As previously outlined, 2022 looks to become Year One of a post- p.pandemic paradigm. What we should focus on is not reverting to what was but rather looking straight ahead, hoping for a fast recovery. The market and its consumers have learned and familiarized themselves with new techniques during the past two years. And no doubt they will face challenges in learning new ways to become more comfortable in a more unfamiliar territory. The key to survival in the post-COVID- p.19 era will depend upon how quickly we respond to new trends and how appropriate those responses will be. --- p. 11

“Today’s trend is that you cannot define my trend,”
This best sums up Korea’s latest trend. “Trends,” which used to be defined as a majority collective opinion that has a certain duration, are now showing signs of fundamental change. The scope of a trend’s following has grown narrower as the trend’s duration has shortened. People no longer “go with the flow” of a popular trend - they wait for a trend to branch out into smaller offshoots and spinoffs, like tributaries of a main river. As the sense of “we,” traditionally based on one’s peers and reference groups, is quickly being restructured into one based on tastes and preferences, in a Nano Society trends are becoming even more multilateral and diverse, changing at a whirlwind pace. --- p. 19

Recent spending trends have been unusual, to say the least. Fortune magazine coined the term “HENRY,” or “high earners, not rich yet,” almost two decades ago in 2003 to describe a subgroup of consumers with modest resources and luxurious tastes. These relatively young folk are usually highly educated with a great job that pays a substantial salary and yet often find themselves strapped for cash or unable to save up due to their extravagant lifestyles and student loan payments. This term best describes the quandary that many millennials face as they work ceaselessly, as if going round and round on a hamster wheel to maintain a certain standard of living. If they were to give up their jobs, it would mean a cease in their immediate source of income, and they would be left without any savings to fall back on. --- p. 58~59

Consumer Trend Insights 2022 dubs the ability to acquire goods that aren’t readily available for anyone to purchase “Gotcha Power.” The Korean version of this, deuktemnyeok(득템력), originates from the gaming term “deuktem(득템),” a slang portmanteau of the words deuk(득, 得) - meaning “to obtain” or “yield” - and item템, in which games “reward” online or offline RPG players with power-up items after defeating bosses or completing challenges. The term has expanded and now is part of shopping lingo. The growing emphasis on Gotcha Power does not simply indicate an increase in hard-to-get limited-edition items, but points to the start of a market era with shifts in perceptions of rarity. Moreover, Gotcha Power is also a sign of the times, which provides a means to differentiate consumers, expanding from the mere ability to make a purchase to encompass the capacity to obtain a particular experience or limited item. --- p. 72

As more people living in modern society seek out their small patch of land, their own healing spot, it is becoming hip to be rustic. The countryside, contrary to what it may imply, is no longer considered a dilapidated region that has fallen behind the times. The countryside has come to offer the appeal of raw nature and the unique charm of rural areas, bestowing a sense of comfort and serenity for city folk who often find the everyday routine burdensome. These days when the urbane has become routine, the countryside has become an extraordinary locale of ideals and romance - one’s own special hangout. The rustic life no longer signifies a state of reclusive isolation but rather offers a period of replenishing essential to everyone from all walks of life. Such a countrified lifestyle does not entail cutting oneself off or departing completely from the city. It does not imply that one must exile oneself from the metropolis but rather that one can aim to spend less time in densely populated towns and experience a touch of the simple village life for two or three days of the week. --- p. 102~103

Such changes prove we are now living in an age where health and fitness trumps all. This is a highly health-centric perspective that supersedes materialism. The Healthy Pleasure trend has emerged as a “human upgrade(업글인간)” strategy for this health-centric era. Fitness routines that used to be laborious, difficult, and rigorous are changing to ones that are more easily manageable, enjoyable, and feasible. It’s not a health regimen for the older generations pursuing a longer life span, but a more sustainable fitness routine for people of today who are seeking to find happiness in their true selves. To them, maintaining one’s health is a fun activity. --- p. 130

Enticing X-teens who tend to remain loyal to their favored brands has become somewhat of a “cheat code” among insiders in the retail industry. “Cheat codes” usually refer to a series of keyboard or button combinations used by gamers to sneakily advance levels. Millennial and Gen Zers may be the first ones to try new services, but it is X-teens period, while that of women in their forties rose 7.9 percent over the same period. Purchases of online home physical training sessions also saw their biggest increase among customers in their forties. The proportion of credit card charges for online fitness training sessions by those in their twenties dipped to 27 percent in the first half of 2021, compared with 43 percent two years earlier. On the other hand, the same expenditure among customers in their forties rose by seven percentage points to 21 percent in the same period. --- p. 163~164

Such an enhanced degree of freedom has ironically heightened anxiety among some. The lack of structure in their daily routines has only increased their stress levels. They have begun to doubt whether they are properly managing their routines, fretting over carelessly throwing away valuable time. They feel uneasy in the fear that they are the only ones lagging, or that they are the only ones not living well. Such a loss of control is prompting them to try to reaffirm and regain their sense of control. They try to do this by apstriving to become routineers and pursue a somewhat structured lifestyle. Routineers, who are often described as compulsively productive, often try to max out their schedules because they find boredom more intolerable than idleness. --- p. 193~194

“Metaverse” refers to an expanded virtual world and is a portmanteau of “meta,” meaning transcendence or virtual, and “universe.” It is a three-dimensional virtual world, moving beyond the cyber social space of the past that was best represented by the online game Second Life. It offers realistic renderings or imitations of the five sense, that makes it almost impossible to differentiate from the real world. In the metaverse, people can manufacture or trade goods and assets, giving birth to a virtual economy. Many activities that are conducted in the real world, such as education, entertainment, and commerce are also taking place in the metaverse. --- p. 216

Everyone has at some point scrolled operathrough eye-catching goods on social media feeds and community posts uploaded by friends and acquaintances. We are now less likely to buy products that appear in ads on television or in magazines. Uploads on social media are fast becoming the gateway to discovering products that we are interested in. We no longer take time from our lives to actually “go shopping” but rather make purchases anytime and anywhere through online searches or updated posts. And as such, consumers are putting in place new decision--- p.making models that veer away from conventional norms. --- p. 239~240

Narratives hold great power. The end of the COVID-19 pandemic comes not when we eradicate it. It ends when society accepts the narrative that “we can resume daily routines despite the virus.” As our final chapter of Consumer Trend Insights 2022, we will outline what we have dubbed “Narrative Capital.” Narratives bring people together and have the power to elicit action. We will take a closer look at what defines a narrative and what makes it wield such immense power.