The Future Consumer: State of Consumer Trends in 2025 [Data from 700+ Consumers]

From the rise of AI to shopping on social media, times are changing fast. Some consumer trends are a flash in the pan, but others represent a permanent change in buying habits. If your business doesn’t keep up with the latter, you could get left behind.

To help marketers and business owners stay ahead of the curve, we’ve surveyed 700+ U.S. adults for HubSpot’s annual Consumer Trends Report. Keep reading to keep a pulse on:

• How consumers spend their time online.
• How and where they prefer to shop.
• Which standards they’re holding their favorite brands to.

Meet the Future Consumer

I spent a few hours digging through HubSpot’s survey results to uncover the top consumer trends in shopping, customer service, and technology. With voices and responses from over 700 people, here’s what I found.

The future consumer is digitally savvy, preferring mobile commerce and social media platforms for product discovery. Younger generations prefer influencer recommendations and short-form video content to get ideas and inspiration. Search patterns are changing, with customers starting to turn to social media and AI chat over traditional search engines.

Consumers want options from brands: More payment options and channel options for customer service. While more people are experimenting with AI, many don’t trust the tech yet.

Although convenience is important, it isn’t the only consideration for consumers. Sustainability, social advocacy, and data privacy are becoming more important for consumers making choices between brands.

Digital Media Trends

Let’s dive into these trends one by one.

1. Social commerce is growing.

Social media platforms have become a top place for people to both discover and buy products.

Our Consumer Trends Report found that social media is the top channel for product discovery for Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X.

This can be both passive, through scrolling through posts and videos, and active — like...