PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IN RESPONSE TO CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS AND TRENDS

Businesses operating on a competitive market undertake a variety of activities to achieve business objectives. Among the factors crucial for a profitable business are also the trends defining consumers, their expectations, preferences, behaviour. Research has shown the varying importance of individual trends to the operations of enterprises in the different industries. In the case of manufacturing companies, entrepreneurs perceive opportunities in the growing prominence of ecoconsumption and ethnocentrism, while commercial companies see their chances in the virtualisation of consumption, and service companies – in servitisation and heterogeneisation. A business operating in line with observable trends increases its chances of success and achieves higher efficiency and effectiveness.