What was the significance of consumerism in the empire/colony relationship?

The consumerist lifestyle in the American colonies was fueled by increased manufacturing production in England (the mother country) and its export of British products to the colonies. The ready availability of imported quality products and the corresponding rising incomes among the colonists supported the consumerist culture in America. So, consumerism was significant in the empire/colony relationship in that it sustained the continued prosperity of the British empire for a time. The new consumerist culture also fueled the growth of the Triangular Trade, which benefited both the American colonies and the British empire, again for a time.

The Triangular Trade involved trade between three parties: shipments of munitions, hardware, and cloth from England would be shipped to Africa; in Africa, these goods would be traded for slaves to work on tobacco and cotton plantations in the American South or on sugar plantations in the Caribbean; in the American colonies or Caribbean, these slaves would be traded for sugar, rum, and tobacco to be shipped back to England. 

Ironically, the increasing consumerist culture in the colonies also inspired colonist rebellion against the mother country. Because of England's massive war debts after the French and Indian war, it unilaterally enforced the Navigation Acts, prohibiting the American colonies from trading with other European nations. For its part, England needed the colonies to help it meet its financial obligations. Meanwhile, the colonists chafed under such trade and economic constraints. The American appetite for exotic goods showed so signs of abating, and the rising middle classes in the colonies rebelled against trade restrictions that negatively affected economic prosperity and the availability of certain goods. Thus, the consumerist culture fueled the tax revolts that eventually brought about the American Revolution.

So, consumerism was significant in the empire/colony relationship in that it stimulated the slave trade (through the Triangular Trade), promoted economic prosperity in both the colonies and England, as well as provoked the tax revolts that eventually inspired the American Revolution.

Source: Sports in American History, 2E: From Colonization to Globalization by Gems, Gerald, Borish, Linda, Pfister, Gertrud.