The Consumer of Tomorrow

Dear Readers of the EY Consumer Blog,

Do you remember my blog post about our Berlin hackathon in November of last year? That’s right, the one with my sermon on how time flies! I would like to revisit that thought. Time IS flying by – what does this mean for the consumer goods industry and the retail world? One frequently hears that the consumer goods industry is undergoing a revolutionary transformation process. But what does that mean?

The Consumer Goods Forum in Berlin last year presented us with an opportunity for in-depth discussions with decision-makers from the consumer goods and retail industries. We spoke a lot about our ?Udo“, whom we had presented earlier, during our Point of View. There was a focus on the topic ?Selling in the Year 2025“. We received very positive feedback – or, to put it differently: we hit the mark with our customers. The question of how we will act and consume in 2025 and beyond is causing quite a stir within the industry. Despite – or maybe because of – this consistently positive feedback on our Point of View, ?Selling in the Year 2025“, I did not feel sufficiently informed in terms of our aspirations here at EY: What will the consumer goods world of tomorrow look like? This has encouraged my team and myself to continue our work on this subject.

How will the consumer of tomorrow eat, shop, work, play or move around in the year 2030?

In order to identify key developments of the future, EY launched a program named ?Future Consumer Now“ in the autumn of 2017. We brought together international industry experts, futurists and analysts, thereby developing a unique and unparalleled program about the future. We are going much further than any available studies and are evoking the spirit of a true classic – George Orwell’s “1984”. True to the phrase “The future is already here, but it is not evenly distributed”, three possible future worlds emerged in Berlin, helping today’s companies prepare for tomorrow. While developing these worlds, we realized that they all shared a common denominator: the increased use of data. Nonetheless, it turned out that our basic thesis about “Udo” holds true; however, the different manifestations of Basic, Hunt and Spoil will be subject to change. One thing seems certain: everyday items will appear, as if by magic, in the place where the consumer needs them, and, of course, stationary trade will continue to exist. It’s just that it will be much more experience-oriented. I would like to expand on these and many other exciting insights from Berlin at a later time.

Of course, we will not rest content with our findings to date. Following our hackathon in Berlin, we are organizing further hackathons in four global megacities. Together with the industry’s decision-makers, we will keep pace with the changes within society, and help prepare them for the future.

So, you can look forward to more interesting results from our journey to the future.

Yours

Thomas Harms