Two Things Consumers are More Worried About Than You Might Realize
We all know the top 3 things consumers have been worried about this year – rising prices in food, fuel and home energy. And rightfully so as inflation continues year over year. But what else are they focused on and what does it mean for your business?
Ignite 360’s Navigating to a New Normal study asked 1,500 US Adults, 18+ quota’d for age, gender, ethnicity and geography how worried they were about different issues in mid-September 2022. The top worry is food prices – both in “top 2 box” (71%) and it was the biggest concern with “extremely worried” indicated by 32% of respondents and 39% saying they were “fairly worried”. (Together those two replies form the “Top 2 Box”.)
Gas prices were next, with 64% indicating they were worried (top 2 box), followed by home energy prices at 63%.
What followed next surprised us…
A total of 24 issues were put in front of consumers in this question including wide ranging societal and global concerns like climate change, gun violence, pollution, terroristm, homelessness, drug addiction, racial inequality, healthcare access, losing their job and women’s health.
Of those issues, the top one after rising prices in food, fuel and home energy, was about the inability of Americans to overcome differences of opinion.
In fact, that almost tied with home energy prices as a concern with 62% indicating they were worried about how we are interacting with one another.
Supporting this divide and “winner takes all” mentality is the next biggest concern, political polarization in government. A worry for 60% of the survey respondents.
Following that were cyber/identity theft (57%), pollution (55%), terrorism (53%), personal safety from crime/violence (52%), a new type of pandemic breaking out at 51% and women’s health issues as well as racial inequality or discrimination both at 50%.
There were surprises at the bottom of the list too…
At the bottom of the list were two concerns that seemed low for a period in time when inflation fears are high and concern about a recession filled the newscasts. Losing your job was a worry for 37% of respondents and losing your home due to losing your job was a worry for only 34% of respondents. Now looking at that another way, more than 1/3 of adults are concerned about losing their home or their job, which is a sizable number and should be cause for concern, but we would have expected that number to be higher if recession worries were more tangible in the way that a consumer can see prices rising.
I recently gave a talk at Quirk’s Global Virtual event where I shared more on how people were responding to inflation and their concerns. You can find that presentation here…
Making ends meet: How the U.S. consumer is responding to inflation and planning for the holidays
What does this mean for your business?
It’s easy. Ask yourself if you are part of the problem or part of the solution?
At work, how are you showing up? Are you modeling behavior to your colleagues that you are able to see a different point of view and incorporate that difference into your decision-making? Can you use the 5 Steps to Empathy to get to a place of understanding, then use that empathy to strengthen your communication, collaboration and decision-making skills?
In your work, how are you showing up to your clients, customers and consumers. Are you able to problem-solve for them and with them? Can you overcome your differences to reach a compromise that works for everyone?
What this study is showing us is that, while there are tangible issues people are concerned with, the less tangible but highly felt divide is a growing worry for us all.
I’d love to talk further about the Navigating to a New Normal program as well as empathy in and at work. Please feel free to reach out via rob@ignite-360.com and we can set up time to talk. Or you can go direct with this calendar link…
In the meantime, here are a couple other thought pieces from Navigating to a New Normal you might find interesting…
How Consumer Insourcing is Impacting You and Your Business
The Thirst for Meaningful Change
3 Easy Steps to Get People to Care About Environmental Efforts
