The End of Consumption

"Banking is necessary. Banks are not." Bill Gates’ prediction for the financial industry in 1994 is prescient for the retail industry 25 years later. A recent study of the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute concludes clearly: Imagining the future of retail as a linear growth of online sales (which will result in the extinction of a number of legacy store brands) falls far short of the mark.

According to the GDI’s provocative report, the music industry is a case study for the future of the retail industry. It has basically been wiped out by services such as Spotify or iTunes. Consumers do not see themselves any longer as owners, but as users. This pattern can be applied to other industries, notably department store retail.

Of course, people will still have basic physical needs to be satisfied by commodities. But how desire for these goods is triggered, how the supply chain delivers these products and how they get into the hands of the consumer are changing radically.

This session takes a closer look at what’s next for the retail industry, and at how emerging technologies are transforming consumer attitudes. We will discuss questions such as:

• How is data going to overturn classic retail?
• When will we experience synthetic consumption?
• Are we at the threshold to the land of milk and honey?
• So, if consumption ends, what will be next?

This event is by invitation only.

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