Todays consumer has never been more unified - how does this reflect in buying patterns? Three key categories that will see demand spikes this autumn
Strangely, one of the greatest challenges of our time, Covid-19 is throwing up many positive side effects. I’ve asked my wife many times over the last month whether there is more birdsong in our garden. Even if there’s not, I’m hearing it for the first time, properly, in air I’m breathing that at least feels cleaner to me. The environmental benefits are clear and globally we will have taken a giant stride towards emissions targets that seemed pie in the sky a quarter ago. Technologically, we’ve embraced remote communications in a way that would have certainly come to pass, but maybe five years from now. And whats happened to us as a community? One of the most binding elements to any community is commonality: common experience, wants and needs, something that all parties have in common that unifies them. At no point in my lifetime has there ever been a great leveller like this. No matter who you are rich, poor, old, young; we’re all experiencing different shades of the same challenges. Looking at the global, and entirely justifiable, response to George Floyd and the almost blanket support for the blacklivesmatter movement I started to wonder whether the world would have, or even could have, come together in the same way even three months ago. There’s something in this shared experience that is hugely unifying. I spoke at a conference in january about how surgical you had to be to get to your target consumer, but this world has concertinaed our interest into homogenised clusters. These three key categories are, and will continue to, hugely benefit from enhanced consumer demand created by this collective experience:
Mindfulness - uncertainty is everywhere, and even more so in the UK, where Brexit feels like yesterdays news but is a spectre ghoulishly awaiting us at the turn of the year. In books this has already had knock on effects. Various reports have poetry spiking significantly, and what could more calming and mindful than a poem at this time? Several adult colouring books have been reborn, stoking a market that was smouldering at best prior to lockdown. Charlie Mackesy’s book The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse was the runaway bestseller of last year, a hopeful book for an uncertain time, which has sailed seamlessly along as another threat in the shape of Covid-19 has cast even greater doubt on us all. Of course, more typically obvious titles, like Good Vibe, Good Life have spiked alongside anything form Fearne Cotton’s plethora of simple yet effective books on state of mind among many more. It’s also bled into the children’s sector, with books for calming activities really driving volume as parents struggle to explain the changing world around them to their children. With the effect on mental health from lockdown not yet fully understood but certainly expected to be challenging, this is a category with huge potential that will be market leading for a long time yet.
Education - An army of school children are currently being manfully home schooled by parents who are juggling their day jobs alongside their new roles at the same time. They’re now being referred to by some, somewhat sensationally, as a potential ‘lost generation’ due to the disruption to their schooling. Educational apps and online platforms have seen huge spikes in interest, large swathes of free resources have been made available digitally, and publishers that publish fundamental school primers, such as Collins, have seen revenues grow by several hundred percent year on year. I’m intrigued about how this market evolves however. Children will be, touch wood, back in school by this September, so demand for text books will naturally plateau, but what’s the legacy here? I feel edutainment may benefit as a category. What does the accessible gift look like that is a clever envelope of both desirability - something a child would actually want - and a way for parents to sneak some soft educational benefits in the back door? Quizzes for example have seen a huge interest spike for adults. Will books of facts and the weird and wonderful like Ripleys Believe it or Not - educational as well as entertaining - see a benefit? To my mind this represents a huge area of opportunity.
Food - everyone has been parted from their favourite restaurant in these straightened times. Those that were of a culinary persuasion pre-lockdown have been honing their skills if my (admittedly very middle class) instagram account is anything to go by. Beyond that true amateurs have been giving it a go, the potent combination of more time on their hands and a lack of other options has made people experiment. My father for example, who formerly proudly told me of the time he ‘experimented’ with adding some garlic and soy sauce to his stir fry has been trying to make his own bread, with admittedly varying degrees of success. Make at home delivery kits, such as HelloFresh or PastaEvangelists, where you have carefully portioned recipes to make at home have also seen huge demand. Straightforwardly cookery as a sector should be hugely ahead of where it was last year, across the range and depth of titles. If you also overlay the exotic - that food is a means of escape - that transports you to far off lands that may not be readily visited in a world where travel is not the fast and easy commodity it once was, it becomes even more interesting. For that family that might have visited Tuscany for the last few years, is the closest evocation of the trip recreating your favourite meal, from the only kitchen you can, your home? Titles that cover the typically bestselling promises of ‘quick’ and ‘simple’ recipes hailing from family holiday destinations could be real winners this autumn.
These interest areas highlighted above are admittedly only the tip of the iceberg. From a new found appreciation for the great outdoors to how to keep grandparents and grandchildren connected in a disrupted world, common themes are repeating across multiple sectors and throwing up opportunity for products that provide solutions for the way we live now. Of course we’re not fully evolved as Covid consumers, we’re really only at the start of our journey, and there will be more shared experiences that take shape over the months and years to come. If you’re able to recognise these common themes quickly as they become evident, and be nimble with your solution, the market is ripe with opportunity.
Andrew Sauerwine is the founder of The Commercial Publishing Consultancy which helps individuals, teams and businesses across the books industry to sell smarter and grow faster. If you’d like to get in contact direct to discuss how I can help your business please contact me on andrew@workwithcpc.co.uk.