Business:
The number of start-up companies has increased surprisingly in the year 2009. The global economy slowdown, which ultimately affected every single person in direct or indirect way. On one hand the big companies have tightened their hands on expenses and the controlled their credits, while on the other side its an opportunity for entrepreneurs to jump into this market with their innovative ideas. One of the best examples among such is the “Loan-Modification” business which has rapidly spread up in the USA. And there are several such business ideas which has popped up because of this global economy slowdown. This resulted in an opportunity for Indian IT service providers as well in a positive manner. The focus has now shifted from the enterprise level applications to small utility application development and iPhone app is one of the best example for this statement. The demand of social networking has increases so much that it flooded the market with demand of web development and this time no one is willing to go to big shots for web development or iPhone app development. The budget is tight but the project is profitable and hence the small and mid size companies are having good time in increasing their clientele.
Technology:
As said in the previous section the focus has been moved from the enterprise level applications to small utility applications. The biding sites are full of web development projects and all they want is a new/revamped web with all web2.0 features. Web2.0 was not that popular when it was launched as it is today. PHP, MySQL, ASP.net, ruby on rails are into limelight. On the other hand CMS like Joomla, WordPress, Drupal have overtaken the web market completely. Another revolutionary moment in IT application development was launch of iPhone SDK in the market. Within no time, the Apple store crossed millions of application to shop. The demand for quick and handy solutions has increased.
Lifestyle:
There is a definite cut down in this travel and hospitality domain. The industry faced a little cold wave specially the hotel industry as compared 2006-2007. The luxury hotels have dropped their suits rates or have come up with several offers in each seasons. There are some 5 starrer in western India where the rates have been dropped by more than 60%. Now people are also looking for short term holidays and preferring near by spots over a long distance. One reason might be the uncertainty of getting leaves for a longer period. However the number of trips per family have certainly increased because of the weekends coverage and availability of special offers. As far as shopping is concerned people are now more careful about each single paisa. The addiction to shop from a mall has increased only for groceries. Where there are several shop brands who are now left with just empty racks. More than 10 pyramids stores are closed as of today. The shops are not getting more customers even it’s a flat 60% sale. This shows that the public now defiantly understand the value for their money. The DVD rents or rather pickup from roadside has increased as public thinks movies are not worth a watch at theaters. The multi cuisines restaurants are doing good day by day as they provide international food in almost similar price of India which made Indian customers to go to a International cuisine restaurant and enjoy continental, Italian, Chinese, South Asian, Mexican in the similar cost band as Indian.
Mobile and Gadgets:
The iPhone 3GS must be rocking in USA but in India its still on the costly side as only 2% percent of Indian mobile users use mobile phone having price more than 20K. The touch phones are in demand and HTC violated the myth of touch phones have high price. As of today the touch phones are available in the market with less than 10K. Samsung, LG, HTC, Asus, recently Nokia have launched touch screen phones giving no place for iPhone to get a hold in Indian market. The main reason for this is that the priority is given to the price, over features and looks. Yes I agree to the point that there have an increment in the awareness of technical front which was not there in last year. Now people talk about 3G services and I am looking for a revolution in this domain by launch of 3G services. The laptop’s screen size is reducing and mobile’s screen size is increasing. There is a very high demand of Mini Laptops and Asus has proved it by proving EE PC with 7 inch screen. Other brands like, Acer, Sony Vaio, HP and Dell have also introduced there mini laptops with price range of 25k which is getting popular in market.
Fashion:
The Indian young generation wants to be in up to date attire which is hot in the market. The loose and macho jeans are out of market now and once again low rise, slim fit with narrow bottom are in the stores. The light shaded with cuts are not obsolete and dark blue and black are in. there have been no change in the tops, however there has been variety in men’s top wear. The ESPIRIT has targeted the Indian youngster who were bored with same stuffs and and a new look at any cost. The success of ESPIRT made formal brands think on launching casual wear and that’s why Louis Philippe, Van Housen also loaded their racks with tees and jeans along with knitwear. The big dial watches with multiple functionality are still holding the trend. At one place where Fast Track is targeting young generations with low cost sporty watches, the big brands like, Police, Fossils, Giordano have come up with high range watches with, speedometer, accelerometer, compass and much more. The sketchers have been replaced by ID shoes with flat sole.
Jobs:
Everyone knows that there have been cut offs in jobs in all sectors. Yes that’s true but a detailed analysis of this reveals that there are a particular band of resources which have been given pink slip. People are also saying that its not easy to get a job now and general public thins now employer don’t value their quality. The real thing is that employer is giving value to their single dollar and want to have the only the best ones. Earlier this scene was not there, earlier each person was considered as a resource who even doesn’t do anything still they can raise a bill for that resources to the clients. Since clients have become tighter in spending, ultimately employers are left with no option than saying those unbilled resources a good bye.
Will post trends from other domains soon.
Thanks,
Shashi Sudhanshu
