New Data Reveals Challenges for Brands as Consumer Loyalty and Confidence Wanes
Resonate, the leader in AI-powered predictive consumer and voter intelligence, released its Summer 2025 Consumer Trends Report, revealing a major increase in consumer angst about the economy, a significant decline in brand loyalty, and a surge in consumer price sensitivity.
According to Resonate’s real-time data, as of April 2025, consumers belief that the economy will return to pre-pandemic conditions has reached an all-time low. 45.5% of consumers now believe that the economy will never return to normal, up from only 19.8% of consumers who held that belief in the summer of 2021 at the height of the global meltdown resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. An additional 38.5% believe it will take at least 7 months or more to see improvement.
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This economic discontent is applying additional pressure to brand loyalty which was already taking a hit. A staggering 45% of consumers are now opting for cheaper store or alternative brands to mitigate financial pressures. Additionally, 21% are switching channels, purchasing familiar products from different retailers, both online and offline. This trend, coupled with a nearly 22% increase in consumer anxiety about the economy over the past six months, poses a critical challenge for brands seeking to retain their customer base.
“The data is clear: brand loyalty is eroding at an alarming rate,” said Bryan Gernert, CEO of Resonate. “In this environment, brands must quickly adopt new, data-driven customer retention strategies to navigate this turbulent economic landscape and respond to these rapidly evolving consumer behaviors with actionable strategies.”
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The Summer 2025 Consumer Trends Report also reveals key insights into consumer behavior during the upcoming travel and summer holiday season:
- Brand Social Justice:Â Support for brands that attach themselves to a particular cause is down across the board. The number of people who say that no cause would influence them to buy from a particular company has risen steadily over the past year and a half: It started at 21% in summer 2023 and has remained at an all-time high of 30% for the last six months.
- That said, there is a core segment of ethical values-oriented consumers who will still pay more despite the economic pressure.
- Inflation Blame:Â 39% of consumers continue to blame corporate price gouging for inflation, indicating that corporate efforts to shift blame are ineffective. 37% attribute inflation to excessive government spending.
