21
The Critical Consumer 2024
How hard and for how long the economic headwinds blow in 2024 will go
a long way to determining where consumer sentiment shifts.
• As the persistent effect of inflation continues, consumers will tighten
spend and manage costs more effectively. There will be trade-offs with
purchases, with either a focus on reducing category or frequency of
spend. This will have a direct impact on mid-market players, who will
need to make important strategic decisions on positioning in the market.
• Businesses across consumer-facing industries must excel at the
basics that drive value for customers. Ensuring relevancy - both at a
category/product level and price point, Operational efficiency - across
and through all channels, and marketing delivery - personalised to drive
demand, are all working effectively.
• Outcomes of such turbulent times will likely accelerate transformation
and consolidation in the sectors where fragmentation remains high.
Increased competition will make it tougher for all players in saturated
markets to survive or thrive across categories; whether that comes in
the form of cost-out, working capital optimisation, or M&A activity, which
will define sector differentiation.
Companies that carefully lay out business planning and operations to
account for the shifts in 2024 that our data suggests can best position
themselves to ride the waves of uncertainty until spending habits return
to healthier levels. The pendulum always swings back - prepare today to
take advantage tomorrow.
CONCLUSION