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There's more 'innovation' happening than ever before. New brands, new niches, new concepts, new products, new services, and new experiences are flooding an equally fast expanding number of markets. Here are 41 new business ideas begging to be copied...
At the heart of ECO-ICONIC is a status shift; many consumers are eager to flaunt their green behavior and possessions because there are now millions of other consumers who are actually impressed by green lifestyles.
As more brands (have to) go niche and therefore tell stories that aren't known to the masses, and as experiences take over from physical status symbols, consumers will increasingly have to tell each other stories to achieve a status dividend from their purchases.
FREE LOVE: the ongoing rise in free, valuable stuff that's available to consumers online and offline. From AirAsia tickets to Wikipedia, and from diapers to music. Blame an all out war for consumers' ever-scarcer attention, the post-scarcity dynamics of the online world, the avalanche of free user generated content, and an emerging swapping and recycling culture.
An economy inhabited by experienced, well-informed consumers, whose expectations are based on years of self-training in hyperconsumption, and on the biblical flood of new-style, readily available information sources, curators and BS filters...
Rest assured there won’t be a shortage of emerging trends in 2008. To get you going, here are eight trends to watch and capitalize on in the new year. You have no excuse not to be in the know!
A new generation of consumers largely being ignored by marketers, authenticity trumping the eco-trend, a shift from design and beauty to blandness, daring forecasts for 2011 and more...
With 2008 only months away, this is a good time to hone your trend watching skills. Find out about the 'why' of trend spotting, the mindset required, the resources needed, the process of embedding trends into your organization, and how to actually apply these trends...
Women. The Mega Niche. The under-served market of all markets. And so on. Just consider the fact that women, who comprise just over 50% of the US population, make over 80% of the consumer purchasing decisions (and in case you're wondering, consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of US GNP).
Many brands now actively target the gay community, as even the most conservative execs have come to realise that there's just too much money to be made from well-to-do, happy-to-spend GLBT consumers. And merely acknowledging consumers who sadly are used to being ignored if not vilified, does wonders for brand loyalty.
BOOMING BUSINESS is what baby boomers are. Anyone from Tom Peters to Faith Popcorn to Wikipedia will be able to shower you with mouth-watering numbers and indicators, highlighting the amassed wealth of baby boomers in mature consumer societies around the world.
“(STILL) MADE HERE encompasses new and enduring manufacturers & purveyors of the local. In a world seemingly ruled by globalization, mass production and ‘Cheapest of the Cheapest’, a growing number of consumers are seeking out the local, and thus the authentic, the storied, the eco-friendly, and/or the obscure...”
"Old economy fog is clearing: no longer can incompetence be obscured. In its place has come a transparent, fully informed marketplace. TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY for some, TRANSPARENCY TRIUMPH for others." How about YOUR brand?...
The power of groups, the clout that crowds can exercise to get what they want, is nothing new. What is new, however, is the dizzying ease with which likeminded, action-ready consumers can now go online and connect, group and ultimately exert influence if not demand bulk discounts. Call it group power, call it CROWD CLOUT...
Freed from the shackles of convention and scarcity, immune to most advertising, and enjoying full access to information, reviews, and navigation, TRYSUMERS are trying out new appliances, new services, new flavors, new authors, new destinations, new artists, new outfits, new relationships, new anything with post mass-market gusto...
Five big trends/themes that are on our radar for 2007, dealing with status, transparency and consumer power, the online revolution, more adventurous consumption, and a shift to participation...
If consumers produce the content, if they are the content, and that content brings in money for aggregating brands, then revenue and profit-sharing is going to be one of 2007's main themes in the online space. Get ready for an avalanche of revenue sharing deals, reward schemes and sumptuous gifts aimed at luring creative members of GENERATION C(ASH).
TRANSUMERS are consumers driven by experiences instead of the ‘fixed’, by entertainment, by discovery, by fighting boredom, increasingly living a transient lifestyle, freeing themselves from the hassles of permanent ownership and possessions...
Well-known status symbols tied to owning and consuming goods and services will find worthy competition from 'STATUS SKILLS': those skills that consumers are mastering to make the most of those same goods and services (if not producing them themselves)...
