This year, 37% of Americans made a New Year’s resolution.
Even though New Year’s resolutions typically revolve around personal improvement and are well worth the effort, our annual holiday study showed that only about 20% of people claim to end up accomplishing them.
For brands, however, every resolution is a valuable opportunity to drive sales by creating innovative programs that help shoppers achieve their goals.
Help Shoppers Save More
After a decade of annual inflation rates under 3%, the last three years were a jolt to consumers’ budgets. Even though inflation declined from 7% in 2021 to 3.4% in 2023, consumers have felt the financial crunch. It wasn’t surprising, then, to learn that the most dominant resolution this year focused on finances.
59% of participants resolved to save more money this year.
Most loyalty programs are point collection programs – the more you shop, the more points you earn. And for many consumers, that’s exactly how they want their loyalty program to help them save money.
But, 90% of people feel that loyalty programs have room to improve and that all programs are the same. This is a huge opportunity for brands and retailers to differentiate their programs.
Implementing social sharing is a small step towards a more innovative program. Starbucks, Sephora, and Grubhub all offer their customers the opportunity to earn points by sharing their purchases online, sharing posts, or participating in social media challenges.
Courageous brands are much more creative. For example, JetBlue encourages their customers to share points with family members, and Hilton Honors allows their customers to use their loyalty points on Amazon.
Help Shoppers Be More Healthy
As usual, health and well-being showed up on the New Year’s resolution list in the form of eating better, exercising more, and self-care.
53% of participants want to exercise more.
52% of participants want to eat healthier.
42% of participants want to spend more time on self-care.
Brands on a mission to help consumers choose healthier lifestyles will see this as an opportunity to create innovative programs or incentives that support healthier lifestyles.
Digital apps like Earthmiles, Sweatcoin, and Carrot could be great partners. They allow people to earn digital currency or points by walking, running, or biking, which can then be exchanged for discounts on health and wellness products, fitness gear, workout classes, and even electronics.
Help Shoppers Be More Sustainable
This year’s holiday study also showed that sustainability continues to be a popular resolution. From helping shoppers avoid fast fashion, to recycling electronic goods, and buying products with sustainable packaging, brands can pursue a range of options to help consumers achieve their sustainability goals.
21% of participants want to be more environmentally friendly.
Many electronics brands like Apple, Samsung, Dell, Microsoft, and Google offer recycling programs for their digital products, steering the harmful components of those products away from landfills. By creating dedicated recycling initiatives, they can empower consumers to discard their digital products responsibly, thereby helping the environment and promoting a circular economy where materials are reused and repurposed.
Outdoor gear companies are also taking sustainability seriously by helping their customers keep used clothing out of landfill as long as possible. Patagonia’s Worn Wear program and REI’s Garage Sale program invite their consumers to buy and sell gently used clothing and gear. Beyond benefiting customers with competitive prices for those used goods, the companies benefit from increased brand loyalty.
Cosmetics companies are also making sustainability a key part of their business. Lush, known for handmade and ethically sourced beauty products, invites their customers to return empty containers in exchange for discounts or free products. Containers are then recycled into new ones, creating a closed-loop recycling system.
Help Shoppers Connect with People
13% of participants want to give more time or money to charity.
Many of us have enjoyed the consumer-led “pay it forward” kindness of an unknown person paying for our purchase. Doing good is in our nature and brands can create innovative ways for us to do that more often.
For example, Papa John’s Papa Rewards program invites their customers to donate their loyalty points to their charitable foundation which then supports the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, provides scholarships, and donates meals to those in need.
Similarly, the Target Circle program invites its members to vote for which nonprofits they’d like to receive Target’s community giving.
And for consumers who want to be ‘radical,’ a purchase of Lush’s Charity Pot is a direct donation of the full purchase price towards funding “radical changemakers.”
Summary
New Year’s resolutions signal how people want to evolve in the coming year. It’s an opportunity for brands to listen and respond to consumers’ most intimate desires in exciting and innovative ways. The shopper insights experts at Explorer Research have the knowledge and tools to help you listen more deeply to your customer’s desires and dreams, and ultimately build a stronger path to purchase. Get in touch with us to explore your opportunities further.
Note: In December 2023, 654 adults across the USA completed a 10-minute self-administered questionnaire. As with all non-probability samples using access panels, margin of error cannot be calculated and the results are subject to both sampling and non-sampling error. Explore more of the holiday research results here.
