Call it the trend of the ‘lazyboy shopping’. At least, that is what consultancy firm Technopak calls the topmost trend in its latest quarterly outlook on product, design and branding trends.
Speaking to Indiaretailing, a spokesperson for Technopak said this quarterly report enumerates the top ten product, design and branding trends for 2008. Technopak publishes similar quarterly outlook reports on the top consumer trends, top career trends and top trends in the Indian retail sector.
According to the report, ‘home delivery’ is the topmost trend in the product, design and branding trend category. The use of vibrant colours in electronic gadgets is the second-most important trend that has emerged in this study. This is in sharp contrast to the use of either black or white in an earlier era. The use of vibrant colours to boost sales is most visible in sectors like electronic gadgets and automobiles, the study says. Rather surprisingly, the third top trend in this category is the use of crystals in products. Be it sunglasses, clothes or accessories, all are having their values enhanced through embedding of crystals, the report says.
On the ‘home delivery’ front, the report says that earlier, concierge services were available in the hotel industry, but now it is also available to consumers in the privacy of their own homes, with just a phone call. It points out that Delhi-based Concierge 4 India is a company that currently provides concierge services to companies in Delhi, with plans to roll out across major cities in India within two years. Their range of services include hiring house help, making theatre bookings, medical treatment, babysitting, plumbing, lost luggage assistance, restaurant reservations, shopping assistance and language translations.
The report further points out that home delivery of foods from restaurants, free of cost or at an additional charge, have become extremely popular. The new services that have eagerly joined the home-delivery bandwagon include dry cleaning. Also, labs like Pathlabs and DR Lal’s are willing to report at homes to pick up pathological samples and send the results home thereafter, says the report.
– Raja Ghoshal
