The overall movement, which Trendwatching.com calls the “Expectation Economy,” is a slow but steadily growing movement which will drive most consumer decisions in the next few years according to their February 2008 issue.  They note, “The EXPECTATION ECONOMY has been building slowly in the background. The biggest difference from five to ten years ago? Word of mouth now travels the world in a flash, making product launches instantly global, turning every new brand—big or small—into a potential 'player', and most importantly, rewarding exceptional performance with immediate interest and approval from consumers” (www.trendwatching.com, February 2008 issue).

Within that movement are two underlying trends which are acting as drivers, the Snack Culture and InfoLust trends.  Snack Culture describes consumers’ desires for instant gratification.  There are a growing number of ‘See it / Hear it / Buy it’ services that sell just the bits that the consumer wants without any of the “baggage” that went along with them in the “old” economy.  When I was a teenager in the days of 45 rpm vinyl records, if I heard a new hit song on the radio and wanted it, I had to go down to the local TV, Radio and Music store and order the record.  It would arrive about a week later with the hit on Side A and some unwanted song on Side B that I also was paying for. 

The Snack Culture instantly enables consumers to purchase virtually anything they see or hear.  “Best example to watch in 2008: the iTunes WiFi Music Store. How it works: when a user hears a particular song playing at his or her local Starbucks, he/she can instantly find the artist, album and name of the track on his iPhone or iPod Touch. By tapping the Starbucks button in either device's main menu, the current song shows up, as well as the last ten songs played. They can be purchased and downloaded instantly via Starbucks' wifi connection” (www.trendwatching.com/briefing/snackculture).  According to Fimoculous, “Snack Culture is a notion that, once stated aloud, seems almost obvious: society is speeding up, so of course culture reflects that acceleration by providing smaller, easier-to-consume bits. Just think about ringtones and texting, iTunes and Twitter, online profiles and speed dating” (www.fimoculous.com/archive/post-2226.cfm).

Infolust is described by Trendwatching.com as “Experienced consumers lusting after detailed information on where to get the best of the best, the cheapest of the cheapest, the first of the first, the healthiest of the healthiest, the coolest of the coolest, or on how to become the smartest of the smartest. Instant information gratification is upon us.”  They go on to note, “forget information overload: this desire for relevant information is insatiable, and will soon move from the online world to the ‘real’ world to achieve true ubiquity. Get ready for a click-and-know, point-and-know, text-and-know, hear-and-know, smell-and-know, touch-and-know and snap-and-know world.” (www.trendwatching.com/trends/infolust.htm).

Scanblog observes, “Never before have consumers enjoyed doing research and ‘competitive analysis’ as much as they do now, and doing it far more diligently than most corporations” (http://scanblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/expectation-economy.html).  Not only is information instantly available, it is instantly available anywhere.  With mobile phone access to the Internet, consumers can look at an item in a store then search for the lowest price on the web. 

Contrary to popular belief, ‘brick and mortar stores’ are not exempt from the movement and must adapt to it or suffer in the long-run.  “With the development of new barcode systems such as Shotcodes, ColorCodes, SMS codes, QRcodes and UpCodes consumers are able to gather more relevant information on products in the store by tracking the barcodes to related webpages and product sites. Currently most prevalent in the UK and Asian markets, consumers are using these new barcode systems for everything from real estate research to mobile purchasing and in-store coupon codes” (www.jungle-life.com/item/735).

There are a multitude of specialized ‘infosites’ on the Internet and they are being added to every day.  Two such sites are Engadget.com and Styledash.com.  Engadget lists new products and products under development that will set trends of their own.  The February 24^th, 2008 edition describes, among other things, a wiperless windshield developed by Pininfarina.  It has a four layer nanotech ‘sandwich’ in which, “The first layer protects from sun and repels water, the second layer features ‘nano-dust’ to push dirt to the edges of the windshield and is activated by the third layer which senses the dirt, while the whole kit is powered by the fourth layer which conducts electricity to keep it going” (http://www.engadget.com/). 

Styledash details information and trends related to fashion in clothing, furniture and décor items.  They note that men’s hats are a fashion this season in Europe, and describe the difference between a Trilby and a Fedora. (The name ‘Trilby’ comes from George du Maurier's 1894 novel, Trilby. There was a London stage play made of the novel, and one character wore a hat like a fedora, but with a narrower brim. It was dubbed a trilby.  Fedoras were also named for a London stage play. The title character in Princess Fedora by Victorien Sardou in 1891 wore such a hat).  So take note guys… if you are in Europe, a baseball cap won’t do!

Just what does all of this have to do with your business?  Does your inventory and supply chain allow you to “deliver now” to your customer?  Obviously you can’t stock all sizes and colors of large ticket items to give the consumer a take-home experience, but can you get it delivered tomorrow?  One way to compete with the ‘big box’ stores is to assemble items and deliver them ready to use, something the ‘big box’ stores can’t do.  That takes the consumer closer to the ‘See it / Buy it / Use it’ model.

There is also an implication in this research that the ‘Infolusty’ consumer does not want to come to your establishment unless they already know about what you sell.  That means that you should have a very descriptive website that details your products and services.  The consumer can come in to compare two items and decide which to purchase, or simply verify that the one they chose will work as intended.  The use of virtual home tours by real estate companies is indicative of this trend.  Instead of a customer coming in and asking to be shown what houses are available, they can narrow down their choice to a few and then tour them all in the same day and make an offer.

If you can utilize your website to make the sale, so much the better.  The consumer can select the item, pay on the web and then come in to pick it up.  This could work for paint stores, hardware stores, coffee shops, take out restaurants and so on.  If you are a take out restaurant, coffee shop, or the like, you could even have an application that lets the consumer place and pay for the order via text message.

“Change” is the word we are hearing from the political candidates in both parties, noted business experts, and “adapting to change” is an often used phrase on ‘The Big Idea’ show on CNBC with Donny Deutsch.  If Trendwatching is correct about the move towards the Expectation Economy and the trends of Snack Culture and InfoLust, those businesses that embrace the change and adapt to it will rise to the top of the pack.  If you do nothing else, it should be to your advantage to research these trends a bit more on some of the websites I have cited and on your own, as well as keeping an eye on what your competition is doing.  Remember, in the “market share pie” the bigger piece generally goes to the business with the best compelling competitive advantage.  That advantage may be responding to these trends.