Here’s this week’s list of Trending Topics for April 2023, insights and analysis.
Blue Matcha
Blue matcha is a herbal tea made from the Butterfly Pea Flower plant.
Blue matcha allegedly helps manage stress, stabilizes blood pressure and supports skin health. However, research into this product’s health benefits is still quite limited.
The main reason behind blue matcha’s spike in demand is that it’s an “Insta-worthy” drink (the #bluematcha hashtag already has over 15,000 posts on Instagram).
One highly-rated blue matcha powder generates approximately $22K/month on Amazon.
What’s Next
Blue Matcha is part of the Colorful Matcha meta trend.
While green matcha remains the most popular matcha, people are starting to look for alternatives.
Examples of trending colored matcha products include:
Pink matcha is made from prebiotic-rich Dragon Fruit powder.
Red matcha refers to a herbal tea made from the Hibiscus flower.
Peptide Lip Treatment
Peptide lip treatments are peptide-infused lip balms designed to soften and hydrate the lips.
This, in turn, minimizes the appearance of fine lines on the lips.
Interest in this product category initially took off when Rhode Skin (Hailey Bieber’s beauty brand) launched a peptide lip treatment last year.
Since then, the product has become a mainstay on social media, with videos mentioning peptide lip treatments generating over 340 million views on TikTok.
What’s Next
Peptide lip treatments are part of the #lipcare meta trend.
TikTok has become home to a vast makeup community.
Which explains why searches for “TikTok makeup” have increased by 8100% over the last five years.
And the hashtag #lipcare has over 1.9 billion views on the platform.
Lip glowy balms and lip sunscreens are examples of TikTok-famous lip care products.
Summarizing Tool
Summarizing tools are platforms that use AI to summarize text in a document.
Interest in this product category is increasing (up 3233% over the last five years) largely due to a startup called QuillBot.
(Searches for “Quillbot” have increased by 553% over the last 24 months.)
QuillBot’s tools are used by over 5 million people every month, which has helped them raise $4.2M in funding.
What’s Next
Summarizing tools are part of the AI Writing meta trend.
Searches for “AI writing tool” have increased by 4400% over the last 24 months.
And this trend is likely to see even more growth since the new GPT-4 model has become available.
GPT-4 has around 100 trillion parameters (parameters are to the GPT model what neurons are to the human brain), a 500X increase over GPT-3.
Here are two examples of trending AI writing tools:
Writesonic is a writing assistant designed for marketers. The tool can write content in 24 languages.
Rytr is an AI writing assistant tailored toward copywriters. The tool has over 5.5M users.
Hair Botox
Hair botox, contrary to the name, does not refer to the neurotoxin used for cosmetic injections.
This term is used to describe a deep conditioning technique that fills hair fibers, making the hair look fuller and smoother.
Done mainly as a treatment at salons, interest in hair botox is growing mainly because the treatment allegedly contains more potent forms of proteins and pH balancers than other at-home products.
Hair botox has become popular across social media, further accelerating interest in the treatment. The #hairbotox hashtag on Instagram has over 320,000 posts.
What’s Next
Hair botox is part of the Liquid Hair meta trend.
Liquid hair refers to sleek, frizz-free strands of hair with a shiny, smooth base.
This meta trend is heavily driven by celebrities.
Kim Kardashian, Dua Lipa, Jennifer Lopez and Zendaya are some celebrities recently seen with a liquid hairstyle.
Keratin gels, hair styling powders and rice water shampoos are trending products used to get a liquid hair look.
Early bird companies: AutoGPT (automated GPT-4 chatbot), GigSmart (online hiring platform), Sumsub (eKYC startup), Neural.Love (AI art generator).
Tomorrow’s products today: Rug tufting, sea salt spray, lash shampoo, allulose.
Do you have any feedback? We’d love to hear what you think. Just respond to let us know.
Early Bird Companies
AutoGPT
AutoGPT is an open-source chatbot built on the foundation of GPT-4.
But what makes AutoGPT unique is the fact that it can carry out tasks without the need for prompts every step of the way.