Thousands of clever entrepreneurs, inventors, and marketers from all over are coming up with so many innovative ideas, that even innovation blogs have a hard time keeping track. There's an absolute INNOVATION OVERLOAD going on, and you have no excuse not to be part of it.
As a business professional, you can have the ride of a life time with YOUNIVERSAL BRANDING. There are interactive billboards to be placed, virtual product placement strategies to be executed, scripts to be written, friends to be made, avatars to be dressed, fed and equipped, and virtual stores to be opened.
The phenomenon of corporations creating goods, services and experiences in close cooperation with experienced and creative consumers, tapping into their intellectual capital, and in exchange giving them a direct say in (and rewarding them for) what actually gets produced, manufactured, developed, designed, serviced, or processed.
Experienced consumers are lusting after detailed information on where to get the best of the best, the cheapest of the cheapest, the first of the first, the healthiest of the healthiest, the coolest of the coolest, or on how to become the smartest of the smartest. Instant information gratification is upon us.
What if you're not in the business of exploiting BEING SPACES, like Starbucks, Manboo or Paragraph, yet you see the value of offering consumers a public place they actually like to be in, and not necessarily just to buy your stuff?
A special edition that's all about how to become better at trend watching yourself, including a detailed look at the resources, mindset and processes required. Start your own TREND UNIT today! (Note: this Briefing has been replaced and updated as TOP 5 TREND WATCHING TIPS »)
In a consumer society dominated by experiences in the (semi) public domain — often branded, designed, themed and curated to the nines, INSPERIENCES represent consumers desire to bring top-level, professional grade experiences into their domestic domain.
Not quite like our other trend descriptions, VIRTUAL ANTHROPOLOGY is about how to spot trends of your own, by soaking up what consumers are putting on display.
Status-craving consumers are hunting down the next wave in uber-exclusive goods, services and experiences that are truly out of reach for the masses, now that MASSCLUSIVITY has commoditized all but the most luxurious products on earth.
Make way for MINIPRENEURS: consumers who are increasingly involved with the creation, production and trading of goods, services and experiences, instead of merely consuming them. Why? Just because they finally can.
Welcome to HYGIENIA: a marketplace inhabited by mature consumers from South Korea to Brazil, from Australia to Canada, who can instantly and expertly point out the various hygiene factors for each and every good, service and experience on offer.
Word of mouth may be big, but consumers looking for the best of the best, the first of the first increasingly don't connect to 'just any other consumer' anymore, they are hooking up with (and listening to) their taste 'twins'; fellow consumers somewhere in the world who think, react, enjoy and consume the way they do.
CUSTOMER-MADE is getting bigger and bigger. Sure, we were bullish on this trend when we introduced this last November, but still, the sheer number of new CUSTOMER-MADE spottings and insights surprised even us. Which is why it was time for some special coverage!
Much has already been said about search-based advertising and initiating word of mouth as new and more relevant ways to replace mass advertising, but trendwatching.com has spotted a third alternative: TRYVERTISING, which is all about consumers becoming familiar with new products by actually trying them out.
The new riches will come from servicing the new niches. From hyper-individualization to millions of new niche producers to full transparency to no-cost inventory, mass will soon make way for niche. Neglect at own risk.
Demanding consumers are in a constant 'Ready To Go, READY-TO-KNOW' state of mind, expecting any information deemed relevant to be available instantly, at their own terms. Think of it as the Google effect (demanding and getting instant answers) permeating all aspects of daily life.
At the core of each of our mega/meta/macro trends are the new consumers, who create their own playgrounds, their own comfort zones, their own worlds... They're the MASTERS OF THE YOUNIVERSE!
Get ready for CUSTOMER-MADE: the phenomenon of corporations creating goods, services and experiences in close cooperation with consumers, tapping into their intellectual capital, and in exchange giving them a direct say in what actually gets produced, manufactured, developed, designed, serviced, or processed. Consumerism will never be the same!
In a consumer society and outside world dominated by experiences, preferably branded, designed, themed and curated to the nines, INSPERIENCE represents consumers' desire to invite brands offering experiences exclusive to the (semi) public domain, to set up shop within their own domestic domain.
