Today’s environment of fast-paced change makes it more challenging than ever to keep up with competitors. Megatrend analysis helps businesses better anticipate market developments and lead both incremental and disruptive change for their industries. To better understand changing consumer behaviour, to differentiate a megatrend from a fad, and to refine innovation strategies, it’s imperative to fully understand what is changing and why.
What’s a Driver?
A driver is an underlying force driving change. We identified five drivers, all socio-economic, which we believe combine to generate and shape consumer megatrends. Our five drivers are: Shifting Economic Power, Population Change, Environmental Shifts and Pressures, Technology and Changing Values.
What’s a Megatrend?
A megatrend is a long-term shift in consumer behaviour. It isn’t a short-term fad. A megatrend also has wide impact across a whole range of consumer industries. In 2017 we identified 20 megatrends, and short-listed eight for in-depth analysis. These eight are: Healthy Living, Experience More, Preiumisation, Ethical Living, Shifting Market Frontiers, Connected Consumers, Middle-Class Retreat and Shopping Reinvented.
So how does this fit with our Renovation-Innovation-Disruption framework?
This year we built on this further by establishing an Euromonitor approach to understanding disruption. Companies that disrupt do so by recognising the long-term socio-economic forces (drivers) and understanding and harnessing megatrends. This enables them to engage consumers, reconceptualise the market, lead fearlessly and act quickly and remain relevant.
Isn’t this over-complicating things?
No. Frameworks bring clarity and structure to our analysis. They enable us to identify what’s going on and why. Time and again our clients have fed back that having us provide a clear framework, alongside definitions, helps them with their own analysis or helps them to understand why and how their markets are being disrupted, and what they can do to succeed in today’s fast-changing environment.
Read more about drivers shaping megatrends in our white paper Understanding the Socioeconomic Drivers of Megatrends.