Users can give it a general task, and AutoGPT will break the task into steps and will carry out those steps by itself.
For example, one user prompted AutoGPT to create an app.
AutoGPT began creating the app and realized the user did not have Node installed.
Then, it researched the internet for information about how to install it.
Finally, AutoGPT downloaded Node, extracted it and created the server required.
All of this happened automatically, meaning AutoGPT carried out this entire process without any additional prompts or guidelines from the user.
The project has over 54,000 stars on GitHub.
What’s next:
AutoGPT is part of the Baby AGI meta trend.
Searches for “artificial general intelligence” have increased by 270% over the past five years.
Many researchers believe that effective AGI systems are still far away.
However, we’re now seeing a growing number of projects in the early phases of developing such systems.
And these projects have been nicknamed “baby AGIs”.
Search volume for “baby AGI” has increased by 809% over the past 12 months.
Baby AGI refers to AI systems that are in the early stages of developing general intelligence capabilities.
GigSmart
GigSmart is an online hiring platform that includes tools for scheduling, time tracking, and payments.
It is very similar to the popular talent marketplace Upwork.
However, unlike Upwork, GigSmart only connects local talent with local businesses needing physical workers (there are no remote jobs on the platform).
For example, a moving company can use GigSmart to find on-demand movers.
GigSmart has a network of over 800,000 available workers on their platform.
What’s next:
GigSmart is part of the Specialty On-Demand Services meta trend.
The on-demand economy is expected to hit $335B in sales in 2025.
Transportation, food/grocery delivery and online marketplaces are still the main drivers of this growth.
However, we are seeing the gig economy start to impact more niche services.
Here are examples of trending specialty on-demand service platforms.
Spiffy is an on-demand auto-care platform. People can use the app to schedule a car wash, oil change or car detail.
UMow is an on-demand lawn care marketplace where people can schedule various lawn care tasks.
SudShare is a laundry service marketplace that’s essentially “Uber for laundry”.
Sumsub
Sumsub is an identity verification and compliance risk platform.
The platform utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to verify the identity of individuals and ensure that businesses comply with regulations related to identity verification, anti-money laundering, and counter-terrorism financing.
The company claims they have the highest conversion rates in the market and that they verify users in less than 50 seconds.
The platform is available in 200+ countries and can recognize over 6,500 types of identity documents.
Sumsub is used by more than 600 organizations.
The startup has raised $7.5M in funding.
What’s next:
Sumsub is part of the eKYC meta trend.
eKYC are electronic know-your-customer systems (searches for “electronic KYC” have increased by 700% over the past 12 months).
eKYC is typically faster and more efficient than traditional KYC as it eliminates the need for physical documents and allows for remote verification.
It can also be more accurate as it uses advanced technology to verify the customer’s identity.
Technologies that make up an eKYC system include:
Transaction monitoring software can automatically detect suspicious transactions and alert the institution.
KYC software helps automate customer identity verification in an effort to reduce customer onboarding costs.
Anti-money laundering (AML) software analyzes customer data and detects suspicious transactions.
Neural.Love
Neural.Love is an AI art generator.
The platform can generate images based on text prompts (similar to other platforms like Midjourney or Dall-E).
Neural.Love has generated over 25 million images to date.
What separates the platform from other AI tools is its set of AI-powered editing features.
Specifically, Neural.Love uses AI to edit audio, video and image files.
For example, users can upload an audio file. Then, Neural.Love can automatically remove background noise to make the audio more clear.
What’s next:
Neural.Love is part of the AI Editor meta trend.
Searches for “AI editor” have increased by 1566% over the past two years.
Here are a few trending AI editors:
Krisp is an AI audio editor that reduces background noise for recorded videos as well as during live video calls.
Synthesia serves as an AI video generator with integrated editing features.
Nova AI, similarly to Synthesia, is an AI-powered video editor. Users can add subtitles, translate, and edit videos with a few clicks.
Tomorrow’s Products Today
Rug Tufting
Rug tufting is a technique used to create rugs, tapestries, and other textiles.