Make way for the emerging trend of CURATED CONSUMPTION: millions of consumers following and obeying the new curators of style and taste in an ever growing number of B2C industries. So stop listening to your customers, and tell them what to do!
The phenomenon of five star hotels joining forces with real estate developers, to offer services that were previously for guests only, to owners of luxury residential properties located next to or even on top of sumptuous hotels. Think exclusive access to the spa, bellboys walking the dog, guaranteed reservations in Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurants, or 24/7 room service instead of Domino's. Needless to say, learnings aplenty for other B2C industries as well.
Consumers are collecting, storing and displaying their entire lives, for personal use, or for friends and family, even the entire world to peruse. The necessary enablers are in place for what trendwatching.com has dubbed LIFE CACHING, with Nokia, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Samsung and many more getting into the game.
JetBlue, Song, Target, HEMA, Muji all prime examples of low cost goods and services that add design, high quality elements or exceptional customer service to create top quality experiences at bottom prices.
Advance online bookings, early notifications and pre-ordering are attracting hundreds of thousands of early birds and early adopters around the world.
Multitasking to make way for HYPERTASKING: doing loads of things simultaneously is moving from the desktop to consumers' daily lives!
The twin-trend to HYPERTASKING? A fast growing class of products and services catering to consumers' need for simplicity, from domestic services to 'Saturday-Plus' subscriptions.
What do a drop-off shop for online auctions, a photographer specializing in flattering snaps for dating sites, and tasty sandwiches sold at airport gates have in common? They're all part of an ongoing surge in FEEDER BUSINESSES; small, sometimes tiny, new businesses and services that feed (off) New Economy (there, we said it!) stars like eBay, Google, Match.com, or Amazon.
C is for Content. The GENERATION C phenomenon captures the tsunami of consumer generated content that is building on the Web, adding tera-peta bytes of new text, images, audio and video on an ongoing basis.
A vital combination of 'mature' consumers pursuing a seemingly restrained 'best of the best' materialism is driving the trend in ditching mundane goods and services for more professional, premium or sassier versions.
From gallery-like shopping spaces with one-off exhibitions to mobile units bringing innercity-chic to rural areas, TRENDWATCHING.COM has spotted an emerging trend in temporary retail manifestations around the world.
New and innovative micro-selling methods aimed at new consumers in developing mega-economies like China, India, The Philippines, Mexico and Brazil. It's all about serving up products, services and loans in affordable sachets or sizes.
Forget 'MIC' (Made in China), or even 'MFC' (Made for China). How about OBC : OWNED BY CHINA?
Making spontaneous decisions to go somewhere or do something is becoming the norm; often the only thing consumers are willing to plan is to be... spontaneous! Dating and low fare airlines are just two pieces of the ever expanding puzzle.
Design-driven innovation, based around changing customer needs, will always be disruptive across many industries. Just ask hoteliers.
Millions of global citizens will want to — and be able to afford to — live in communities stripped of crime, bad weather and bad housing. NATIONS*LITE* like the United Arab Emirates and the Freedom Ship are rolling out the red carpet.
You can find anything on anyone online these days: so why not 'Google' your first-time customers and offer them personalized services from day one of your '1:1 relationship'?
Forward thinking companies like South Korean Telecom and US-based Speakeasy are embracing technology and consumers. Have you DIGITALLY EMBRACED your customers today, or are you still in DIGITAL DENIAL?
MASS CLASS puts any Shanghai and Prague shopper making $5000 a year on par with Swiss and US consumers bagging $5,000 a month.
600 million consumers worldwide are beginning to see online access as an absolute necessity, and there are no signs that the pace of integrating online access into daily life is slowing down.
Dormant products, brands, logos, campaigns and spokespersons that still live on in the collective consumer conscience, even though the actual merchandise has long ceased to exist. From New Beetle to Ovaltine.
In a world where Newbies are turning into OLDBIES by the hundreds of millions, there is NO excuse for not having a state of the art website, world-class online customer service, or cutting edge ecommerce offerings.
