Tag Archives: Pictet Report Autumn 2018

As is evident when travelling on public transport, people spend a lot of their idle time on mobile phones. But according to Stephan Schambach, the serial entrepreneur behind several major innovations in e-commerce, retailers have been slow to recognise that the future of their industry lies in mobile technology. Customers will increasingly demand the online experience available in other consumer industries such as travel and tourism, and the retail brands that are first to provide it will...

When Hubertus Bessau was 16, he knew exactly what he wanted to do – or rather, he knew exactly what he did not want to do. He did not want to work for a large company where it would be hard for him to have any impact on what happened. His ambition was to find a career that he would enjoy and where he could make a difference.He was already earning his own pocket money by designing websites for friends of his parents rather than taking casual jobs like working in a bar as friends did. When he...

The sharing economy is disrupting many consumer industries such as hotels (Airbnb) and taxis (Uber). One traditional industry that is increasingly facing disruption is office accommodation, where co-working is growing fast around the world. As with traditional offices, there are desks, meeting rooms and other working facilities, but they are usually shared by people not employed by a single organisation who enjoy working together as a community with online services providing benefits.One of...

A fast-growing German business which has become the country’s second-largest online clothing retailer and one of the fastest growing e-commerce companies in Europe, has designed its online shop like a fashion magazine to inspire customers seeking new ideas.Most online clothing retailers have a simple model: consumers look at their websites to search for clothing they want and purchase it. ABOUT YOU sees itself as a fashion discovery website which uses personalised data to offer suggestions...

People born between 1981 and 1996 are radically changing the patterns of consumption established by their predecessors, in ways that are adversely affecting some industries and favouring companies which take advantage of the increasing spending power of younger consumers.Millennials are a group of people who were born between 1981 and 1996, which makes them between 22 and 37 years old in 2018. They are important for two reasons: there are more than 80 million millennials in the US today,...

Giant digital companies are increasingly competing in the physical world by personalising their offerings, and offering products that create a ‘better me’ or a better world. But some retailers are fighting back by creating real world experiences that cannot be rivalled online.Understanding the consumer of the future is critical to success in a fast-changing world where the old rules no longer apply. Brands need to react to the evolving needs of consumers who are prepared to change their...