Special Consumer Insights

Trend - New applications are being released that automatically categorize and sort SMS messages. These tools determine whether an SMS is work or personal related, spam, or fits into a created subcategory. This is designed to make responding to messages more efficient for individuals.

Insight - Between email, phone calls, text messages, and various other messaging applications, individuals are tasked with keeping track of several aspects of their lives, including professional and private communications, through different forms of text-based messaging. While many of these applications have tools designed to enhance convenience and organization, SMS apps built into phones are often barebones. Brands are looking to improve these applications with smart and AI-based organizing tools.

Trend - Businesses are launching portable monitors built directly into foldable cases. These cases house built-in batteries for the display while protecting the display from damage. This design results in several use cases for these displays from workplace showpieces to on-the-go entertainment.

Insight - Jobs that necessitate travel to different environments bring a number of challenges for workers. Particularly for workers who need to travel for conferences, conventions, and other showcases, it is necessary to always have their required tools safe and ready to use, whether it be to set up a booth or market a product. Brands are now designing products engineered for these professionals that ensure necessary tech devices are both portable and protected for frequent travelers.

Trend - Robotics companies are launching advanced robots capable of automating tasks in the workplace and the home. These robots have dexterous limbs, precision accuracy, and reliable problem-solving skills. Businesses are using these to automate simple and menial to complex jobs in the workplace.

Insight - Some of the most undesirable tasks in the workplace and in the home are menial, repetitive duties. The agents responsible for these tasks often burnout of their jobs quickly, leading to high turnover rates in the workplace, or tasks left unfinished in the home. Given the simplicity of many of these tasks, businesses desire automated solutions that alleviate strain from workers to focus energy on more complex tasks. Robotics brands are launching dexterous, capable robots in response.

Trend - Workplaces are using generative artificial intelligence to craft training modules, provide feedback, and improve overall onboarding experiences for employees. These AI models deliver accurate feedback more quickly than human workers, saving companies time and money on onboarding.

Insight - For many businesses, onboarding is an expensive process, often requiring time and resources invested from multiple other employees and branches of the businesses. As a result, these businesses continually search for ways to streamline the onboarding process while ensuring that new employees are prepared for their jobs. These businesses desire no-compromises automation that is customizable to suit each required role, leading to generative AI being used to create onboarding models.

Trend - Laptop, tablet, and monitor brands in the computer hardware industry are using e-ink technology to create highly efficient displays. These displays consume less power, are more cost-effective, and are more durable when compared to IPS, OLED, or other display technologies.

Insight - As remote work becomes the norm, these workers turn to efficient, cost-effective hardware. Many remote workers do not require industry-leading performance and instead turn to reliability. Two of the most important factors with travel laptops are weight and battery life, particularly in cases where work consists only of typing, emailing, and web browsing. This does not apply to video editors and content creators, as these fields require demanding performance from computers. As traditional screen technologies such as IPS and TN approach minimum power consumption limits, manufacturers are turning to e-ink displays to better appease these remote workers' desires.

Trend - As virtual reality becomes more prevalent in entertainment and remote work, companies look to make VR more convenient for offices or busy homes, resulting in mouth-covering masks that receive microphone inputs for VR while muting the speaker's voice to the actual surrounding world.

Insight - Virtual worlds aim to fully immerse users into the environment from a sensory standpoint. This includes visual and audio sensations. However, many users find that becoming immersed in VR can become disruptive to nearby people in the physical world, leading to users not wanting to speak loudly or behave normally out of respect for neighboring people. The introduction of mute masks for VR allows users to express themselves truly without disturbing coworkers, family members, or friends.

Trend - Retail stores and restaurants are addressing employee droughts by partnering with metaverse and AI companies to deploy on-site realistic avatars controlled by remote workers. This drastically expands the eligibility pool for employees while ensuring customer service remains a priority.

Insight - The core reason why many consumers still prefer shopping in stores rather than online is human interaction, the ability to get help from a knowledgeable retail representative. As businesses increasingly turn to self-service kiosks and AI-powered customer service systems, the benefits of brick-and-mortar shopping become lesser. As a result, stores have turned to 3D virtual avatars controlled by actual humans, which satiates consumers' needs to interact with a human retail representative while alleviating strain on workers.

Trend - The COVID-19 crisis has disproportionately affected women economically as many traditionally female-oriented jobs–like retail and childcare–were forced to close. To support this demographic, brands are launching funding, courses, and platforms to help women more easily re-enter the workforce.

Insight - Women, and in particular women of color, have been disproportionate discriminated in the workplace and unequal opportunities in the workplace. Now, women are also more likely to be responsible for child care duties as society continues to physical distance, limiting their scope of work. Informed consumers are increasingly dissatisfied with the failing systems that have long promoted gender inequalities and are pressuring brands and institutions to better support vulnerable people.

Trend - Tech companies are making the personalization and sending of gifts more efficient thanks to artificial intelligence. Whether deployed as a means of helping one choose a gift or as a service that tracks return-of-investment, these platforms are increasingly streamlining the experience.

Insight - Whether it is for the holiday season or for a different special occasion, many contemporary consumers often find it difficult to decide what to buy for someone else—especially when they are faced with an overwhelming number of choices. In this space, many emphasize personalization as a way to make a decision, creating a demand for services and experiences that can give them peace of mind, while simultaneously delighting the receiver of a gift.

Trend - In many countries, governments insist on the restriction of holidays like Christmas and Halloween due to the ongoing health pandemic. Brands are stepping in by offering festive virtual experiences and solutions that allow consumers to celebrate in a safe manner.

Insight - The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the associated government-imposed restrictions for social gatherings and businesses, have caused consumers to rethink their lifestyles and how they interact with one another and the world. As personal celebrations and holidays approach, individuals are looking for ways to be together and embrace their festive spirit without putting their health or that of their loved ones at risk.