For years now, American and European consumers have benefited from new, low-cost airlines and other standardized services modeled after Southwest Airlines and UK's EasyGroup. Are Asian consumers next?
Combine native websites with burgeoning immigrant communities abroad, and you have just one of the new business opportunities supported by the IMMI-MERCE trend.
Say good bye to 'tourists', from now on you will have to cater to TRANSUMERS: consumers in transit.
Vast groups of immigrants now travel back and forth between their old and new homelands. New business opportunities galore, especially on national holidays, from the US to China.
With the internet invading every aspect of daily life, it is no surprise that websites are starting to mirror addresses of the brick and mortar world. Does your apartment building have a residence-net yet?
Smart governments put their former citizens to good use. Forget embassies, this is where business really gets done;-). The Indian government seems to agree.
The art of spotting a promising local new business and then quickly copying the concept to other cities, countries or continents. You don't have to come up with the Next Big Thing, just spot it. (Oh how we wish we'd spotted Starbucks in Seattle a few years ago!)
Thousands, even millions of ordinary folks will start reporting to central entities to track and trace anything that moves. Dutch celebrities for example.
It's all about real time information and insights into every aspect of global culture. Want to know what's hot in Tokyo's streets as we speak?
All about marketing previously 'scarce' tech products as 'bundled commodities' and bringing them within reach of all members of a family. Cellular phones for the entire family from AT&T Wireless for example!
From rock stars' cribs to consumers' dreams. MTV has invented a new kind of testimonial.
trendwatching.com predicts a SECOND .COMING for hundreds of failed dotcom ideas and concepts. The IDEAS, not the financial plans that is ;-)
In only seven years time, black boxes have grown from mysterious devices on jumbo jets to ubiquitous event-recorders...
Festivals are spawning siblings intent on capturing a piece of the buzz, action and attention surrounding these gatherings, at a fraction of the cost.
Physical goods that cannot, by nature, be hurried into their desired shape, look or state. Which means some consumers want to pay extra to skip the wait.
A mix of real-time thrills, instant gratification and appealing to customers-in-the-know that should inspire creative marketers. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts is leading the way.
See. Hear. Buy. Instantly. Oh, the goods you can sell in a world where everything can be traced back to a store!
Amateurs-turned-professionals post reviews, criticisms, software, and God knows what else on the web — an untapped gold mine for marketers, and a source of worry or opportunity for corporations at large.
How certain focused and well respected brands are cashing in by enriching other, more all-encompassing brands. Think Godiva bonbons popping up in boutique hotels.
It-ISM increasingly follows certain rules, giving creative entrepreneurs and marketers the opportunity to reap the It-RICHES before anyone else. Will Peruvian be the It-CUISINE in 2005?
When children are past their spoiling date, it's finally safe to start giving. Wealthy baby-boomers, pay attention.
Rich countries sell excess and second-hand goods to newly capitalist neighbors. Who then in turn may do the same five years from now.
Increased migration of wealthy, aging baby boomers to sunny climes creates a plethora of opportunities in regions undergoing Floridasation. Think Spain in the European Union.
According to a June 2002 report, more than 7,000,000 people worldwide possess investable assets of at least US$1 million. Their recession is different from the one the masses have to battle through.
'Forgotten' holiday destinations finding favor with new nations of tourists. Here come the Chinese, Russians and Bulgarians!
Where graffiti meets vanity: catering to the obsession of ordinary citizens wanting to leave ‘something’ behind.
Unfounded resistance to spending money on minor indulgences, even though one’s personal wealth and prosperity allow for it. Eliminating it should be a holy grail for many marketers.
'Exclusivity for the masses’ can be an instant add-on and revenue booster for many goods and services. When was the last time you felt privileged?
'Exclusivity for the masses’ can be an instant add-on and revenue booster for many goods and services. When was the last time you felt privileged?
Describes the phenomenon of turning completely mundane commodities into chic, popular luxury items or goods. Forty kinds of salt, anyone?
Commercial living-room-like settings that facilitate small office/living room activities like reading a book, checking email, meeting friends, or doing your admin. Oh, and have a coffee of course!
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