WARC Report: Consumers Act With Intention Amidst Uncertainty.

A new report from the World Advertising Research Center (WARC) finds a widening wealth gap in the U.S. is causing a divergence in consumer spending habits, with the wealthiest 10% of households accounting for nearly half of consumer spending.

WARC’s Consumer Trends Report 2025, which explores factors that will influence consumer purchase decisions across brands and categories over the next year, also says social media, influencers and content creators are gaining traction as consumers seek information from places other than traditional media outlets.

The research, based on a comprehensive set of GWI surveys across 54 markets along with WARC’s own research, focuses on a handful of trends that influence brand selection: The widening cost-of-living gap; increasing trust in individual creators; AI assistants disrupting the purchase journey; consumers’ proactive approach to health; and the rise of alternative social activities.

“Amidst persisting economic uncertainty and the unpredictability around U.S. trade tariffs, consumers are becoming more intentional in their spending and taking greater control over different aspects of their lives, particularly in the way they consume information, manage their wellbeing, and connect with others,” says Stephanie Siew, Senior Research Executive, WARC.

The widening wealth gap, the report says, is already playing a major role as more than half (55%) of low-income consumers say they’d rather pay less for a cheaper own-brand product than pay more for a brand they know.

Tariffs are likely to accelerate this trend, the report says. “Compared to higher-income households, lower-income families spend a larger portion of their income on essential goods, including more traded goods like food and apparel,” WARC says. “Price increases in any of these areas would add substantially more strain on their budgets and reduce their purchasing power. Job losses in sectors reliant on imports are also expected to disproportionately affect lower-income families.”

Marketers can respond by re-examining target audiences and adjusting pricing strategies to align with changes in demand. Additionally, marketers can re-evaluate value drivers for different segments and tailor communications and product offerings accordingly.

Individual creators are growing in prominence. Nearly half (47%) of social media users have made purchases based on influencer endorsements in the past year, the report says, with consumer attention shifting toward non-traditional information sources for news and information.

According to GWI, consumers are now more likely to get news from social media (57%) than from more traditional channels such as national TV news (52%) and news websites (49%). Consumption varies widely by generation — 71% of Gen Z have seen, read or heard information on news from social media in the last month vs. 62% of millennials, 48% of Gen X, and 33% of baby boomers.

“Consumers are going to creators to discover information about brands,” says Sapna Chadha, VP of SEA and South Asia Frontier, Google. “The difference now is that they are moving from passive discovery to really immersing themselves in an entirely new shopping experience, which encompasses video.”

Other trends noted in the WARC report:

• The humanization of AI: 24% of consumers are happy to have AI agents do their shopping for them. The proliferation of AI agents are expected to disrupt how customers engage with brands. Unlike chatbots, agents can autonomously make decisions and carry out tasks on behalf of users. “Soon, consumers will not even need to go to an AI platform to do what they do today,” says Debra Aho Williamson, Founder and Chief Analyst, Sonata Insights. “Instead, they will have an AI agent perform a task on their behalf, and the results will be delivered to them.”

• A proactive approach to health: 77% of consumers are concerned about the associated health risks of ultra-processed foods. “Growing health consciousness and advancements in health tracking are empowering consumers to take more control over their health,” WARC says. “There is a growing focus on preventative healthcare and healthy aging.”

• Rewriting the rules of social connection: Half of Gen Z (51%) and millennials (50%) play board games at least once a month. “Younger consumers are rethinking the way they spend time together,” WARC says. “As people seek more meaningful ways to connect with each other, interest-led activities and hobbies are gaining popularity, leading to a boom in interest-based social clubs, both online (e.g., Letterboxd, Strava) and offline. The cost of going out is a major factor driving this trend forward, and it is likely to continue being a concern as tariffs increase living costs.”