Blog

  • Apr 07 2022

    Shopping Local 2025

    Consumers’ new-found love for their neighbourhoods will have a positive impact on the High Street. Tomorrow’s consumers will increasingly look to their local area to provide the means to satisfy more and more of their daily needs, and will value local shops much more. For besieged retailers, ‘local’ could be the silver bullet.
  • Feb 04 2022

    Tomorrow’s households will be bigger & closer

    We’re about to experience one of the biggest shake-ups in household composition and behaviour in decades. Get ready for households to get bigger, as children stay home much longer and their grandparents move in. And more shared and ‘live-work-play’ spaces, thanks to greater focus on friendship, community and locality, alongside the growth of e-commerce and delivery services. Watch this (living) space.
  • Nov 16 2021

    In groups we trust

    As citizens lose trust in institutions across Europe and the US, they’re placing more faith in family, friends and other peers. This ‘Community Spirit’ trend is set to revolutionise the way households, living spaces and communities are organised, built and run.
  • Sep 08 2021

    Four easy ways to get ‘post-pandemic-ready’

    Thanks to the pandemic, many companies have spent much of the last year just dealing with the day to day. But as lockdown eases, it’s time to start looking to the future. Here are 4 things any company can do to better prepare themselves for the post-Covid consumer landscape.
  • Jan 10 2021

    New year, new customer needs

    At the beginning of the year my inbox is full of articles telling me all about the trends for the year. ‘21 trends for 2021’ and so on. Some of these offer real insights. But I’d much rather my inbox was filled with ‘Needs for the New Year’. That I could really get behind.
  • Dec 10 2019

    10 Trendspotting Tips

    As New Year approaches, many a CEO’s fancy turn to trends. So how do you keep on top of trends? Here’s my Top Ten Trendspotting Tips. 
  • Oct 13 2019

    8 trends in wellness and wellbeing

    Sales in Wellbeing are skyrocketing. The Global Wellness Institute believes the sector’s worth over $4.2 trillion: up 13% in the last two years and 5% of all global economic output. The new Wellbeing trends offer real opportunities across industries.
  • Jul 03 2019

    10 innovative ways to attract top talent

    Tomorrow’s most productive workplaces will be nimble. They’ll need to cater to whatever changes an increasingly volatile world throws their way. To achieve this, businesses will have to employ a broad, engineered mix of skills and approaches.
  • Apr 09 2019

    8 Green trends to help both planet and profits

    Polls suggest up to half of consumers are willing to pay nearly 20% more for sustainable products. This rises to over three quarters of Millennials. Today a sustainable strategy can help drive sales, build brand loyalty and reduce manufacturing costs – as well as helping save the planet.
  • Feb 16 2019

    To predict behaviours, study attitudes

    I’m often asked how I predict future consumer behaviours. Of course, no method for prediction can be fool-proof. But the one I’ve found most effective in my decade and a half in the industry is what I call Attitudinal Observation.
  • Feb 05 2019

    Good day out of the office, dear?

    The traditional office environment, where a set number of salaried employees work 9-5 in fixed silos, is starting to feel increasingly at odds with the contemporary world. External technological, economic and social trends have changed employees’ attitudes towards and expectations of the workplace …
  • Jan 20 2019

    From ownership to ‘access-ship’

    Those who say “but people naturally like to own things” need to reconsider. Sure, when I grew up, owning a car or house was a status symbol, a right of passage. But for the young today, not so much.
  • Oct 05 2018

    Old is the new young

    Standard age-related targeting can’t be relied on any more. Today many adolescents act like they’re ‘middle-aged’, while older consumers maintain ‘adolescent’ interests, outlooks and behaviours …”
  • Jul 27 2018

    The rise of the Famwich

    The rise of the single-person household was one of the most influential trends to affect the FMCG market in recent decades. But now there’s a new trend in the opposite direction – one that may have even greater impact, not just for that industry, but right across the UK business spectrum.
  • Apr 07 2022

