Patrick Dixon - Futurist

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

As a Futurist: Optimist or Pessimist? Personal view of future world - co...



As a Futurist, why I am an optimist about our ability to transform our future world in a positive and sustainable way. Part of keynote on the $40 trillion green tech revolution which could transform the future of our planet

Friday, November 11, 2011

Mobile Payments - Future of Banking and Shopping, Retail, Telecom - Futu...



How mobile payments will impact future of banks, banking, back end payment processing, credit card transactions and retail customer spending. Smartphones using encryption and biometrics will enable telecom companies to compete with banks and credit card companies for retail payment transactions. Expect wireless payments using smartphones to grow rapidly. Despite this, some customers will continue to prefer cash because it allows anonymous purchases and is convenient for smaller purchases. Mobile payments could generate commissions of up to EU2 billion a year in countries like France, Germany, Italy and the UK. What would happen if -- say -- Vodafone formed a partnership with Google, Nokia and American Express? Implications for financial services, small loans, large ticket purchases of white goods, cars and other big items. Conference keynote speaker and Futurist Patrick Dixon speaking at retail trends conference for Hermes clients. Future of banking and financial services.

Filling the supermarket trolley: customer journeys, future retail trends...



How retail chains and supermarkets persuade customers to buy, Manipulating the customer journey around the store with well-placed special offers, combinations of products, eye-catching displays and other retail marketing promotions. Experience of Tesco, Safeway, Sainsbury, Morrisons, Carrefour and Wal-Mart. Video by conference keynote speaker and future trends analyst for retail industry conference - Hermes client event in the UK - Futurist speaker Patrick Dixon.

Future of Food Retailing, food industry trends, consumer lifestyles. Re...



Food industry trends in retail - small food outlets to major retail chains. Food sales are all about emotion and consumer passion: quality, health, flavour, additives, colourants, natural food, organic food, preservatives, sourcing of animals, animal welfare, sustainable fisheries, fair trade, kosher, hallal, vegetarian, vegan - there are already hundreds of niche food markets. Expect this diversification to continue - with specialist retail food stores, and also with sub-brands inside major stores such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour or Tesco. As we have seen in recent food scares, customers are deeply worried about food safety - especially parents who are concerned about the health of babies or their young children. Therefore expect more regulations about food quality and healthiness, more food labelling, more food safety checks - and more sensational news stories about food safety lapses. Comment on future of food industry by Futurist keyntote conference speaker Patrick Dixon in presentation to retail clients of Hermes at corporate event.

Future food shortages: consumers, retail, farms, energy industry, biofue...



Future food crisis and why there are global food shortages. Population growth is often blamed but we have enough food to feed the world without hunger of famine. Food price crises of 2007-8 and 2011-12 were caused by many factors including flood, drought, failed harvests, damaged crops, disease - but the biggest single change was burning food as biofuels. In 2011 over 40% of all wheat grain grown on farms in America was burnt in vehicles. Over 5% of all petrol / gasoline / diesel sold in Europe is now biofuels, much of it made from food. Biofuels have linked energy prices with food prices with land prices with forestry prices. We have one global market now for energy and food. So if energy prices rise, more food gets converted into energy - or biowaste, or trees.... but all these things affect land use at the end of the day. So if you expect (as I do) continued energy shortages, and rising oil prices, then it is logical to expect rising food prices. The trouble is that while wealthy nations suffer a little, individuals in the poorest nations suffer hugely. History shows clearly that rises in food prices and hunger amongst the population are the fastest ways to destabilise government. No surprise then that in 2007-8 we saw food riots in 33 nations and the fall of one government, and that in 2011 we saw riots and revolution in many nations (Middle East - so-called Arab Sprint). One of the factors that brought street protests was that ordinary people were finding food price rises were the last straw on top of so many other hardships, partly linked to to the global economic downturn, national debt crisis and banking crisis which in turn followed the original US sub-prime crisis. Lesson: global trends are complex, interlinked and minor trends can be amplified rapidly by globalisation and the digital village into radical forces for change. What does this all mean for farming, farmers, agriculture and land ownership? Expect prices for farm land to rise, in line with energy prices. Expect many farmers to switch crops from those supplying food direct to retail food chains, to crops which will find their way into biofuel manufacturing. Video of retail industry future trends by Futurist keynote conference speaker Patrick Dixon - for UK retail industry executives at client event organised by Hermes.

Five seconds to win a customer. Moments of Truth: Future Trends in Retai...



Why every second counts in retail - and how companies lose customers faster than they realise. Vital trends for the future of retailing from Futurist keynote speaker Patrick Dixon. Marketing and selling to customers should be fast, easy, convenient and satisfying. Keep your customers happy, listen to them, keep close to how they are really thinking about your products and services. In a time-poor world, customers are increasingly fed up with companies that waste time, make them wait, keep them on hold, make them stand in line. Premium customers expect instant service, rapid help, total commitment, expert advice and 100% delivery on your promises.

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Five seconds to win a customer. Moments of Truth: Future Trends in Retai...



Why every second counts in retail - and how companies lose customers faster than they realise. Vital trends for the future of retailing from Futurist keynote speaker Patrick Dixon. Marketing and selling to customers should be fast, easy, convenient and satisfying. Keep your customers happy, listen to them, keep close to how they are really thinking about your products and services. In a time-poor world, customers are increasingly fed up with companies that waste time, make them wait, keep them on hold, make them stand in line. Premium customers expect instant service, rapid help, total commitment, expert advice and 100% delivery on your promises.