Understanding Consumer Buying Trends - Building Dynamic Product Lines

The ability to detect trends can tell you what consumers want now, but the ability to interpret where those trends are headed will help you predict what they’ll be looking for tomorrow. This can really give a retailer a big edge, particularly when it comes to selecting product lines.

What is a Trend?
More than just a group of popular items that everyone is buying, a trend is actually an expression of what matters to consumers at the moment. It’s a sign of what they’re excited about. Unlike fads, which come out of nowhere, trends evolve and morph with rhyme and reason.

A trend can give you many ideas of what products might be popular in certain groups. For example, the trend towards natural living could inspire a whole line of products, because people are currently interested in that.

Trend Analysis
Lisa Suttora of http://WhatDoISell.com explains, "Trend analysis means looking at the buying habits of a definable group of customers that you can get coming back time and again.” When you're paying attention to the products your target market is looking for, you can get a feel for where the trends are headed, so you’re not sourcing products in a vacuum.

Though it may initially take you more time to study market trends, it will save you time in the long run. You won’t be stuck trying to figure out why you can’t move products, and you won’t waste money just guessing at what you think will sell.

How Do I Become a Trend Spotter?
Spotting trends is a learned ability — it doesn’t require you to be trendy. But it does require discipline, so make it a habit to research trends daily. There are many avenues you can use to help you research:

• Most major search engines offer keyword tracking tools that show you how many people are searching for a given item. Worldwide Brands's product sourcing tool, OneSource, includes a built-in market research function that can show you how likely a product is to be successful online, based on market statistics.

• Consumer magazines and web sites are great sources for gathering information.

• Trade shows, associations, and publications can provide you with current trending information, as well as a preview of new products, not yet on the market. Though trade publications tend to be pricey, the information in them is the result of millions of dollars of research and projects out from twelve to eighteen months, which really gives you a jump on buying trends that haven’t even evolved yet.

• The media can supply valuable trending stats — newspapers often give numbers and demographics. Look for indicators of growth and decline. You want to get in on the upswing of a trend — not when it’s on its way out. Document everything so that you have it all in front of you and don’t forget anything important when you sit down to analyze the results of your research.

The key is to be consistent and do your research daily. Says Suttora, “Studying trending information is not something you do once and then stop. Every successful business owner is going to continually be reinventing their product line on an ongoing basis.”

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