Trend Taster: aura points edition
In this week’s edition of the Trend Taster, we round up the snackable trends, stats and insights from around the world, including:
Grocery Store Tourism
Perimenopause Continuous Monitoring
“Less Healthy” Food & Drink Advertising
Explainer: Aura Points
The Black Farmer secures £1m funding
Grocery Store Tourism
"Grocery store tourism" is taking off as travellers skip tourist traps for authentic local supermarket experiences, as they offer an unfiltered window into daily life and food culture, plus budget-friendly authentic snacks. Data shows that Carrefour and Walmart top the global supermarket search rankings with 1,900 monthly queries each, while Thailand's 7-Eleven has sparked over 5,000 Instagram posts from visitors hunting down their famous toasties. Japanese chains are seeing a surge in tourists seeking exclusive matcha KitKats, while Mexican stores draw crowds for unique Takis flavours.
Perimenopause Continuous Monitoring
Peri's CES 2025 award-winning device is part of a larger trend: the rise of femtech solutions specifically designed for the 1.1 billion women worldwide who will experience perimenopause by 2025. With a 10-day wear time that enables continuous monitoring, Peri is beyond the sporadic data collection of traditional devices. By transforming perimenopause tracking from guesswork to data science, we're seeing healthcare tech that is becoming more specialised, focusing on life stages rather than just general wellness metrics.
“Less Healthy” Food & Drink Advertising
The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has announced a second public consultation on "less healthy" food and drink advertising regulations, set to take effect in October 2025. This would prohibit junk food ads on TV and video-on-demand services between 5:30am and 9:00pm, as well as in paid online spaces. While the regulations aim to support anti-obesity efforts, advertisers argue that unclear guidance could significantly impact business operations and growth
Explainer: Aura Points
#aurapoints is a playful scoring system on social media that saw mentions spike 378% in just one month. It lets Gen Z show their social prowess, or lack of, through everyday interactions. Score 100 points for a successful date, lose 1000 for social faux pas like lingering too long on Snapchat past age 19. While it might sound like just another internet joke, this trend reflects deeper questions about how we measure personal growth and social status in the digital age
The Black Farmer secures £1m funding
The Black Farmer's £1m investment signals a growing appetite for diverse voices in agriculture and food retail. Founded by Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones MBE in 2004, this pioneering company has grown from a specialty brand to a £10m annual business, with products in major UK supermarkets and its first brick-and-mortar shop in London's Brixton Village. The expansion highlights two key shifts: the rising influence of minority-owned agricultural businesses and the evolution of specialty food brands from online-only to omnichannel presence.
