Consumer Life

Understand all aspects of people’s lives. Not just the what, but the why, the why now, and what to do next.

GfK Consumer Life is the most comprehensive and longest-standing consumer trend study in the world. Its data has been collected annually since 1997 from over 30,000 consumers in more than 25 countries, providing market leaders with detailed information about all aspects of people’s lives, including their aspirations, personal values, future world outlook and concerns, lifestyle behaviors and much more.

Putting the consumer at the center of your business strategies

The lives, attitudes and concerns of consumers are rapidly changing. With the right insights, you can leverage these changes to stay ahead of trends and adapt to new demands.

GfK Consumer Life enables marketing, innovation, and strategy leaders to create successful, fact-based plans for the future, so you can connect with your customers today, and tomorrow.

Envision the future and anticipate trends

Understand fundamental forces driving consumer mindset shifts in attitudes and behaviors to anticipate changing wants and needs. Identify opportunities in your category, demographic, and market and prevent yourself from being blindsided by quickly identifying potential disruptors.
Understand how personal values and lifestyles evolve

The world is changing rapidly, and it influences consumers’ ideals and actions. Know how their personal values evolve over time, how that impacts their actions, and what it means for your communications and brand portfolio strategies.
Craft messages that resonate with your target group

Ensure that marketing and sales efforts are prioritized and successful by matching your messaging and unique selling points according to customer wants, needs, and changing expectations.
Know how your consumers are similar…and different

Segment consumers by any number of demographics, psychographics, or attitudinal behaviors to quickly, and quantitatively demonstrate consistency and gaps, ensuring that you adjust marketing and outreach accordingly.
Grow and innovate in new products and markets

Use consumer attitudes and behaviors to identify and fill gaps or expand into new markets which present opportunities. Inform product development, marketing, and strategic growth and market sizing.
Identify future outlooks for longer term planning

Gain insights into how consumers see the world evolving, and how that impacts their plans, their purchasing decisions, their lifestyles, and more. Our focus on leading edge consumers provides insights of trends before they become mainstream.

The predictive power of trends

25 years of global trend tracking and insights from Consumer Life have foreshadowed mainstream-consumer movements. Here are a few of the trends we forecasted, and a look ahead at what we’re watching for the future.

1997-2002

The rise of remote work

22 years before COVID-19 trended remote work, Consumer Life flagged “portable offices” as a growing reality

2002-2007

Seamless connectivity

We predict seamless connectivity when consumers start to watch TV and play video games on multiple platforms

2007-2012

From reactive to proactive health

We predict the rise in preventative medicine and wellness, when we spot a trend in proactive health behaviors

Shift towards wireless living

We redefined mobility to be “even in the home” — predicting wireless connectivity as a staple of daily life

Influencers grab the spotlight

We introduce “consumer influence as a global phenomenon” — foreseeing the rise of the influencer economy

2012-2017

The sharing economy as global movement

We predict the rise of companies offering products and services through a system of shared resources

2017-2023+

Growth in voice technologies

Consumer Life follows early adopters, to predict the mainstreaming of “voice everywhere” AI technologies

What’s next for consumers?

Expect sustainability, technology and globalization to capture the spotlight — increasingly important for consumers and brands alike

Insights tailored towards your needs

Consumer Life is available in a variety of formats to ensure you have the intelligence you need, when you need it, saving you time, money and hassle. From syndicated reports to answer key questions by category, market, trend or demographic, to 24/7 online data access for you to analyze on your own to consulting services tailored to your custom questions, and more. Our unrivalled breadth and depth of coverage ensures that we can answer your burning questions quickly and cost-effectively. And our quantitative rigor ensures you –and your key stakeholders- that you are making decisions based on solid and reliable information.