Signal Experiences grew 2.6% from 2023 to 2025 against 0.8% for nonessential goods

Summary

This signal compares how fast spending on experiences and on nonessential goods has grown in recent years. McKinsey puts growth of the global experiences market at 2.6 percent between 2023 and 2025, roughly matching the pace seen before the pandemic. Nonessential goods, by contrast, managed only 0.8 percent over the same years. That is well below the 2.3 percent those goods achieved from 2015 to 2019, so the slowdown is concentrated on the product side. The gap supports the report's argument that long-run demand for experiences is resilient while discretionary product purchases absorb most of the belt-tightening. For companies, it suggests that growth is more likely to come from what customers do than from what they own.