“Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get discontinued (2019)

Re:“Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get... by Cupertino95014 on Thursday June 23, 2022 @12:12AM (#31845086)

I remember reading, a long time ago, that some fashion trend-follower said that it was impossible to determine what was cool soon enough to profit from it. By the time you figure it out, it's gone.

But it IS possible to figure out who is cool: you can find the people who regularly jump on trends before anyone else, and see what they buy.

But this! This is almost as good: you can figure who is NOT cool.

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Re:“Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get... by dools on Thursday June 23, 2022 @05:06AM (#31846636)

I believe the term is cool hunting. I remember seeing a doco about it a while back

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Re:“Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get... by Cupertino95014 on Thursday June 23, 2022 @11:19AM (#31850349)

I think what I saw was also a New Yorker article, but it's probably been well-circulated.

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Re:“Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get... by IIAOPSW on Thursday June 23, 2022 @04:38AM (#31846485)

I wonder if we can figure out who is consistently wrong, put them on juries, and then whoever they say is guilty gets acquitted and whoever they say is not guilty gets convicted.

Finally, a system of perfect justice.

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Re:“Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get... by i_like_waiting on Thursday June 23, 2022 @07:41AM (#31847682)

It's nicely described in book Tipping point from Malcolm Gladwell. Good choice for audiobook to add in playlist

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Re:“Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get... by moffkalast on Thursday June 23, 2022 @03:44AM (#31846198)

And then you buy tons of what they're buying because it'll be discontinued and in high demand soon.

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Re:“Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get... by true_repairman on Thursday June 23, 2022 @07:37AM (#31847646)

If this would work for stocks aswell... https://xkcd.com/2270/

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Re:“Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get... by lupire on Thursday June 23, 2022 @08:43AM (#31848250)

That's because stuff isn't cool. Stuff becomes desirable when rich / beautiful people promote it. It's informal brand merch.

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Re:“Harbinger households” consistently buy products that get... by cortesoft on Thursday June 23, 2022 @08:41PM (#31856724)

I think rich/beautiful is an oversimplification of the types of people who are trendsetters. There may be a lot of overlap between the groups, but it is not a single group.

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