We are witnessing the arrival and dominance of multinational companies that has made competition more intense than ever before. Companies are struggling to win their customers at any cost, whereas customers are looking for better quality products and value-added services at lesser price. Consumerism is one of the vital aspects of business which intends to bring the desire of customers before the business community. This article discusses the evolution of consumer movement and its impact on business. It also considers trends in consumerism over a period of time both in the developed as well as in the developing countries.

The term consumerism was first documented in the New Republic in 1944, and it can be defined as a citizen's movement which will make broad-reaching social, ecological and political demands on suppliers of goods and services. The Oxford dictionary meaning of consumerism is "the protection of the consumers' interest." Consumerism has also been defined as "A social movement seeking to augment the rights and powers of buyers in relation to sellers." The consumer activism was not new to the western society.

The American revolution was founded on consumer activism, as it was the boycott of products and an acknowledgment by consumers that political power lay in their purses as much as their pamphlets. In Britain, common people displayed a vibrant consumer consciousness when they protested against unfair prices and the exploitative actions of middlemen in the provision of food staples and local markets. In the 19th century, the cooperative movement, the first truly consumer organization, mobilized millions of ordinary working class shoppers. But the history, objectives and ideas of cooperative movement were different from those of consumer movement.

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