Here’s this week’s list of rapidly trending topics, insights and analysis.
Heatless Curler
Heatless curlers are rods that can curl straight hair without needing to use heat.
Specifically, the hair is wrapped around the rod and fixed in place using clips and scrunchies. Which results in wavy hair once the rod is removed.
Heatless curlers are growing in popularity because, compared to traditional curling irons, they minimize hair damage.
One popular heatless curler generates approximately $131K/month on Amazon.
What’s Next
Heatless curlers are part of the HairTok meta trend.
TikTok has become home to a massive online community dedicated to hair care.
The #hairtok hashtag has 68 billion views on the platform.
And having a presence in this community has become a go-to marketing channel for many DTC hair care companies.
Rosemary oil and hair peptide serum are two examples of trending HairTok products.
AI Ethics
AI ethics refers to a set of moral principles designed to promote the responsible use of artificial intelligence.
Businesses of all sizes are starting to pay attention to ethical issues that can arise when using AI.
In fact, searches for “AI ethical issues” have grown by 7519% in the last five years.
These ethical issues can potentially lead to product failures, brand damage and legal issues.
Additionally, several countries are implementing regulations around the use of AI.
For example, The EU is looking to pass “The AI Act”, a proposed law designed to regulate AI usage and introduce a number of ethical guidelines.
What’s Next
AI ethics is part of the Responsible AI meta trend.
Searches for “responsible AI” have increased by 3450% over the last five years.
Responsible AI is a framework that helps organizations make appropriate ethical choices when implementing AI.
Gartner ranks responsible AI in the innovation trigger of their “Artificial Intelligence Hype Cycle”.
This suggests that interest in responsible AI will continue to increase until it becomes mainstream within the next five to ten years.
Yuzu Fruit
Yuzu fruit is a type of citrus fruit primarily found in East Asia.
In addition to being nutrient dense, yuzu may promote blood flow and brain function.
The fruit has been very popular in Japanese culture for decades. However, yuzu-based products are starting to see traction outside of Japan.
For example, a brand of yuzu paste generates around $5.6K/month on Amazon.
What’s Next
Yuzu fruit is part of the Japanese Flavors meta trend.
Examples of in-demand Japanese flavors include:
Anko is a paste made by mixing sugar and boiled azuki beans. It is mainly used as a filling for desserts and sweets.
Shoyu refers to Japanese-style soy sauce.
Hojicha is a roasted Japanese green tea.
Shichimi is a Japanese powder mixture used to add spice to dishes.
Sodium-Ion Battery
Sodium-ion batteries are rechargeable batteries that use sodium ions as their charge carriers.
Sodium-ion batteries are emerging as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries for three main reasons:
First, there is a natural abundance of sodium. Which makes extracting and supplying sodium easier and more efficient than lithium.
Second, sodium-ion batteries are non-flammable and not as vulnerable to temperature changes.
Third, these batteries are more environmentally friendly and cheaper than lithium-ion batteries.
The main issue with sodium-ion batteries has been their durability and energy density.
However, a team of scientists at the US Department of Energy developed a sodium-ion battery with extended longevity.
This breakthrough is a significant step toward mainstream adoption of sodium-ion batteries.
What’s Next
Sodium-ion batteries are part of the Lithium-ion Battery Alternatives meta trend.
The pace of lithium extraction is having trouble keeping up with lithium demand.
Which is why the price of lithium has shot up 7x since the start of 2021.
And according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), there could be a significant lithium shortage by 2025.
Furthermore, lithium-ion batteries are prone to overheating, have a short lifetime and underperform in extreme temperatures.
Which is why a growing number of scientists (and companies) are looking to develop alternatives to lithium-ion batteries.
Silicon batteries, iron-ion batteries and magnesium batteries are a few in-demand alternatives to lithium-ion batteries.
Early bird companies: Viral Vault (dropshipping tool), Booth AI (AI-powered product photos), JustRemote (remote job board), Boomy (AI music generator).
Tomorrow’s products today: Plump primer, DGL supplement, MagSafe power bank, waterproof jewelry.
Do you have any feedback? We’d love to hear what you think. Just respond to let us know.
Early Bird Companies
Viral Vault
Viral Vault is a dropshipping tool.
They provide a suite of Ecommerce-focused features that include product research, product listing, price monitoring, and competitor data.
The platform was started by popular Ecommerce YouTuber Jordan Welch (981k subscribers).
According to Jordan, Viral Vault generates $90K MRR.
What’s next:
Viral Vault is part of the Dropshipping Platform meta trend.
Here are a few examples of trending dropshipping automation platforms:
Sell The Trend provides information on over 1,100 suppliers. According to the startup, their platform has approximately 20,000 users.
AutoDS is used by over 87,000 online store owners and facilitates around $200M in annual sales.
Spocket is a dropshipping platform that connects online retailers with suppliers from the US and EU.
Booth AI
Booth AI is an AI-powered product photography platform.
Users upload reference pictures of their products.
Then, they type a prompt describing the image they want to create.
For example, a user can upload a picture of a hiking backpack. Then, they can enter the following prompt: “a man wearing this backpack while hiking Machu Picchu”.
Booth AI then generates the image based on these instructions.
The startup has raised $1.1M in funding to date.
What’s next:
Booth AI is part of the Ecommerce AI meta trend.
Searches for “AI for eCommerce” have increased by 980% over the past five years.
Here are a few AI tools trending among ecommerce store owners:
Wisecut is an AI-powered video editor used to create short-form videos (Reels and TikToks). It is becoming increasingly popular among DTC businesses that utilize these videos for marketing purposes.
Stockimg.AI is an image generator used to create social media images, logos and illustrations.
Neural.Love allows users to enhance, and resize images.
