The consumers of today, their changing product and shopping preferences, and the way they want to spend their money has put them at the center of marketing decisions. Since consumer knowledge is power in today’s business world, products and services businesses are expected to cater to just about all kinds of shifting consumer demands.

Today’s consumers make up a generation that was virtually born online, with an almost inherent competence in harnessing technology, and \ aware of the empowerment that comes with it.

They are fulfilling the predictions of marketing commentators a few years ago who talked about prosumers and presumors when referring to consumers, especially the younger ones who, through their choices and their desires, shape future products. It is no longer enough that marketing and products are delivered to consumers. They now want to actively be engaged in shaping and transforming brand and products, sorting them to meet their individual expectations and lifestyles.

21st century lifestyles have become a mixture of habits, conventional ways of doing things, and reasoned actions, forging a sense of self that create symbols that echo with personal identity. Marketing leaders thus endeavor to market and match consumer aspirations with products and services, or craft consumer wants relevant to new products.

The First Foreign Chambers Lifestyle Expo is a show where consumers with individual attitudes, values, or world views can view and purchase a wide range of products and services to suit their particular lifestyles. The three-day expo on September 11-13, 2009, at the Megatrade Hall of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong is sponsored by the Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, and European Chambers of Commerce. Some of the products and services at the expo will feature travel, technology, food, home and décor, wellness, fashion zones, architecture, clothing, cosmetic, food processing, furniture, jewelry, property, hobbies, and travel companies.

The cornerstone of present-day lifestyles is consumption behavior. With changing consumer
preferences, the First Foreign Chambers Lifestyle Expo offers the possibility to create and further individualize the self with different products and services that signal different ways of life.

We congratulate the participants and organizers of the First Foreign Chambers Lifestyle Expo and wish them success in all their endeavors.