Bejeweled accessories, tartan plaid with sequins and fur, chrome yellow cars and Chinese dumplings are just some of the things expected to be hot in 2005.

“The thing that is going to be hot is something that is exciting, novel, innovative, new and sweeps the consumer off his and her respective feet and into the store to make a purchase,” said Kurt Barnard of Barnard’s Retail Trend Report in New Jersey. “Consumers are tired of what they are seeing; consumers are basically bored stiff. They have it all.”

Indeed. Research by retail experts at Smith Barney indicates demand for unique and exclusive merchandise is at an all-time high.

Metallics, pearlescent sage greens, chrome yellows and very bright reds will help drive car sales in 2005, according to the 1,300 members of the Color Marketing Group in Alexandria, Va., which helps set color choices for manufacturers.

While some small-appliance manufacturers have tried to beef up sales by introducing bright oranges and pinks, Charles Smith, president of the Color Marketing Group, said there aren’t a lot of people who want to hold on to a $300 orange mixer for years. Instead, he suggests buying an orange spatula or another low-cost item that can be tossed once you tire of the color.

Art Siemering, editor in chief of The Food Channel Trendwire, an international Internet newsletter for food marketers with offices in Chicago and Springfield, Mo., sees shoppers looking more closely at their foods, including those with trans fats.

“People, particularly baby boomers, are becoming a lot jumpier about eating foods they think are harmful,” he said. “We’re still subject to the same old temptations – eating too much sugar and fat – but we’re increasingly leery about threats that arise every day in the newspaper. This trend takes in food safety issues ranging from processing practices to the possible role of animal feed bringing about mad cow disease, that kind of thing.”

Restaurants also will offer more grain-based salads and pilafs; “take-in counters,” where single staffers can dish up meals for customers in an instant; and upscale Mexican, Chinese, Asian and Latino cuisine, he said. Appetizers, also known as tapas or mezze, will continue to be popular with diners, because they offer a low-cost way to sample several dishes and provide smaller portions for those on a diet.

Siemering also predicts that “baos” will become a popular treat. The small steamed buns or dumplings of Chinese origin are filled with tasty meat or vegetable combinations. Japanese cuisine also will become more diverse, Siemering said.

Recent “must have” items for girls and women have ranged from fancy fur-trimmed footwear to embellished sweaters, and those trends should continue into the new year. But young girls also will turn on the “flower power,” with big, single blooms on rings, hair clips, shirts and more, according to Anastacia K. Stathakis of Westin Rinehart, a Washington, D.C.-based public affairs firm that provides strategic communications and marketing strategies.

Handbags with illustrations by Sara Schwartz will be huge, along with brands such as 2 B Free loungewear in soft fabrics, Stathakis said. Britney Spears made mass-produced slogan T-shirts hot in 2004, but tweens and teens are now buying plain shirts and embellishing them with more personalized slogans made with craft supplies. Boys are turning to track pants instead of jeans, and clip watches, especially those from Tokyo Bay, will be seen snapped on pant pockets and belt buckles instead of wrists, she said.

Blue Fusion, a New York youth marketing and promotions firm, predicts young girls also will turn to tartan plaids but with a twist – crazy colors with embellishments like sequins, fur and rhinestones. Sporty-meets-sexy looks also will be popular, with a lace skirt topped off with a long-sleeve T-shirt and tech vest.

While the teens and tweens may be well covered by specialty stores, other retailers will look to boost revenues by tapping into underserved demographics.

Boomers continue to be a big retail force, with more than 69 million Americans between the ages of 50 and 74 – a third of the population – said Candace Corlett, principal with WSL Strategic Retail, a New York marketing and retail consulting group.

While the baby boomer market also has become almost synonymous with the Chico’s women’s clothing, there’s more to the over-50 market than elastic waistbands and wrinkle-free skin, Corlett said.

“I think one of the things retailers don’t have a grasp on is: What is the fantasy of the over-50 shopper? What do they want to look like?” Corlett said. “We know exactly how to merchandise and present product for teens, for young singles, for moms. We know what their fantasies are, whether it’s a great body that fits in size zero jeans, a great date for New Year’s Eve, or a showcase home or the smartest kid on the block. But retailers haven’t nailed it for people over 50.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 26 percent of households are single-person households, the second-largest segment, behind households with four or more members, Corlett said. While the focus has been on supersizing products, this population segment might not want 18 rolls of toilet tissue, but might prefer a package of three rolls plus two boxes of facial tissue.

Male consumers also are shopping more at groceries, drugstores and the like, but they are often not as price-conscious as women and seldom use coupons. They also will pay more for clothes that last, because they are not as enamored of cheap chic as women are, Corlett said.

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“Young men are shopping more than older men, since they make up so many of the single-person households,” she said. “(Clothing store) Express for Men has done a great job, but they’re pretty much out there by themselves. They realize there is a generation of men under 35 who have to shop and dress themselves. They know how to take them a little bit fashion forward without scaring them off.”

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Retailers also are hoping to boost sales by predicting not only what consumers will shop for in 2005, but where and how they will shop.

While shoppers still say they want one-stop shopping, they also increasingly want an easier shopping experience – easier to get in and out, easier to find what they want, an “edited mix,” Corlett said.

“And that’s the rub for big-box stores, like 200,000-square-foot supercenters,” she said. “There is no way on Earth we’re suggesting that Wal-Mart is going to disappear or even decline, but we are seeing a large minority – about 46 percent of shoppers – who are very willing to pay a little bit more for everyday groceries in order to shop in a nicer shopping environment.”

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Baby boomers are leading the trend. They’ve scrimped and saved for years, and now they’re willing to spend a few more cents for laundry detergent in return for a more upscale shopping environment, Corlett said.

Another challenge for Wal-Mart is the other extreme: the dollar stores, which can have the perception of the lowest price.

In some categories, consumers are seeking that edited mix, which should mean growth for specialty stores in categories as diverse as pet products and clothing, she said.

“I think we’ll see more national specialty stores for the pet category, and I think it’s going to be much more substantial than pet collars and coats,” she said. “There’s this whole issue of pet wellness and health. People are going to start looking at self-medicating pets instead of turning to the vet all the time, because the vet bills are so outrageous.”

Siemering sees a trend toward “American rustic” cuisine as restaurateurs are induced to rural settings by lighter overhead, lower taxes, less regulation and nearby sources for fresh ingredients. More specialty food stores also will have dining areas attached to show off their products.

Supermarkets also may need to become less segmented and rein in excessive choices such as Popsicle-flavored cleaning products, Siemering said.

“We’re agonizing over all these choices that are essentially meaningless from my point of view,” he said. “It all comes back to more legitimate forms of convenience, such as not having to trudge that extra mile through excessively overgrown supermarkets.”

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AP-NY-12-30-04 2024EST