Enterprise UK Blog

I’ve just been reading the latest summary of the Trend Watch briefing, which highlights some trends for 2009.

Number one trend is NICHETRIBUTES, which are attributes / features or additions to existing products, making them more practical for specific user groups. An example is ‘Dots Gloves‘ – knit gloves with metal dots on the fingertips that won’t scratch iPhones, iPods or other touch-screen phones or devices. Hopefully our Ideas MashUp activity for colleges will unearth some of these nichetributes!

Number two is Luxyoury – which is about the consumer defining luxury.

Three is Feedback 3.0, which we’re already seeing on sites like Trip Advisor.

* FEEDBACK 1.0 (one of those early web phenomena) saw outraged individuals posting scathing reviews, feedback and complaints. Brands remained unaware or chose not to listen, dismissing these outbursts the way they’d dismissed any kind of customer dissatisfaction for decades.
* FEEDBACK 2.0 (which we’re in right now) is about these rants—and some raves—having gone ‘mass’. The long-predicted conversation is finally taking place, albeit amongst consumers and not, as intended, between corporations and consumers. Companies have started to take note, but to a large degree still choose to listen, not talk back, trying to ‘learn’ from the for-all-to-see review revolution.
* FEEDBACK 3.0 (which is building as we speak) will be all about companies joining the conversation, if only to get their side of the story in front of the mass audience that now scans reviews. Expect smart companies to be increasingly able (and to increasingly demand) to post their apologies and solutions, preferably directly alongside reviews from unhappy customers.

At four is Econcierge the firms and services dedicated to helping households go green in any possible way. One of our ambassadors, Ben Way, is already making the most of this trend having founded and invested in Go Green Plumbing.

Five is Mapmania where brands partner or experiment with map-based services. Examples include See Your Hotel and Wrrl We love maps here at Make Your Mark and will be experimenting with them ourselves.

Six is Happy Ending – out of the doom and gloom good things will happen. This is how Trend Watch explains it.
# 2009 will be an excellent year for those businesses keen on showing consumers that they really care. Offering respect and relevance (NICHETRIBUTES), listening to real-time needs and wants (FEEDBACK 3.0), helping people to save money while being green (ECONCIERGE): all of this will not be forgotten by consumers that are currently feeling the heat.
# At the same time, this is a great moment to innovate: shrinking budgets and diminishing revenues from existing offerings normally bring out the best and most creative in business professionals.
# But the most important side effect of more austere times is probably that consumers start questioning what truly makes them happy, which more often than not steers them towards the realization that happiness ain’t (just) about traditional consumption. Expect pockets of consumers to switch to lower-consumption models with surprising ease, and to look for different and less costly sources of happiness and thus, ultimately, status. Any way you can help them with that will be a guaranteed winner.

Last but not least, to apply these six trends, ask yourself if they have the potential to:

1. Influence or shape your company’s vision.
2. Inspire you to come up with a new business concept, an entirely new venture, a new brand.
3. Add a new product, service or experience for a certain customer segment.
4. Speak the language of those consumers already ‘living’ a trend.

Happy innovating and creating! And don’t forget we have lots of inspiring stories, useful links and resources to help you on your way.

Please tell us when you come across examples of these trends.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 11:56 am and is filed under Entrepreneurship, For fun, Global Entrepreneurship Week, Innovation, Web/Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.