2012 Top Digital Consumer Trends 01/04/12

Android will flourish. Apple will flounder. 2012 will see mobile wallets go mainstream outside of Japan and South Korea and people take advantage of the impulse opportunities to shop local deals on their phones, while relishing in the eCommerce experience afforded by tablets. Web and mobile apps will help us share more, and we will also outsource more. In no particular order, here are some ideas to ponder for 2012:

1. Android continues to flourish. With better technical specs, ever sleeker designs and sharper price points,  Android phones and tablets are quickly dominate the landscape. Sad to say, but with Steve Jobs gone, Apple’s domination of the gadget world ends. Let’s face it, without Steve, Apple has proven in the past that they lose direction. Perhaps their board has learned something, but history has a way of repeating itself.
2. Mobile-wallets will be big, catering for monetary transactions (PayWave Google Nexus) and also the rest of the consumer journey – from discovery, to post-sale relationship building. local search, reviews, loyalty etc.
3. Daily Deal sites that are entrenched in their high commission and large sales force business models will struggle in light of the ease of replicability of the business model, and the not so greedy new market entrant who is able to appeal to more small businesses. Those who stumble with customer service will fade from existence, while those that focus whole heartedly on their core value proposition in a said niche will thrive.
4. Social Media continues to grow in influence as a new customer acquisition and retention channel. How to leverage the word-of-mouth opportunity becomes more science than play. More job openings for hybrid marketers/customer service personel (aka community managers) are on the horizon as budgets shift to digital channels and more so to new media.
5. Mobile-Friendly web-app sites become a priority, as entrenched web businesses play catch up, ahead of delving into iOS and Android application.
6. Crowdsourcing for everything from getting a website built to getting your homework done becomes so easy and widespread.
7. Sharing – everything from facilitating cram sessions for exams to hitching a ride to the mountain comes of age. The idea of Ownership makes way for Access. Zimride.com is one example. Also daily deal sites are making experiences like a day on a yacht, or a night out in a stretch limo, far more accessible.
8. Digital Consumption. eBooks, music, movies, software – It can all be downloaded directly to a tablet, which are getting cheaper every week. Yes some people still like the feel of the pages of a book between their fingers, but they are a growing minority. Embrace the digital economy. If you sell paperbacks, CDs and/or DVDs in exclusion, you need to get creative. Evolve if you wan’t to stay in the black.
9. Gamification: More and more game elements will encroach upon our daily lives. If it’s fun, people will use it, and it can be profitable. I’m using an amazing game-centric app to improve my Spanish right now. Another notable app turned a Transformers poster at a bus stop into an rpg. Amazing. These are great innovations that are fun for consumers and also add value to the businesses that provides them.
10. Data-Driven Commerce: With the ability to make sense of the mountains of data and the ability to take action on the insights, enterprises that see the potential will dedicate more resource towards mining, organizing, understanding and planning to use their data to optimise their process to squeeze out extra cash and properly time the rollout of innovations to take advantage of emerging trends.

So there you have it, some industry-shaping trends for 2012. Are you poised to capitalize?