Rated Top Ten

PRWEB writes: The size and structure of families are changing all around the world, and a new wave of middle-class growth is unfolding in developing markets. Urbanization, car ownership, and increased access to technology are giving people new choices and a chance to pursue more modern lifestyles. At the same time, the lifestyles of consumers in the world’s most advanced markets are evolving as well, driving interest in ethical consumption and products that relieve time pressure.
These developments will create new growth opportunities—but also challenges—for global businesses and governments, according to a study conducted by the Washington, DC-based research and consulting firm Social Technologies. Organizations need to reevaluate their long-term consumer strategies in order to keep up with changing lifestyles. Drawing upon five years of research, the Top 20 Trends report identifies the most important trends affecting consumer lifestyles in 2006 and forecasts their future trajectories.

Here are the Top 10 Trends Highlights:
Note: The listed trends are in no particular order (for the rest of this story please see this page here at Yahoo News.

1. Cultural Flows. Cultural flowsthe spread of ideas, media, products, brands, and lifestyles to new places—are increasing as the number of cultural poles rises and the world becomes more interconnected. Cultural flows expose consumers in both developed and developing markets to new ideas, products, and ways of thinking.

2. Time Pressure. More people around the world feel pressured for time in their lives. Many consumers feel they have less time to manage mounting levels of activity, information, and choice, and the resulting accelerated pace of life. While time pressure and its effects are felt most intensely in developed countries, change is occurring most rapidly in emerging markets.

3. Cultural Multipolarity. The ability to produce and disseminate culture in its modern forms is rising in more places around the world. New centers of cultural power are ascending, driving the emergence of cultural multipolarity.

4. Asia Rising. The countries of Asia are strengthening their economic and cultural clout and boosting their prominence in the world. This is clear whether measured by     GDP growth rates, increasing scientific and technological capabilities, the growing variety of goods and services now available to Asian consumers, or simply the feeling of buzzing energy on a busy street in Bangalore, Shanghai, or Bangkok.

5. Media Spread. More people have access to mass media than ever before. Media devices including radios, TVs, computers, and mobile phones are becoming more affordable, and new broadcast media like satellite and the Internet are increasing choice and accessibility.

6. Social Freedom. Social freedom—the range of personal, political, and economic options open to individuals—is growing around the world. Propelled by political change, economic growth, and information flows, social freedom is expanding the range of choices available to consumers and allowing individualism to spread.

7. Transparency. The increasing ability to gather, store, and share information is making it easier to know about people, products, companies, and governments, propelling the world towards transparency. Driving factors include information technology, the spread of media, social freedom, and rising incomes and education levels.

8. Monetization. Consumers are increasingly substituting purchased products, devices, and services for labor and time. As more people equate time with money, many are choosing monetized goods and services—from packaged flour to washing machines to dog-walking services—that offer convenience and time savings.

9. Rising Mobility. People are upgrading their mobility, enabling them to move further and faster than before. Rising mobility in emerging markets will be transformational, impacting lifestyles and opening up new areas of demand for mobility-related goods and services.

10. Migration. Over the next few decades, international and internal migration will continue at high levels, altering both the lives of the people moving and the societies and regions receiving them. This migration will affect language, social values, food, entertainment, and many other aspects of daily life.