Experts & Opinion

Discover the opinions that matter and the ideas shaping our future, including on-demand webinars, videos and podcast discussions with innovative thinkers on how we can collectively shape a more positive future.

RSVP: Culture-coded Retail Online Event

Join us on 19 June 2025 for an online event introducing our new retail macro trend report.

What’s New on LS:N Global?

From shifting definitions of value to TikTok-fuelled commerce and hormone health retreats, our analysts unpack what’s new and next on LS:N Global.

Viewpoints

The New Youth Club

Moot is a membership-based third space redefining UK youth clubs for a generation craving real-world connection, culture and community.

Viewpoints

Compostable Cosmetics

Wildsmith is setting a new standard for sustainable luxury with Vivomer, a compostable, microbe-made packaging material designed to disappear into the earth without a trace.

Viewpoints

Regenerative Olive Oil

Citizens of Soil, an innovative olive oil brand, is championing provenance transparency, healthy soils, gender equality and sustainable packaging at a fair price.

Viewpoints

Will brands start selling digital apparel in video games?

Innovators are looking to the blockchain to create a universal marketplace for in-game items.

Gaming : Digital : Retail

Viewpoints

How can we make coffee culture sustainable?

Consumers often overlook the unsustainability of their coffee consumption, but new brand-led initiatives are driving greater awareness.

Sustainability : Drinks : Coffee

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Should brands be capitalising on self-care?

Brands are co-opting self-care as a buzzword to sell products with only tenuous links to mental wellbeing.

Wellness : Mental Health : Beauty

Viewpoints

What if every day was Black Friday?

With Amazon and Calvin Klein leading the way, is daily adaptive pricing the retail model of the future?

Retail : Fashion : Digital

Viewpoints

Will new models of home finance shape the family of the future?

With home ownership becoming difficult for many Millennials, cohabitation will increasingly define tomorrow’s family unit.

Family : Placemaking : Finance

Viewpoints

Will the digital pill revolutionise healthcare?

Digital pills herald a new era of intelligent healthcare, but as with all tracking technologies there are significant privacy concerns to address.

Health : Wellness : Digital

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Is Walmart’s collaboration with Lord & Taylor a mistake?

Given the companies’ differing target audiences, identity and price tag, is their collaboration doomed from the outset?

Retail : Fashion : Luxury

Viewpoints

How can we ensure that AI benefits society?

We need to move the conversation around artificial intelligence (AI) beyond elite universities to educate consumers about the technology’s dangers ...

Technology : Artificial Intelligence : Education

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Are beauty aisles set for extinction?

Why new technologies still have a long way to go to replace in-store beauty shopping.

Beauty : Retail : Technology

Viewpoints

Will vegans eat in-vitro meat?

Veganism is on the rise, but will the same people who scour restaurant menus for the magic green ