The role of emerging Asian markets has changed and these markets are now the drivers of profitable growth for global consumer products (CP) companies and retailers.
In order to capture this opportunity, companies must change the way they approach localisation - through greater local autonomy, granularity, focus and agility to ensure the consumer at the center, according to the new Profit or Lose executive summary launched today by Ernst & Young.
The report canvasses the opinion of 276 Asia-based senior executives of leading CP companies and retailers in eight markets. It identifies that 69% believe emerging markets will be the main driver of growth and profit over the next three years.
However, while Asia provides opportunities for global companies enduring tough trading conditions in mature markets, only 20% of those polled currently report both accretive margins and sustained significant high growth.
“The pace of change in Asia is dizzying,” says newly appointed Ernst & Young Global Consumer Products Emerging Markets Leader, Kristina Rogers. “Consumerism has matured over a short span of years rather than the decades witnessed in developed markets.”
Rogers notes that global companies stalking growth in Asia are finding the well-established local and multinational players tough competition. “Global companies need to be agile and light on their feet, by putting consumer value first and foremost, in order to win over the increasingly sophisticated and demanding Asian consumer,” adds Rogers.