Innovationsight

Our society is changing at a bewildering rate, in terms of composition, behavior and consumption patterns. In the more developed countries, senior citizens now occupy a significant segment in the population pyramids, as birth rate plummet. In the future, this situation is likely to complicate the sustainability of the current pension system. For their part, immigrants have long ago ceased to be an isolated group with limited financial resources and now hold an important place in the workforce. They will most certainly help alleviate the effects of population ageing, even if they do not halt the process altogether.

Finally, singleton, single-parent and DINKY (double-income no-kids yet) households are just some of the relatively new concepts faced by marketing executives seeking to discover new consumption patterns and ways of satisfying the needs of all these new consumers.

While more consolidated businesses are currently adapting to the new situation, some more recently hatched firms are already taking advantage of the market niche these new emerging consumption patterns represent, with an increasing demand for variety and quality.

In any case, it is important to realize that today’s consumer segments form nonuniform target audiences, in terms of tastes, purchasing power, priorities, beliefs and consumption habits. To reach these new markets it is essential to understand their economic and social context and their priorities and limitations as consumers.

Immigration is growing apace with ageing and although in terms of causes and consequences the two phenomena are entirely separate, the fact that they have developed simultaneously and their relative significance have meant that they are very closely associated.

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