LSN : News : Stat: Consumers welcome in-store advice when buying diamonds

Lufthansa opens next-level personalised business-class in the air

Lufthansa Allegris, Germany

Germany – Lufthansa has unveiled new business- and first-class suites designed to offer greater flexibility and next-level privacy for today’s travellers – whether their trip is for business or pleasure. As part of the airline’s new long-haul product, Lufthansa Allegris, the company is investing £2.2bn ($2.7bn, €2.5bn) in products and services over the next two years.

In collaboration with London-based design studio Pearson Lloyd, the airline’s new business-class layout consists of seven seats, each with direct aisle access. Chest-high walls and a one-two-one configuration allow sliding doors to open up directly to the aisle – creating less disruption and more privacy.

The most distinctive feature of the redesign is the possibility to tailor one’s flying experience, a response to the evolving nature of consumers’ travel needs. Parents travelling with a small child, for example, can fly in suites with in-house bassinets. Those looking for a relaxing flight can sleep in extra-long (2.2m) beds. In addition, those requiring a dedicated workspace can connect two suites together to create a mini-office in the cabin.

The post-pandemic travel market is booming, but customers, more in control of their schedules than before, are looking for tailor-made experiences like the Lufthansa redesign – as we revealed in our Data-driven Escapes microtrend.

Strategic opportunity

Adapt your offering to consumers’ changing lifestyles, including flexi-working, living and travelling, to attract more customers

A peer-to-peer marketplace dedicated to modernist designs

Modernist Estates Marketplace, UK

UK – Stefi Orazi’s new venture, the Modernist Estates Marketplace, is a portal where all things modernism, mid-century design and architecture are listed, explored and shared.

The newly launched Modernist Estates Marketplace was created by writer, photographer and designer Stefi Orazi. The idea came as a natural addition to her numerous design-centric ventures – books on modernist architecture, a letting platform connecting landlords and tenants, and the Modernist Estates inspirational Instagram page, which gathered a 60k-strong community.

‘I get so many DMs with all sorts of enquiries – people looking for homes or specialists in renovating properties,’ explains Orazi. ‘The messages became unmanageable, so I had the idea that if there was a site where people could speak directly to each other, it could be a really useful tool.’ The Marketplace came as a response, to connect this community and allow them to list and find collectable items, property and niche services such as framing or upholstering.

With interest in vintage furniture and premium homeware soaring, especially among Generation Z, we expect to see more such platforms emerge, facilitating peer-to-peer and circular commerce.

Strategic opportunity

The second-hand boom is creating grey spaces in industries beyond fashion and apparel. Businesses have an opportunity to step in and create spaces that offer resale, repairs or hand-me-downs of niche and coveted goods

Hellmann's introduces smart mayonnaise jar to reduce food waste

UK – Condiment business Hellmann’s is trialling mayonnaise jars with temperature-sensitive packaging that alerts consumers when their fridge is too warm. The label, made with thermochromic ink, reveals a hidden illustration when the ambient temperature rises over 5°C. Joining forces with creative agency Ogilvy UK and illustrator Ellen Porteus from the Jacky Winter Group, Hellmann's aims to alert all consumers in the UK to the scale of food waste in the country.

‘Every year, more than 4.5m tonnes of perfectly good food goes to waste in our homes, which could have been eaten,’ says Catherine David, director of collaboration and change for WRAP, a climate action NGO working globally to tackle the causes of the climate crisis, including food waste. ‘This costs the average family upwards of £700 [$867, €796] a year – money none of us can afford to waste. Incorrect storage is a key trigger for food going off, and getting the fridge temperature right can help food stays fresher for longer.’

In Food Waste Innovation, we looked at how the growing need to create innovative and sustainable solutions to food waste presents various opportunities, from food-sharing and upcycling to educational packaging.

Hellmann’s Smart Jar in collaboration with Ogilvy London, UK

Strategic opportunity

Consider innovations such as colour-changing labels denoting freshness to enable shoppers of all ages to understand edibility visually and reduce food waste

Stat: Consumers welcome in-store advice when buying diamonds

Lightbox is a new brand of lab-grown diamonds by De Beers, UK

Global – The Natural Diamond Council recently sent store evaluators into retail channels to examine how to enhance the sales performance of natural diamonds. It found that customer interactions with sales advisers are key. Some 93% of consumers reported feeling confident about purchasing natural diamonds after they had been educated about them by advisers. Only 16% of consumers felt confident enough to buy the diamonds without education.

Overall, the commission concluded that the value of informed purchasing is not being prioritised enough. The evaluators determined that 40% of interactions in retail channels lacked proactive education. The difference between natural diamonds and lab-grown diamonds isn’t routinely made clear enough, with only 36% of evaluators reporting that they were able to distinguish between them with the resources provided. And only 6% of evaluators reported that ethical considerations were being used as a selling point.

We’ve talked about how consumers increasingly want to buy greener diamonds – those that are ethically and sustainably sourced. As we’ve seen across sectors and in macrotrends such as Accredited Beauty, consumers like to be informed and are willing to do their own research, but they expect sales advisers to be even more open and insightful.

Strategic opportunity

Make expertise an integral part of consumers’ purchasing journeys. Prioritise informing them about the ethical value in your products, especially if that information has traditionally been difficult to access