4 Multi-Million Dollar Trends 🚀

A New Type of Headphone, Damage-less Curls, A New Sport, and The Next Nerf Gun.

Hey Trend Lovers! — Nick here.

I’m healing up nicely from my surgery and ready to deliver more data driven-insights on the latest trends in products and business.

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Now let’s get down to business ↓

📈 Products on the Rise

Product #1 - Bone Conduction Headphones (+203%)

Hear the future. A new technology that transmits sound through bones is picking up some steam as an alternative to traditional headphones.

Bone conduction headphones (BCH) transmit sound waves directly into the ear through the bones rather than traditional headphones which use air conduction.

What’s the point? Well, I asked the same question.

Here are a few reasons why someone would ditch their old headphones for these,

• Can be used by those with hearing impairments. Since BCH bypasses the eardrum completely, it’s easier for those with hearing loss to hear sounds more clearly.

• Comfier. Bone conduction headphones aren’t inserted into your ear canal which can be incredibly uncomfortable after about an hour or two. We’ve all been there.

• Doesn’t block out sounds. If you’ve ever gone for a run with AirPods in, you’ll know that you can’t hear ambient sounds like traffic, which makes you unaware of potential dangers. BCH allows surrounding noise to be heard while still listening to music clearly.

While this technology has been around for quite some time, we haven’t seen it become mainstream for a few reasons. The BCH tech is expensive and the sound quality isn’t as good as traditional headphones.

When those challenges are resolved, we are likely to see an explosion of bone-conduction headphones enter the market.

Who’s Doing It?

• Shokz - Offers BCH for a wide range of utilities which include working, running, and even swimming! Generating an estimated $12M in annual revenue.

Product #2 - Heatless Curls (+1,600%)

Curls without the crisp. More people are looking for ways to style their locks without frying them using a curling iron. This has given way to the trend of heatless curls that use a simple tool to achieve the same look without the damage.

Heatless curls are created using a foam, sponge, or cloth headband device that allows you to wrap your wet hair around and secure it with hair ties.

Once your hair dries, you are left with curl-shaped ringlets that give the same appearance as if you’d used a curling iron.

The heat from traditional curling irons can cause hair to become dry, brittle, and frizzy. This is the main attraction for the heatless version.

Searches for “Heatless curls with socks” are exploding which shows the demand to achieve a less damaging hair-do.

Who’s Doing It?

• Kitsch - Selling a satin heatless curling tool, Kitsch has locked down distribution across Amazon, eCommerce, and Ulta Beauty.

• Ivyu Store - One of the top-ranking sellers on Amazon with 8,000+ reviews for their heatless curls headband. Generating estimated sales of $200k/month.

📰 Industry Shift

Pickleball (+507%)

Pickle-ballin' like it's hot! This fun and accessible activity is being enjoyed by people of all ages and skill levels.

Pickleball is a racquet sport that combines elements of badminton, tennis, and ping-pong.

The reasons for its growth can be attributed to:

• Easy to learn - Pickleball has a much lower learning curve than a similar sport like tennis, this makes it easier for a new player to get in on the action without feeling overwhelmed.

• Less intensive - Pickleball is a low-impact sport that allows people of all ages to participate without having to strain themselves too hard physically.

• More social - With a smaller playing field, players can chat with each other across the court during games, much easier than with tennis.

Pickleball is currently receiving 1.1M monthly Google searches while Tennis received 632k in the same period.

🚨 Business Radar

Gel Blaster (+4,850%)

These toy guns are becoming a hit with children and teens nationwide as a fun upgrade to the typical Nerf gun.

Gel blasters are a type of toy gun that shoots water-based gel beads known as “orbeez.”

The guns are a safer alternative to traditional paintball and airsoft guns, as being shot by the gel beads does not hurt nearly as badly.

However, they certainly sting much more than a Nerf gun.

The discrepancy between toy and weapon has caught the attention of the law, by searching “Gel Blaster arrest” you will see dozens of reports of kids & adults being arrested for shooting bystanders with the blasters.

This hasn’t seemed to slow down sales.

Over the course of 2 years, the company has generated between $80-$100M in revenue, as reported by the CEO.

🎬 Closing Remarks

Thank you for reading!

I wrote the entire thing with one hand wrapped in gauze so it’d be awesome if you could share this with someone you think could benefit from the insights!

I’ve prepped the next 3 reports so stay tuned for a lot more trends headed your way!

Until next time!

Nick 👋