2010 Consumer Trends
Jan 08 2010
Retail Wrap >>

Look out for the following top consumer trends in 2010:

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. For the first time, there’s a global understanding, if not a feeling of urgency that sustainability, in every possible meaning of the word, is the only way forward. How that should or shouldn’t impact consumer societies is of course still part of a raging debate, but at least there is a debate.
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. According to the Global Report on Human Settlements 2009 less than 5% of the world’s population lived in cities a century ago. In 2008, that figure exceeded 50%. In the last two decades alone, the urban population of the developing world has grown by an average of 3 million people per week. By 2050, it will have reached 70%.
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. So don't worry about missing out on the next big thing in luxury, focus on defining it. How? By finding and coining the right (status) trigger for the right audience.
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. And no, we’re not referring to companies / advertisers making money from personal profiles, even though they’re dying to ‘mine’ personal data to serve up 'relevant' ads; we're putting our money on data and profile mining by its rightful owners, i.e. consumers.
10. Muturialism 2010 will be even more opinionated, risqué, outspoken, if not 'raw' than 2009; you can thank the anything-goes online world for that. Audiences in mature consumer societies no longer tolerate being treated like yesteryear’s uninformed, easily shocked, inexperienced, middle-of-the-road consumer.

Adapted from Source: www.trendwatching.com, January 2010