About a year ago, I hacked my wallet. Actually, I bought a new wallet, and as an added feature it included a pocket with a removable smaller wallet. The smaller wallet was described as a “weekend wallet” where you could just grab the cards you most often used and carry those instead of the full
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What’s the Trend? New services and technology makes it easier for anyone to invest in local businesses and buy from local merchants. The consumer desire to “shop local” will have plenty of help in the coming year from a suite of online tools, innovations and personalization technology that help anyone in any location around the
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What’s the Trend? Finally changing years of growing distrust, banks finally uncover their human side through simplifying their offerings and changing the tone of how they communicate. After years of negativity, brands in the financial sector are finally beginning to rebuild trust and even inspire loyal customers by taking a more simple and direct human
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What’s the Trend? Technology helps optimize the process of buying everything from fashion to medical prescriptions. As consumers become more conscious about what they buy, where they buy it, how much they spend for it, and how much time shopping takes – retailers and app-makers are discovering that the ultimate competitive advantage may come not
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There has been a single pink folder on my desk since January 15th of this year. That day matters to me for two reasons – first because its my birthday, and second because it’s the day when I start an empty folder with the intention of collecting ideas for my year end trend report. Then
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When I was 17 years old, I wanted to be a playwright. Deciding that I was going to try and learn from within, I landed an internship at the well known Studio Theater in Washington DC. It was 1992, and they were producing a show called Spunk – which adapted several short stories from Zora
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Groucho Marx once quipped, “I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member.” I always feel his sentiment just a little bit everytime I agree to speak at any event because I am passionate about trying to share the stage with people much smarter than I am. So when
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What if Usain Bolt charged per hour to watch him race? It’s a ridiculous thought, of course. Yet we all know that the only reason he is able to run 100 meters in less than ten seconds is because of years of preparation. He has spent a lifetime training to be able to do what
Continue reading »I have been a fan of the Amazon Kindle device for some time now … and I ordered the new 7 inch Kindle Fire the day it was announced. This weekend I had the chance to try it out, and have been fairly happy. What I didn't expect, though, was to take away quite so
Continue reading »Last week I had the chance to deliver a keynote presentation at a merchandising event put on for some of the largest retailers in the US by the trade association Shop.org. I shared some trends built upon consumer behaviour and incorporating some startups that are getting a lot of attention right now. I don't share
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