Expect 'individualist' spending in 2025, says SNU consumer expert

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Expect 'individualist' spending in 2025, says SNU consumer expert

Published: 28 Nov. 2024, 18:44 Updated: 29 Nov. 2024, 15:28

KIM JU-YEON
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

From left, Korea JoongAng Daily Executive Editor Choi Ji-young; Seoul National University research fellow Lee Soo-jin; Tom Ovind, spouse of the Norwegian ambassador; Ambassador of Oman Zakariya Al Saadi; Ambassador of Belarus Andrew Chernetsky; Ambassador of Argentina Dario Celaya; Ammar Maarafi, counsellor at the Embassy of the State of Kuwait; Jacquiline Moraa Kenani, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Kenya; and Korea JoongAng Daily business reporter Jin Eun-soo pose for a photo at the 2025 Consumer Trend Insights forum, hosted by the Korea JoongAng Daily, at Mapo District, western Seoul, on Thursday. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Korea has entered its age of individualism when it comes to buying things that bring happiness to their daily lives — or conform to its competitive society.

In 2025, expect Korean consumers to exhibit spending patterns that do not conform to their age or gender and are largely dictated by personal choice in what looks to be a stagnant economy, Lee Soo-jin, research fellow at the Consumer Trend Center at Seoul National University (SNU), said at the Korea JoongAng Daily’s forum on key consumer trends on Thursday.

Lee recently co-authored the 17th publication of the annual “Trend Korea” book series, which forecasts 10 consumer trends that it expects to define each upcoming year.

The researcher outlined the SNU team’s outlook on five trends projected for 2025 — “cultural omnivorousness,” finding happiness in the ordinary, personalization, the peace in harmless aesthetics and “Korean culture’s gradation” — that she thought would interest foreign shareholders at Thursday’s forum.

Economic slowdown will have a large influence on consumer choices, according to Lee — leading people to spend conservatively and concentrate their purchases on the products they enjoy the most. Korea's economy is projected to grow a modest 2.2 percent next year due to export downturn, and global trade is likely to be rocky as the United States sets protectionist policies and countries implement retaliatory tariffs.

Seoul National University research fellow Lee Soo-jin, left, and Korea JoongAng Daily reporter Jin Eun-soo answer questions from the audience at the 2025 Consumer Trend Insights forum. [PARK SANG-MOON]

“The sluggish economy doesn’t meet the public’s expectations, especially of the younger generation,” Lee said, describing why today's Koreans opt to find happiness in their ordinary lives instead of dramatic blowouts in the Q. and A. session. Her team has found that the country's religious followers in the country, generally more abundant in less hopeful periods, have dropped almost 60 percent since 2017.

“Spirituality is what people rely on in hard times,” Lee said. But these days, “Koreans are practicing cultivation and finding meaning in their daily lives.”

The current personalization craze among consumers — from frozen yogurt toppings to accessories for Crocs and tote bags — as well as a willingness to try many different types of trends, will also continue into 2025, she said.

The consumer studies researcher advised businesses operating in Korea to target customers based on their usage patterns and context of their purchases rather than demographics. She also said companies should look beyond Korea's rigid traditional standards when developing products for a global audience, as studies have shown that items unpopular in the country can still do well overseas and that Korea is becoming more multicultural in its preferences.

Korea JoongAng Daily’s business reporter Jin Eun-soo gives a presentation at the 2025 Consumer Trend Insights forum. [PARK SANG-MOON]

In the forum’s second session, Jin Eun-soo, a reporter on the Korea JoongAng Daily’s business desk, shared the newsroom’s insight into trends that reporters have observed while covering Korea’s market.

In line with Lee’s outlook, Jin said that digital-savvy consumers are being practical and selective when it comes to their shopping, dabbling in a variety of marketplaces and subscription services to get the best deals.

Retail outlets are becoming increasingly specialized, emulating traditional Korean markets, in order to meet those increasingly diverse needs, Jin said.

Supermarkets are now moving to put groceries at the forefront — whether it be the freshest cut of swordfish from Jeju or ethically sourced eggs — as consumers shift toward buying daily necessities, such as toothpaste, online. E-commerce platforms are largely outcompeting brick-and-mortar on price when it comes to such items, especially the Chinese players that aggressively pushed into the Korean market this year.

LG Electronics found success through its rental system for home appliances, allowing customers to try various gadgets without the pressure of splurging on just one.

Meanwhile, fashion and beauty retailers — and even YouTubers, through pop-up events — are increasing their offline presence to communicate their brand vision and identity in a break from digital marketing.

These examples all showed that consumers were looking for tangible and comfortable ways when scouting for and deciding to buy new products. Businesses may have to look back on old methods such as brick-and-mortar shops to create brand association and outreach, the reporter said.

“The old ways still remain highly relevant in our daily lives, especially when they offer more efficient and cost-effective solutions compared to flashy, yet complicated alternatives,” Jin said in her presentation titled “The New Old Ways.”

Aisha, an exchange student at JoongAng University, asks a question at the 2025 Consumer Trend Insights Forum on Thursday. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Foreign ambassadors to Seoul and college students primarily made up the audience of Thursday’s event, the second of its kind hosted by the Korea JoongAng Daily. Around 70 people, including ambassadors from Argentina, Belarus and Oman were present.

“In the case of Musinsa and Olive Young, we had seen their offline expansion in the country with our own eyes but had not connected the phenomenon to the theory and the reason why,” said Salonie Gupta, a business student at Hanyang University, in the convention hall after the forum ended.

An attendee of the 2025 Consumer Trend Insights Forum receives a massage in Ceragem's massage chair installed in front of the conventional hall where the forum took place on Thursday. [CERAGEM]

“The forum was very insightful […] and taught me what to expect, what’s next in the market, something we can use in our own reports,” said her friend Sampriti Dutta, a marketing major at Ewha Womans University.

BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]