Youth Consumer Insights

Trend - Smart home companies are releasing baby monitors with artificial intelligence (AI)-powered features. Rather than acting as cameras and recording devices, these monitors use AI features for non-intrusive monitoring of breathing or sleeping patterns, body temperature, and more.

Insight - New Millennial and Gen Z parents are tasked with balancing full-time work with social lives and raising their newborns. Rising costs of living have led to these parents often having less free time than previous generations. To alleviate the strain of home tasks, many of these parents turn to smart home or AI-powered products, such as robot vacuum or AI washing machines. In recognition of this demand, smart home and infant care brands are releasing AI baby monitors with time-saving features.

Trend - Brands in the beauty industry are making less-traditional procedures more affordable and accessible. Through marketing and increased availability, these procedures are being destigmatized, and are in turn becoming more commonplace. These factors result in fewer barriers for interested consumers.

Insight - Millennials and previous generations grew up in a society that stigmatized purely cosmetic procedures, such as bodily injections or lifts. In part brought on by the shifting nature of the beauty industry and by North American society trending in a progressive direction, the stigmas around such practices are fading. As a result, brands are more openly advertising these services in order to appeal to consumers who may have previously considered or been on-the-fence about such beauty practices.

Trend - Brands are launching luxury and designer skincare collections for newborns and infants. These products have easy-to-understand, short ingredient lists for safety and transparency. Brands position these products as better solutions for ensuring the healthy development of babies.

Insight - Younger generations of parents, such as Gen Z and Millenials, are acutely aware of the potential damage of chemical ingredients. These generations grew up learning about the dangers of microplastics, processed foods, and more. This knowledge leads these parents to prefer organic, natural, and clean products for their newborn babies, and are willing to pay a premium price to ensure the products are of the highest quality. Brands are responding to these pressures with luxury products for babies.

Trend - Kid and baby food manufacturers in North America are expanding recipes to include globalized flavors. These globally-inspired recipes expose youth to more foods and flavors early on, thus expanding their familiar palate. Children raised with expanded palates more often eat healthy, balanced diets.

Insight - Younger generations of parents in North America, namely Millennials and older Gen Z, often grew up in globalized cities with countless options for cultural foods and flavors available to them. These parents want to ensure that their children not only adopt healthy diets, but are also able to enjoy the same, if not more, varieties of foods than they have. Brands are recognizing the value of expanding the palate of children early, and are launching globally-inspired kids' meals as a response.

Trend - In a divergence from health and wellness being exclusively associated with luxury, brands are releasing traditional vice products, such as cigarettes or cannabis, positioned as luxury status symbols. These products enable wealthier consumers to display status while engaging with vices.

Insight - Higher-income consumers from the younger generations grew up with the notion that luxury is associated with cleanliness and healthiness. However, many of these consumers still find themselves engaging with industries that are typically seen as bad-for-you, such as smoking, and often do this discretely to avoid status implications, showing a desire for more designer products in the space. Brands are recognizing the shift in modern values and are releasing products that cater to these consumers.

Trend - Brands in the skincare industry are launching sunscreen products that opt for pump designs over sprays or squeeze bottles. The pump design reduces the amount of clogging in the nozzle itself, prevents sunscreen from spilling, and ensures a consistent amount of sunscreen is distributed with each use.

Insight - With the increased attention given to the personal care and skin care industries from younger generations, consumer demands are evolving with a priority on convenience and sustainability. These consumers are more likely to integrate less conventional skincare products, such as facial sunscreen, into their daily routines. In order to appeal to these young, frequent consumers, brands are evolving their packaging designs with a meticulous focus on convenience and low-maintenance operation.

Trend - Brands are designing children's garments with special fabrics that address the child's individual needs. Frequently promoted for infants and babies with sensitive skin, these garments claim to provide comfort in intimate areas by minimizing the risk of allergic reactions or irritation.

Insight - Parents are increasingly becoming aware of the materials and substances their kids are exposed to, especially when dealing with conditions like eczema and dermatitis. More brands are designing their products to be mindful of adverse reactions, relying on soft and gentle materials to deliver a comfortable experience to little ones. Businesses that align with a consumer desire for holistic health can resonate with individuals who value a comprehensive approach to their child's health.

Trend - Brands are launching online mental health platforms that connect communities facing similar challenges. These platforms enable connections with peers who can relate to one another without judgment. The online community approach is always accessible, making it easy for users to gain support.

Insight - Younger consumers are facing several unique mental health issues due to growing up with the Covid-19 pandemic at pivotal times in their lives. These consumers' familiarity with online services, in part due to remote schooling and remote work, leads them to gravitate toward internet-based solutions for shopping, social interaction, and even healthcare. Healthcare providers are recognizing the online-first, social-focused motifs of Gen Z—in turn launching online mental health networks.

Trend - Brands are creating items and resources designed to promote a positive sense of self-worth, self-esteem, and confidence in children. These products, which often include flashcards and toy companions, instill a healthy appreciation for oneself and help develop a positive self-image.

Insight - Consumers with children often worry that the pressures of school and interpersonal relationships could result in their child developing low self-esteem. These parents look to products to counter negative influences and ensure their child receives positive reinforcement and support at home. Businesses that align with consumer demand for positive, emotionally intelligent products can resonate with parents who value a well-rounded developmental experience for their children.

Trend - Social media creators are blending real fruits into coffee to add both flavor and nutritional value. These blended coffees are easy to create, offer a wide range of flavor options, and offer health benefits over traditional coffee. This trend is gaining popularity with consumers on TikTok.

Insight - Social media has a strong influence on younger gen Z and millennial consumers. These consumers are much more likely to be drawn to, and participate in, trends on media platforms, particularly when the trends are low-effort and high-reward. Two of the largest categories of trends on these platforms are food and wellness. When these two categories overlap and satisfy the consumer desire for low-effort, high-reward practices, they become part of users' daily rituals beyond social media.