Consumer Insights > Business

Implications - As consumers seek to prioritize their mental and emotional well-being, services that streamline access to tools and products that support those goals are on the rise. More than just convenience, subscription services and personalized kits are tapping into self-care products as way to better integrate themselves into the health and wellness routines of their customers. Curating products that help support everything holistic health to seasonal skincare routines, these examples speak to how brands are offering goods that speak to specific rituals and desires, as opposed to merely functional benefits.

Homework Question - How can you offer more of a lifestyle than mere product or service? [More]

Implications - Streamlining home tasks and chores even further, brands and services are offering delivery services and unique programs to make everyday rituals more convenient. As they say, time is money, and consumers are constantly looking for ways to cut back on everything from making their beds to washing their clothes. Subscription services, at-home delivery and automated pick-up of traditionally mundane products like detergent and bed sheets are paving the way for more seamless household routines. Such services speak to the on-going desire for automation in even the most minuscule and mundane of tasks.

Homework Question - How does your product or service fit into your consumer's daily rituals. How could you automate that to be more seamless for the end user? [More]

Implications - The fast fashion industry is taking cues from its high-end counterparts by offering retail spaces that are minimalist in design, and in the quantity of clothing and accessories they display. These shops allow for consumers to feel the same level of exclusivity they would at high-end stores, but at much more accessible prices.

Homework Question - Conceptualize a minimalist retail space for your product/service. [More]

Implications - Some brick-and-mortar retail spaces no longer require that customers test out clothes before they purchase, as mirrors, VR and AR tech are allowing for shoppers to see what the items would look like on them without having to actually try them on. Such tools allow for brands to offer enhance the purchase journey via novelty and personalization.

Homework Question - Conceptualize an AR/VR tool that your brand could use in an app, in-store, or in its product/service. [More]

Implications - Appealing to consumers' desire to realize their full potential, tech companies are releasing products with a focus on their ability to improve productivity. Often adopting a tech-enabled form of gamification to reach that end, this shift is reflective of the increasing role brands have to play when it comes to helping consumers become their idealized selves.

Homework Question - What are your consumers trying to achieve in their lives? How could you better align your brand with those goals? [More]

Implications - Brands are looking to adjacent or unrelated industries in order to form unique, collaborative pop-up and experiential campaigns for their customers. These joint experiences prove the impact of cross-collaboration in being perceived as innovative by consumers, while offering social media-friendly spaces that enhance loyalty.

Homework Question - Conceptualize a collaborative pop-up space with a business in an industry unrelated to your own. [More]

Implications - Brands are evoking the home comforts consumers are accustomed to by creating retail, hotel, and workspaces that prioritize relaxation and contemporary yet homely designs. This shift takes the focus, temporarily, away from the barrage of "experiential" purchase journeys brands and consumers are prioritizing, and focuses on consumers more concerned with familiarity.

Homework Question - Conceptualize a retail or office space that would evoke a sense of home or familiarity for your brand's customers, or employees. [More]

Implications - As mental health and emotional well-being become greater elements of priority for consumers, employers are taking note and integrating more standard practices that speak to their employee's happiness. Focusing on benefits and perks specifically, employees are going beyond mere trips, vacations or bonuses to create programs and practices that elicit improved mental health and enjoyment. Whether it be a point system to help improve sleep or the focus on pets to create a more engaging environment, businesses are more willing to stray outside of their day-to-day business specs and practices to create incentives for their workers that are more aligned to their well-being. Such tactics speak to the shift in workplace culture toward a much more collaborative, open and health-centric environment.

Homework Question - How can you better tap into the desires and habits of your employees? What could you offer or integrate into the workplace to better satiate a desire for mindfulness and relaxation? [More]

Implications - Aligning with heightened consumer expectations with regard to convenience, food pickup experiences are getting a refresh by becoming more seamless. By introducing apps as well as in-store infrastructure to support the pickup process, brands are improving not only the customer experience involved in this process, but creating a smoother operation for the restaurant brands who adopt this approach.

Homework Question - What steps could you eliminate in your customer's journey? [More]

Implications - In an environment where brands are constantly having to adapt and overlap with new business models, alcohol and cannabis brands are pushing themselves into ventures that include everything from travel to TV networks, and brands typically unassociated with the alcohol industry are entering it. This overlap of models comes as consumers save their loyalty for brands that are able to offer them new and unique experiences.

Homework Question - Consider an adjacent industry that your brand could partner with or enter. [More]