Every day the self-care revolution enlists more and more consumers to its cause as the walls separating Health, Wellness and Beauty are falling. It's a movement that offers savvy retailers and manufacturers of health, beauty and wellness products that are in touch with their customers a renaissance in existing categories and opens up dozens of previously under-developed and unexplored ones. While it takes many forms the five most common tenants of the self-care movement are: Every individual ought to be in full charge of her/his …
A.T. Kearney
The Looming Tariff Threat: Are You Ready?
Tariffs were a huge talking point for most of 2018. However, by the midterm elections, tariff concerns barely registered a blip on the radar in all but a handful of rural districts across the United States. Media mentions have died down and companies are adjusting to the new normal. However, that doesn't mean that the threat of tariffs has passed; there is unquestionably more turbulence to follow. But first, the positive news. The negotiations around the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which will replace NAFTA, were completed on …
The Spirit of Christmas Past
Most retail observers expect this year's holiday season to hold its own in terms of sales, but unless they carefully manage their human and technological resources, not all retailers, on- or offline, will be positioned to capitalize on the season's lower unemployment rates and increased consumer confidence. According to A.T. Kearney's 2018 Holiday Shopping Survey, consumers, to borrow a line from Dickens, remember the Spirit of Christmas Past all too well and those memories are haunting some operators in Christmas Present 2018. The …
The Birth of a Multibillion Industry
The cannabis market is poised for tremendous growth. Consumer goods manufacturers need to have a point of view and strategy on how their health, beauty, and wellness product portfolios could-or couldn't-benefit from the addition of products containing cannabis and how they should respond to the market opportunities created by changing consumer views on legalization. It should come as no surprise to readers of The Robin Report that North American attitudes toward cannabis are relaxing almost as quickly as the laws that regulate it, but …
Four Keys to Serving the Future Consumer
A.T. Kearney’s multi-year research initiative, The Future Consumer, convened a global series of consumer surveys and focus groups to explore evolving consumer expectations and behaviors. We then asked 270 global consumer and retail company CEOs, CFOs, and COOs to gauge the industry’s response. At the 2018 Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit, we presented these insights and outlined four keys to serving the future consumer. Here is an executive summary of the session. Foundational Change Our consumer research points to a foundational change …
The Future of Shopping Centers
The retail real estate industry finds itself at a crossroads. One fork leads to a problematic Darwinian scenario in which weak centers and malls continue to close due to changing demographics and/or digital competition. The other path leads to a future that has never looked better, at least for those willing to invest in it and evolve into what we call consumer engagement spaces (CESs)—transformed mixed-use commercial offerings designed to meet the needs of future generations of shoppers. Where We Came From and Where We Are Historically, …
Moving From Idle to Agile: Industry Leaders Speak Out
Many consumer packaged goods companies (CPG) and their retail trading partners seem to be like cars caught at a perpetual red light. They are idling—burning up resources, but not making any significant forward progress. And then there are companies, notably in the technology field, that seem to embody agility—the ability to move forward with grace and strength at just the right moment. Too often, these differences are written off to the burden of scale. However, our research suggests that agility is a trait companies can develop regardless of …
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Tomorrow’s M&As Will Create Markets, Not Consolidate Them
If the CVS–Aetna deal results in CVS developing a new, unified healthcare solution that begins with lowering costs through the disintermediation of pharmacy benefit managers and builds on the walk-in clinics already operating out of some Target stores to evolve into the creation of a networked consortium of neighborhood-based general practitioners operating out of a variety of retail formats, then that would be a neumarket. This month, I offer The Robin Report readers a thought experiment to start your year. Try a different way of thinking …
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