The Future of Consumer Products

With changing global affairs and a pandemic at the forefront, consumer tastes and needs are evolving rapidly. This is creating a new landscape for the Consumer Products industry, reshaping the way brands must approach the market.

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Key shifts include the digitalisation of home-centric lifestyles, concern for social and environmental responsibility and increased focus on value. This creates opportunities for companies to rethink their strategy and position themselves in a more competitive marketplace.

Demographics and Living Trends

Demographics and living trends are the changes in people’s lives that influence their buying habits and preferences. Understanding these shifts can help you to position your business to take advantage of them.

The most basic demographics include age, sex/gender, race, nationality, income, education, marriage rates, and birth/death rates. These data are used by government, businesses, and academics to understand populations and make predictions about what the future holds.

These data are also often collected for political purposes, and companies use demographic information to target their messaging and advertising campaigns.

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Increasing longevity is driving a global demographic shift, as consumers grow older and reach the age of 65+. These consumers are highly affluent and are increasingly driving major product and service trends across industries.

International Markets

A business that wants to reach consumers throughout the world has several options for importing and exporting products. These include licensing and franchising, contract manufacturing, and joint ventures and strategic alliances.

There are also governmental assistance programs that may help firms with their foreign market activities. These may offer simplified customs procedures, operational flexibility, and a general environment of relaxed regulations.

Another factor that affects international markets is the International Product Life Cycle (PLC). Countries differ in their speed with which they adopt new products--e.g., VCRs are adopted much more quickly in the United States and Japan than in Malaysia.

The result is that, as a business seeks growth in different markets, it must identify the best target countries for its products. It then needs to assess the demand for these products and devise strategies that will allow it to expand into these markets.

Customer Preferences

Changing consumer preferences are one of the most critical factors affecting the future of consumer products. From preferring online stores over traditional brick-and-mortar shops to going for perceived healthy foods over the fatty and sugary stuff that were popular a decade ago; these are all changing needs that will make it tough for manufacturers and brand owners to accommodate.

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Preferences are expectations, likes and dislikes that motivate customers’ purchasing decisions. They complement customer needs to explain why customers behave as they do.

Convenience: Having the things that you need readily available is one of the most important of all customer motivations. A preference for convenience may include choosing a nearby restaurant rather than traveling long distances to get your groceries or buying products in bulk rather than small quantities.

Effort: Satisfaction from expending effort on a project is another strong motivator for consumers. They may prefer to pour effort into a project, for example building their own DIY furniture, but they also have a preference for minimal effort and keeping things simple.

Constraints

The consumer products industry encapsulates everything from toiletries and cosmetics to appliances, electronics and even beverages and food. Its impact on the economy is vast, with total output growing by more than 10% annually and employing some 6 million people worldwide.

The future of consumer products will be shaped by constraints of every kind. Some of these include a shortage of skilled workers, a need to reduce pollution and the growing costs of manufacturing in developing nations. Others include a rise in social media competition from local retail stores and an increasing number of shoppers seeking an authentic experience and less of the online hype.

One of the most important trends is the push towards more efficient production practices and increased efficiency by design. Another is the use of advanced materials like carbon fibre and lithium ion batteries in a quest to cut costs and carbon emissions, while also making products last longer. Some companies have made a name for themselves in this arena.