What are trends?
Trend is a term used to describe positive and negative movements and developments in the world around us. This is why trends are seen as dynamic and unpredictable. There can be major trends such as digitalization or globalization, but also smaller trends such as the popular toy from 2017, the Fidget Spinner.
There are four different types of trends in total:
- Megatrends have the longest time horizon. These types of trends are large and include, for example, digitalization and globalization as mentioned above. Megatrends occur exclusively at the macro level.
- Lifestyle trends have to do with a long time horizon and can consist of, for example, ethnic fashion or natural beauty.
- Industry trends have a relatively short time horizon and deal with factors that only affect a specific industry. This could be trends in marketing, for example. When you look at industry trends, you dive into the meso level.
- Category trends have by far the shortest time horizon. Here, you drill down into trends within the individual category on a micro level. As mentioned earlier, it could be a toy craze, such as fidget spinners.
It's essential for you and your business to keep up to date with trends and tendencies in the outside world, as these can be used to your advantage in marketing or product development, for example. At the same time, it's also important that your business is adaptable and therefore able to deal with the endless changes and trends that may arise. Your trend spotting skills must therefore be on point!