An important voice from Ernst & Young's consumer products and retail division has some interesting things to say about the future of consumption. If he's correct, then prepare for more disruption.
Andrew Cosgrove, EY’s global lead analyst for consumer products and retail, is predicting a future where much of today’s shopping is replaced by automatic subscription and fulfilment. He told EY’s CODE_n conference that this “auto-replenishing” is already starting to happen for items such as baby milk powder.
Cosgrove said that auto-replenishing means supply chains – set up to deliver large boxes and pallets – must be reshaped to ship products individually at an affordable cost. “Now that supply chain is responsible for customer delivery, it’s very visible,” he said. In some emerging markets, manufacturers are exploring going direct to consumers and bypassing retailers altogether. New sensor technology makes this even easier.
This article is from the October issue of INTHEBLACK
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