Today we released our eighth annual forecast of key trends that will shape or significantly impact consumer mindset and behavior in the near future.
In this year’s report, new technology continues to take center stage, as we see major shifts tied to warp-speed developments in mobile, social and data technologies. Many of our trends reflect how businesses are driving, leveraging or counteracting technology’s omnipresence in our lives, and how consumers are responding to its pull.
We’ll see everyday objects become smarter as technology gets embedded into everything from eyeglasses to socks to bikes, helping us to measure, navigate and augment the world. At the same time, our smartphones will become de facto fingerprints as they evolve into wallets, keys, health consultants and more—our identity all in one place. Also, thanks largely to advances in mobile technology, almost anything—from bus shelters to print magazines—has the ability to be transformed into a retail channel. As a result, we’ll see shopping shift from an activity that takes place in physical stores or online to a value exchange that can play out in multiple new and novel ways.
Our forecast also puts a spotlight on health, with two separate trends examining the rising awareness around the impact of stress and happiness on well-being and how businesses are addressing it.
For more on our “10 Trends for 2013,” see the Executive Summary below. The full report—in which we cover each trend in detail, highlighting what’s driving the shift, how it’s manifesting and what it means for brands—is available here.
Posted by david ricketts 
