Business Days inventory

Since 2007 I have been there at every Business Days conference, together with everyone who matters in the FMCG sector or is interested in the latest trends. Networking opportunities at the conference are practically unlimited and I always learn something new. Thinking back to the last 10 years it is interesting to prepare a little subjective inventory of the main issues in the industry.

2002-2003: retail was flying high, sales and consumption were soaring.

2004: we thought retail was prepared for Hungary’s accession to the EU – well, it was not.

2005-2007: promotion came after promotion but plans were more or less realised.

2008: the silence before the storm, when we thought we would not be affected by the economic crisis.

2009 -2011: we are crying together – but who is laughing? Hard times that changed the lives of both retailers and manufacturers. Concepts such as efficiency and restructuring became topical.

2012: where are we now? Consumption keeps falling, insecurity is growing and we try to remain optimistic.

2013: let’s try to examine realistically what we can expect. It is going to be a difficult year but not a hopeless one! All the reserves have been used but we have to keep going forward, there is nothing to wait for let’s do our job as good as we can.

At this year’s Business Days we got a realistic picture of the current state of play in the FMCG sector, we met old friends and acquaintances and discussed the most important things. The evening parties were characterised by a moderately optimistic mood and everyone tried to recharge their batteries. Let’s hope that when we meet again in the autumn of 2013 the FMCG sector will already be in a better shape and 2014 will bring growing consumption.