Modern consumers are becoming increasingly empowered, demanding high quality and low cost, all on their own terms. Traditional high street stores are being bypassed by highly knowledgeable, internet-savvy customers in favour of niche stores, superstores, e-retailers and even fellow consumers. As lifestyles change individuals are also placing greater importance on lifestyle and experiences creating a new wave of disposable consumer products, including fashion items and media.

Demand for traditional household products is weakening, causing the decline and reinvention of some of the companies who have traditionally dominated the consumer market in the UK. Supermarket chains have become increasingly powerful, branching out into non-food items as consumers strive for a ‘one-stop-shop’. Whilst many environmental groups and organisations representing small businesses argue against the rise of supermarket giants, the majority of consumers feel reassured by the size of such companies and the strength of their brands.

Whilst consumers are happy to use large chains for their generic needs, there is also a large market emerging for personalised, high end luxury products. The internet is helping to meet this demand by removing the geographic boundaries to ease communication between producer and consumer, whilst also allowing sellers to access small markets in a cost effective way. There are an ever increasing number of e-retailers, including the emergence of major online players, such as Amazon and Play.com. These sites are using peer recommendations to create personalised web pages which have proven extremely effective at increasing sales through targeted marketing. The success of e-retailing has prompted many major traditional retailers to expand their internet presence. 

Websites such as eBay and Amazon Marketplace have opened up consumer-to-consumer trading to a much wider audience. This has not only increased customer choice, it has also extended the life of consumer goods and allowed many individuals to supplement their income.

Fact File

• 1/5 of all Tesco sales are non-food products.
• Tesco accounts for 30% of sales in the supermarket industry.
• Over 50,000 people in the UK draw a significant portion of their income from selling goods online. A study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) shows that the average household boosts its earnings by GBP 3,000 through online trading.
• There are more than 600 million consumers online worldwide.