What you need to know

Macroeconomic factors remained stable over the year, encouraging Americans to spend, particularly in discretionary categories. While dining out and leisure categories may attract consumer dollars as household income grows, competition between retailers and channels is keeping margins slim, and growth in check, for mature categories such as household care and in-home food.

2018 was largely a year of political and economic stability for Americans, but the abundance of data and privacy scandals is an indicator of what will be top of mind in 2019. If the Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year in 2018 was toxic, the remedy for brands in 2019 is transparency. The interactive nature of social media is giving brands the opportunity to forge closer connections to consumers, but also leaves companies vulnerable to call-out culture, trolling, and other forms of backlash. Brands need to be ready to fully disclose everything about their products, ethics, and business practices, even if it means owning up to some mistakes along the way.

Definition

This Report is an overview of how Americans spent their money in 2018, and what this means for the year ahead, in terms of market projections and business investments. In addition, it includes a review of demographic and economic changes, as well as analysis on American goals, self-perceptions, and relationships to brands.

This Report builds on the analysis presented in Mintel’s American Lifestyles: Markets in Motion – US, April 2018 as well as the 2007-17 Reports of the same title. This Report also includes findings from published Mintel Reports across 16 consumer markets: housing; healthcare; transportation; technology; personal finance; dining out; in-home food; leisure and entertainment; home and garden; vacations and tourism; clothing and accessories; beauty and personal care; alcoholic drinks (in home); non-alcoholic drinks; alcoholic drinks (out of home); and household care.

Complete market size and forecast values, as well as details on data sources for each category, can be found in Appendix – The Market.

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