Products come and go just like any other fad, and if we pay attention, we can learn a lot from what we see. The easiest way to look is, of course, the internet. With the recent news that Amazon has surpassed Wal-mart as the world’s largest retailer, it is clear that seeing what products are trending online can give us a perfect indicator about what products are selling and whether they will continue to trend. But it is also important to think about why. Here, we will take a look at what products are gaining in popularity and what we can learn from their new found fame.
- Paleo Bars
Aside from fashion, there is no other industry that changes trends and fads more quickly than the health and nutrition industry. We all remember the Atkins diet, may have heard of juicing and are generally aware that what you “should” and “shouldn’t” eat tends to change weekly. Paleo Bars are a perfect example of what to sell when a new fad comes along. The Paleo diet is a modern nutritional plan based on the presumed diet of Paleolithic humans that lived 15,000 years ago. According to Google Trends, Paleo Bars began to spike in sales just as the diet was coming into fashion. If you pay attention by searching the internet for key words and fads in your industry of choice, you are able to identify the “next big thing” and get on board ahead of your competitors.
- Bow Ties
This brings us to elements in the fashion industry, the industry whose trends seem most random to the average person. However, that average person is the same consumer who are most likely to purchase items they are told are trendy. There are multiple ways to spot what these suggestions may be early on. For example, bow ties used to be a thing of the past, however with artists such as Fonzworth Bentley spreading the trend as early as twelve years ago, everyone from news anchors like Tucker Carlson, any hipster from Portland to Brooklyn, fashion icons like Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams have snowballed the trend. Now, the demand for bow ties has more than tripled over the past three years as men have come to pay more attention to their appearance and have looked to none other than those in popular culture.
- Wooden Sunglasses & Watches
This trend may easily be cast aside as another example of the fashion industry’s every changing fads, however there is a much deeper insight to this new trend in fashion accessories. Much like the peace sign in the 1960’s became the symbol of not just the obvious peace, but anti-war, wooden watches and sunglasses have – seemingly contradictorily – become a symbol of support for the environment. Over the past decade, “Going Green” has become less associated with counterculture and fringe science and is now taken much more seriously. Many of the companies selling the wooden accessories use the environment as their selling point, claiming the usage can actually help the cause.
- E-Cigarettes
E-Cigarettes have only become popular very recently but have already become a big business and have nowhere to go but up. E-Cigarettes are a self-contained electronic “vaping” device which simulates tobacco smoking and despite some negative press, their usage and popularity continues to increase. Similar to other trends like nicotine gum and the patch, we can learn that any product that may hamper one of the most loathed human habits is going to sell, like any trend, the sooner you get on board, the better.