Trends

Trends are changes in societies that occur over longer periods of time. To think up new products it is very helpful to look at trends. A trend can be discovered in all sort of manners and appears in four levels, which we can show in a pyramid. At the bottom we start with a megatrend, which is a trend that shows global aspects such as globalization. One level higher is maxi-trend, which focuses on needs of people. In other words it focuses on the consumer, where the megatrend focuses on the societal level. The next level of trend is the midi-trend, which focuses on the market level and the last one, micro-trends, focuses on a product. Every micro-trend has got an entire pyramid with it. Below you can see an example of a trend pyramid. The trends within this pyramid are only examples and it has not been said that these are actually existing trends.

I am mainly going to focus on maxi-trends, which is required for the project I am working on. A maxi-trend will apply to a trend that exists around 5 to 10 years and focuses on the consumer. I will fully analyse two important past maxi-trends, two current maxi-trends and one logical prediction of a future maxi-trend. I will describe and analyse the trends and their target groups using the trend pyramids and a DESTEP model. DESTEP stands for Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Ecological and Demographical. In other words, I will analyse which of these factors apply to a chosen maxi-trend and on its target group. Under concepts you will be able to find micro-trends. A micro-trend exists for 0-5 years and focuses on a product.