Harness the Future: The 9 Keys to Emerging Consumer Behaviour

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Innovative thinking, a strong ability to see links and connections, and
a practical background in marketing give Roberts the skills to put
together one of the most powerful business books of the 1990s.

Trend forecasting has become an obsession for businesses planning for
the new millennium. In a sea of rehashed 1980s “futurism,” Roberts
stands out as a clear thinker with real insights based on solid
evidence.

The author presents the concept of “econo-graphics,” a model for
anticipating future consumer demand, and monitors nine factors that have
a significant effect on consumers: economy, technology, globalization,
government, environment, demo-graphics, consumer psyche, wellness, and
retailing. Following a detailed look at each of these “drivers,” she
applies them to tomorrow’s consumer and comes up with nine traits:
more educated, aging but active, extremely demanding, and so forth. In a
chapter that should become the gospel for every marketing department,
Roberts interprets these traits and links them to the econographic
drivers, painting a vital portrait of exactly who will (or will not) be
buying our products in future. She gives us the trend, then explains how
to leverage that trend to the advantage of our particular business.

Harness the Future is fast paced, lively, yet all business. No folksy
parables or cute fictionalized scenarios, just clear thinking and usable
information.