Darren Herman

Reinier Evers, the guru over at TrendWatching.com is at it again.  Each month, his team releases a new trend report and this month it happens to be about the expectation economy.

 ”The EXPECTATION ECONOMY is an economy inhabited by experienced, well-informed consumers from Canada to South Korea who have a long list of high expectations that they apply to each and every good, service and experience on offer.

Their expectations are based on years of self-training in hyperconsumption, and on the biblical flood of new-style, readily available information sources, curators and BS filters. Which all help them track down and expect not just basic standards of quality, but the ‘best of the best’.”

Welcome to the future of consumption.  We are consuming at a rapid rate, and with that, we have formed many different opinions and set high expectations.  Reinier calls this, hyperconsumption.

Because a lot of our experiences are now charted digitally, we can blame the following databases of knowledge:

• Core77, Inhabitat, Design*Sponge (design, furniture and objects)
• Gizmodo, Engadget, Ubergizmo (cutting-edge gadgets and electronics)
• Treehugger (eco-chic products)
• Curbed (real estate)
• Cool Hunting, The Coolhunter, Josh Spear, NOTCOT (cool, beautiful, have-to-have ’stuff’)
• Gridskipper, superfuture, Jaunted, Wallpaper, TripAdvisor, Monocle (hotels, restaurants, architecture)
• Flavorpill (coolest city events)
• FlyerTalk, SeatGuru, Skytrax (best airlines and seats)
• Luxist, Born Rich (most desirable luxury goods and services)
• Autoblog, Jalopnik, Hybrid Cars Blog (automotive scoops)
• JC Report, The Sartorialist (fashion and style)
• Kotaku, Joystiq (video games)
• Styledash (beauty)
• Slashfood, Chocolate & Zucchini (food and beverage)
• EUKicks (sneakers)
• Vinography (wine)
• FirstShowing, /Film (movies)
• Digital Photography Review (photography)
• And so on!

One last area that I’ll comment upon before you go check out the article is of competition.  This is something that I’ve been mentioning to companies I’m advising and to friends…. competition is everywhere.

When consumers are making a purchase decision, they are weighing not just the direct competitors to your product, but other areas that they could potentially go spend spend their money.  Do I go buy an iPhone or a pair of Onasuka Tigers?  Do I place advertising in an in-game advertisement or on Viddler?   We are competing with the world and it’s products/services since we’re now on a global platform.  Think long and hard about this.

I have an extra $100 - where do I go and spend it?  The world is my oyster…

With that, go and check out the latest Trendwatching briefing….