Supermarkets aren’t standing still anymore. From the stockroom to the checkout, everything works faster than it used to. Supply chains are tighter, trends change overnight, and shoppers keep retailers guessing. Global retail is on the move — and the speed keeps climbing.
From multinationals to regional distributors, every player in the consumer goods sector is rethinking strategy. What’s selling, how it’s delivered, who’s buying it, and why — these questions define the competitive edge now. The next five years will not be about steady trends, but rapid transformations.
This is the new forecast. Not just what will grow — but what will shift, flex, fragment, and scale. From 2025 to 2030, here’s where consumer goods are heading and what it means for global retail.
Global Outlook: Growth With Volatility
Between 2025 and 2030, the global consumer goods market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 4% to 5%. That growth won’t be linear. It will rise in some categories, flatten in others, and surge in new, untested segments.
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) already surpassed $2.5 trillion globally by 2024. That figure will rise, but the sources of momentum will change. Emerging markets in Asia-Pacific and Africa will drive volume. Meanwhile, North America and Western Europe will see slow, steady expansion with a focus on premiumization and value optimization.
Where does the growth come from?
- Urbanization in the Global South
- Digital-native shoppers entering maturity
- Channel shifts across brick-and-click retail
- Private label disrupting traditional brands
- Supply chain reinvention for regional speed
Macroeconomic uncertainty, from inflation to geopolitical friction, will remain. But strong companies will find growth through innovation, adaptability, and smart regional alignment.
Food and Beverage: Stability Meets Evolution
Food and beverage remain the cornerstone of consumer goods. The category continues to lead in revenue and frequency, with shelf-stable, ready-to-eat, and fresh products holding the top three traffic drivers across all markets.
Shelf-stable meals — from protein boxes to pantry packs — remain essential in developed markets. In urban centers, shoppers prioritize meal convenience over cooking.
Fresh food is still king for in-store visits. But fresh now overlaps with new shopper values: local sourcing, minimal packaging, and organic credibility.
What’s changing inside the category?
- Snacking habits are driving format innovation — think protein chips, fruit leather strips, functional bars
- Functional foods like gut health drinks and fortified dairy are moving from niche to core
- Diverse flavors from global cuisines are becoming everyday in U.S. and EU supermarkets
Food may be a foundational category, but it’s under constant renovation.
Beauty and Personal Care: Function Fuels Growth
Personal care is no longer seasonal or luxury — it’s habitual and functional. Hygiene, skincare, and wellness are blending, driving faster turnover in beauty and grooming aisles.
From anti-aging serums to clean-label grooming, shoppers want efficacy, not fluff. What matters now is ingredient transparency, visible results, and compatibility with health-conscious lifestyles.
Skin health, not just beauty, is the new language of this category. Global demand is rising for:
- Microbiome-friendly products
- No-fragrance formulations
- Climate-specific skin solutions
Digital channels are the gateway. Social platforms, e-commerce trials, and D2C models are where many brands launch and scale first.
Premium skincare is exploding across Asia and Europe, where consumers invest in long-term products with high-performance claims. The category is leaning hard into tech, packaging innovation, and data-backed formulation.
Household Products: Clean, Smart, and Sustainable
Household care remains essential — but not immune to change. The formula for success in this category is shifting fast: price remains the top concern, but sustainability and innovation now define loyalty.
Across developed markets, laundry, paper goods, cleaning agents, and air care lead the pack. But the future is unfolding in:
- Concentrated formats that reduce volume and waste
- Refill systems with subscription-based delivery
- Smart scent or allergen-free products tuned to wellness
Consumers still demand value — but now they also expect smarter packaging, cleaner formulas, and fewer environmental trade-offs. The most dynamic growth is happening in low-waste formats and AI-paired home cleaning tools.
Pet and Wellness Categories Surge
Pet ownership is rising globally — especially in urban areas. This is fueling explosive growth in pet-related FMCG categories. From functional pet snacks to dental chews, shoppers want products that reflect how they shop for themselves.
The fastest-growing subcategories include:
- Subscription-based premium pet food
- Clean-label grooming products for animals
- Vet-formulated supplements and joint care
Pets are now part of wellness households, and their care products follow the same logic: safe, functional, convenient, and increasingly delivered.
Regional Forecasts: Who’s Growing and Why
The global consumer goods forecast is only meaningful when viewed through regional context. Every market plays by its own rules — shaped by infrastructure, income level, culture, and regulation.
Asia-Pacific
This region is the engine of global FMCG growth. India’s growth in volume is outpacing all others, while China continues to dominate in digital grocery and speed-to-shelf innovation. Japan and South Korea show maturity but pivot towards premium, high-tech, and skincare categories.
Digital grocery infrastructure, delivery apps, and AI forecasting tools are far more advanced here — setting the tone for global innovation.