It involves using a special tool called a tufting gun or tufting needle to insert loops of yarn or other fibers into a base fabric (usually a canvas or burlap material stretched on a frame).
Growing interest in this practice is mainly driven by social media.
Videos about rug tufting have amassed over 1.1 billion views on TikTok.
Whereas the hashtag #tuftedrug has over 108,000 posts on Instagram.
What’s next:
Rug tufting is part of the TikTok DIY meta trend.
TikTok is becoming home to a massive DIY community.
Videos about DIY projects have over 317 billion views on the platform.
Here are some TikTok-popular DIY trends:
Amigurumi refers to the Japanese art of crocheting. The #amigurimi hashtag has over 2.3 billion views on TikTok.
Resin art refers to the practice of creating art pieces using resin. Videos about resin art have over 16 billion views on the platform.
Tie-dye is making a comeback as a way for members of Gen Z to upcycle their clothes. TikTok videos about this technique have over 6.9 billion views.
Sea Salt Spray
Sea salt spray is a hair styling product designed to create texture and volume in the hair, giving it a beachy, windswept look.
It is typically made with sea salt, water, and other ingredients such as essential oils, vitamins, and minerals.
Sea salt spray is also used for creating loose waves and adding texture to straight hair.
OGX is an examples of a DTC brand seeing growing demand for their sea salt spray.
(Searches for “OGX sea salt spray” have grown by 280% over the past two years).
OGX’s sea salt spray generates approximately $100K/month on Amazon.
What’s next:
Sea salt spray is part of the Beachy Waves meta trend.
Beachy waves is a hairstyle characterized by loose, textured, and tousled waves, similar to the natural waves often seen at the beach.
A number of celebrities, like Jennifer Lopez and Zendaya, have been recently spotted with beachy waves, driving interest in this style.
Beachy waves have also become popular on social media. The hashtag #beachwaves has over 570 million views on TikTok.
We’re now seeing several new versions to the beachy waves trend.
Mermaid waves are a more glamorous and polished hairstyle that features long, flowing waves that resemble the textured waves of a mermaid’s hair.
The loose beach waves style is very similar to beachy waves. The main difference is that loose beach waves are more relaxed and casual.
Lash Shampoo
Lash shampoo is a cleansing solution designed for cleaning and maintaining eyelash extensions.
It is usually a foaming solution applied to the lashes and carefully massaged into the lash line to remove dirt, oil, and makeup residue without damaging the extensions.
Lash shampoo typically contains non-irritating ingredients, such as tea tree oil, glycerin, and chamomile extract.
This popular eyelash shampoo generates around $40K/month on Amazon.
What’s next:
Lash shampoos are part of the DIY Lashes meta trend.
At-home lash products have become popular among social media and beauty influencers, who often showcase their own DIY eyelash application techniques and products to their followers.
DIY lashes videos on TikTok have over 1.1 billion views, while searches for “DIY lashes” have increased by 900% over the past five years.
Lashify and Kiss Falscara are two trending brands operating in this space.
Allulose
Allulose is a natural sweetener that’s used as a cane sugar alternative.
Allulose has a taste similar to regular sugar but is around 70% as sweet.
What makes allulose different from other sweeteners is that it has virtually zero calories (only around 0.2 calories per gram vs. 4 calories per gram in normal sugar).
It is also absorbed by the body but not metabolized, meaning it is excreted without providing significant calories.
This highly-rated pack of allulose brings in around $35K/month on Amazon.
What’s next:
Allulose is part of the New Sugar Alternatives meta trend.
Approximately 72% of consumers say they are trying to reduce their sugar intake.
Here are a few examples of trending healthier sugar alternatives:
Date syrup is a source of antioxidants, fiber, and vitamins, such as potassium, magnesium, and vitamin B6. It also a lower glycemic index than table sugar.
Palmyra blossom nectar is a natural sweetener made from the sap of the Palmyra palm tree.
Yacon syrup is a natural sweetener made from the roots of the yacon plant. One of the main health benefits of yacon syrup is that it contains a type of carbohydrate called fructooligosaccharides (FOS), which is not fully digested or absorbed by the body.