Patrick is the global leader of BCG’s Consumer practice. He has extensive client-service experience in both the retail and the consumer products sectors, as well as deep expertise in leading strategy and operations work for large multinational clients. His global leadership role has given him extensive insight into the challenges that consumer goods companies and retailers face around the world. Most recently, he has focused on understanding the economic crisis and its implications for the future of the consumer industry. He is also a member of the Marketing and Sales practice, where he specializes in branding, consumer insight, and marketing effectiveness.
What are the biggest changes expected in the consumer products industry?
The consumer products industry faces several key challenges. First, there is increasing volatility in the consumer industry in general—high variability in commodity prices, for example, as well as the rising pace of innovation and significant changes in consumers’ aspirations and shopping behavior. Second, there are the challenges brought about by a rapidly consolidating retail trade landscape.
There is also the urgent need to identify additional pockets of growth in a challenging economic climate and the absolute necessity to reinvest behind brands, even when money is tight. And finally, despite the downturn, companies must continue to innovate.
How do these challenges differ from developed economies to emerging economies? What is required for consumer products companies to achieve growth in both simultaneously?
The situation in emerging versus developed markets is very different on many dimensions—in the appetite for growth in packaged and branded goods, in the structure and dynamics of targeted consumer segments, and in the strategic approaches companies must pursue to win in each marketplace. At the same time, it is clear that they share many characteristics, including the reality of the current economic climate, which requires companies to be more creative, imaginative, and resourceful in their decision making.
However, in any region, consumer and retail companies need to focus on three key tasks:
Identify the emerging areas of potential growth before their competitors do
Put innovation and relevant brand building at the core of whatever they do
Now more than ever, demonstrate the value of what they are offering to justify consumers’ trust in their well-established brands
Is there a standard best practice for companies whose operations are geographically disparate?
There are opportunities for growth everywhere; it is mostly a question of de-averaging. Consumer companies must assess the respective importance of various consumer segments by their potential for growth and the relevant channels for growth. They must also apply their insight into consumers’ emerging aspirations and behaviors to identify pockets of growth.
How can consumer products companies navigate a rapidly consolidating retail landscape?
There will be an increasing need for consumer products manufacturers to find win-win solutions with their retail partners in order to better serve consumer and shopper needs. Since brands (including retail brands) act as a compass that directs consumers to the products they can rely on, now is the time for companies to make their brands even more trustworthy. With so many choices to be made, the challenge comes with deciding which brands to push forward now, and which ideas to hold back until later.
What is the depth of BCG's consumer expertise? How is BCG's approach different from that of other management consulting firms?
At BCG, we always put consumer insight and competitive advantage at the center of all that we do. We leverage the cumulative knowledge of our worldwide experts and practitioners--–with their deep-rooted experience of both the retail and the branded sides of the consumer business---in all that we do. And we always consider long-lasting impact, as well as near-term measurable results, to be key elements in our recommendations.