Trends driving consumer behaviour and the opportunity they present to businesses were the launch pad for AUSPACK 2022’s Leaders' Forum.
Tap into emerging trends while also looking in the opposite direction to everyone else, were key messages from Rose Herceg in her keynote to launch AUSPACK 2022’s two-day Leaders' Forum.
Herceg, ANZ president of communications and creative agency WPP, outlined the 10 trends businesses need to know about.
“Social trends really matter when you are building your business because they are very tangible. Understanding what people think and do provide ideas and insights about what it might mean for your business,” Herceg said.
TOP 10 TRENDS
Trend 1: Taking control in a world without any
In a world that was so altered over the last two years, where are the opportunities? In that time 380,000 businesses were registered – more than in the previous eight years combined.
Herceg said the rise in entrepreneurial activity creates entire new fields of opportunity for existing businesses, including using your specialisation and experiences to offer consulting services to the many new small business enterprises.
Trend 2: Digital seniors – from resistant to reliant
For a generation who could use the internet but didn’t, Covid provided the nudge to shift them online. In the last two years, 67 per cent of those aged over 65 have come online. Herceg said 55 per cent of Australia’s wealth is held by those over 65, but for every 100 media dollars spent, only two per cent is targeted at the over 60s.
“There are huge opportunities here. Ask yourself, what does your organisation do well and what can it do for this market that it wasn’t doing last week,” she said.
Trend 3: Rural Urbanites
Small, cleverly designed community gardens, easy to grow backyard vegetable gardens, and tree planting in local communities were all examples of how this trend is manifesting, with Herceg emphasising the opportunities for SMEs to get in on the action.
Trend 4: The pursuit of pre-loved
The adage, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure, has never rung more true, with recycling, reusing, and regifting now in full swing.
Herceg said what you would once throw away, now has a value, with procurement sponsored community swap meets an example on how business can get involved.
Trend 5: Metaverse - what exactly is it?
Herceg’s advice when it came to the Metaverse was to not fear it, instead to look at it as a place of huge opportunity to look at what you do and sell and how you can do it differently.
“The metaverse is a virtual place to meet, work, play, study, and shop. It is a safe place to try everything out. Everything is a transaction or an opportunity, look on it as an arena to trial things,” she said.
Trend 6: Geo-Political realignment
Herceg looked at the global and local picture, looking at how China’s belt and road initiative, started in 2013, is going to revolutionise infrastructure across China, through Central Asia and into Africa and the Middle East and create immense business and trade opportunities.
The flip side of that is the increased mindset around the comfort and reliability of home grown, with Herceg saying it was driving a rebirth of domestic manufacturing. Again, opportunity from tapping into the trend was evident when some homegrown products have a price point three times that of an import but were preferred by consumers because they were Australian produced.
Trend 7: Cryptocurrencies
A controversial and constantly moving conversation, Herceg said, but one that cannot be ignored. With the World Economic Forum now having discussions around how to regulate its use, it is unavoidable, she said.
Trend 8: Science – a revolution
With so many advancements occurring across many scientific fields, Herceg urged attendees to stay up-to-date with the latest developments impacting their field.
Trend 9: All about sustainability
Talking about your triple bottom line is no longer enough and if your company doesn’t have a policy it needs to develop one, Herceg said.
“Sustainability has moved from talk to evidence. If you can’t measure and verify what is happening in your supply chain you must be willing to wear the consequences,” she said.
The size of a business also doesn’t provide an out either, with many experts now offering services to SMEs.
Trend 10: For every trend there is a counter trend
Herceg pointed out that often, the opportunity to make money happens on the fringe of a trend, and sometimes, that opportunity is the opposite to where the trend is heading – so while health and wellness is a major trend, think about developing a luxuriant product at the full fat, full flavour end of the spectrum.
One of Herceg’s final pieces of advice was “don’t let the urgent crowd out the important”.
Where are we and what’s next?
The panel discussion following Herceg’s keynote reflected on the impacts of Covid, ongoing challenges for business but also the opportunities coming from a time of disruption.
Dr Barry McGookin, FIAL’s general manager for Innovation, Capabilities, and Skills moderated the discussion with Flavour Makers CEO Nick White, founder and CEO of Yume Foods Katy Barfield, and Acacia Energy CEO Stephen Thomson.
White reiterated the extraordinary nature of the past two years, which have resulted in new challenges related to inflation, labour shortages, Covid fatigue in the workplace, and supply chain disruption.
“Our greatest concern has been the Covid fatigue felt by our people, it is hard to solve. Finding staff and being able to offer work with greater flexibility are also a challenge,” White said.
Barfield reiterated his comments, saying she has had to rethink her concepts of work and how – and where – it is done.
“We have an extraordinary loyalty from the team at Yume and it has been a lesson for me in paying that back,” she said.
Barfield – a leading voice and player in the Australian food waste industry, said Covid also provided time and space for her to step back and look at Yume’s entire business model/
“We have been iterating the model for six years, but I realised we had a model that we couldn’t scale. Covid gave me the clear space to find a better solution,” she said.
Barfield realised that for food waste to be reduced at the industry level, the process had to be embedded in companies’ operating processes.
“We have the opportunity to be incredibly creative from a foundation of fairness, transparency, and useability,” Barfield said.
White said the biggest opportunity now is domestic manufacturing so long as we can find the labour resources. The major decisions for the sector today are around capital investment and automation.
The forum continues.
