The most influential Megatrends set to shape the world through 2030, identified by Euromonitor International, help businesses better anticipate market developments and lead change for their industries.
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Learn more73 pages, Nov 2015
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The frenetic pace of modern life, combined with longer working hours and an increasingly strong reliance on digital devices means that jobs are swallowing up people’s lives, leading to a less defined distinction between work and leisure.
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Gain competitive intelligence about market leaders. Track key industry trends, opportunities and threats. Inform your marketing, brand, strategy and market development, sales and supply functions.
The frenetic pace of modern life, combined with longer working hours and an increasingly strong reliance on digital devices means that jobs are swallowing up people’s lives, leading to a less defined distinction between work and leisure.
A generation of cash-rich, time-poor consumers are looking to get maximum enjoyment and meaning out of the little free time they have available to them, leading to unprecedented demand for faster and more convenient products and solutions.
The difficulties of attaining work-life balance are highlighted in a number of studies. According to Euromonitor International’s Analyst Pulse survey of July 2015, 74% of analysts thought the lines between personal and work life are more blurred now than in the past.
Labour force participation is very high throughout the developed world and has gradually increased in most countries as economies have strengthened. While this translates into higher income, it has in effect led to a larger number of people with constraints on their leisure time.
Workforce participation rates are highest in the developed world, particularly in rich countries, such as Switzerland (84%), Sweden (82%), the Netherlands and Norway (each 79%) and Denmark (78%). They are also high in China, at 77%.
Workforce participation is notably lower in countries with strong Muslim populations, which is largely due to the lack of female employees. In Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, only 50%, 57% and 54% of the populations, respectively, are in employment.
Euromonitor International data show that among the countries under review, average working hours in 2014 were longest in Egypt and Saudi Arabia (54 hours and 51 hours, respectively).
The pace of urbanisation has speeded up noticeably in recent years, as rural migrants in emerging markets continue to move to cities in search of economic empowerment, while newly arrived immigrants in the West head for large towns in search of work.
Urbanisation, combined with an increase in car ownership in developing markets, has led to more stressful and time-consuming travel to and from places of work. Countries with fast-expanding cities, such as China, are seeing a particularly strong rise in commute times.
Sitting for long hours at work and high stress levels have taken their toll on global health, with studies showing that such factors can contribute to back and neck problems, eye conditions, obesity, stroke, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and even some cancers.
Leisure trends
With longer working hours and commutes, consumers’ leisure time is increasingly tight. With less time to themselves, people are becoming more choosy about what they spend their free moments on.
Euromonitor International’s global Middle Class Home Survey of 2013 found that the most preferred way to spend a free day at home was watching or listening to entertainment (54%), while the preferred activity outside of the home was shopping (50%).
A notable outcome of the squeeze on leisure time is that consumers are taking a greater interest in experience over possessions. People want to do things rather than own things, such as attend music or food events or take part in yoga classes or adventure sports.
Impact on consumer markets
As consumers have become increasingly cash rich and time poor, a thriving demand has arisen for convenience products and services, from kitchen appliances and tech gadgets to fast food solutions and disposable products.
Sales of large kitchen appliances have been driven partly by growing demand from middle-class consumers in emerging markets, and partly by a trend in developed markets towards premium appliances that offer smart technology and improved design and energy efficiency.
The rise of digital media consumption has boosted sales of smartphones and tablets but has had a negative impact on the market for physical media, including CDs, DVDs and video games consoles and software.
Retail trends
A need for convenience and flexibility, combined with technological progress, has also changed the face of retailing, with online - and in particular mobile - commerce continuing to grow rapidly at the expense of bricks-and-mortar retailing.
Savvy retailers are moving towards an omnichannel offering, which gives shoppers access to retail brands in a number of different ways, allowing them to seamlessly switch from mobile to in-store to computer to tablet as they move through the purchase decision-making process.
While most internet sales concern non-food items, major grocery chains are increasingly offering online ordering services with home delivery or collection point facilities in order to cater to time-poor consumers.
Mobile shoppers are now able to pay easily thanks to the availability of “digital wallets”, which store consumers’ payment information in the cloud or on a remote secure server in order to reduce the steps to purchase.
Outlook
As economies remain sluggish, cities continue to expand and businesses become more global and competitive, pressure on employees to work longer hours and be available on-call will increase.
Furthermore, a squeezed generation of consumers will find themselves caring at the same time for both elderly parents and children, while many will have to work beyond retirement age. All this means that consumers’ time will be more stretched than ever in years to come.
At the same time, however, a shrinking pool of young talent means that companies will be forced to make more efforts to improve workplace flexibility and employee benefits in order to keep workers happy and productive.
Gain competitive intelligence about market leaders. Track key industry trends, opportunities and threats. Inform your marketing, brand, strategy and market development, sales and supply functions.