North America

A significant portion of street stalls/kiosks consists of food trucks and street vendors that primarily operate in urban environments with ample foot traffic. In light of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, nationwide lockdowns, expanded…

2020 saw a surge in demand for ready meals packaging, as fears of supply chain disruption led consumers to stockpile ready meals, with frozen ready meals in paper-based cartons proving to be particularly popular. Frozen pizza was also a standout…

COVID-19 resulted in a sharp increase in demand for sauces, dressings and condiments packaging during 2020, particularly for rigid plastic and glass, which account for the bulk of packaging units for these products. Rigid plastic dominates packaging…

Volume sales of home care wipes and surface care products were declining over 2022, leading to a fall in the packaging unit volume sales of the main pack types in these categories, flexible plastic and other rigid containers for the former and HDPE…

The retail unit volumes of HDPE bottles continued to hold the biggest share in overall home care products in 2022. The preference for HDPE bottles can be attributed to their practicality and user-friendliness in dispensing home care products. These…

Weak state finances have caused frequent bouts of instability in governance. Additionally, the US’s peacefulness has worsened, but its business landscape remains resilient. Economic growth is slowing in the short term, but robust energy exports have…

The growth of skin care packaging in Canada can be attributed to an increasing demand for skin care products as Canadians place a greater emphasis on self-care and wellness. This has led to a greater need for packaging solutions that accommodate the…

Hair care lost its position as the biggest category in unit volume terms in beauty and personal care packaging to bath and shower in 2020, when the latter product area experienced a massive spike in demand due to the pandemic arriving in the US in…

Canada’s political stability and solid economic freedom form the foundations for strong private sector development. The economy will slow in the short term, whilst the country remains prone to global commodity price changes and is overly reliant on a…

In the US, recent trends in computers and peripherals have been shaped by ongoing corrections and shifts in consumer behaviour, especially during the post-pandemic era. At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a significant surge in sales as…

The negative volume growth that was registered across consumer electronics in the US in 2023 can be seen largely as a continuation of the suppressed demand that has emerged during the post-pandemic era. Now that the positive impact of stay-at-home…

During 2023, wireless headbands continued to experience strong volume growth despite the overall weakness in demand for consumer electronics overall. The combination of low ownership rates and the rapid adoption of wireless headbands have created an…

Home audio and cinema continued to experience falling sales during 2023, with various factors contributing to this negative performance. One of the key contributors to ongoing sales declines in the category is the increasing popularity of streaming…

Recent years have seen a significant shift in demand for televisions in the US as the category’s leading players have increasingly embraced the emerging category of OLED TVs. This has accompanied an increase in the production of the technology…

The negative sales trends that were recorded across imaging devices in 2023 offer a clear indication that the shift away from these products is far more pronounced in digital camcorders than it is in digital cameras. While both categories are…

2023 witnessed a remarkable recovery in new car sales in the US, a trend which defied lingering economic uncertainty fuelled by concerns over soaring inflation and the spectre of interest rate hikes. Over the first five months of the year, demand for…

2023 saw volume sales of mobile phones continue to decline, marking a continuation of the downwards trend that has been seen in the category for many years. Apple remains the category’s leading player, with each new release of the new generation of…

2023 saw e-readers experience declining volume sales after positive growth was registered in the category during 2022. This return to negative sales growth is indicative of the general slowdown that is being seen in demand for these products despite…

During 2023, wearable electronics generated slightly negative retail volume sales growth, with this representing the first time that demand has contracted since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, value sales continued to rise in current…

US consumers are continuing to modify their shopping habits in order to cope with the higher prices of their favourite treats. Some consumers are buying lower-priced chocolate confectionery to ensure volume supply, some are buying decadent chocolate…

While retail volume and current value sales grew in 2022, and this is set to continue in 2023, per capita consumption and spending on gum still fall short of the pre-pandemic level. Prior to 2020, the long-term trend for gum had been for decline,…

2022 marked the first full year of post-pandemic economic reopening, without foodservice limitations, with vaccinations fully available, and a return to hybrid or office working. A key question was whether with the reopening, ice cream would be able…

With consumers continuing to struggle with the effects of inflationary pressure on discretionary spending, producers in savoury snacks faced retail volume declines in 2021 and 2022, with only a static performance expected in 2023. While price…

Entering 2023, consumers continued to face a tense economic environment, causing constrictions in discretionary spending. Notably, consumers are bracing themselves against the constant threat of recession. As the US Federal Reserve has continued to…

Sugar confectionery saw retail volume and current value growth throughout the pandemic, and this trend is set to continue in 2023. Sugar spun in new and unique ways has caught the imagination of consumers of all ages with a sweet tooth. Viral trends…

