As 2023 begins, CivicScience continues to track key trends across many consumer products and services. Notable insights across each area are listed below:  

  • Around the Home: Ownership of smart speakers, smart home products, and home security cameras all rose from Q4 to Q1. YoY change is positive across all these products, but mesh wifi systems lags well behind in change and adoption.
  • Digital Engagement: Ownership of AI voice assistants and the market for such products continues to appear it has peaked. Smart displays are the only such product that is seeing ownership increase, but intent decreased from Q4, pointing to limited upside for these products. 
  • Finance: Intent to use/own cryptocurrency did not drop for the first time since Q4 2021 into Q1 2022. Trust in cryptocurrency may have firmed up among those most invested in the trend. Meanwhile, adoption levels for online-only financial institutions and financial aggregators both increased from Q4 to Q1. 
  • Health & Wellness: Usage increased for all our health & wellness trends, but intent only saw increases for CBD products and mindfulness meditation apps. Trends are similar YoY. Mindfulness meditation apps saw the only increase since Q1 2022, +1%. If trends do not change, the only conclusion becomes that the products have reached peak popularity. 
  • Food & Beverage: Across all products tracked, oat milk saw the most significant increase in usage YoY. As inflation hits the average American hardest at the grocery store, consumers continue to try new alternatives to their typical purchases. 
  • Shopping Behaviors: Usage of interest-free payment programs unsurprisingly continued to rise as inflation hit consumers hard. These programs and similar online solutions led to more online shopping, especially making purchases directly from social media.
  • Technology Adoption: 5G saw the largest jump in usage among tech adoption metrics tracked in Q4, but this is more likely due to the growth of 5G infrastructure than consumers specifically seeking out this product feature. 
  • Miscellaneous: Interestingly, intent to buy electric vehicles cratered in Q1 even as gas prices remained high. Whether this is due to changing consumer sentiment or, more specifically, continued controversy for Tesla will have to be monitored in the future. Fresh prepared dog food saw its first increase in usage since Q4 2021.

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