New Year with New Trends

I believe, the best way to start a new year is by getting know the 11 crucial consumer trends for 2011.
It is again from trendwatching.com. Please click on "Read more" buttons for each following trend briefings.
Enjoy...


1. RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS.

In 2011, expect companies to monitor consumers' public moods and act upon them with random acts of kindness...marketing may never be the same ;-) Read more »

2. URBANOMICS.
Are you ready for hundreds of millions of more daring, more experienced consumers? Oh, and that's just one side effect of rapid global urbanization... Read more »

3. PRICING PANDEMONIUM.
Flash sales, group buying, GPS-driven deals: this year, pricing will never be the same... Read more »

4. MADE FOR CHINA (IF NOT BRIC).
Expect an increasing number of 'Western' brands to launch new products or even new brands dedicated (if not paying proper respect) to consumers in emerging markets... Read more »

5. ONLINE STATUS SYMBOLS.
This year, you can’t go wrong supplying your (online-loving) customers with any kind of symbol, virtual or 'real world', that helps them display to peers their online contributions, creations or popularity... Read more »

6. WELLTHY.
As good health is now as important to some consumers as having the biggest, newest or shiniest status symbols, growing numbers of consumers will expect health products and services in the next 12 months (and beyond) to prevent misery (if not improve their quality of life), rather than merely treating illnesses and ailments... Read more »

7. SOCIAL-LITES AND TWINSUMERS.
Expect even more consumers to become curators: broadcasting, compiling, commenting, sharing and recommending content, products, purchases, and experiences to both their friends and wider audiences... Read more »

8. EMERGING GENEROSITY.
Brands and wealthy individuals from emerging markets (yes, especially China) will increasingly be expected to give, donate, care and sympathize versus just sell and take. And not just in their home countries, but on a global scale... Read more »

9. PLANNED SPONTANEITY.
With lifestyles having become fragmented, with dense urban environments offering consumers any number of instantly available options, and with cell/smartphones having created a generation who have little experience of making (or sticking to) rigid plans, this new year will see full-on PLANNED SPONTANEITY... Read more »

10. ECO SUPERIOR.
When it comes to 'green consumption', expect a rise in ECO-SUPERIOR products: products that are not only eco-friendly, but superior to polluting incumbents in every possible way... Read more »

11. OWNER-LESS.
This could be the year when sharing and renting really tips into mainstream consumer consciousness as big brands and governments put their weight behind this cultural shift... Read more »


Source: www.trendwatching.com. One of the world's leading trend firms, trendwatching.com sends out its free, monthly Trend Briefings to more than 160,000 subscribers worldwide.

Emerging Market Innovations by trendwatching.com

I am following a very good trend watching site, which is also called "trendwatching.com" :-)
The latest briefing of the site is about the emerging markets and their unknown innovation stories.
Here are some interesting facts about this issue:

• Developing economies "have accounted for nearly 70 percent of world growth over the past five years". (Source: Carnegie, 2010)



• The GDP of Emerging and Developing Economies accounted for 20% of world GDP in 2000, 34% in 2010, and an estimated 39% by 2015. (Source: IMF, 2010)



• The global emerging middle class now stands at two billion people who spend USD 6.9 trillion a year, a figure which is expected to rise to USD 20 trillion - twice current US consumption - by 2020. (Source: McKinsey, July 2010)



• Developing countries will account for two thirds of world trade in 2050. (Source: Carnegie, 2010)



• The GDP of emerging markets will grow to be about 1.3 times the size of advanced economies in 2050. China will be approximately twice the size of the United States in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. (Source: Carnegie, 2010)



• India now has more rich households than poor, with 46.7 million high income households as compared to 41 million in the low income category. 62 per cent of Indian households belong to the middle class (Source: National Council of Applied Economic Research, August 2010)



• 700 million people will start using the Internet in Asia in the next 5 years (Source: McKinsey; September 2010)

To see the real innovation examples from the site please follow the link and read the current November briefing: http://www.trendwatching.com/briefing/

FYI, for me the examples from China and Brasil are the most interesting innovations. Feel free to select yours...
Cheers.

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.