In conjunction with nelson's report and open research data, we've combed five fine data-- while this is a trend view of global consumption behaviour, we can still find a shadow of chinese consumers. And nelson's report provides a number of industry examples that seek to adapt to new consumption patterns, from which opportunities for adjustment or direction can be found for brands and businesses that are in close contact with consumers。
What important new changes will take place in the consumer market in the coming year when “immediate” exits and “purposes” rises? Let's see。
Global consumers' ten cost-saving methods
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Globally, people's consumption behaviour is moving from passive “prudence” to proactive “purpose”。
In the report, nelson distilled the “ten money savings programs” from global consumers, namely:
Of these, low-priced products, more frequent visits to discount shops and the purchase of any promotion brands were the most “cost-saving” consumers, accounting for 31 per cent, 31 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively。
As compared to the past, the two main cost-saving methods of “balancing the most important attributes” and “buying larger-specified products” were 6 per cent and 4 per cent more, respectively, than last year. The trade-offs of the former focus on product attributes such as “clean labels”, high proteins and organics。
From the top 10 savings to the top three
If these approaches are summarized, they can be grouped into three broad categories that can be used by enterprises in formulating future strategies。
First, there will be a fundamental shift in brand and product shifts, i. E., future pricing strategies of enterprises。
In the pricing strategy, “low prices” will be the “key of the key”. In other words, price sensitivity is the focus of decisions affecting consumption. Especially in the current consumer environment, “price” may become a brand risk, and even “no price hikes” are beginning to become the highlight of new product promotion, and existing pricing strategies are outdated。
At the same time, nelson specifically mentioned in his report that in the area of expenditure management, chinese consumers preferred to choose products that were “worthy” rather than “cheap”. This means that “quality” on a “low price” basis is also key。
Second, consumption patterns have shifted. People need to be careful and rational, and are more willing to support retailers and brands that can deliver trust, provide personalized services and facilitate experience. Brands can identify new quality opportunities。
In the united states, for example, “clean label” products grew by 7. 5 per cent this year, significantly above the average rate of 5. 9 per cent for the u. S. Fast-forward overall, amply demonstrating that transparency and simplicity are becoming central to consumer loyalty。
The third category is diversion。
Overall, in the face of increasingly sophisticated consumers and the proliferation of cost-saving methods, nelson recommended that businesses, in order to sustain sustainable growth in the future, need to make their limited budgets more valuable, through a more accurate mix of products, continuous innovation and home-grown brand strategies, in order to increase passenger flows and unit prices。
This explains in part the current wave of brand power。
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This caters to savings such as “seeking low-cost products” and “buying products with greater specifications”. In the current context of weak overall growth in the retail market, proprietary brands have become a rare “high growth” track。
In simple terms, “own brand” is where retailers end up as “product managers” — from design, research and development to production (or commissioning a substitute) and from brands sold through their own channels, to cut off the middle and eventually show “high-quality parity” competitiveness。
According to nelson's data, china's own brand sales rose in reverse by 12. 9 per cent in 2025, compared to a small increase of 0. 1 per cent in traditional plant brands during the same period — a cold and a cold。
In other words, in today's chinese retail circles, anyone who does not have a “own brand” will have to be said to be “not stylish enough”。
However, by industry as a whole, the share of chinese head-to-head supermarkets selling their own brands was 7 per cent in 2024 and is expected to rise to 10 per cent in 2025. At the same time, when compared to 38. 7 per cent in europe and 20. 7 per cent in the united states, future growth remains significant。
Nelson believes that lack of branding remains key to raising consumer loyalty. It will not only provide a profit space for retailers, but will also drive traditional brands to prove that they are still qualified to appear in everyone's shopping carts。
Retailers become media tycoons
However, it is an important “task” to face increasingly sophisticated consumers, whether they have their own brands or traditional brands, to see people's consumer preferences. As a result, first-hand consumption data available to retailers naturally became one of the most scarce assets of the current digital marketing era。
In reality, when consumers open a supermarket program and see the paper towels recommended on the front page, when they enter the real store, see the toothpaste at the entrance, or the commercial exhibition that coincides with the theme of the festival, most of them are “advertisements” placed in front of you。