    Shopping Local 2025

    Consumers’ new-found love for their neighbourhoods will have a positive impact on the High Street. Tomorrow’s consumers will increasingly look to their local area to provide the means to satisfy more and more of their daily needs, and will value local shops much more. For besieged retailers, ‘local’ could be the silver bullet.
  • Feb 04 2022

    Tomorrow’s households will be bigger & closer

    We’re about to experience one of the biggest shake-ups in household composition and behaviour in decades. Get ready for households to get bigger, as children stay home much longer and their grandparents move in. And more shared and ‘live-work-play’ spaces, thanks to greater focus on friendship, community and locality, alongside the growth of e-commerce and delivery services. Watch this (living) space.
  • Nov 16 2021

    In groups we trust

    As citizens lose trust in institutions across Europe and the US, they’re placing more faith in family, friends and other peers. This ‘Community Spirit’ trend is set to revolutionise the way households, living spaces and communities are organised, built and run.
  • Sep 08 2021

    Four easy ways to get ‘post-pandemic-ready’

    Thanks to the pandemic, many companies have spent much of the last year just dealing with the day to day. But as lockdown eases, it’s time to start looking to the future. Here are 4 things any company can do to better prepare themselves for the post-Covid consumer landscape.
  • Jan 10 2021

    New year, new customer needs

    At the beginning of the year my inbox is full of articles telling me all about the trends for the year. ‘21 trends for 2021’ and so on. Some of these offer real insights. But I’d much rather my inbox was filled with ‘Needs for the New Year’. That I could really get behind.
  • Dec 10 2019

    10 Trendspotting Tips

    As New Year approaches, many a CEO’s fancy turn to trends. So how do you keep on top of trends? Here’s my Top Ten Trendspotting Tips. 
  • Oct 13 2019

    8 trends in wellness and wellbeing

    Sales in Wellbeing are skyrocketing. The Global Wellness Institute believes the sector’s worth over $4.2 trillion: up 13% in the last two years and 5% of all global economic output. The new Wellbeing trends offer real opportunities across industries.
  • Jul 03 2019

    10 innovative ways to attract top talent

    Tomorrow’s most productive workplaces will be nimble. They’ll need to cater to whatever changes an increasingly volatile world throws their way. To achieve this, businesses will have to employ a broad, engineered mix of skills and approaches.
  • Apr 09 2019

    8 Green trends to help both planet and profits

    Polls suggest up to half of consumers are willing to pay nearly 20% more for sustainable products. This rises to over three quarters of Millennials. Today a sustainable strategy can help drive sales, build brand loyalty and reduce manufacturing costs – as well as helping save the planet.
  • Feb 16 2019

    To predict behaviours, study attitudes

    I’m often asked how I predict future consumer behaviours. Of course, no method for prediction can be fool-proof. But the one I’ve found most effective in my decade and a half in the industry is what I call Attitudinal Observation.
  • Feb 05 2019

    Good day out of the office, dear?

    The traditional office environment, where a set number of salaried employees work 9-5 in fixed silos, is starting to feel increasingly at odds with the contemporary world. External technological, economic and social trends have changed employees’ attitudes towards and expectations of the workplace …
  • Jan 20 2019

    From ownership to ‘access-ship’

    Those who say “but people naturally like to own things” need to reconsider. Sure, when I grew up, owning a car or house was a status symbol, a right of passage. But for the young today, not so much.
  • Oct 05 2018

    Old is the new young

    Standard age-related targeting can’t be relied on any more. Today many adolescents act like they’re ‘middle-aged’, while older consumers maintain ‘adolescent’ interests, outlooks and behaviours …”
  • Jul 27 2018

    The rise of the Famwich

    The rise of the single-person household was one of the most influential trends to affect the FMCG market in recent decades. But now there’s a new trend in the opposite direction – one that may have even greater impact, not just for that industry, but right across the UK business spectrum.
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