Acceleration

Trend - Just a few years after AI-powered chefs debuted in numerous restaurant pilots, brands are now adapting this technology to the home kitchen. These cooking devices help ensure consistency in cooking while making the process more efficient due to their advanced AI.

Insight - Luxury consumers favor convenience and automation in the home as time-saving measures, rather than cost-saving ones. These consumers have extra money they are willing to spend to make their busy lives easier, leading to fully-equipped smart homes or appliances on timers. One area these strive for more automation in is the kitchen. Previously, these consumers would hire personal human chefs if they did not enjoy cooking themselves. Brands are filling this luxe gap through the use of AI.

Trend - New artificial intelligence (AI)-powered startups are launching tools that create detailed custom videos from detailed text prompts. These tools use generative AI to quickly create and edit videos to the users' liking, which is excellent for creative expression and advertising alike.

Insight - With the influx of artificial intelligence services, consumers and businesses alike are becoming increasingly familiar with integrating this technology into daily tasks. These generative AI tools offer near-instant results for consumers with creative ideas, individual startups, or even large-scale businesses working on ad campaigns. The promise of fast, affordable, personalized products from generative AI has led to consumers gravitating towards these services over alternatives.

Trend - New startups are launching generative AI-powered platforms for language education. These platforms improve on previous language education services by delivering more advanced feedback, streamlined lessons, and reduced costs for consumers.

Insight - The largest and most successful language education platforms focus on short-session, asynchronous learning models. These consumers prioritize flexibility, choosing platforms that fit into their busy lifestyles. However, many platforms with flexible lessons are less effective than real-time, scheduled, human-led lessons. Brands are now mixing the convenience of asynchronous platforms with the effectiveness of lessons curated by human teachers by using advanced generative AI to power educational platforms.

Trend - Brands in the micro-mobility space have begun using hydraulic braking mechanisms in e-bikes and e-scooters. These brakes are more expensive than standard mechanical brakes but are safer and more reliable when braking at high speeds, which are more often achieved by e-bikes and e-scooters.

Insight - Traditional bike consumers are familiar with maintenance and small repairs on their bikes. However, consumers drawn to e-bikes and e-scooters are more motivated by convenience and are less willing to perform maintenance to ensure the bike is in perfect working order. These consumers are willing to pay larger premiums upfront to not spend on maintenance costs downstream, leading to brands using premium alternatives for components that are more prone to fail.

Trend - Brands in the home appliance space are launching smart fridges with UV light-controlled crispers that mimic the sun cycle. These fridges extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables and ensure the foods retain as many vitamins as possible. This technology saves consumers money and time.

Insight - As North American consumers become more interested in personal health and wellness, these consumers incorporate this lifestyle into their daily routines. This includes healthy eating, exercise, and other wellness products. However, as natural, organic foods often retail for more than the regular alternatives, these consumers aim to reduce costs and preserve their foods for longer. This created a space in the industry for smart storage appliances that extend the life of foods.

Trend - Brands are creating ultrasonic purifiers that extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. These purifiers use ultrasonic waves to kill bacteria that grow on food during spoilage significantly more effectively than washing with water, saving customers money and reducing food waste.

Insight - With food prices rising at sharp rates due to inflation and other economic factors, the average consumer can not afford to have food spoil before it is eaten. These customers want food to be readily available for cooking, meaning they do not want to freeze food to extend its life. As a result, these customers turn to technological solutions that can preserve foods for longer without requiring extra prep time or work when the food is needed.

Trend - Gaming furniture and peripheral brands are launching gaming-focused chairs with built-in surround sound speaker systems. These chairs are immersive and comfortable, offering directional audio without the discomfort of a headset, enabling longer, more enjoyable gaming sessions.

Insight - Modern gamers continually seek devices that improve their performance, comfort, or experience. These players seek whatever products offer a competitive edge without breaking the bank. This involves purchasing multipurpose devices, such as multiplatform peripherals or heavily adjustable chairs for ergonomics. Brands have responded to this pressure by launching furniture with smart features. These appease the consumer's desire for increased performance, cost-saving, and personal comfort.

Trend - The kitchen appliances that make food prep more convenient for consumers often require significant maintenance, including proper cleaning. Now, some appliance brands are creating products with self-cleaning functions that reduce time spent on maintaining the quality of these items.

Insight - With so many North American families being dual-income, household maintenance and cleaning is a necessity that some people can't prioritize amid their busy schedules. These consumers turn to brands that help them maintain the cleanliness of their living spaces with minimal effort--and investing in automated cleaning tech is an effective way to accomplish this.

Trend - Sports brands are entering the metaverse with web3 experiences such as virtual reality (VR) worlds, collectible NFTs, and online events. These services deepen community involvement in sports, providing a convenient and accessible way for fans to connect with athletes and each other.

Insight - Sports fans are a very community-involved group, frequently connecting with fellow fans through fantasy leagues, watch parties, and discussions. This group wants to take its involvement in sports even further and is willing to try new services and experiences to achieve this goal. The popularity of the metaverse provides a means of filling this desire, as it offers convenient community-building, as well as exclusive perks and collectibles that further immerse fans in sports.

Trend - Companies are introducing fishing traps that are ropeless and located with acoustic signals. These traps have self-inflating balloons to allow them to surface when called, and can be used more than ten times. This results in fewer fish and whales caught in unnecessary ropes.

Insight - Commercial fishing is essential to maintaining an affordable supply of seafood for customers. However, this fishing is often destructive to the aquatic environment due to single-use traps and materials being lost in the water. For customers who do not consider the sustainability of fishing, reducing costs and increasing supply is a real desire. This puts pressure on companies to deploy more efficient, more sustainable methods of fishing that reduce costs across the board.