The Economics of Digital

The ongoing digital revolution has created a level of connectivity that has redefined how people communicate and how companies conduct business. By altering behaviours, digitalisation is reinventing how markets and economies function, and is creating new challenges in every sector. In the first edition of our Europe Monitor we take a closer look at the economics of digital.

Redefining markets

Digital is impacting all aspects of traditional markets. On the demand side, consumers’ influence is no longer restricted to consumption decisions, but consumers can now participate in all stages of the production of goods – from idea and design to crowdfunding and production, through cheaper prototyping tools, such as 3D printing, and online retail. This creates a category of well-informed “prosumers”, which are assisted by the digital revolution.

The age of customisation

On the supply side, many companies’ processes have evolved from being simply efficient to now being fully automated. We have entered the age of customisation, where companies are able to deploy the power of information and advanced algorithms to target the right consumers, at just the right time, using the right persuasion techniques.

A breeze of optimism

In the Europe Monitor our experts also give a macroeconomic update for Europe. Ten years after the onset of the most severe economic downturn in decades, Europe appears to finally have embarked on a path to economic recovery. Hard economic indicators justify cautious optimism.