Electro-based research shows that 63 per cent of brands were placed in retail media in 2024 for the purpose of “a deeper understanding of customers”, up 5 percentage points from 2023. Second, 57 per cent of brands work with retailers to “create better shopping experiences”。
And there are real “benefits” in shopping, such as personalized services, convenience and loyalty rewards。
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Globally, the “retailer to media tycoon” model is already a mature track in the united states and is growing rapidly。
In wal-mart, for example, its advertising business has advanced almost dramatically over the past three years, with global advertising revenues increasing by almost 46 per cent over the same period in the second quarter of this year, as well as its own united states operations, which have also grown by about 31 per cent。
In china, this pattern has just begun. Since 2021, the industry has entered a period of exploration and growth with the deployment of its own media advertising platforms in the retailing giants under the yinghui, pema, box ma and fat dong lines. By 2023, market size had exceeded $15 billion, or 21. 3 per cent over the same period。
How to address the “challenge of price increases”
In fact, in order to satisfy smart consumers, businesses are called “grow out”. In particular, against the background that inflation remains one of the world's greatest consumer concerns, especially in products involving large price increases for some raw materials, consumers feel that “no price increases” have become a new topic for business。
In the context of nelson's report and public information, the coffee industry provides a useful reference programme。
Coffee prices rose by 26. 9 per cent between 2024 and 2025, while cocoa prices rose by 127. 9 per cent between 2023 and 2024。
In this regard, china's coffee industry has done three things upstream and downstream: first, upstream policy and technological empowerment, helping to “take power” local coffee; secondly, midstream, free of the risk of “calculation” under the “sortification” of indigenous brand-building plants; and thirdly, downstream, an innovative wave of “coffee tea” that has completely broken the product boundary。
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As a result, the “medium coffee” not only balanced the soaring prices, but also made it a “new national product”. China has also moved from a “large consumer” to a “large producer” of coffee, and yunnan coffee exports are expected to increase by 300 per cent in 2025。
In nelson's view, in the face of a surge in raw materials in the future, enterprises must consider both short-term strategies (e. G. Reducing packaging specifications or price increases) and long-term formula reform - while reducing the dependence on raw materials, balancing costs, transparency and sensory experiences required by consumers。
Next blue sea: a seamless business
People are adapting, people are innovation. In his report, nelson highlighted an entirely new business model — seamless commerce. In the future, social communications, instant communications and rrn (retail media networks) will be integrated into an ecosystem。
Imagine if the consumer wanted to order a take-out, had his finger scratched on the screen and bought a t-shirt and booked a movie ticket。
In other words, today's consumers are expected to be exposed to a friction-free, personalized and instantaneous shopping path that allows them to slid across an ecosystem to complete all demand and allow consumption to flow as naturally as it breathes。
In his report, nelson stated that to win, brands must have a full-source strategy — from shelf to screen, from social media to search platforms. Businesses that can transform the forces of health change and subversion, such as artificial intelligence, into innovation, trust and growth will be truly successful。
In terms of data, this trend is already working. According to data from the china electronic commerce research centre, full-source retailers have achieved higher sales revenues, market share and satisfaction. As a result, a growing number of chinese retailers have placed seamless commerce at the heart of their strategies. From a global perspective, china is in the lead in this wave。
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Perhaps in the future, seamless business will raise the standards of both retailers and manufacturers in the provision of services everywhere, and there will be opportunities for some dispersed consumer demand to be consolidated into a trillion-scale market, and the chinese market will generate more novel business practices or business models。
Concluding remarks
When the “immediate” exits, the “purpose” rises, and the consumer market in 2026 is undergoing a profound paradigm revolution: consumers are no longer simply paying for products or brands, but are voting for values, efficiency and experience。
For brands and enterprises, in the foreseeable future, it is only through a shift from the idea of “selling products” to a “provide solutions” approach, through a precise product mix, extremely cost-efficient and seamless consumption experience, that we can truly integrate into this new wave of consumption, with its “purposes” at its core。
