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Merrick, NY--Urbanomics. Pricing pandemonium. Sharing, rather than owning, luxury goods. Faster fashion. Captcha advertising. Green grows.

These are just a few of more than 100 consumer trends that are shaping how we will live, behave, and shop in 2011. Top trend-spotting organizations like Trendwatching.com and JWT Intelligence (part of J. Walter Thompson) have released their lists of key people, places, attitudes, and products to watch in 2011 and beyond.

For example, there has been a marked increase in services that allow consumers to rent, borrow, or share luxury goods from cars to houses to handbags to formalwear to jewelry, allowing them to use and enjoy it for a short duration when they need it, rather than commit to buying it. These services—and the products they cover—are expected to keep increasing in 2011. As a corollary, the idea of luxury-without-commitment is even expressed through temporary tattoos offered by Chanel. 

Flash sales, buying groups, exclusive communities, and members-only sales will not only continue to proliferate, they too will expand to new product categories and formats, such as food or travel or a price that goes lower and lower as more and more people commit to buy the item. And, with the increasing popularity of geo-location apps, local merchants (such as retail jewelers) will be able to know when a customer’s in the neighbhorhood and beam an enticing “shop now” promotion to his or her mobile phone.

Trendwatching.com’s report 11 Crucial Consumer Trends for 2011 are: Urbanomics, Random Acts of Kindness, Pricing Pandemonium, Made for China (if not BRIC), Online Status Symbols, Wellthy, Social-Lites and Twinsumers, Emerging Generosity, Planned Spontaneity, Eco-Superior, and Ownerless. Click on the link for the complete description of each.

Meanwhile, JWT Intelligence’s 100 Things To Watch in 2011 slide show offers a capsule insight into people and topics that are going to make an impact this year.  Some, like product and information sharing, green, and health trends, mirror those identified by Trendwatching.com. Click the link for the full list and descriptions.

Among JWT’s 100 Things to Watch in 2011 are: Captcha Advertising, Breaking the Book (where chapters or booklets will be available in an iTunes-like format), P-to-P car sharing, scanning everything, mhealth (mobile health apps) mobile blogging, and even some counter-trends such as Ignorance is Bliss, a reaction to “too much information,” and long-form content, which will stand out as a novelty in a sound-bite media world.

JWT’s track record, incidentally, has proven itself: the agency pegged such newsmakers as WikiLeaks, cloud computing, gluten-free, and Lady Gaga (all in early 2009), Nicholas Sarkozy and the “staycation” (early 2008) and Amy Winehouse and Barack Obama (2007).