The 2024 shopper.
Consumers are developing a more entrepreneurial mindset.
The majority of consumers are feeling less optimistic about their financial situation compared to 12 months ago. Just 28% of total consumers reported feeling more optimistic, while 43% reported feeling less optimistic.
Sentiment about finances also differs across countries. Australian consumers feel less optimistic about their financial situations compared to other countries: 50% of Australian consumers feel less optimistic, while just 40% of Canadian consumers, 44% of UK consumers, and 37% of US consumers feel less optimistic.
Global consumers are mixed when it comes to awareness of multihyphenate businesses — businesses that have added new, non-core offerings — in their area. The majority of consumers (53%) say that businesses in their area have not added new, unrelated offerings. However, consumers from the U.S. were more likely to report that businesses in their area had added new, unrelated offerings than consumers from AU, CA, and the UK. Despite this, the majority of global consumers (81%) would spend time or take action at a multihyphenate business that offered a secondary or non-core offering.
Consumers are also slowly looking for more automation or use of artificial intelligence at businesses they frequent. Consumer sentiment about shopping at a business that's started using AI has not changed significantly since 2022. However, there's been a slight increase in consumers who reported they are "much more likely" to shop at a business using automation in 2023. Shoppers say they're at least as likely (75%) if not more likely (25%) to shop at a business they've seen using more automation this year.
Customers are not just interested in shopping or dining at local businesses — they are thinking about starting their own as well. Sixty-two percent of consumers are entrepreneurial-minded, saying they're either interested in, planning, considering, or have already turned their passions into a business.
Gen Z has the highest concentration of entrepreneurial-minded respondents, with 83% at various stages of thinking about or already starting to build businesses.
This shift toward turning a hobby or passion into a business has made consumers more sensitive to obstacles and challenges. Consumers see the time required or their current responsibilities (52%) as the biggest obstacle to starting a new business, followed by knowledge of the industry or how to start a business (39%). Regardless of generation, all would-be entrepreneurs say access to capital would be the top obstacle they see when it comes to starting a new business.
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