North America
The U.S. and Canada are stable, mature markets. Growth comes not from volume, but from premiumization and channel evolution. Consumers increasingly buy wellness, organics, plant-based proteins, and sustainable goods. Private label gains share. Delivery is now a normalized expectation, not a bonus.
Europe
Europe is splitting into two speeds. In the West, growth is slow due to market saturation and ageing populations. But private label and fresh food remain strongholds. In Eastern and Central Europe, fast-growing categories like snacks, hygiene, and affordable personal care are seeing strong expansion, especially in countries like Poland and Romania.
Latin America
Brazil and Mexico dominate FMCG activity in this region. Inflation remains a barrier, but core staples and value formats remain resilient. Beauty and health are emerging as post-2025 growth engines, as affordability stabilizes and urban retail evolves.
Middle East & Africa
This region is mixed. Wealthier Gulf states are investing in high-end FMCG products, with strong demand for wellness, clean beauty, and functional foods. Sub-Saharan Africa sees growing demand for affordable staples and basic household goods. Supply chain modernization is a top priority in African growth cities.
Private Label: A Strategic Weapon
Private label is no longer a budget alternative. It is now an entire brand ecosystem, with products ranging from value to ultra-premium, across food, household, beauty, and health categories.
Retailers in Europe and North America are aggressively expanding private label in new areas:
- Premium skincare
- Baby care and infant nutrition
- Ready meals with international flavor profiles
- Plant-based and allergen-sensitive lines
Private label now competes directly with national brands on quality, packaging, and innovation. Loyalty data and margin control make it a strategic weapon for retailers facing inflation and shopper churn.
Shopper Behavior Is Redefining Value
What does the consumer want in 2025? Not just low price — but functional, fast, and aligned to lifestyle. Across all regions, value now means:
- Affordability relative to purpose
- Convenience of purchase or usage
- Trust in formulation and sourcing
- Availability across multiple channels
The loyalty landscape is fragile. More than half of shoppers say they’ve switched brands based on availability, price promotions, or delivery options. This behavior is most prominent in categories like household, snacks, and frozen.
Technology and Supply Chain: Smarter, Not Just Faster
Technology is the enabler of the entire consumer goods forecast. Retailers and distributors are moving beyond legacy logistics to smarter, AI-assisted ecosystems.
The most competitive supply chains are now:
- Using AI to forecast demand by region, weather, time of day
- Automating restocking and fulfillment using real-time data
- Connecting demand planning with digital shelf visibility
- Linking store formats to warehouse behavior dynamically
Machine learning is reducing waste, preventing out-of-stocks, and helping retailers shrink response times. Investment in demand planning tools is now considered essential, not optional.
Omnichannel: Default, Not Differentiator
Omnichannel retail is now the expectation — not a differentiator. Shoppers flow between digital, mobile, in-store, and voice platforms fluidly. The successful supermarket aligns pricing, stock, and service across all of them.
Trends shaping omnichannel execution:
- Compact store formats that double as pick-up and fulfillment nodes
- Micro-fulfillment centers connected to urban store networks
- Seamless reordering via voice or app
- Real-time inventory visibility online
Click-and-collect, mobile payment, loyalty integrations, and automated service touchpoints are becoming baseline. The best retailers are now refining the hybrid model — not just offering it.
Sustainability: Demanded by Customers, Required by Cost
Sustainability is not just a talking point anymore — it’s a pressure point. Shoppers, regulators, and investors are pushing for better outcomes across packaging, sourcing, energy, and logistics.
Top growth areas in sustainability:
- Recyclable and compostable packaging
- Carbon footprint labeling per SKU
- Clean ingredient swaps for legacy chemicals
- Concentrated and dry-format products to reduce shipping mass
Sustainability and cost now overlap. Low-waste, shelf-stable, and compact packaging improves margin and logistics. For younger consumers, brands that fail on sustainability will lose relevance — even if the product works.
Distributor & Retailer Outlook: Precision Wins
For distributors and retailers, the next five years will reward those who act on data, localize operations, and adapt to unpredictable change.
Winning strategies will include:
- Stock visibility in real time
- Supplier diversification by geography
- Flexible warehouse formats
- Demand-responsive replenishment systems
- Smart promotional pricing linked to app behavior
Forecasting is no longer just about volumes — it’s about sensing patterns and acting quickly. The leaders will be those who align sourcing, promotion, pricing, and delivery into one connected retail logic.
Conclusion: A Forecast Built on Adaptability
The global consumer goods forecast through 2030 tells one story: adaptability beats scale. Every part of the market — from product mix to store format to tech stack — is being re-engineered for speed, resilience, and local fit.
Categories like food, beauty, household, and pet will all grow — but at different speeds, in different ways, across different regions. There is no one-size-fits-all playbook anymore. Instead, winners will build intelligent systems, adaptive strategies, and shopper-centered solutions.
Growth is real. But so is risk. To succeed, supermarkets, suppliers, and brands must stop waiting for clarity — and start building for change.
