Two major trends that have been changing the broader consumer market over the past few years are now being felt in today’s office design market.

The first trend is the out-sized effect that a new generation of influencers is having on changing consumer taste and style trends. Unlike the pre-Internet era where consumer trends tended to emanate from film, television, newspapers or magazines, today’s most influential influencers can be found on social media platforms — from YouTube vloggers showing off their latest shopping haul videos, to carefully curated design collections shared on Pinterest, to pixel-perfect, envy-inducing, lifestyle photos uploaded on Instagram feeds.

Thanks to the built-in sharing capability of social media platforms, consumers are following these influencers and adopting new trend and style directions faster than ever before. But beware: what can be easily adopted by the masses can quickly fall out of favor. As a result, there’s an increasing premium placed on exclusive, expensive, hard-to-find, limited editions (or even better: custom-made, one-of-a-kind products) that express the style of individual consumers.

This brings us to our second emerging consumer trend: the need for convenience when shopping. Today’s consumers have come to expect a level of service (taught to them by savvy Internet retailers) that they can make purchases easily without having to wait. This expectation is no longer limited to generic, stock items; it now extends to purchases of exclusive, limited-edition or even fully customized purchases online (thanks to easy-to-use shopping tools that simplify the ordering process, even for customized goods).

The bottom line? Companies that can offer attractive, on-trend products that can be easily customized by consumers (e.g. don’t require a lot of time and hassle during the ordering process) will have a leg up in today’s demanding, trend-driven market.

Fine, you may say. That may be well and good for other market segments, but won’t it take a long time for this trend toward exclusive customization to show up in the commercial interior design market?

The answer is not long — in fact, the shift is happening in commercial interior design market right now. Why is it taking off now? Simplified ordering tools and advanced manufacturing processes are fueling sales of one-of-a-kind, customized office furniture that’s manufactured exclusively for individual office customers.

Excerpts from article appearing on formaspace.com