The future of Irish business markets will be shaped by six major trends which will provide both challenges and opportunities, delegates at a business and consumer futures outlook seminar were told yesterday.

Mr Michael McLoughlin, director of e-business at Amarach Consulting, said customer disloyalty, employee loyalty, employer branding, business and the Internet, a productivity crunch and the effect of the euro will radically change Irish business over the next five years.

"Businesses in Ireland will face a wrenching change in their trading and supplier relationships in Europe," said Mr McLoughlin.

As the euro increases price transparency, the role of brands will become more important.

"Irish businesses will have to establish themselves as the trusted local supplier," said Amarach deputy managing director Ms Liz McKeever.

As Ireland becomes a multiethnic society, it will become increasingly difficult to treat the Irish marketplace as one, relatively homogenous location, she added.

Businesses could no longer afford to take customer loyalty for granted, warned Mr McLoughlin. "Customer `churn' is increasing, with consumers constantly moving their custom," he said. Falling service standards and faceless businesses had undermined customer loyalty in some sectors, he said, while the Internet has further heightened competitor awareness and sampling.

In a boom economy, with labour shortages, employees are loyal to themselves rather than to employers, said Mr McLoughlin.

Recruiting and retaining employees will occupy a growing share of management time and company budgets, while human resource planning will have to be an essential core element of business planning, he said.

"As the pool of available labour shrinks, employers will have to pay greater attention to their image and brand as potential employers among potential employees," said Mr McLoughlin.