As consumers grow more cautious, understanding shifts in global income and expenditure is essential for future-focused strategic planning. Businesses must adapt to evolving purchasing power and spending patterns to uncover actionable growth opportunities. With robust income gains anticipated across emerging markets, particularly in Asia, proactive strategies will be crucial.

Urban markets are undergoing rapid transformation, shaped by demographic shifts, rising incomes, evolving consumer preferences and accelerating digitalisation. This report offers insights and forecasts on economic, demographic and consumer spending trends across global cities over the period to 2040, highlighting emerging growth opportunities, from expanding urban hubs in Asia and Africa to the silver economy in ageing developed markets.

The group of major emerging economies, BRICS, has seen a rapid rise in economic power during recent decades. As the group expanded further to include more members in recent years, its growing economic and demographic influence is reshaping global trade, investment and consumer market dynamics. This report explores the implications of BRICS expansion for the global economic and consumer landscapes, highlighting key risks and opportunities for businesses.

Overall regional growth slowed in the apparel and footwear market in Middle East and Africa in 2024, with a number of countries experiencing economic difficulties, putting pressure on consumer spending. Saudi Arabia continued to perform strongly, benefiting from significant investments under its Vision 2030 programme. This economic shift is fostering a rise in consumer spending power, particularly among the Kingdom’s youth, who are at the forefront of shaping the fashion landscape.

Although high inflation and currency devaluations were still impacting a number of countries in Middle East and Africa in 2024, the consumer health performance improved in this year in real value terms. Some consumers, unable to afford visits to a doctor will instead ask their local pharmacist’s advice on what to take based on their symptoms as they self-medicate to save money. Preventative healthcare is also helping boost sales of products like vitamins and dietary supplements.

The travel industry in Middle East and Africa continues to recover from the havoc wrought upon it by the pandemic in 2020. In spite of the Israel-Hamas war, the industry recorded strong growth in the region in 2024, with Saudi Arabia among the countries helping to drive this positive performance. In addition to the ambitious tourism targets set under its Vision 2030 programme, Saudi Arabia has also just received the major boost of being announced as the host of soccer’s 2034 World Cup.

The alcoholic drinks market made a swift recovery from the pandemic losses of 2020, already returning to pre-COVID-19 sales levels in 2022. However, the difficult economic situation in many countries in the region, with high inflation and falling purchasing power, slowed growth in Middle East and Africa in 2023, with Nigeria experiencing a marked decline and South Africa seeing a much weaker sales increase. Positive growth is expected for the region over the forecast period.

New manufacturing hubs are driving supply chain diversification efforts. However, these countries still depend on imports of Chinese components, making supply chains longer and more complex. Challenges like insufficient production capacity and lack of supporting industries continue to impede supply chain diversification. Despite this, the situation could improve over the next decade due to large FDI inflows and investments in trade infrastructure.

After sales in some countries were hit by the COVID-19 restrictions introduced during the pandemic, the end of the review period saw some markets in Middle East and Africa negatively impacted by economic difficulties like high inflation or weakening local currencies. However, positive growth is expected in the region throughout the forecast period, with e-commerce continuing to set the pace in many markets.

Connected and autonomous vehicles are becoming more widespread, reflecting the automotive industry's digital and technological shift. This report sizes the autonomous vehicle market, specifying the countries and brands embracing driverless technologies. It also assesses consumer perceptions, expectations and attitudes regarding connected and autonomous technologies. Finally, the report examines the main industries poised to take advantage of the shift to connected and autonomous cars.

After the decline seen when the pandemic hit the region in 2020, unit volume sales of consumer appliances have been seeing positive growth since then in Middle East and Africa. However, growth slowed at a regional level in 2023, with some countries, such as Egypt or Nigeria, experiencing difficult economic conditions. Nevertheless, positive growth is expected throughout the forecast period, with South Africa and Egypt helping drive the regional performance.

Fragrances are gaining relevance among consumers experiencing anxiety and looking for emotional wellness. Fragrances, however, face many challenges, as they compete with aromatherapy and other sensory options. Fragrances are closely associated with emotions, but there is room for innovation in neuroscience-based fragrances. Beyond claims, fragrances’ role in emotional wellbeing is about the revival of memories, nostalgia and gourmand scents able to trigger positive emotions.

