Session briefing brought to you by:

Shelly Banjo

Deputy Editor-in-Chief

The revenge spending of the post-pandemic era has been replaced by a spend-through-stress kind of caution where consumers shell out for the moments that matter (think holidays and birthdays) but hold back on big purchases. High interest rates, stubborn inflation, uneven job growth, geopolitical instability, and a general sense of unease about the future means consumers are less comfortable spending big on homes, cars, and even washing machines. 

In the US, there’s a growing gap among the high-income consumer, who remains resilient in the face of uncertainty, and lower-income households without exposure to stock market gains. In China, where 70% of wealth is tied up in real estate, a reckoning of property prices has fundamentally altered how consumers view their financial security and how they spend their money. In Europe, consumers are oscillating between caution and a willingness to spend as debt burdens rise and affordability and property prices present challenges. While the Gulf had been the global outlier for optimism – and luxury spending – the regional fallout from the war in Iran prompted a pause. 

Overlaid upon all the economic factors is the impact of AI on the way we think about what and how we buy. Armed with more information than ever on each individual customer, companies are using AI to fundamentally reorder how they price and sell goods. The result is a world in which more companies than ever are competing for a smaller sliver of a person's time – and money.