It's bad news for the alpha male - the female century has dawned and women are playing an increasing role in growing the economy.

Marketing goods and services to women was one of the concepts discussed in trends analyst Dion Chang's 2010 Flux Trends Review, released.

"About 80% of household purchases are made by women," Chang said at the Cape Town Press Club.

"This is not a post-feminist, anti-bra-burning movement; it is realising that there has been too much one-sided, profit-at-all-costs thinking and a more empathetic balance is needed."

Chang's review, now in its third year, is a "snapshot of the shape we're in across a number of industries that affect the way we interact with each other and the way we do business".

The book pulls together the thoughts of 10 of South Africa's leading thinkers in various disciplines, from technology and sex to media and business.

Chang says we are living through a "consumer revolution" as confidence in once-respected companies has been eroded, giving power to customers, who are more questioning and demand accountability. When consumers are unhappy, they turn to the Internet and social networking websites to vent their frustration, which fuels the process.

With the trend of "personalisation" on the increase, Chang believes broadcasters are on shaky ground because viewers can tailor their media choices with gadgets such as PVR decoders.

"On the Internet, people can personalise T-shirts, curtains and muesli and get frustrated when they can't do this off-line," he said. He slated the ANC and Fifa for their "old-fashioned ways" and for underestimating the public's demand for accountability.

"When the matter of Zuma's 20th child came up, the ANC said it was a private matter. Of course, later he had to apologise," Chang said.

Fifa's refusal to tailor its way of doing business in South Africa with regard to ticketing and accommodation might cause problems for it during the World Cup.

"They say: 'This is the way we do it and we won't change it'. This could come back and bite them," Chang said.

Major trends on the horizon include an increasing awareness of the environment, with consumers becoming more conscious of their surroundings and wanting to spend their money at "green" businesses.

"Regionalism and localism are going to become big," Chang said, giving the example of a supermarket chain that offers a farm trace on meat so that consumers know where their food is coming from.