Pictured above: French-milled soaps for your A-List Baby from Noodle & Boo.com. Just another one of the "premium" type bath and body to expect in 2008.
Begin to study magazine ads and read trade articles; look at what is currently hot, start to analyze and sharpen your skills to spot new trends that will give rise to new products within your industry. Ultimately, the goal of trend watching is to explore new ideas that will lead to profitable product innovations. Here are three trends I see for 2008.
1) The Premiumization of everything and anything. No product will escape a premium version in the next 12 months. With money to burn, more and more consumers will be looking for quick status fixes derived from premium products.
A great example of this trend is represented by The Laundress. Lindsey Wieber and Gwen Whiting, co-founders of The Laundress™, created this luxury fabric care and specialty detergent line to take the chore out of laundry. They saw the necessity of properly caring for their clothing and homes, but were not able to find products on the market that met their standards of delicacy, fragrance and sophistication. This propelled these entrepreneurs to design a luxurious brand of detergents and fabric care with their own uniquely developed fragrances.
Expect to find the same trend with lotions, shower gels, soaps, and other bath and body products. Start looking for ways that you can "Premiumize" your current product line or, develop new lines that are a step beyond the average. and then market them as up-scale, sophisticated bath and body products.
2) Eco Status Sphere is not stopping in 2008. In fact, expect to see trends for both green and blue. Consumers will continue to seek out products that are organic and ego-friendly. Consider using bath and body containers that can be recycled or refilled. Products geared toward fitness and outdoor living will continue to grow. Foot and hand care, body soaks, lip balms are all products that can be developed to greenify the life's of a ego-conscious consumer.
3) Expect online sub-cultures like Face Book and My Space to begin dominating the advertising and selling world. Do-It-Yourself and Make-It-Yourself will continue to emerge from this thriving online sub-culture.
CafePress.com is already offering this type of online platform, but you will begin to see FaceBook and MySpace users doing the same. The days of offering a limited number of choices to online customers, is becoming a thing of the past.
A make your own "virtual" bath and body product web site may be something to consider. Generation C is here to stay. What is Generation C? The Wikopedia definition: People who use the web to create user generated content and participate in the co-creation of products and services.
As 2007 comes to a close, I wish each of you great success in your 2008 business ventures. GoPlanetEarth.com will continue to supply you with products that will help you reach your goals. As the owner, I sincerely thank each and every one of you for your continued business and support. So many of you have become like family to us. We look forward to servicing your soap making needs in 2008.
Happy holidays and Merry Christmas to all of you!
Denise & the GoPlanet Team
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