表一：台灣民眾生活高度依賴便利商店/資料來源：東方線上公司

Goodbye to the Year of the Tiger, say hey to the Year of the Dragon. What revelations did we get from 2011? What will consumer trends be in the coming year? These are the kinds of questions that come to mind every year at this time. By looking at and interpreting the numbers produced through the annual Eastern Integrated Consumer Profile (E-ICP) survey done by lifestyle and consumer market research consultants Eastern Online Company, we can perhaps shed some light on these questions.

“Uncertainty about the future has become the normal state of affairs; traditional boundaries are being blurred.” These are the words with which Jan Hung-tze, chairman of Eastern Online and an expert trend-spotter, described the revelations from 2011 as discussed at the Lifestyle Joint Conference held by Eastern Online and the Industrial Technology Research Institute in late December of 2011.

Jan started off his remarks with an analysis of economic trends over the past three years. From late 2008 through early 2009 there was a deep freeze in global consumer demand, and a sense of crisis permeated society. It got so bad that the government set a new precedent by issuing consumer vouchers to spur demand. The production and supply chain was severely impacted, and even at some of the best-run corporations in the country, operating revenues were poor. However, this also produced a “survival of the fittest” effect, and “natural selection” has uncovered survivors who have been able to gradually rebound. The economy steadily recovered in 2010, when the economic growth rate was a sparkling 10%.