These four megatrends put FMCG under pressure

These are tough times for consumer brands: over the past decade, growth slowed and the focus of a lot of big companies shifted to cost-cutting and efficiency gains. Four megatrends are causing disruption – and will continue to do so in the coming years.

The bad news…

For more than 30 years, the FMCG industry was a beacon of confidence for investors, with average annual growth rates of some 9% at constant margins. But after 2010, that carefree success story came to an end and annual growth fell to around 2%. A consequence of, among other things, stagnating population growth, consolidation in the retail sector and changes in consumer behaviour, says McKinsey.