability equals savings over time
Convenience	Circularity is attractive only if seamless; friction kills follow-through
Local Impact	Locally sourced > carbon offsetting; it feels real, not symbolic

Our Green Brand report found that while seven in ten Gen Z and millennial consumers claim sustainability matters to them, less than one in three will follow through if the greener product comes at a premium. Instead, they reward products that solve real-world problems while aligning with environmental values.

Simon-Kucher’s recent study supports this behavioural gap: among those who rank sustainability as a top-three concern, half admit they only choose green alternatives when pricing is equal or better.

The data also reveals growing scepticism around broad claims. Phrases like eco-friendly or sustainable packaging are now met with caution unless backed by specifics. Consumers are gravitating toward hard metrics—“90% recycled material,” “no microplastics,” or “locally sourced within 100 miles.” Clarity, not idealism, builds trust.

Circular and refillable models remain appealing but require frictionless execution. In our study, Gen Z consumers repeatedly flagged dropout points—confusing signage, inconsistent availability, or unclear value propositions. Euromonitor echoes this, noting that in 2024, the leading barrier to reusable product uptake isn’t cost—it’s complexity.

The expectation has shifted: brands are still expected to lead on sustainability, but the terms have changed. Consumers are asking less about the planet in the abstract and more about how your product fits into their daily life—and whether it’s worth switching for. That’s not disengagement. It’s discernment.

Making Sustainability Make Sense

Some brands are no longer treating sustainability as a message. They’re treating it as a system. The difference shows in performance.

Uniqlo is one of the clearest examples. Its “LifeWear” positioning emphasises longevity and utility over trend. The brand avoids the language of sustainability but delivers it in practice. Consumers aren’t sold on values—they’re sold on fewer purchases, less waste, and more function. The result: Uniqlo consistently ranks high in consumer trust, despite rarely leading with climate or ethics messaging.

In the household category, Seventh Generation has narrowed the price gap with mainstream competitors. Once considered a premium eco-label, it now competes on convenience and cost, not just mission. Refill concentrates and simplified packaging have reduced production costs while giving consumers a product that fits into existing routines. Our Green Brand report notes that this shift toward seamless integration is key to retaining sustainability-conscious buyers who are also budget-conscious.

Southeast Asian retailers are pushing refillable models that require almost no behavioural change. Supermarkets in Thailand and Indonesia offer branded refill stations with clear instructions and price incentives. These programs succeed where others have failed because the decision is built into the shopping experience. Consumers aren’t persuaded by ethics alone. They follow the easier, faster option—if it aligns with their values.

Circularity is gaining ground when positioned as service, not sacrifice. Patagonia’s resale platform, Worn Wear, is growing steadily because the process is simple and familiar. IKEA’s buy-back program lets customers return used furniture for store credit with minimal effort. Both succeed not by appealing to ethics, but by creating easy, cost-effective alternatives to new consumption.

The brands making headway aren’t winning on messaging. They’re winning on design. They’ve stopped asking consumers to make difficult choices. Instead, they’ve made the better choice feel automatic.

The Future of Sustainability Hinges on What Consumers Do Next

The idea that consumers will make sacrifices for sustainability has been overstated. What they’re doing instead is recalibrating. That shift—from saying to choosing, from caring to acting—deserves more attention than most strategy decks allow. Especially now.

The gap between what consumers claim to value and what they actually buy isn’t new. What’s changed is how quickly that gap is shifting, and how unevenly it plays out across categories, price points, and cultures. In some markets, refill stations thrive. In others, they collect dust. The same consumer who buys reusable packaging in one category won’t tolerate it in another. Context matters, friction matters, timing matters. It always has—but brands that succeed now are those that bother to map it.

Market research is not a post-rationalisation tool. It’s what should tell you where your sustainability story breaks down, which claims build trust, and which changes are worth making because the consumer will notice. It reveals where values still win, where value dominates, and where new expectations are quietly forming.

The path forward won’t be defined by idealists or sceptics. It will be shaped by the millions of individual decisions made every day at the shelf, on a screen, or in-store. Brands that understand those decisions in real time—and respond accordingly—will be the ones that make sustainability mean something again.

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