A couple weeks back we were approached about the subject of trends versus fads. Some say that the difference between a fad and a trend is the number of industries it affects. A fad often appears in a single industry and rarely crosses over into others.

 

This definition works well for the fashion industry, but things become a bit gray when you adopt the same metrics for food, lifestyle, and new media. In a culture that vastly slices and dices industries into unique categories, it is becoming more difficult to define using the appropriate measurement. For example, you could segment the food industry into location based on the customer's experience: QSR, restaurants, fast food, etc. or alternately by channel: manufacturing, wholesale, retail, etc.

 

 

 

Gone are the days when a color or single trend will make or break a year. Things move too fast for magic wands or fairy dust.

 

Understanding and executing on trends are key elements on creating an inspirational journey. In an ever changing market, it is more important than ever to know the triggers that will cause your customers to open their wallets. The development of products and services centered around the most viable trend must work in tandem with value, design, and quality to ride the wave of acquisition and adoption. People are willing to spend if you give them the right incentive at the right time.

 

This week we created forward-thinking intelligence for two firms focused on delivering value and quality in the digital arena. For Medium we created a 2012 Forecast outlining for key trends for building successful brands. Themes of the post include concepts like cultural consciousness, smart commerce and less-ism. You can access that content free of charge here.

 

Secondly, we shared some social media tips and tricks with the team at Pluggio.com. The interview outlines what drives consumer culture when building out a digital brand and is a must read for businesses dedicating more resources to new media in 2012. That interview is available online here.

 

This is just a snapshot of what we track and we understand that, for many of you, our free content is enough to keep you going in 2012. In addition to our subscription services, we'll be hitting the road to talk about how trends are shaping the changing future. If you want to connect with us IRL (In Real Life), drop us a line or check back for an updated listing of conferences and speaking engagements.

 

 

 

A collection of statistics and predictions about the most wonderful time of the year...

 

FOOD

- Consumer spending by destination: According to SymphonyIRI's Holiday Shopping 2011 survey, 88% of holiday meal shoppers will frequent grocery stores, while 45% will shop in club stores, followed by mass merchandisers (41%), supercenters (37%), dollar stores (8%) and drug stores (7%).

- Respondents in new research released from Accenture highlighted rising food bills (46%), gas prices (41%), concerns about the economy (39%), and home energy bills (38%) as the biggest factors that would negatively affect their holiday spending.

 

FASHION

- Online holiday sales poised for growth with promotion-heavy tactics like free shipping according to the National Retail Federation. Nine in 10 online retailers (92.5%) say they plan on offering the service at some point and more than half of retailers (52.9%) plan to start their online holiday marketing and promotions by Halloween (up from the 40 percent who planned to do so last year).

- Share of wallet: 52% of consumers plan to spend $500 or more on gifts this season according to PriceGrabber. Of those surveyed, 36% said they will spend less than $500, and 12% indicated that they do not have a budget.

- Retail finance study reveals retailers generally pessimistic about U.S. economy: 76% of Retail Executives Expect Financial Crisis Will Extend into 2012 or Beyond, 74% See Holiday Retail Sales Improving Slightly or Staying About the Same as Last Year and 63% Believe Change in Health Care Costs and Regulations Will Be Negative for Their Businesses.

 

CULTURE

- Get mobile friendly: Using mobile phones to comparison-shop or tablet computers to do research is becoming more popular. More than one-third of tablet owners, 34.8%, said that they plan to buy items on their device according to a National Retail Federation report.

- Year-round purchasing: Almost half of consumers have been looking for deals throughout the year when shopping for those on their holiday gift list, while just 18 percent are planning to wait to shop on Black Friday or Cyber Monday according to a Offers.com/Ipsos study.

We've been watching global trends and the influence and inspiration from India since Slumdog Millionaire tipped the cultural scale and Indian beauty entrepreneur, Shahnaz Husain, was featured in the Wall Street Journal.

This pop-up marks another interesting twist on how and when trends evolve into mainstream reality.