Category Archives: Trend Spotting Industry Analysis

Trend Spotting Industry Analysis: Conclusion

By Simone | Published: September 21, 2010

In a recent ABC interview with Margaret Throsby, UK-based trend spotter Richard Watson acknowledged the growth in what he refers to as “futurologists” due to accelerating change in technology as well as globally disconcerting events such as 9/11 (which, together, have augmented interest in the future). Watson sees this resurgence in interest as a fad, more or less, and predicts that in due time, futurists will go out of fashion (Throsby).

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Trend Spotting Industry Analysis: Future Trends

By Simone | Published: September 14, 2010

Over the past ten years, the trend spotting industry has grown to be more refined, fragmented, and focused. As more players have emerged, more niches have been carved out. Some companies, such as The Cool Hunter and Cool Hunting and Trend Hunting focus more on the ‘coolhunting’ subset of the industry that gained popularity in the mid 1990s. Other companies have settled into the fashion industry. Still others focus on design. Other companies and individuals have placed their focus on long-term shifts, focusing in on topics ranging from demographics to technology. CScout, for example, explores new products and services, but also considers the cultural causes and implications of these new trends. CScout is then able to use this analysis to analyze trends even outside its normal areas of research.

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Trend Spotting Industry Analysis: Impediments to the Industry

By Simone | Published: September 6, 2010

One of the greatest impediments faced by trend spotters is that laypeople tend to assume they are one and the same.

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Trend Spotting Industry Analysis: Desired Education

By Simone | Published: August 30, 2010

As is made clear in the preceding sections, trend spotting is by no means a formalized profession and manifests itself in many different forms and industries. It can therefore be fair to say that nearly any sort of education can contribute to one’s success as a trend spotter.

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Trend Spotting Industry Analysis: Methods Used

By Simone | Published: August 23, 2010

Trend spotting consultancies use a variety of methods and produce many different products and services. That said, there are some methods and offerings that repeat across trend spotter type and industry of focus. These are discussed below.

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Trend Spotting Industry Analysis: Industry Globalization

By Simone | Published: August 16, 2010

The trend spotting industry is clearly international in nature. For the most part, it would be impractical to address trends from a purely regional or national viewpoint as the world has become so interconnected. Even when investigating regional trends, trend analysts must consider international influences more than ever as what is worn on the streets of Beijing will eventually find itself to suburban middle America, designs generated by South American graphic artists will make their way to billboards in Germany, and new technologies developed in small-town New England garages may someday change the way people communicate across the entire planet.

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Trend Spotting Industry Analysis: Industry Rivalry

By Simone | Published: August 9, 2010

Some of the key factors increasing industry rivalry amongst trend spotters are low concentration, and switching costs. This rivalry is somewhat reduced by the industry’s high differentiation and growth rate, as well as diplomatic competition.

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Trend Spotting Industry Analysis: Forces of Competition

By Simone | Published: August 2, 2010

Now that we have a general layout of the industry, it would be helpful to consider its different forces of competition- specifically suppliers, buyers, substitutes, and complementors, and potential entrants.

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Trend Spotting Industry Analysis: The Major Industries

By Simone | Published: July 26, 2010

While it is useful to consider the trend spotting industry from the perspective of the various types of companies and professionals of which it is comprised, it may be more useful to consider the trend spotting industry in terms of the various other industries to which it caters. This is important because a fashion trends company will be almost entirely useless to the Environmental Protection Agency, whereas a technology forecasting company will be unable to assist a local handbag designer hoping to select strategically smart patterns, colors, and fabrics. The most appropriate trend spotting methods vary from industry to industry; for some, more formalized research methods are appropriate, while for others, it is better to let experts rely on informal scanning and intuition.

I therefore invite you to consider the trend spotting industry in its most prominent ecosystems: the fashion industry, technology, advertising, and design.

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Trend Spotting Industry Analysis: The Major Players

By Simone | Published: July 19, 2010

Let us consider the major trend spotting company formats in greater detail:

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