10 Top Consumer Trends

THE SUFFOLK SMALL BUSINESS PROJECT

Ten key consumer trends to watch over the next ten years.

Introduction.

If we are engaged in planning our service delivery over the longer term, then we need to have some idea as to what is likely to be demanded by the consumer in the longer term. If we are working in the B2C sector (the Business to Consumer sector), then we are likely to have a keen eye for what consumer trends are likely to predominate in the next few years. Even if we were providing for the B2B sector (the Business to Business sector), then we would need to have some view as to the likely demand patterns that would affect our clients and customers who are located in the B2C sector. For these reasons, it is important to have a view on the longer-term consumer trends if we are engaged in planning for the longer term.

As we are looking at the prospects of the Suffolk Small Business Community out to the year 2020, we felt that it would be important to give some consideration to the likely patterns of consumer demand over that period. If the future of the Suffolk Small Business Community is to provide a B2C offering, then we need to consider how markets are likely to develop during the study period.

Drawing from a number of sources, but heavily influenced by the data supplied by Trendwise and by Francesco Morace of the Future Concepts Lab in Milan, Italy (www.futureconceptlab.com), we have derived what we feel are the ten top trends that will impact on the Suffolk Small Business Community over the next ten years or so. Our purpose was to identify the trends rather than to provide a full analysis, which will be the subject of further work in the future.

Our top ten trends are as follows:

1. Customer 121.

As the economy moves further away from the Industrial Age paradigm and more and more into the Information Age paradigm, greater value will be placed upon customer service as the basis of competition. Companies will have to engage their customers on an individual basis, and be prepared to produce a unique offering, or what appears to the customer as a unique offering, for every single customer. In order to do this, companies will have to get to know each of their customers individually and establish a one to one relationship with each customer. Technology will assist this process by enabling data capture, but the more successful companies will be those who are able to use this information to create an intimate relationship with their customers.

2. First Class For All.

First Class for All is the democratisation of luxury. Previously, luxury items were reserved for a select few. As disposable incomes have risen in recent years, luxury status brands that were previously the preserve of the rich and well heeled are now enjoyed by all of those who can pay for them. A privileged status has been bestowed upon the masses. This has led to design driven innovation in consumption items that is based around customer needs and wants.

3. The Connected World.

As standards of living have risen in the western economies, items that have been seen as luxuries in previous years are now taken as necessities. The consumer penetration of TVs and telephones is almost 100%. The new technologies of the past two decades are now heading towards this ubiquity, and we are starting to define relative poverty in the West in terms of the absence of on-line access. Deprivation is now seen as not having on-line broadband access because we are living in a connected world where on-line access is seen as an absolute necessity and a right.

4. Instant Stars.

When we die, we all wish to be remembered. As the various media have become more fragmented and open to all, so it is possible to provide celebrity to a wider mass of people. It is possible to self-publish our own books, self-broadcast our own TV shows, even to self-publish our own films. Technology is enabling us to become our own do-it-yourself celebrities.

5. Commodity Chic.

This trend accounts for the transformation of mundane items into becoming the hottest of fashion accessories. Once the goods (the “commodities”) become hip, they are transformed by the marketeers into popular luxury items that are characterised by a bewildering array of variety. Almost any commodity item can develop into a commodity chic, the secret is to spot the trend on the move and to then ride the wave of popularity.

6. Telescopic Brands.

Nowadays, there are brands within brands. In this situation, one brand telescopes into another in an act of assimilative marketing. The outer brand acts as a gateway to the inner brand. The inner brand acts as an attractor for the outer brand. The trend goes a lot further than brands simply endorsing each other. It is vital to this business model that the brands develop a symbiotic relationship so that the one strengthens the other.

7. The Global Village.

The development of low cost mass travel has reduced the distances around the world. The Internet has accelerated this change as our work and play now has a much longer reach than it would have done just one or two decades ago. This trend has allowed us to use the Globe as our playground. We can now travel long distances for both short breaks and longer sojourns, a trend that is starting to have an impact on the local economies that are visited by travellers from the west.

8. The Stateless World.

In a world of global business, of global brands, of homogenous aspirations, what role is there for national differences? Previously, the ability to move our assets across borders was restricted to the very rich. This has now become democratised and open financial markets mean that we can permanently relocate abroad with much greater ease. The State has taken on less of a central role in our lives, and nothing has yet replaced it.

9. The Golden Sunset.

It used to be the case that poverty tended to be associated with old age. It is now the case that the elderly have significant assets to deploy in their declining years, and, increasingly, they want to spend those years in the sun. The age profile has always headed south. From Northern Europe to the Mediterranean, from the Northern States of the USA to Florida. The trend is that this feature will continue and accelerate.

10. The Clustered World.

It is said that birds of a feather stick together, and this is very true in consumption terms. We tend to live close to those who are like us. We are likely to have more in common with people who are like us, who live in different countries, rather than people who are not like us, who live in our own country. In this trend, the world fragments into a number of “Consumer Tribes” – the clusters. The identification of these clusters is of paramount importance to businesses that provide goods and services directly to consumers.

Having described each trend, we also need to look at what drives it, what it might mean for the Suffolk Small Business Community, and what examples of this trend might be found to illuminate the point. However, this exercise was beyond the terms of reference for the Monchers™ lunch, and will be the subject of a report to be published later.

Perhaps the most interesting point of the analysis was the identification of the Clustered World. We felt that this was the most significant result, and that it would provide an interesting view of the County. For this reason, we decided to look at this subject further, and this will provide the subject matter for the next focus group - What Tribes Live In Suffolk?

Stephen Aguilar-Millan

The Greenways Partnership

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