?These days people want
what?s real. The ?90s were
all about exuberance, but
now it?s authenticity.?
Trends
PLANNED SPONTANEITY:
What concert to see tonight? Whom to casually meet or date within the next hour? Which Southern European city to fly to for the weekend? Consumers soaking up the entertainment economy are increasingly taking advantage of a burgeoning physical and virtual web of no-frills airlines, always-on phones and PDAs, affordable hotels, last-minute/find-and-seek websites, and so on. TRENDWATCHING.COM has dubbed this trend of acting on a whim PLANNED SPONTANEITY: making spontaneous decisions to go somewhere or do something is becoming the norm; often the only thing consumers are willing to plan is to be… spontaneous!
And whereas these individual acts and purchases are fast becoming commonplace, focusing on the interconnectedness of a much larger web of instant gratification options and services will reveal some interesting insights into future consumer behavior. Sound slightly vague-ish? Then consider these random yet telling numbers:
Grab and fly in Amsterdam
Airlines have cut back on in flight service – this ofcourse open new possibilities for others – In Amsterdam they call it grab and fly . se the pictures here…
From hotdogs to coffe
A new type of kiosk has hit the Danish capital – coffe shops built into refurbished hot-dog stands se the pictures here… [Read more…] about From hotdogs to coffe
European beer drinkers paying more
– Premium beers are taking the European market by storm as consumers continue to dig deep into their pockets for a drink which offers them a little more than the standard brew. But this is not the only segment showing growth.
Total beer consumption in Europe rose by less than 3 per cent last year, but both the premium and super-premium segments grew more than 10 per cent, despite an overall downturn in consumer spending.
WI-FI in restaurants and coffe shops
Nobody seems to doubt the usefulness of Wi-Fi for the modern mobile worker – though some suggest portable may be a better phrase than mobile.
But semantics aside the one question few appear to be raising relates to the locations companies are choosing. Trains and planes make perfect sense, for obvious reasons, but some businesses appear to be undermining their very business models by jumping on the Wi-Fi bandwagon.
Trading Up: The New American Luxury
Restaurants are responding to a powerful consumer trend: a desire for fresh, made-to-order food, delivered quickly, at prices just above those at fast-food eateries, and served in an atmosphere that makes customers want to hang around.
Panera is one such example that has been spotlighted recently in the book Trading Up: The New American Luxury, by Michael J. Silverstein and Neil Fiske, based on studies by the Boston Consulting Group about the changing preferences of middle-income consumers.
The consultants define “new luxury” as the willingness of those with average household incomes of $50,000 a year to pay higher prices for select higher-quality products that give them emotional satisfaction. In a recent survey of middle-income Americans, the consulting group found that 85 percent said they spent more for premium-quality products. The reasons vary, but they boil down to: It makes them feel better and makes their lives more enjoyable.
Growing number of young female drinkers accros Europe
One of the most significant changes in European drinking patterns in recent years has been the increase in women?s drinking, the report suggests. Young British women aged between 18 and 24 are by far the largest female consumers of alcoholic drinks in Europe, with annual per capita consumption of 203 litres in 2002 in the UK, compared to only 59 litres amongst young Italian women.
Despite France?s high spend on on-trade drinking, most of this cash clearly comes from men, with per capita consumption among young adult women just 70 litres a year, well below the European average of 104 litres. In fact, France is second only to Italy in the preponderance of male drinkers.
Young Dutch women consume around 107 litres of alcohol per year, while their Swedish counterparts drink 82 litres. German women are second only to the Brits, with annual per capita consumption of 189 litres. The average in the rest of Europe is 93 litres.
All these consumption levels are set to rise, however, with young British women expected to increase their input to 242 litres by 2007, Datamonitor predicts. Once again, however, Spain is likely to show the biggest increase, with consumption of alcoholic drinks increasing by almost 60 per cent between 2002 and 2007 to an annual 115 litres per young adult woman.
?This is partly because Spain is a less mature market and capable of rapid growth as young adult women become economically independent and societal attitudes to women drinking become less censorious,? Russell explained.
Other, more modest, rises are likely to come across the seven countries examined by the report, with German consumption among young women rising to 209 litres and Dutch input reaching 114 litres.
Sweden, France and Italy will still show a marked tendency towards male drinking, with young female consumption increasing to just 95, 78 and 75 litres respectively. [Read more…] about Growing number of young female drinkers accros Europe