This Executive Voices Blog from Euromonitor International pulls insights from the research firm’s recent report Top Global Consumer Trends 2025. The full report, which provides an overview of the trends expected to have the most impact in 2025, is available for free to Licensing International members.

With the start of a new year, brand owners, manufacturers, and retailers are looking ahead to 2025 and examining the changing consumer behaviors that will affect their licensing strategies for the coming months.

By analyzing consumers’ shifting needs, licensing executives can develop more informed retail strategies, brand activations, and marketing campaigns. Several key developments are highlighted in the new Euromonitor report Top Global Consumer Trends 2025, including ongoing concerns around increasing costs, the growing demand for customization, and a focus on health and wellness.

Concerns Around Cost

Euromonitor reported that 72% of consumers are concerned about increasing everyday costs, which shows that price continues to be a pain point for consumers even as global inflation is expected to ease to 4.2% in 2025. However, there are instances where consumers are willing to spend more. According to Euromonitor, 59% of consumers believe spending on experiences is important and 50% of consumers are willing to spend more to save time.

To determine when it is worth it to invest, consumers are focused on quality, functionality, and convenience. More than half (57%) of consumers “extensively” research the products and services they consume in order to make informed decisions about their purchases.

Customization is Key

Another key trend in 2025 is the call for customization. According to Euromonitor, 51% of consumers want products and services that are uniquely tailored to them.

And while many brand owners and retailers are looking to Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support efforts to customize the consumer experience (including through the creation of personalized shopping suggestions), only 43% of consumers considered generative AI a trustworthy source of information in 2024. Additionally, the majority of consumers prefer to speak with a human for customer service queries and only 19% trust a bot to resolve complex queries.

Working Towards Wellness

Looking forward to the future, many consumers are focused on their long-term health and wellness. As a result, consumer health products like supplements and workout gear as well as the beauty and personal care categories are expected to experience growth this year.

And that growth is expected to continue well beyond 2025 as younger consumers are equally invested in their health as older consumers. In fact, Euromonitor reported that 32% of Gen Z uses an app to track their fitness and health.

This focus on wellness often goes hand in hand with efforts to purchase products that have a positive impact on the environment. For example, global retail sales for sun care products with at least one sustainability claim saw a 17% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2020 and 2023. The global CAGR for sun care from 2024 to 2028 is forecasted to be 7%, according to Euromonitor’s Passport Innovation Tracker.

By examining consumer behavior, brand owners and retailers can identify white spaces and pockets of growth to expand their businesses. In-depth and up-to-date data is crucial for the global brand licensing industry to continue to grow in 2025 and beyond.

Euromonitor International helps organizations understand where and how consumers shop through both traditional and emerging retail channels. Comprehensive international coverage and insights as part of syndicated offerings provide retailers, brands, and others in the industry with data and analysis to help guide decisions on investment, expansion and product positioning by category, channel or country. Bridging methodologies based on data science and on-the-ground research, we provide context to strategic and tactical data, helping you answer your biggest challenges and identify opportunities.

 A number of Euromonitor International reports are available for free to Licensing International members.