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Emerging trends Posts
Another post recession trend; Monday to Friday lodgers.
December 20th, 2009
It started when a friend told me down the pub about a great way to earn some extra income without a big hassle. She had taken on a lodger.
So, what’s so different about that, you may ask?
This is a ‘Monday to Friday’ lodger, who only stays with you during the working week. So the weekends revert back to normal.
My interest was tweaked.
Monday to Friday (www.mondaytofriday.com) have been going for a while, but have come into their own during this recession. And it makes sense all round.
Many professionals work in London from other parts of the UK and beyond but can’t afford (or don’t want) to rent a flat for the full month. Plus there are many employees who have to pay for expensive hotels each week for consultants to work in the capital.
Monday to Friday theoretically makes sense.
So I took the plunge.
We now have a Monday to Friday lodger who’s from Dublin but has to be in London each week. She spends 3 nights a week with us – her company are ‘over the moon’ because we are much cheaper than a hotel and our lodger has her own room and bathroom and tells us it’s ‘home from home’.
Monday to Friday are on a growth surge and so they should. Like ZipCar, it’s a simple idea that makes sense.
Another successful post recession trend.
Be wary of creating a caring face
December 14th, 2009
Next month, Bulgari’s 11-city touring jewellery exhibition, Between Eternity and History, will end with a start-studded auction at Christie’s in New York with the aim of raising $10m for Save the Children’s Rewrite the Future campaign. So writes the Financial Times in their Asian international edition (http://www.ft.com/home/asia).
The great and the good will be there – Ben Stiller, Sting, Willem Defoe and Julianne Moore, with the New York event culminating in an event that has taken in cities such as Rome, London and Beijing.
Charity has become a tried and tested way to ease consumer malaise at spending on conspicuous luxury, whilst reinforcing brand credentials as being caring and responsible.
But is the consumer becoming more cynical?
Look at Montblanc. Last month the company caused international controversy with the launch of a $23,000 18-carat pen to celebrate the 140th anniversary of the of birth of Mahatma Ghandi. Montblanc was (rightly in my opinion) accused of exploiting Ghandi – liberator, champion of egalitarianism and simple living – in order to enter the Indian luxury market. Despite Ghandi’s grandson endorsing the promotion and Montblanc donating $148,000 too build a shelter for rescued children, the anger was widespread.
And did nothing to enhance the brand worldwide.
Is this the new ‘caring face’ of luxury?
This is sector I know well but frankly I am a cynic on this line of marketing. Last month Gucci paired with Mary J Blige to launch a Center for Women, Jimmy Choo created Project PEP, selling a range of handbags to support Elton John’s Aids Foundation, and Naomi Campbell paired with Louis Vuitton to launch a handbag in support of the White Ribbon Alliance.
Mmmmm. I remain a cynic.
Gosh! Strawberry bonbons! It’s like the tuck shop all over again…
November 5th, 2009
Childhood.
My prep school was a Harry Potter-type place – it was great fun. It was a boarding school in the depths of Yorkshire where I was sent for months on end.
At the age of 8, my parents took me up to London to Kings Cross station at the beginning of each term to catch the school train. Grey shorts, shirt and tie with flannel jacket, with a cap on my head – trunk and tuck box in tow.
We caused havoc all the way to Yorkshire on our ‘Hogwarts Express’, throwing fireworks out of the window as we passed each station.
And my parents thought they were giving us the best education possible…. I loved it!
On a Sunday afternoon we were allowed down to the tuck shop where big jars of sweets were stacked along shelves. Sherbet dib dabs, strawberry bonbons, chocolate mice, sheets of toffee and home made fudge, each weighed out and put into little paper bags as we spent our precious pocket money. This was Billy Bunter stuff.
And it’s back! It seems that the recession has prompted a fit of nostalgia in old fashioned tuck-shop treats.
The downturn has fuelled a demand in comfort foods (Tesco report a 200% rise in demand for sirloin steak). M+S has reported a 350% surge in demand for sugary confectionary – wine gums, fizzy cola bottles and rhubarb creams are now all the rage.
