2017 Top Trends and Consumer Insights for Canadian Businesses

ByGuest Author Reading Time: 4 minutes
Top Trends for Canadian Businesses in 2017

As most business owners can agree, staying abreast of the latest top trends and consumer insights is crucial to success. Not only does this ensure that your business will stay ahead of competitors, but it also helps you prepare for the future and navigate industry-changing shifts with ease.

Of course, pinpointing the most innovative ideas and cutting-edge insights can be easier said than done, which is why Trend Hunter, a Toronto-based trend-spotting platform, has developed a unique formula for spotting the most cutting-edge ideas.

Trend Hunter crowdsources ideas written by people from all over the world to create a comprehensive database of the world’s most innovative trends. In total, Trend Hunter has a library of more than 330,000 articles on more than 10,000 topics, that range from health and technology to food and retail. To help brands interpret this compelling data, Trend Hunter releases an annual Trend Report featuring the top insights drawn from the year’s most dynamic ideas.

Ahead are a few of this year’s top insights affecting three important demographics: Millennials, Baby Boomers and Generation Z. While the insights highlighted span a range of industries, they provide a glimpse of the changing consumers demands coming from each demographic.

Suspended Adulthood

It is no secret that business owners are eager to capture the attention of Millennial consumers, who will soon surpass the buying power of the generations before them. However, this young demographic can be a tricky one to pin down. In fact, Millennials are often considered “the most anxious generation,” as many feel unprepared for the future or the responsibilities that come with “adulting.”

As a result, many have attempted to momentarily suspend adult life by embracing youthful experiences. This has taken shape in the form of adult summer camps such as ‘Camp No Counselors,’ and youthful activities at traditionally formal events, such as the ball pit set up at a networking event in San Francisco. Although it may sounds unusual, it is important for brands to take note of the fact that Millennials are eager to embrace experiences that allow them to temporarily eschew their adult responsibilities.

Quantified Self-Care

Although Millennials seem eager to retreat to activities that remind them of their youth, Baby Boomers are more concerned with the future – specifically when it comes to health and wellness.

Indeed, many boomers are thinking about how to stay healthy as they age and have subsequently turned to technology in order to help them achieve their goals. This largely relates to health and wellness, which has seen an explosion in the rise of data-tracking devices such as the FitBit Alta HR, and similar products such as the Withings Go Fitness Tracker.

In other words, older consumers are no longer content with merely working out or playing sports. Instead, they want to keep track of exactly what they did and the impact it had on their body. Going a step further, consumers are looking for devices that will help them break this data down and give them a more complete overview of their lifestyle habits. This means that high-tech activity trackers and skin-analyzing apps have almost entirely replaced outdated devices such as pedometers and stopwatches.

Enlightened Rebellion

While it may seem as though brands can easily win over consumers with hyper-personalized experiences driven by big data, this is not quite the case with the “Digital Natives,” also known as Generation Z. Born after Millennials in an age where a world’s worth of education is only a few click away, Gen Z is unabashedly curious.

Unlike generations preceding them, these young consumers are unafraid to stand up for what matters to them, be it Stay Cute’s feminist branding, Zara’s gender-neutral fashion collection, or Aerie’s body positive swimwear campaigns. Demanding that brands reveal their stance on a wide variety of topics, Gen Z has ushered in an age where brands can no longer remain politically neutral.

Businesses Need to Remain in Touch with Emerging Trends

While these insights merely provide a brief overview of some of the overarching trends changing our world, it’s clear that brands need to pay attention to how the needs and desires of their audiences are evolving. Whether your key demographic is Millennials, Boomers or Gen Z, Trend Hunter’s data-driven insights reveal important changes in the way consumers are living.

To enjoy an in-depth look at these insights and more, you can find the full 2017 Trend Report here. You can also explore the nuances of each of these topics and prototype your strategies for staying ahead of the curve at Trend Hunter’s annual business innovation conference, Future Festival.

Author Bio: Katherine Pendrill is a Research Writer and Publicity Coordinator for Trend Hunter. Her portfolio includes more than 7,500 original articles with more than 22 million views. She has also worked with brands such as Ogilvy, Infiniti and Tullamore DEW.

 

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