Ask five leaders how they measure consumer trends and you will get five different answers — which is itself the story. As trends matures across Indian markets, the absence of a shared definition is starting to cost real money.
There is a regional dimension worth noting too. Companies headquartered outside the largest metros are, on average, moving faster on consumer trends, in part because leaner teams make cross-functional alignment easier to enforce. That is a reversal from five years ago, when access to specialist talent gave the largest cities a clear head start.
The gap between the fastest-moving and slowest-moving companies in this dataset has widened rather than narrowed over the past year, suggesting the advantage compounds.
None of this suggests the work on consumer trends is close to finished. But the direction of travel — from afterthought to core discipline — looks settled, and the companies still treating it as optional are starting to notice the gap.