In a world where development and success have definitions that lie beyond growth and money, companies will need to adapt. However, there will be opportunities to explore. By understanding what has the potential to change consumer expectations and behavior, businesses will be able to shape their own future.
1. Creating new value pools
Some of the traditional value pools will continue to deliver revenue and margin, but others will contribute in other ways, creating a more holistic vision of what “good” looks like. Healthy financial balance sheets alone won’t generate the value a company needs to win in the market, especially if they come at the expense of other factors. A company won’t be measured just on how much it sells a product for or how many it sells, but what services it can enable, what impact it has and what values or communities it can support.
2. Meeting needs in new ways
Technology will enable consumer companies to do more for less by scaling AI, unlocking new manufacturing techniques and efficient operating constructs to deliver personalization at lower cost and resource use. Meeting consumer expectations will drive a shift toward service-based models that span different categories and sectors, enabling consumers to share in value creation through peer-to-peer selling and brand collaboration. These will be underpinned by a new corporate purpose that meets expectations on wellbeing and impact by assessing the real cost and benefits beyond those measured in dollars and cents.
3. Rethinking contribution and impact
Retailers may be valued as much for their role in the community, their contributions to employee wellbeing, or the insights and data they share back to brands as they are for revenue their stores generate. Consumer products companies may find that success hinges as much on their ability to improve consumer health or address systemic environmental issues, as it does on their ability to sell products to people.
Looking at long-term value
All of these factors point to one business driver that will rule them all: Long-term value. Intangible assets are becoming more visible as drivers of value, with social and environmental KPIs joining financial metrics. As connectivity increases the awareness and influence of stakeholders, new definitions of success will challenge the prioritization of growth or margin.
Today growth and margin are seen as indicative factors in the relative success that consumer companies have in delivering to the needs of the market. Tomorrow companies will be directly accountable for how they deliver to the needs of people and the planet. The success companies enjoy in the market will depend on those factors