The Knowledge to Decide

A startup in India aims to sell cow based products. Based in Mumbai, Cowpathy uses ingredients such as manure, clarified butter (ghee) and urine among others to make consumer products with high medicinal properties. The company sells over 48,000 units of soaps that contain gooseberries, cow manure, lavender powder and orange peel. These are shipped out every month across 13 countries, including the US. Will the use of animal by-products revolutionize the consumer goods industry in time to come? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/cashing-in-on-the-cow-economy/

The price of coffee is set to reach a record high by 2018, which is why coffee shops are hoarding coffee beans to meet consumer demand. While sales of hot coffee fell by 3% due to rising summer temperatures, cold coffee market sales were up by 80% over the previous year. It takes about 0.2 kilograms of beans to brew a gallon of hot coffee, while cold coffee takes only a pound. Production shortages in Vietnam and Brazil along with crop issues in Colombia are likely to raise prices for coffee beans this year, further fueling the trend towards cold coffee. Will most consumers start to consume their coffee cold? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/cold-coffee-cannibalizing-cold-drinks/

The African hair care industry has been among the fastest growing across the content over the past few years. The market is expected to grow in value to USD761 million by the end of 2017. Various factors are responsible for this steady growth, such as the global trend towards chemical-free hair products as well as growing acceptance of the natural texture and colour of African hair. However, the pricing model is a challenge. Natural hair products are generally made with higher quality ingredients, unlike cheaper petro-chemical based ones. The battle to persuade consumers to pay higher prices has not yet been concluded. Can Africa turbo-charge the global hair care industry? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/african-haircare-industry-surges-ahead/

Blockchain is set to go beyond financial services and affect all sectors, especially retail. Blockchain enables a decentralized digital ledger to record information and transactions on a shared online network. In Australia, this technology will soon enable consumers to scan a product and check the actual journey from farm to store shelf, alongside product quality. Can the internet of things plus Blockchain revolutionize retail supply chains? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/blockchain-technology-is-set-to-hit-retail-sector/

Toyota has invented cars powered by human waste. In Fukuoka, Japan, a wastewater treatment plant converts human waste into hydrogen to fuel Toyota’s hydrogen fuel cell car – the Mirai. The Fukuoka plant’s current capacity of 300 kg of hydrogen in a day is adequate to run 65 Mirai vehicles. Using wastewater is one of the most eco-friendly methods to make hydrogen, especially for big cities that produce a lot of sewage. In comparison to electric battery cars, hydrogen vehicles may be more effective in convincing consumers to give up their petroleum or gasoline-run vehicles as they function in similar ways. Will tomorrow’s cars run on hydrogen drawn from human waste? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/human-waste-to-power-fuel-cell-cars/

Personal Cloud in China is expected to generate USD2.65 billion in revenues by 2017, growing 30.7%, on average, in the coming five years. With many players vying for a share of this huge market, what strategies will succeed? Spire Research and Consulting shared its insights, published on the US Consumer Electronics Association’s blog. With improved internet connectivity and increased usage of mobile phones, the personal Cloud is making headway in China’s consumer market. The factors driving this growth include the ever-rising demand for storage, seamless synchronization between multiple devices as well as demand for full-length HD videos, High-resolution images and collaborative projects. Most of the major global personal Cloud platforms are not accessible in Mainland China. However, three players have emerged as leaders in this Chinese space – Alibaba Group, Tencent and Baidu. Tencent is most popular with over 300 million users; where Baidu has about 200 million users follow

In contrast with the US and Europe, bargaining over prices is the norm in China’s small consumer electronics retailers. Spire Research and Consulting posted a commentary on how Western brands should sell their consumer electronics products in China, published on the US Consumer Electronics Association’s blog. Chinese adults spend an average of USD917 on consumer electronics, compared to USD483 in the US. Over 60 per cent of China’s population will continue to spend more on this category. In Chinese computer and consumer electronics retailers, bargaining is a common practice. This stands in contrast to the American and European norm, where consumers are used to fixed prices, whether at large retailers or e-tailers. This is due to the saturation of retailers in the Chinese market. These retailers sell high-end consumer electronic items such as laptops, cameras, tablets, mobile phones and so forth at negotiable prices. So how do western vendors keep up with the competition?

India’s emerging cranberry market has caught the eye of The Cranberry Marketing Association,  USA . Spire Research and Consulting was commissioned by the Cranberry Marketing Committee (CMC) to explore the potential of the Indian consumer market. The findings were shared on Fresh Plaza’s website, including measures taken to create a niche market for US-grown cranberry and related products. The Cranberry Marketing Association USA recently received grant support under the Emerging Markets Program (EMP) from the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service to commence a technical and educational program in  India . Spire Research and Consulting was then tasked by the CMC to explore the potential of U.S.-grown cranberry and related products in India’s market. Spire’s research clearly indicated that the market for cranberry products clustered around major Tier-1 cities in India; namely Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi. This was primarily due to the presence of gourmet food stores and co