A year ago, people spoke about the READY-TO-KNOW trend: consumers increasingly depending on extreme transparency of information to empower their private and public lives. Twelve months later, with new spottings and insights flooding our research folders, we have renamed this trend (and upgraded it to) INFOLUST. Please scan and get going! Show us one experienced, switched-on consumer in a mature consumer society who does NOT google once a day. Or even once an hour. One consumer who has NOT researched the cheapest available fare, price, charge before buying a big ticket item. Who has NOT invested some time reading reviews, recommendations and suggestions from experts and fellow consumers on anything from hotels in Paris and designer vacuum cleaners to which specific seat to request on flight SQ220 from Sydney to Singapore. One who hasn’t relished the feeling of being better informed about everything from 18th century gardening to alternative medicine to the real reasons for high oil prices, than his/her peers or, even better, his/her superiors.
All thanks to the insanely expansive and detailed web of information that continues to be spun, offering transparency of prices, of reviews, of opinions, and of detail. Yes, you’ve heard this before. But just for a moment, marvel at how incredibly addicted consumers have become to getting instant access to any kind of useful and relevant information. In fact, consumers are experiencing nothing short of an all-encompassing INFOLUST:
“Experienced consumers are lusting after detailed information on where to get the best of the best, the cheapest of the cheapest, the first of the first, the healthiest of the healthiest, the coolest of the coolest, or on how to become the smartest of the smartest. Instant information gratification is upon us.
So forget information overload: this desire for relevant information is insatiable, and will soon move from the online world to the ‘real’ world to achieve true ubiquity. Get ready for a click-and-know, point-and-know, text-and-know, hear-and-know, smell-and-know, touch-and-know and snap-and-know world.”Read on @ www.trendwatching.com

 

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 20th, 2006 at 20:42 and is filed under Trend Briefing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.