Trendwatching.com

Todays second blog is about another nice website for those who likes to follow up the worlds emerging trends. http://trendwatching.com/ is an independent and opinionated trend firm, scanning the globe for the most promising consumer trends, insights and related hands-on business ideas. For the latest and greatest, they rely on their network of hundreds of spotters in more than 120 countries worldwide.

They summerized the "10 Crucial Consumer Trends for 2010" in their January issue. They were;

1. Business as Unusual: Forget the recession: the societal changes that will dominate 2010 were set in motion way before we temporarily stared into the abyss.
2. Urbany: Urban culture is the culture. Extreme urbanization, in 2010, 2011, 2012 and far beyond will lead to more sophisticated and demanding consumers around the world.
3. Real-Time Reviews: Whatever it is you're selling or launching this year, it will be reviewed 'en masse', live, 24/7.
4. (F)luxury: Closely tied to what constitutes status (which is becoming more fragmented), luxury will be whatever consumers want it to be over the next 12 months.
5. Mass Mingling: Online lifestyles are fueling and encouraging 'real world' meet-ups like there's no tomorrow, shattering all cliches and predictions about a desk-bound, virtual, isolated future.
6. Eco-easy: To really reach some meaningful sustainability goals this year, corporations and governments will have to forcefully make it 'easy' for consumers to be more green, by restricting the alternatives.
7. Tracking & Alerting: Tracking and alerting are the new search, and 2010 will see countless new INFOLUST services that will help consumers expand their web of control.
8. Embedded Generosity: This year, generosity as a trend will adapt to the zeitgeist, leading to more pragmatic and collaborative donation services for consumers.
9. Profile Myning: With hundreds of millions of consumers now nurturing some sort of online profile, 2010 is a good year to introduce some services to help them make the most of it (financially), from intention-based models to digital afterlife services.
10. Maturalism: 2010 will be even more opinionated, risqué, outspoken, if not 'raw' than 2009; you can thank the anything-goes online world for that. Will your brand be as daring?

To read more of these trends and check the current February issue check the trendwatching.com.