Coca Cola Executive: Five consumer trends your business can’t ignore

“Over the next decade, success or failure for consumer goods companies and retailers will be measured by the speed and thoroughness with which we're able to adapt to change at all levels - global, national, local and personal.”

Those are the words of Muhtar Kent, Chairman and Chief Executive of Coca-Cola, taken from his article, “The five mega-trends shaping tomorrow's customers” published on the BBC’s news site. In his article, he references five consumer mega-trends identified in the Consumer Goods Forum's report on the "Future Value Chain”, which he holds to be invaluable for companies seeking to thrive over the coming years.

Today’s market, he explains, is not completely unlike that he experienced when he first joined Coca-Cola in the late 1970’s. Just as the US market recovered then through adaptation and innovation, he believes that many companies and nations struggling today can do the same. To succeed over the coming decade, Kent describes the following five mega-trends as being vital to the developments of any business or marketing strategy.

An aging population

Over the last two decades, the global birth rate has been in steady decline, while people