I believe India is poised to see an explosion of consumer brands in the coming decade. Millennials and Gen Z now make up a majority of the consuming population in urban India and will have the purchasing power and intent to indulge in brands that speak their language. The trifecta of brand-consumer-media is being disrupted by the digital universe. These new-age consumers spend a majority of their time out of home, live in smaller/nuclear families and are constantly going through micro-moments of media consumption.
They are very different from their earlier generation and this leads to new consumption classes being created. I am quite surprised by the number of gyms, marathon runners, cycling/trekking groups around me v/s 10 years ago. Make me think of all the consumption categories that are getting created or disrupted around this trend—snacking, nutrition, apparel, shoes, consumer electronics, staples, outdoor gear, cycles. The list goes on. I was speaking with one of my colleagues the other day and he came up with this term called DISK and he got me thinking. All marketers in the last decade grew up with this segment called the DINK (double income no kids) as a premium segment of consumers with high disposable incomes and no time—they were prime targets for convenience-based categories. Apparently, these DINKs have graduated to become DISKs (double income single kid). Still huge disposable incomes, no time and a kid to manage, gives rise to a number of consumption classes that emerge or get disrupted—education, toys, nutrition, kids’ apparel, kids’ equipment, personal care... The list goes on.
The world around us is changing pretty fast. Consumers are adapting and responding to these changes with changes in the way they consume and what they consume. In the next 5-10 years, 65% of the consuming class will be GenZ or Millennials, who will come with divergent attitudes and habits from their earlier generation.