A glance at the 2024 agenda

Maintain relevance, uncover opportunities and stay ahead of the curve with this year's essential consumer insights and trends briefing from Mintel. As the Australian market for natural, organic and healthy products matures it’s important to understand evolving consumer behaviour as a predictor of what’s next. Mintel ANZ Country Manager Jacqueline Nunns decodes healthy ageing and how you can help consumers live longer, healthier lives; balancing consumer need for both health and pleasure; a new chapter in mind-body beauty; unlocking the value from new technologies like AI and most importantly; what it all means for your business.

The shop local movement has gained significant momentum in the past few years, representing a shift in consumer behaviour that prioritises community wellbeing, economic growth, and environmental sustainability. And it's not just a passing trend with the Commbank finding more than half of us prefer to shop local for our groceries and other goods since the pandemic. Roz White has built an empire and following on supporting often smaller local businesses as the owner of Whites IGA Group and host of The Locavores podcast. Whites has grown from a small corner shop to a group of multi-award winning, market leading stores with 500 staff that focus on supporting people and the community through their unique ‘Locavore’ program. She talks with FMCG industry advisor and founder of Foodpreneurs Festival Chelsea Ford about the journey, the lessons learnt and the opportunities she sees for Australian businesses in what is undoubtedly the movement of the future.

Running an FMCG business has become more challenging over the last four years due to inflation, interest rates, supply chain challenges and retailer expectations that seem to grow with each range review. Navigating growth in revenue and profitability in these times can be tricky so setting yourself up for success early is critical. Ranged Managing Director Jessica Gordoun hosts a panel of experts across private equity, professional services, brand and retail to share their three-point plan for success. They’ll discuss commercialising your business for different channels, cashflow management, supply, building/leveraging a following, resourcing for growth, and how to execute well across all of your business functions. 

Jessica Gordoun

Ranged Pty Ltd

Daniel Kitay

Funday Natural Sweets

Joe Green

Ranged Pty Ltd

The consumer marketing landscape is more difficult to navigate than ever before with an unprecedented degree of entertainment, education and brand transparency all factors in our purchasing decisions. There’s a lot to navigate in creating content that's amusing, different, entertaining, non virtue signalling, trending, and the list goes on. The expectations of Gen Z and young-age millennials have changed the way brands must engage their communities and sell products, with more than half of those under 30 prioritising TikTok over Google for search. Traditionally a Gen Z platform, TikTok is now impacting the way we need to sell to Millenials, Gen X and Baby Boomers. We’re now all becoming digital natives and the expectations of older demographics are evolving rapidly with those 35 plus now the fastest growing demographic on TikTok. Thomas Moult is Co-Founder and Head of Growth at Buttr Marketing where he’s been responsible for the growth of brands like Hunter, Mukti, and Ecostore. He’ll tie the threads between our changing expectations, the platforms, creative and performance to consistently execute strategies that cut through the noise and scale.