PwC : The consumer transformed
The technology and science writer William Gibson once wrote, “The future is already here — it’s just not evenly distributed.” Gibson’s point is that the future isn’t the same, or doesn’t arrive at the same pace, for everyone.
At PwC, we believe the implication of Gibson’s words is that with the right tools and talent, companies can meet market disruption head-on and ‘Reinvent the Future’ for their own particular organisation.
And for companies that cater to the end consumer, the future is arriving more quickly than anyone imagined just a few short months ago, accelerating digital trends that had already been transforming consumer behaviour. Businesses need to understand how this new world affects all their touch points with the customer if they are to actively reinvent their own future and not be at the mercy of external events.
The coronavirus pandemic, for example, has accelerated the pace of behavioural changes around the world — how people work, eat, communicate, play and learn. And this extends to consumption patterns, too, in every category, including groceries, entertainment, healthcare and even data. It’s important for B2C companies of all kinds to understand the degree to which the current customer journey has already changed, and just how different it might still become.
In this year’s Global Consumer Insights Survey — PwC’s 11th consecutive survey of global consumers — we polled city dwellers on their purchasing behaviour in two separate studies, one before and one after the coronavirus outbreak. Why urban consumers? Because billions of people worldwide live in cities, and this concentration has created a new era in global consumption. Cities are vibrant centres of education and innovation, seedbeds and greenhouses for new ideas. And they’re where economic activity happens. The World Bank notes that 80% of global GDP is generated in cities. We want to understand, first, the behaviour of these cutting-edge consumers and, second, the implications for businesses.
No one knows for sure just how many of the consumer behavioural changes accelerated by COVID-19 will gain permanent traction, but our recent consumer research is pointing to an increased desire among citizens for transparency, sustainability, cleanliness, community living and social consciousness. In fact, in our 11 years of surveying consumers around the globe, we have never documented such a clear convergence of themes. At such a pivotal moment in our recent history, the need for all consumer-facing companies to establish trust with the consumer could not be any clearer. Our insights suggest that the pace of change and industry disruption underway will drive the emergence and establishment of a new cohort of winners and laggards in our industry over the next decade, with the consumer at the centre as never before.
For more information, please visit https://www.pwc.com/consumerinsights
