New Trend Hunter Report Challenges Businesses to Get Personal

trend-hunter-american-girl-subscription-box-example March 11, 2020 | TrendHunter.com’s latest free monthly report for Toy Association members demonstrates how brands are using elements of personalization and curation to better align with the lifestyle habits and individuality of today’s consumers.

“Customization is a trend we are already seeing in the toy aisles, such as with Funko’s Snapsies in-store customizable toy dispensers or American Girl’s new curated Gift Box Experience with toys that match their interests,” said Anne McConnell, senior director of market research & data strategy at The Toy Association. “We encourage our members to use the insights from this report, through available technologies and in-person engagements, to promote interaction and better connect with your consumers.”

Featured consumer insights include:

  • Connected Meal-Planning – Brands are taking control of daily meal-planning with apps and services that ease the process of meal prep. With functions that include customization and AI, these apps enable simpler daily routines such as ShopRite’s CookIt technology, which suggests recipes based on items in a shopper’s online cart, or HungryRoot’s personalized grocery service.

  • Augmented Customization – Customized AR experiences are helping businesses to better connect and enhance their relationships with consumers. For example, GOAT’s AR experience lets users try on rare and exclusive footwear styles, while Chanel Paris offers guests a personalized AR shopping experience.

  • Luxury Customization – A focus on customization is specifically helping luxury brands to appeal to millennial and Gen Z demographics in order to establish brand loyalty. Examples include Revolve’s Snap+Style Business StyleWidget, which was integrated into its online styling service, and Isetan Men's Store, which combines personalized skincare with shopping.

  • Customized Pet – The customization of pet care – whether through meals and supplements or in therapy and chatbot-based services – indicates an enhanced focus on quality pet care that is preventative rather than reactive. Such examples are Freshpet's homestyle creations or ikaria PetScent Clips, which offer calming pet aromatherapy.

  • AI Frivolity – Machine learning technology is increasingly being applied to create products used primarily for play-based purposes–with everything from skincare to alcohol brands using AI to develop and customize their offerings. This includes bespoke skincare serums and systems and AI-generated whisky spirits (Mackmyra and Microsoft) and fragrances (O Boticário & IBM).

This report is the latest in a series from Trend Hunter offering in-depth perspectives and trends in various areas related to the toy industry and youth markets to help spark unique ideas. For additional relevant trends, toy companies can click on the report’s consumer insights examples, scroll down, and click the images for further information.

Members are encouraged to send topic suggestions for future trend reports to The Toy Association’s Anne McConnell.

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