The demise of Woolworths ‘pick and mix’ in the UK plus the recession has led to a 9% growth in the sector, set to be worth £2bn in 2010.
So get down to M+S or House of Fraser for your tuck!
But don’t buy liquorice. Liquorice was for losers.
Web fashionistas just a click away from mainstream acceptance
October 19th, 2009
I was really interested to see an article in the Times (www.timesonline.com) on the increased importance of blogs within the fashion industry.
This is a sector I have been strongly associated with for many years, so my interest was tweaked.
It wasn’t that long ago that Sir Philip Green, CEO and supremo of Arcadia, owners of Top Shop, Miss Selfridge and other leading retail fashion chains, dismissed offhand a new social networking website called Mint, setup by fashion students. If he couldn’t see an immediate financial opportunity, forget it.
So it was interesting to see Sir Philip invite fashion bloggers to its HQ for a preview of its Autumn / Winter lines. This is part of a broader trend in which retailers have been forced to find new ways of influencing key opinion-formers on the internet, which is the sector’s fastest growing sales channel.
According to Leon Bailey-Green, founder of the Online Fashion Agency ‘right now, bloggers are ruling the online fashion space. Arcadia are thought to be punching below their weight online – for example, ASOS, the fashion retailer that operates entirely online receives more visitors than any of Sir Philip’s brands.
As frivolous as a bloggers preview seems, fashion experts are unanimous in their increased importance, which began at the top end of the market. Two years ago Chanel invited bloggers to Paris for a VIP tour of Coco Chanel’s apartments. Its now, common for bedroom bloggers to have their own section at fashion shows, elbow to elbow with conventional fashion media.
More importantly, it is estimated that 40% of all fashion sales are influenced by the internet (15% of actual fashion sales are online), so retailers increasingly see the need to win hearts and minds online.
This is a problem because consumers are notoriously fickle and disloyal on the internet. Over 60% of consumers have increased their use of price comparison sites, and 45% said that they would leave the website immediately if it failed to show them what they wanted on the first page, according to Avail Intelligence Trust Index (http://avail.net/en).
So it seems that retailers really do need to take fashion bloggers seriously now and will find it difficult to get their attention when they become mainstream. It will certainly affect sales.
Well that’s official then – I’m Gastrosexual
September 22nd, 2009
OK – I enjoy cooking. In fact I love it.
Being in the kitchen, conjuring up a new dish is my idea of heaven. Going to North End Road market (or when feeling flash, Borough market), seeing what’s available that day and whisking up a meal from scratch.
Yes – I’m the new Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey of West London rolled into one. At least in my head I think I am anyway….
It seems that I am by no means alone.
There’s a new breed of male that has been identified by researchers as ‘Gastrosexual’, according to Future Foundation, the future trends research company. And we’re not talking about being the ‘Barbeque King’ either.
It seems that men are confidently claiming the kitchen as their own, which has historically been the woman’s domain. Gastrosexuals are masculine, upwardly mobile men, aged 25-45, who are passionate about cooking and the rewards that it might bring.
These men are all around us it seems. 52% of men say they see cooking as a hobby and not a choice, and 53% claim to cook from separate ingredients almost every day. Women seem to love it too – 43% saying they see it as being perfectly normal for their partner to be the main cook, and 34% saying that men were much better at cooking anyway.
So why the change from traditional stereotype?
It seems that there are three main reasons for the trend:
1. Cooking for passion. Men who have a real interest in different cultures and cuisines. Those who have travelled a lot and are happy to use their knowledge to re-create what they have experienced. These men get a real buzz out of cooking.
2. Cooking for praise. The Gastrosexual is at the forefront of the new dinner party and cooking at home has become a strong emerging trend during this recession. These men will be cooking to impress.
3. Cooking for seduction. We now live in a singleton society (at least we do in the UK), By 2006 only 26% of homes in England consisted of couples living with children (as opposed to 51% in 1961). These guys cook to seduce. And it seems to work.
For full details on the report, follow this link http://www.futurefoundation.net/