The Consumer Revolution: Tipping the Balance of Power

by Naren Nath (Author)

In this ground breaking book, Naren Nath provides a sweeping narrative of revolutions since the dawn of human civilization, leading up to the current and most impactful of them all—the consumer revolution. The book paints a gripping picture of consumers melding together, akin to nuclear fusion, to unleash unprecedented amount of energy and creativity, setting in motion a stunning transfer of power from traditional institutions. In doing so, it tosses up myriad new business ideas, and also highlights some of the sinister implications if the revolution is not harnessed correctly. The Consumer Revolution provides a fascinating context and rationale for some of the biggest current events and trends around the world. It is a stirring call for action to billions of everyday consumers to express their will and wield power in this ultimate doctrine of consumer empowerment.

Review
"Naren Nath’s book, The Consumer Revolution, does an amazing job of tying together the history of mankind’s development, political systems, methods and places of commerce, creation of forums to stores, impacts of the industrial and nuclear revolutions, and development of media, printing press and modes of entertainment such as music, plays, film, radio and TV to the tremendous impact of the Internet. He explains why power has shifted from the producer and marketer to the consumer.


It’s a fascinating read for everyone, but is essential for students of marketing and those in business, entertainment, media and control of sports franchises who want to stay relevant and not be left behind."


– Tom Kalinske,, Former CEO of Mattel, Sega of America, LeapFrog

"The Consumer Revolution is a gripping saga of how today’s consumer has become more empowered than ever before, tilting the balance of power away from producers, corporations, media empires and politicians for the first time in human history. This has created a profound disruption in the make-up of human society with far-reaching impacts, portrayed in a very engaging fashion by Naren in this book."


– Shailesh Mehta,, Former Chairman of Providian Financial, Board of Directors at PayPal and Mastercard, Sponsor of the Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

"Naren’s long experience in e-commerce has created a unique view of its history and the game-changing future technologies that are changing retail forever."


– Terry Jones,, Founder of Travelocity.com and Founding Chairman of Kayak.com

"The Consumer Revolution is a fascinating narrative of how technology empowered the consumer, how it redefined the rights and duties of producers and consumers, and how social change is ignited by the consumer exercising this power with every new disruption in the modern age. Other than business, the book makes us think deeply on its effect on poverty alleviation, education and healthcare, and the manner in which it is going to change the way we think about products and services. This book deserves a scientific sequel that will chart out the fundamental principles that have redefined the consumer."


– Partha Pratim Chakrabarti,, Former Director of Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

The Consumer Revolution tells one of the most captivating tales of today―how ‘the common (hu)man’ came to harness uncommon power and influence in the world. It is a must-read for anyone trying to make sense of some of the biggest current events and trends in the world, gaze into the crystal ball of where human society is headed and activate in order to thrive in it.

– Jill Lublin,, Bestselling Author, International Speaker, Master Publicity Strategist

Naren paints a detailed picture of consumer quality of life and business evolution leading to re-distribution of power and wealth from the industrial revolution to the technology revolution and beyond! Not just consumers, there are implications for businesses, lawmakers, media and others. Fasten your seat belts for what’s coming!

– Latif Nathani,, Former CEO of eBay India, Executive at Microsoft Corporation

The Consumer Revolution is a remarkable story of how everyday consumers are becoming dramatically more empowered today. Naren provides a truly unique context and perspective on this revolution, and illustrates why consumers should feel incredibly inspired to express their will and shape their world unlike ever before.

– Captain Shalini Singh,, Former Indian Army, TEDx Speaker, Life Coach, Social Activist

This book will fundamentally change material culture scholarship. It challenges the way social, cultural and economic historians think about consumer behaviour, and will quickly become the book that everyone interested in the meaning of everyday things must read to participate in the lively discussions that will follow its publication.

– Priyanka Shetty,, Times of India

"The Consumer Revolution does an amazing job of tying together the history of mankind’s development, political systems, methods and places of commerce, creation of forums to the stores, impacts of the industrial and nuclear revolutions, and development of media, printing press and modes of enetertainment such as music,plays, film, radio and Tv to the tremendous power of internet… It’s a fascinating read for everyone, but is essential for professionals of marketing and those in business, enetrtanment, media and control of sports franchises who want to stay relevant and not be left behind."
– Director Today, December 2019

About the Author
The inspiration and perspective for The Consumer Revolution: Tipping the Balance of Power comes from Naren’s 30-year career in the high-tech industry. He started his professional journey with a bachelors in computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and a masters in computer science from the University of California, Santa Barbara. This provided him an intrinsic understanding of the high-tech industry at work since the dawn of personal computing.

From there, Naren moved to Stanford University for his MBA degree, which he completed in 1992. After Stanford, Naren was hired by Microsoft Corporation to work on its product strategy efforts for interactive television, and subsequently the Internet.

After Microsoft, Naren worked at Trilogy Corporation, an enterprise software and dot com incubation company in the late 1990s. After Trilogy, Naren held the position of president at cFares Inc., a travel metasearch company similar to Kayak, and subsequently, Founder at MetaRail Inc., a networked commerce platform company