READING 4 CRITIQUE

Tor W. Andreassen Line Lervik-Olsen Giulia Calabretta, (2015),"Trend spotting

and service innovation", Journal of Service Theory and Practice, Vol. 25 Iss 1
pp. 10 – 30

According to the paradox that was mention in the journal, innovation is a

major source of corporate progress on the one hand, and consumers want new
products and services on the other hand but how can these companies’ innovations
meet the future needs of the consumers. Andreassen, et al. (2015) develop and
utilize a technique for trend spotting to provide guidance for researchers about
innovations in line with emerging consumer needs. Trend spotting means to find
the pattern or future tracks, in business world it became a relevant marketing
intelligence tool which identifies and track general trends that is cause by the rapid
change in customer behavior and technological innovation. The authors propose a
technique using quantitative trend spotting that will provide deeper insights about
trends and it also helps uncover hidden track of trends that already exist which can
be exposed in the near future. The authors also conducted a review on existing
research and analyze previous descriptions and uses of trend spotting to identify
challenges and to justify their step-by-step framework improves the effectiveness
and applicability of the method. According to the researchers Khurana and
Rosenthal, the challenges in market research for service innovation includes low
formalization, lack of structure, and persistent uncertainty characterize
innovation’s early stages and to overcome these challenges of market research for
service innovation the authors propose trend spotting as an effective method.
According to Houston, the heart of the marketing concept lies with the anticipation
of customers’ future needs.

The poor success rate in commercializing innovations as evidenced by

Barczak et al. (2009) is not only evidence of poor anticipation of consumers’ future
needs, but also a call for innovators to spot emerging trends that will impact
consumers’ lives. Anticipation has become one of the most important value-
generating forces in marketing and otherwise not only a source of value for
consumers but it also can change decision-making. It is important to anticipate
customer needs because their needs are the reason why the business existed and
understanding those is important to provide future products. According to Paul
Evans the director of digital & Mobility, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise ‘those
organizations who ignore their customers deserve to fail’ in which I realized that is
not enough to just copy new trends but it also important to understand the customer
needs as the world continuously changes.
 Trend spotting has become a relevant tool for marketers to identify and
monitor changes in the technology and underlying consumer trends that have the
potential to impact consumers’ everyday lives and this can be done either
qualitatively or quantitatively. In the article, the authors developed a step-by-step
framework combining two kinds of trend spotting, qualitative trend spotting was
defined as “foretelling the onset of a path-breaking shift in consumer interest or
behavior, such as the emergence of a new paradigm in fashion or lifestyle” which
means qualitative trend spotting will be used for the purpose of gaining deeper
understanding for innovation opportunities. The objective of the trend spotting
framework was to provide service innovation managers with a framework for
collecting relevant market information – both qualitative and quantitative – and
condensing it into an asset of reliable consumer trends which can trigger both
radical and incremental innovation.

The first step of the framework is defining the objectives of performing

trend spotting and next is familiarizing with the environment through
environmental scanning. There are eight consumer trends of which only one (RoT)
or Return on time will be used for Steps 3 to 5 and the third step of the framework
shows the way to estimate trends is through expert interviews that is why they
conducted extensive interviews which result to the identification of eight consumer
trends. The first trend is the progressive normalization of moving from place to
place or being always on the go which makes the person always busy and active.
Next is the always logged-in which accompanies the always on the go trend, which
means being able to access to information, services, and digital profiles at any time
and from anywhere and dealing with this there is also a need for support in
information filtering and orientation emerges which is also called as quality
information faster trend. According to one of the interviews conducted to illustrate
the quality information faster trend, a woman in her 30’s said that people have
more technologies but the brain is still the same that is why we need to filter the
information and only take those that are more relevant for people. The next trend is
nowism where consumers established desire for instant gratification which is
stimulated and satisfied by the increasing diffusion of (offline and online) real-time
products, services, and experiences and as a result, the company will have no
choice but to adapt the ‘now’. According to the article that I have read about
nowism, it represents a case of consumers jumping on something the moment they
actually can so the need is never new instead, the new ways to fulfill it are. Look at
me now trend is where people find pleasure and status in mastering skills,
acquiring knowledge, and finding an appreciative audience that is impressed with
what they know and do, instead of what they consume. In Privacy trend, the
increasing concern about information disclosure,
 information misuse and fraudulent activities is important as it defines strong
customer relationship and customer loyalty. The next trend is Sustainable living
where more people are more interested about how their lifestyle impacts their own
and the planet’s sustainability. And the last is the RoT or Return on Time trend
which is a goal-oriented behavior targeted at acquiring and spending time over a
set of chosen activities with the purpose of increasing subjective well-being.

As an IT student and future innovator, trend spotting will help me generate

ideas that I can offer to the market. Based on this article that I have read, I have
realized that trend spotting is a sustaining process and it’s a responsibility of the
innovators to conduct this activity and gather information and assess it regularly
and I think this trend spotting should be a skill for us also. According to Abraham
Lincoln, ‘the best way to predict the future is to create it’ and this mentality should
be applied by the marketers and innovators by creating businesses and adding
value to the world.