Redirection

Trend - CPG brands are releasing flavored breakfast bars designed for children. These breakfast bars are made soft and easy-to-chew, while also being rich in nutrients. These are designed to replace occasional breakfasts for children during busy days.

Insight - Parents with busy schedules may not always have time to prepare full balanced breakfasts for their children. However, most parents do not want to give their kids non-nutritious breakfasts, such as fast-food meals or microwave meals, when busy. As a result, these parents seek out solutions that are quick and easy to serve, but do not compromise on health or nutritional value. Brands are responding to these pressures with convenient breakfast bars designed specifically for younger children.

Trend - Brands in the more designer end of the tech spectrum are releasing products with stretchable and malleable displays. These use AMOLED technology and are built in such a way that they can be twisted and bent without breaking or stopping the image from being displayed.

Insight - Businesses and startups with more niche product ideas often run into barriers when trying to bring a concept product to reality. These barriers can include cost, scale, or simply the feasibility of the product in general. Many such products in the technology space are limited due to physical limitations regarding battery sizes or screen sizes, amongst other potential issues. In order to address these concerns, designer tech brands are creating malleable displays for unique product ideas.

Trend - Retailers across various industries, such as home and garden, crafts, and even electronics are launching with an emphases on DIY projects. By focusing on DIY, these retailers mainly provide base components rather than prebuilt items, often leading to significantly lower prices than competitors.

Insight - Many consumers prioritize saving money over saving time. When shopping for furniture, for example, consumers opt to buy more affordable DIY furniture rather than more expensive pre-built options. These priorities are now extending to other industries, with consumers in adjacent spaces opting for more engaging DIY solutions in search of both a hobby and a method of saving money. In order to appeal to these consumers in a broader sense, specialized retailers with a focus on DIY are opening.

Trend - Luxury fashion labels across Europe and Asia are opening dedicated restaurants and cafes. These are designed to transform the boutiques from simple shopping ventures, to full-blown experiences. The experiential retail helps build consumer connections to one another and the brand.

Insight - In major cities across East Asia, in-person retail is once again thriving. Consumers in these regions have a wealth of options when going shopping, leading to them becoming more preferential in their destinations, seeking out unique retailers rather than simply shopping for necessities. This is a way of prioritizing feelings and experiences rather than simple errands. In order to appeal to this type of consumer, fashion labels are making their boutiques more appealing with dedicated cafes.

Trend - Retailers in various industries, such as department stores, luxury brands, and more, are launching in-store lounges and experiential events. These events are designed to enhance the comfort of shoppers while deepening the connection between the shoppers and the brand.

Insight - While many consumers made a strong shift toward online shopping over the past decade, in large part accelerated by the pandemic, there are still cases to be made for in-store shopping. Some consumers prefer to be able to touch a product before purchasing it, while others value the inherit socialization of in-store shopping, and prefer to interact with others and immerse themselves in the retail environment. Capitalizing off of this feeling, retailers are opening experiential lounges in-stores.

Trend - SaaS companies are launching Artficial Intelligence (AI)-based tools that gather and analyze both customer feedback and product information to provide recommendations for product managers. These tools are designed to automate monotonous tasks and free up time for managerial action.

Insight - Product managers face challenges in making data-driven decisions and handling large volumes of data. These users are often stretched thin, and gravitate toward organization and automation platforms, particularly those related to more monotonous tasks. In order to appeal to these users, brands are creating AI-based consumer and product analysis tools designed to provide actionable insights from datasets comprised of consumer priorities and demands, as well as product information.

Trend - Brands from various industries, including non-gaming related ones, are collaborating with gaming hardware manufacturers on co-branded controllers. These controllers offer mutually-beneficial advertising for brands, while the unique designs function as statement pieces for the consumers.

Insight - Individuality and self-expression is a core priority for humans in general. Consumers do not want to have exactly what everyone else has, and instead are more likely to purchase products that reflect their own values or interests. This can materialize in the form of clothing and home decor, but also in terms of accessory and technology choices, with even earphones being a form of self-expression. To offer more expression options for gamers, brands are releasing co-branded game controllers.

Trend - Gen Z is transforming the pickle market with a fresh, trendy approach that combines unique flavors, clean ingredients, and eye-catching branding. Good Girl Snacks epitomizes this trend with vibrant, Y2K-style branding and engaging social media presence. This demographic's obsession with pickles is reflected in the massive engagement on TikTok, where hashtags like #pickle and #picklesnack boast billions of views.

Insight - Branding plays a critical role in capturing Gen Z's attention, particularly for everyday pantry items. This generation's food choices extend beyond mere culinary preference, often serving as cultural statements that reflect identity and values. Take, for example, the resurgence of the pickle. Similar to past food fads, Gen Z's current fixation has elevated this familiar snack into a cultural touchstone, with brands capitalizing on its popularity through creative marketing strategies.

Trend - Luxury home furnishing brands are releasing more affordable product lines to appeal to a wider range of consumers. These products blend the aesthetics and build quality of luxury brands with more affordable materials to offer products with few compromises, thus appealing to younger consumers.

Insight - The average Millennial and Gen Z consumers may not have the amount of disposable income required to invest in luxury products in all aspects of their life. However, many such consumers are embracing the 'Micro Luxury' trend, investing in select luxury products that they can afford in areas of life they prioritize. These consumers invest in higher-end furnishings, appliances, or artworks that emulate luxury living on a budget, curbing the need for constant purchases, and leading to money saved.

Trend - Tech startups are creating AI-powered apps and companion devices that serve to complete more downsized, simple tasks. These tools do not generate complex creative work or serve as replacements for professional tasks, and instead are used to make regular day-to-day life more efficient.

Insight - Some of the most impressive consumer use cases for generative AI tools relate to creative and professional fields. Tools that can generate lifelike images, videos, stories, or automate workplace tasks took the internet by storm due to their impressive promise. However many consumers believe these creative fields should primarily remain human-created. Brands are catering to these consumers by releasing downsized AI tools that save time in other areas to enable more focus on creative, tasks.