On Friday July 3rd we hosted a networking breakfast in Leeds, inviting FMCG professionals to discover and debate ‘How UK Shopper Behaviours and Grocery Retailing Will Evolve in the Next 5 Years’.
For retailers slow to react the impact has been decisive. The likes of Woolworths, Comet, Phones4U, JJB and Blockbuster have all disappeared in recent years and, as a result, the need to predict what the future may hold is ever more important. We were delighted to invite Andrew Revel from The Retail Institute to talk through their research. He gave us an innovative, honest and, at times, futuristic insight into how the retail sector may change, what’s driving this and how we may see technology play a bigger part in our shopping behaviour.
In a fascinating section, Andrew suggested that it’s possible that we won’t even be the shoppers of the future and perhaps, in our ever demanding lives, we will delegate the purchase of everyday consumer necessities to our technological devices. "Smart storage” could recognise when we’re running low on key household essentials and be able to order online replenishments of items such as the humble toilet roll, bar of soap or shampoo bottle. With the advent of "big data” maybe we could see a time when marketeers need to focus their attention on "selling” to our technology and influencing it to make decisions on our behalf.
Nick Maughan, Partner at Drayton Partners,commented:
"As specialist recruiters to the Food & Drink and Consumer sector we thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to learn alongside our customers and to ensure that we’re well placed to support them in identifying future talent”.