JustRemote
JustRemote is a job board focused on remote job opportunities.
Specifically, the platform aggregates remote job listings across various industries (tech, design, marketing etc.).
The platform also has a feature called “power search”.
The startup claims that power search can find remote jobs that do not get advertised.
As of right now, JustRemote’s power search contains information on over 1,200 “hidden” jobs.
What’s next:
JustRemote is part of the Remote Jobs Marketplace meta trend.
Searches for “find remote job” have grown by 500% over the past five years.
And several startups are trying to capitalize on this opportunity by building remote job marketplaces.
Here are a few trending startups operating in this space:
Remote.co is an online remote job community. In addition to their remote job marketplace, they also provide several resources designed to help remote workers.
We Work Remotely is basically Indeed for remote jobs. The site is visited by around 4.5 million job seekers a year.
Jobspresso is a job board with information on more than 1,000 remote job vacancies.
Boomy
Boomy is an AI music generator.
Specifically, the platform automatically generates songs based on user prompts (genre, instruments, mood, length, etc.).
According to the startup, Boomy users have created over 15 million songs (up from 10 million in November of last year).
The startup has raised $4.5M in funding.
What’s next:
Boomy is part of the AI Music Generators meta trend.
Searches for “AI music generator” have increased 9,300% over the last two years.
In addition to producing original work, musicians are also using AI music generators to assist them in the creation process.
For example, Soundraw and Soundful are trending startups in this space.
Interest in this technology will likely continue to grow, considering that major tech players are developing their own music generators.
For example, Google recently unveiled MusicLM, which can generate music from text descriptions.
Tomorrow’s Products Today
Plump Primer
Plump primers are applied before foundation or other types of makeup.
They provide an instant plump look, which extends the wear of foundation and concealer makeup.
Videos about plump primers have over 800 million views on TikTok.
Interest in this product category is growing largely due to the brand Nyx.
Searches for “Nyx plump primer” have increased by 1500% over the past five years.
Nyx’s plump primer generates around $13K/month on Amazon.
What’s next:
Plump primers are part of the SkinTok meta trend.
The #skintok hashtag has over 12.9 billion views on TikTok.
Lip oil is an example of a SkinTok trending product. Searches for lip oil have increased by 709% over the last five years. Whereas videos mentioning the product have over 1.9 billion views on TikTok.
Glowing sunscreen is another example of a skincare product getting traction largely due to TikTok. Searches for this product have increased by 720% over the past five years.
Brow glue is an eyebrow gel used to style brows. Videos talking about brow glues have over 370 million views on TikTok.
Glow Recipe and Tower28 are examples of “SkinTok famous” brands.
DGL
DGL supplements are derived from licorice root.
They are primarily known for promoting gastrointestinal health and soothing digestive issues.
Specifically, DGL is commonly used to support the treatment of gastric ulcers and acid reflux (GERD).
Studies have shown that DGL promotes the production of mucus that protects the stomach lining and inhibits the activity of enzymes that can contribute to ulcers.Videos about DGL supplements have over 900 million views on TikTok.
This popular pack of DGL chewable tablets brings in approximately $58K/month on Amazon.
What’s next:
DGL supplements are part of the Gut Supplements meta trend.
Around 70 million Americans experience digestion problems.
And social media posts about gut health are becoming more common.
In fact, videos about gut health have over 4.6 billion views on TikTok.
Which has led to a growing demand for gut supplements.
(Searches for “gut supplement” have increased by 250% over the past five years.)
L-glutamine is emerging as a popular gut supplement.
(Searches for “l-glutamine supplements” have grown by 171% over the past 12 months.)
This highly-rated pack of l-glutamine powder generates around $90K/month on Amazon.
MagSafe Power Bank
MagSafe power banks are external batteries designed to magnetically attach to smartphones.
(Specifically, these power banks are designed for iPhones because of their MagSafe capability.)
Interest in these power banks initially gained traction when Apple launched their MagSafe battery pack.
Since then, several startups have rushed to launch similar power banks (either designed with more features or at lower prices).
This highly-rated MagSafe power bank generates approximately $19K/month on Amazon.
What’s next:
MagSafe power banks are part of the Feature-Plus Power Banks meta trend.
Power banks are getting redesigned with a number of new features to improve their usability.
Waterproof power banks are designed to withstand exposure to water, making them ideal for outdoor activities, travel, or situations where you may encounter moisture or rain.
Wireless power banks can charge compatible devices without the need for cables.
Folding power banks are usually larger power banks (with more charging power) that can be folded. This makes them easily portable.
This popular flashlight power bank brings in approximately $40K/month on Amazon.
Waterproof Jewelry
Waterproof jewelry resists corrosion and damage from water exposure.
Videos about waterproof jewelry have over 1.3 billion views on TikTok.
Hey Harper is an waterproof jewelry brand seeing growing demand for their pieces.
Searches for “Hey Harper jewelry” have grown by 700% over the past five years.
This pair of waterproof ankle bracelets generates around $53K/month on Amazon.
What’s next:
Waterproof jewelry is part of the Distinctive Jewelry meta trend.
Jewelry enthusiasts are turning to social media to share their favorite pieces.
For example, JewelryTok videos have over 1.3 billion views on TikTok.
And this is driving demand for unique jewelry pieces that are designed to stand out on social media.
Here are examples of trending jewelry categories:
Permanent jewelry refers to jewelry pieces designed to be worn continuously or for an extended period.
Chunky gold jewelry refers to very thick jewelry made from gold or gold plating.
Nostalgic jewelry evokes feelings of sentimentality, reminiscence, or emotional connection to the past. These pieces are often inspired by or reminiscent of a particular era, style, or personal memory.