Melbourne, Australia – June 2026. Global Market Signals (GMS) has launched to help organisations understand and respond to what it believes may become one of the most significant demand shifts of the coming decade: a growing movement of consumers towards products, services and investments that better align with their social and environmental expectations.
Research conducted over the past five years suggests approximately US$500 billion of consumer spending was influenced by social and environmental considerations during 2025. By 2035, that figure is projected to exceed US$3 trillion annually as awareness increases, responsibility considerations influence more purchasing decisions and one of the largest intergenerational wealth transfers in history reshapes consumer demand.
In Australia alone, responsibility-driven switching is estimated to account for approximately AU$10 billion of consumer spending during 2025. By 2035, that figure is projected to exceed AU$55 billion annually.
The findings emerge from a research program spanning Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. During this period, researchers conducted more than 10 million consumer interviews, measuring perceptions of corporate and brand performance, consumer priorities, trust, confidence and claimed switching behaviour across more than 1,500 brands and organisations.
The resulting dataset was subsequently linked with approximately US$2.8 trillion in sales data collected over a three-year period, creating one of the world’s largest longitudinal datasets exploring the relationship between societal expectations, consumer behaviour and commercial outcomes.
Analysis of the data found that organisations improving their Social Responsibility Score (SRS) by four points achieved approximately 1% faster annual revenue growth than comparable competitors.
The Social Responsibility Score was originally developed by research technology company Glow and has now been transferred into the newly established Global Market Signals group, which has been created to expand the framework globally and develop additional market indicators capable of measuring emerging demand trends.
The framework has already been deployed in projects involving organisations including Mondelez Australia, PwC Australia, Brita UK and 3BL Media in the United States.
Tim Clover, Founder and of Global Market Signals, said the organisation was established after researchers began observing a measurable relationship between changing societal expectations and commercial performance.
“For decades organisations have measured economic outcomes. Far fewer have been able to measure the human forces driving them.”
“After more than 10 million interviews and the analysis of US$2.8 trillion in sales data, we now have compelling evidence that changing societal expectations are influencing market performance at scale.”
“We believe a major shift in demand is underway. Global Market Signals has been established to help organisations understand where that change is occurring, quantify the opportunities and risks it creates, and make better decisions in response.”
“The Social Responsibility Score is our first market signal. It won’t be the last.”
As part of its next phase of growth, Global Market Signals has announced the appointment of former Flybuys and Experian Australia CEO John Merakovsky as Chair from 1 July 2026.
Stuart Allinson, Non-Executive Director of Glow, welcomed the transition.
“SRS has evolved from an ambitious idea into a robust evidence-based framework supported by one of the most comprehensive datasets of its kind.”
“We are proud of the role Glow has played in developing the foundations of SRS and are delighted to support its next phase of growth through Global Market Signals.”
Global Market Signals currently processes more than 100,000 consumer interviews each month and tracks major listed companies and brands across multiple markets. Future initiatives will include benchmark datasets, industry rankings and market-level indicators designed to help organisations better understand the changing relationship between human values and economic outcomes.
