26 Oct

Trendswatch | New Business Insight From The Past Week

It’s been another crazy week, with the Boris/Manchester stand-off, the Pope giving his blessing to same-sex civil unions, and the return of Borat on Amazon Prime.

Social media was a hot topic this week, as LinkedIn introduced its new stories feature to the world. Not dissimilar to the stories feature on other platforms, LinkedIn’s stories will enable users to publish photos and videos (up to 20 seconds) via the platform’s mobile app.

Trends of the week include Supermarket Price Wars, Sustainable Fashion and Home Cooking.

Christmas Price War

First up – supermarkets are gearing up for a very merry Christmas Price war. Both Waitrose and Co-op are set to cut prices on products by up to 15% as supermarkets prepare to fight it out for customers in a value-dominated market.

Waitrose will lower prices on more than 200 of its basic own-label products by an average of more than 15%, while the Co-op will invest £50m in lowering prices across 300 essential products.

The cuts are a response to rivals Aldi and Lidl who fired the starting gun on a new price war in the summer.

Home Cooking

Pubs and bars face closures again as a result of the latest tiered lockdown measures brought in by the government to combat the pandemic. As residents in tier 2 or 3 areas are unable to eat out (or in for that matter) with people outside of their household, home cooking is on the rise again.

Several factors are contributing to the continued prevalence of home cooking. Many people feel unsafe going to restaurants, but the decline in dine-in traffic isn’t the only reason people are turning on their stoves and ovens more often. Consumers who are working from home no longer stop for breakfast or coffee on their commute, nor do they frequent the lunch spots around their offices.

For many, financial concerns are also a catalyst for more home-cooked meals, which come at a lower cost and often create leftovers that can be stretched much further than restaurant meals.

Brands are jumping on the back of this trend, as this week saw the release of Sauce Shop’s ‘cook-in’ trio.

Sustainable Fashion

On Wednesday, Allbirds launched its first apparel range, expanding its offering beyond footwear and accessories, signalling growth in the sustainable fashion space.

The move into this new category marks a big jump for Allbirds, which shot to success — becoming a billion-dollar unicorn in 2018 — thanks to a growing wave of awareness among consumers of the environmental impact of fast fashion. It has also garnered huge popularity within the Silicon Valley tech community.

In fact, following Allbirds’ sustainable blueprint might just be the way for the global fashion industry to recover from staggering losses caused by COVID-19, worth an estimated 2.5 trillion annually.

More trends and insights to be shared next week