Skin health positioning in fragrances is an under-penetrated space. Trending claims address skin sensitivity, but consumers are likely to demand more substantiated, specific claims. Skin health claims are significant drivers of the fragrance consumer journey in Western Europe and Southeast Asia, while consumers in North America and the Middle East and Africa are also receptive. Emerging formats make up a small piece of the market, but are well-poised to grow as players look to expand product var

The briefing explores structural drivers of inflation and their impact on the global economy and business environment. Factors such as demographics changes, globalisation reset, decarbonisation, AI revolution and higher debt levels would add to the higher price pressures. Companies will need to monitor and adapt to the changing macro environment.

The global labour markets are rapidly evolving, influenced by demographic shifts, technological advancements, changing workforce preferences, and unexpected events. While this transformation impacts costs, productivity and economic growth, it also offers opportunities for innovation and investment in technology and human capital. Understanding these shifts is crucial for companies to adapt strategies, embrace technology, and focus on talent attraction and skill development.

Ecosystem partnerships is a critical factor for rapid scaling of leading digital wallets globally. Key usage factors are convenience, enhanced security and wide merchant acceptance. The short term focus includes cross-border transactions and card-to-QR payment, while mid-to-long term priorities cover personalisation and biometric-powered payment without phones. The report also identifies key wallets-as-a-service providers for building digital wallets, recommendations are given for vendor search.

Although sales slipped into decline in some markets (eg Algeria, Nigeria), the Middle East and Africa tissue and hygiene market continued to record positive growth in real value terms at a regional level in 2023. Inflation remained a problem in this year, as did devaluations of the local currencies in some countries. However, increased hygiene awareness, expanding populations and more women entering the workforce were among the drivers of positive growth moving into the forecast period.

The report examines the global landscape of EV charging, comparing its development against the rising uptake of EVs. It then takes a deep dive into EV charging trends across select major economies, delving into the competitive landscape and geographic distribution of EV charge points. Finally, it identifies the strategies, innovations and challenges facing the EV charging industry.

Pet care continues to record strong growth in real value terms in Middle East and Africa, in spite of the difficult economic environment in recent years hitting the volume sales performance. Ongoing premiumisation and pet humanisation are helping to drive value growth, despite some low-income pet owners being forced to switch from mid-priced to economy brands as rising inflation hits their spending budgets. Positive value growth is expected to continue being seen over the forecast period.

This briefing assesses global B2B market trends in 2024 and beyond. It is geared towards consumer goods companies that are selling into the B2B market, and provides insights into how B2B markets are developing, which countries and channels to target, as well as how to navigate the potential challenges and what is next for B2B.

This briefing provides a global perspective of the key trends occurring in cities over 2018 -2023. It goes on to provide forecast data and insights for cities over 2024-2040, covering areas such as the economic, population and consumer spending changes. The briefing also lists and examines the five top trends shaping cities, namely digital and connected cities; accelerating climate action; strategic urban planning; seamless and clean mobility; and cities of the future.

Population growth between 2021-2040 will be driven by positive natural change, as the region remains the second most populous in the world. Ongoing urbanisation will lead to growth in major cities while placing pressure on infrastructure, creating housing shortages. Living standards and healthcare improvements will increase life expectancy while the population above 65+ grows. However, the region will continue to have a low median age of 24.1 years, shaping consumer trends and markets in 2040.

Home care sales in Middle East and Africa saw a spike in demand in 2020, with the pandemic leading to heightened hygiene concerns among consumers. Nevertheless, sales have continued to grow in the subsequent years in both volume and real value terms, in spite of home care in a number of countries in the region operating in a tough economic climate at the end of the 2018-2023 period. Further growth is expected in the coming years, with laundry care remaining the dominant category in home care.

This report examines the competitive landscape of the shared mobility industry, highlighting the leading brands across key segments including ride hailing and car sharing. It also identifies the business strategies being employed by brands to drive competitive strength.