The changing consumer

At first glance, a US bookstore chain’s filing for bankruptcy protection, a Peruvian opting to buy an iPhone rather than installing hot water at home, and a Spanish retailer’s $300 million acquisition of a shop in Manhattan’s poshest shopping street are just three intriguing but random retailing events in 2011. In fact, they reflect three long-term secular themes in the consumer space that Jack Neele and Richard Speetjens have identified: the rise of the digital consumer, the ad…