While volume sales of sweet biscuits declined in 2022, inflationary pressures gave private label a jump in share in 2022; trends which are set to be maintained in 2023. Although more consumers have moved to shopping in discounters, some have moved to…

Retail volume sales of computers and peripherals saw a decline in 2023, continuing the trend of the previous two years. Growth was hindered by the high rate of inflation, at least during the first half of 2023, which continued to bite into…

Retail volume sales of consumer electronics registered a modest decline in 2023, although this represented a considerable improvement over the previous year, when global uncertainty linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led unit prices to increase…

Headphones struggled to gain momentum in 2023 as inflationary pressures continued to weigh on discretionary consumer spending, at least during the early part of the year. However TWS earbuds saw modest gains in retail volume terms, as consumers opted…

Audio separates experienced a decline in retail volume sales in 2023, continuing the trend of the review period. This was driven by a consumer transition towards smaller, more portable audio devices, such as wireless speakers, which offer more…

Retail volume sales of televisions saw an uptick in 2023 as consumers started to replace their older models. With the rate of inflation having eased from its peak in the summer of 2022, Canadians gradually returned to spending money on discretionary…

Digital cameras continued their downward spiral in 2023, as smartphones served the needs of most casual and amateur photographers. Most consumers are satisfied with the quality and features of smartphone cameras, alongside their convenience,…

Ongoing challenges in the car market hampered growth in in-car entertainment in Canada in 2023. New vehicle prices remained higher than before the pandemic, due to lingering supply chain issues, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. High interest rates…

Retail volume sales of smartphones saw a marginal decline in 2023, although this represented an improvement over the previous year. In 2022, the high rate of inflation had negative impact on discretionary spending, and this trend continued into the…

Retail volume sales of portable players increased in 2023, thanks to better economic conditions, which impacted positively on discretionary consumer spending. Wireless speakers were the key beneficiary of this trend, with a growing demand for these…

Wearable electronics experienced modest growth in retail volume terms in 2023. Demand continued to be impacted by a high rate of inflation, at least during the first half of the year, which led to more guarded discretionary spending. Continuing the…

Alcoholic drinks packaging declined in the retail channel, increased in the foodservice channel and saw only minimal growth overall in Canada in 2022. While shifting consumer preferences towards premium and craft beverages have been seen in recent…

2023 is showing continued inflationary pricing – particularly so in the case of formula, where. producers leveraged pricing to regain losses suffered during 2022 shortages. Although Abbott Laboratories Inc’s temporary production halts increased…

Value growth in butter and spreads is attributed to skyrocketing unit prices across all subcategories. While some of the trends here can be traced to fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry-wide embrace of a “price-over-volume” strategy,…

Retail volumes remain in negative figures in cheese in 2023, while value sales are supported by hikes in unit prices. Indeed, 2022 marked a difficult year for consumers, as they saw consistent monthly unit price increases throughout the year, leading…

There were two major developments in 2022 that will continue to impact dairy in 2023. The first is unit price increases and consumers’ reaction to it. Since 2021, inflation has been persistent in the US, alongside monthly increases in consumer goods.…

In a cross-category trend, we are seeing unit price hikes supporting value sales in drinking milk products, while volume remains in a slump due to the same inflationary pressures. For most of the food industry, 2022 was a year of declining volumes…

Other dairy is facing the same cross-category inflationary pressures, with rising unit prices resulting in lower volume sales in the face of consumers’ economic uncertainty. Such price hikes, largely unseen in recent years, coupled with a channel…

Plant-based dairy continues its popularity in 2023, thanks to ongoing health and wellness trends, along with receiving increased interest and investments from industry leaders. Previously, plant-based was more of a select area containing specialist…

In recent years, consumers have transitioned away from brand loyalty and fat avoidance and have developed a willingness to shop around for what meets their needs from a nutritional, functional, and taste perspective – no matter the brand. Fat content…

After and unprecedented resurgence in travel in the second half of 2022 and throughout 2023, following the deep collapse of the industry during the pandemic, airlines aim to provide the very best customer service experience in the safest environment…

Following a steep decline in 2020, and a slow 2021, airlines in the US truly began their recovery in 2022. This year saw consumers return to international travel in a meaningful way, as well return to many tier-one domestic city destinations.…

With the continuous increase in inflation and uncertainty around the timeframe for economic recovery, travellers are paying close attention to how much they are spending on their holidays. Travellers are keeping a close eye on special airline deals,…

Business travel bookings have been on the rebound, although the space looks different post-pandemic. Small group travel and 1:1 meetings in particular are on the rise, due in part to the cultural shift associated with distributed team and hybrid work…

Benefiting most from lifted COVID-19 restrictions in 2023 are hotels based in leisure-focused destinations and resort areas. Pent-up demand for leisure travel is driving recovery in lodging, with hotels in resorts providing outdoor activities doing…