USA

Growing eco awareness across the US is driving consumers to seek out products that provide more sustainable end-of-cycle outcomes for packaging and the reduction of plastic waste generation. In turn, packaging players are responding to this demand by…

Several noteworthy developments have come into focus in consumer appliances in 2023. One significant trend is the expectation of declining retail volume sales across various consumer appliances categories. This follows a period of robust growth, and…

2022 and 2023 saw some of the most rapid increases in lending interest rates in US history. During the pandemic, many interest rates approached record lows, leading consumers to refinance debt, and leading to a generally free lending environment. In…

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…

The sale of food through drive-through has continued to grow, and in 2023 remained elevated above the pre-pandemic level. The growth of drive-through ordering was fuelled by the desire to avoid human interaction during the pandemic, but has stuck as…

After three years of having at least a period of time in the year when COVID-19-related restrictions affected restaurant visits, many operators looked forward to 2023 as the first year of a return to normalcy. High inflation and its reverberating…

While 2022 was characterised by high inflation, persisting supply chain constraints, and the ongoing war in Ukraine, which brought price increases and volume declines across much of consumer health, it benefited from waning COVID-19 cases and the…

The primary challenges facing consumer lending in 2023 have been a continuation of 2022’s twin factors of higher inflation and increasing interest rates. While the story in 2022 was one of largely unchecked inflation affecting much of the US economy,…

Contact lenses and solutions in the US is set to maintain solid current value growth in 2024. Daily disposable lenses (DD) showed the most dynamic growth, with conventional lenses, frequent replacement lenses (FRP), and the related contact lens…

As it did for many industries, the pandemic distorted the growth curve for convenience retailers. Following historically high current value growth rates in 2021 and 2022, sales slowed for convenience retailers (which encompasses convenience stores…

The inflationary volatility of 2022 has continued into 2023, extending the impact on cooking ingredients and meals. Unit prices have climbed across categories in 2023, with edible oils seeing some of the largest jumps due to geopolitical strife and…

In 2023, cough, cold and allergy (hay fever) remedies is set to see dynamic current growth, on top of an extremely strong performance in 2022. Within the category, after medicated confectionery, growth is set to be driven by and paediatric cough/cold…

Credit cards in the US is set to continue to see robust growth by all measures in 2023. While inflation in the country has generally been at lower levels than in the extreme outlier year of 2022, prices have still grown considerably, and some US…

In 2023, yoghurt remained the largest dairy category in the US in terms of packaging unit volume sales. Prominent players in yoghurt, such as Chobani, are turning to packaging to sustain consumer interest and set themselves apart from the…

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.…

Fraud has hit debit cards hard in the US in recent years. Significant increases in card not present fraud have been recorded in the market in 2023, and are a legitimate concern for those in the financial industry. A significant threat to card usage…

Deodorants continued to see double-digit current value growth in the US in 2023. Strong performances were led by deodorant sticks, followed by deodorant sprays, deodorant roll-ons, and deodorant creams. Deodorant pumps was the only format within…

In 2023, depilatories recorded steady single-digit growth in the US in current value terms, as prices comparatively stabilised after inflated adjustments in 2022. Value growth was led by women’s pre-shave and women’s razors and blades, while decline…

2022 brought closure to many of the lasting pandemic-driven behaviours impacting dermatologicals, such as mask-wearing, an extreme focus on sanitisation, and remaining social distancing practices in large settings. Yet, the year also presented new…

Following the initial high growth phase of the pandemic in 2020, and subsequent slowdown in growth in 2021 as panic-buying receded, dietary supplements has re-entered a period of consistency, and is set to continue to grow at a moderate pace in…