Consumer trends founders can leverage in 2022

Many of us had hoped 2021 would be a return to “normal” — human interaction, economic stability, traveling, wearing pants.

But alas, COVID-19 and its host of variants had other plans. Nevertheless, increasing vaccination rates and improved treatments of the coronavirus are setting up 2022 to be a little bit more normal.

With that morsel of optimism, here are some trends founders can capitalize on in 2022.

Buy now, pay later

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) services are becoming the most popular form of alternative credit for consumers.

In total, consumers will spend nearly $100 billion using BNPL programs in 2021 — up from $24 billion in 2020. More than half of all consumers plan to use BNPL in 2022, per a study by McKinsey. RBC Capital Markets estimates BNPL increases conversions by 20-30% and boosts the average purchase size by 30-50%.

PayPal Credit, Afterpay, Affirm, Klarna, and ZipPay are the BNPL market leaders, per CR Research..

How to capitalize — Offer BNPL at checkout. Afterpay recently announced subscription services can offer BNPL, which is big for SaaS companies. By offering BNPL, it should increase annual subscriptions and decrease customer churn. Most BNPL services offer simple and fast checkout.

Altbashes

Presuming improved vaccination rates and covid treatments give way to a more IRL 2022, that’ll mean more celebrations and holiday merrymaking.

The holidays are, obviously, a popular time of year for shopping. However, it’s also a noisy time of year for founders to fight for attention.

In its remarkably accurate annual predictions, Pinterest designated 2022 as the year of “altbashes,” or celebrations reveling in milestones, new chapters, and unusual holidays. That trend is good news for founders, as a recent study found that people were twice as likely to click promotions in an email if they were centered around a special day. The same study shows that customers were also 25% more likely to buy.

How to capitalize — As detailed in Indie Hackers’ Growth Bite newsletter, the unusual holiday needs to be “original, unused by your competition, and on-brand.” Choose an existing niche holiday, create your own (like a launch anniversary) or personalize it to a customers’ patronage. Have fun with it and use it as an opportunity to show your personality. There’s a trove of unusual holiday calendars out there like this one, or this one.

Social commerce

Social commerce — which is a subset of e-commerce involving sales via social media — is expected to grow about 36% this year to reach $36.6 billion in the U.S., according to market research firm eMarketer. In China, social commerce is already extremely popular and raked in $352 billion in 2020.

The pandemic has further fueled the world of social commerce but other factors helped it grow. Social media is well-targeted, as users seek out specific people, activities, and brands the like. Social commerce is also straightforward for customers: They get excited by a creator and buy on the same platform.

Young people, in particular, are more apt to buy on social media. Instagram reports that 27% of teens and young adults plan to shop directly through their social media feeds and special in-app features.

How to capitalize — Meet your customers where they are and optimize your social channels to sell your products. Keep your social commerce efforts focused on informative and entertaining content rather than a strict sales pitch. Another avenue for more-enterprising folks is to build a product that helps small and medium-sized companies optimize their social commerce efforts.

What are some other trends you’re keeping your eye on in 2022? Share your thoughts below!