Mobile retailers bring goodies and good times to the people
		Epicurean concierges offer urban foodie tours

Love leftovers? Restaurants have your number

Single working dads a growing breed

Gyms help the gray-haired crowd get pumped

Mobile retailers bring goodies and good times to the people

Some companies are picking up on what ice cream truck drivers have known for years: if you bring it to them, they will purchase. Sightings of mobile retailers have been accelerating at a fast pace and for good reason—these trucks, vans, carts and buses carry goodies and good times. From food to fashion, these drive-by retailers deliver. They’re similar to their cousin, pop-up retail, in the values of novelty and experience, but these shops differ in that they’re even more spontaneous. Consumers need to act fast before their desired item is flying down the freeway. Mobile retailers are showing up after concerts, at birthday parties, fundraising events, private shopping appointments or just down a secret street.

Caravan in New York touts itself as “the ultimate mobile shopping experience.” This wardrobe on wheels has been dressing trendy 20somethings and Gen X fashionistas since June 2005. It offers clothing, accessories, gift items and art from around the globe. Believing the greatest challenges come from the heart, two innovative entrepreneurs were inspired to offer music and tasty treats from a pretty pink truck called heartschallenger. This funmobile isn’t just for the kiddies, though. Hipster teens and 20something Millennials are flocking. The Treats Truck company drives an affectionately named mobile bakery, Sugar, around New York. A couple of other foodie trucks with a cool factor include New York’s Mud Truck, a mobile coffee truck bringing the gift of caffeine to the people. The Calexico cart gets gourmet Mexican street food to hungry SoHo hipsters.

So why go the extra mile—or more—to bring the store experience to the consumer? Is it for their convenience? Well, yes, but it’s more than that. These hot-wheelin' retailers make the purchasing process fun and novel. ISM is seeing the shopping experience become more personal, from educational classes at retail locations to home shopping parties. Bringing your products or services to consumers via mobile retail creates a uniquely personal and indulgent event. Malls can often feel crowded and chaotic, making shopping a drag. Finding new ways to reach weary consumers is key to reinvigorating the experience. For those who decide to go the route of mobile retail, ISM advises you to keep the focus on creating a fun, spontaneous and novel experience for consumers.

Want to take a chocolate tour of San Francisco? Hit the best mom-and-pop grocers in Greenwich Village? Quaff IPA (Indian Pale Ale-style beers) in a Portland microbrew? Epicurean concierges can help you eat and drink your way around several major U.S. cities. San Francisco’s Lisa Rogovin, who guides foodies through the city’s famed Ferry Building farmers market, was the first to brand herself an EC. But other culinary meccas, including New York, Chicago and Portland, offer similar services. Not any old four-star restaurant makes the cut. Culinary tour guides like Portland’s Epicurean Excursion point visitors to locally sourced ingredients that are “fresh, local, organic, seasonable and sustainable.” ISM believes that our over-informed world has created a need for real experts—and who better to help feed consumers’ growing appetite for finding authentic and tasty local fare than epicurean concierges who cut through the chatter and can build a business in any city.

Los Angeles restaurants run by New York-based chefs sure know their table manners. The L.A. outpost of Craft and Mario Batali’s venture with Nancy Silverton, Osteria Mozza, are giving guests claim checks for doggie bags instead of plopping down sacks of stinky leftovers on a diner’s clean table. The claim checks work like coat checks: guests get a number from their server and when they’re ready to leave, they turn in their doggie-bag vouchers in exchange for their surplus chow. Good service can be simple. Tiny details extend indulgent experiences to make diners feel catered to and appreciated. More and more, ISM believes consumers are looking for aspirational experiences. They want to live like and be treated like celebs.

Stay-at-home dads have been around so long they’ve spawned variant species, like Alternadads. But there’s something else emerging in the fatherhood game: the rise of single working dads. Once a tiny demographic sliver, the daddy track has picked up steam. Twenty percent of all single-parent households across the United States are now headed by fathers, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures (Boston Globe 7.8.07). Changes in family court law, which once heavily favored mothers, are partially driving the trend. More fathers are aggressively fighting for sole custody, with many winning. Though they tend to have higher incomes, single working dads have to juggle as adeptly as moms. The first thing to go? A grown-up social life. ISM has been tracking morphing parenting roles and the emerging importance of dads for many years now. The increase in single working dads is the latest manifestation of societal shifts. Products and services have sprung up for stay-at-home dads and single working moms—now there’s an opportunity for smart businesses to better meet the needs of men who raise kids while staying on the job.

The music is softer (and the bodies might be a bit, too), but business is booming in health clubs for older adults which are springing up around the country to serve a growing population of aging Boomers and active Matures. We already reported on Nifty After Fifty, a Los Angeles-area chain founded by 74-year-old Sheldon Zinberg. Now Club 50 is pumping up—the gym has spawned more than 40 franchises nationwide since opening in 2003. It uses hydraulic fitness equipment that goes easy on aging bodies. The club also specializes in a 30-minute workout anyone can do. Now, to compete with the emerging specialty gyms, long-established chains like Bally’s, Gold’s and Equinox are ramping up their senior offerings. Aging Boomers hate to admit they’re getting old. Working out in a relaxed, accessible environment with their peers, instead of trying to keep up with hardbodies, makes them more likely to become loyal members. ISM believes that courting active Matures makes good business sense since many seniors have open time to fill empty gyms in the morning and the afternoon. As the population ages, encouraging older people to stay fit also contributes to keeping healthcare costs in check.

© 2007 ISM and Iconoculture, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published monthly by ISM in partnership with Iconoculture.