Market trends are like thermometers and compasses: on the one hand, they show market opportunities and indicate whether a certain product or service has a consistent chance of success; on the other hand, they also guide important decisions and confirm the appropriate directions, also considering the behaviors of a historical record.
Who creates the trends?
Trends are born in a small group of influential leaders (opinion leaders, public figures, market leaders, specialists, artists, etc.) or a select and/or defined place that for some reason (planned or natural) begins to think a way or to act in a certain way, different from the usual and that is later replicated in other groups or places with a viral capacity (behaviors that at one time were inexpressive, but later gain strength and prominence).
Now, how can you, your brand, product or service take advantage of sports macro trends?
Marketing is in the data, but in the case of sports-fitness & wellness, marketing is also in the streets. Trend hunters are the ones who get ahead by analyzing consumers and economic, political or social factors that may influence when consuming brands, products or services.
For example, in the 1960s, what we now consider junk food was considered just another food. However, nowadays, there has been a shift towards healthy food and nutrition (natural, functional, Mediterranean, vegan, etc…). This trend has had a major effect on various industries, from tourism to retail, catering and agriculture.
Market trends are highly dependent on consumer tastes and needs, and tend to change over time (a microtrend cycle can last three to five years, but macrotrends typically last five to 10 years).
In the most basic sense, trends are opportune opportunities, circumstances, moments or means to carry out or achieve everything from relevance to positioning.
Due to the above, from my perspective and experience in the development of people, products and services, massive customer-oriented, in the world of fitness & wellness, I decided to share some reflections that respond to the title of this article:
In the psychology of high performance athletes there are different ways of understanding, taking advantage of, improving and maximizing the performance of a player, inside and outside the game, all of them analyze the past, present, active and reactive physical-psycho-emotional behavior to shape a possible future.
The same happens with trends: they shape the future, new behaviors, and the behaviors and needs of consumers are stable over time through experimentation, which is the mother of great attempts, and great attempts are born small opportunities that, well identified, can start a new business model, a value proposition or even the improvement, creation or success of a new product, service or record.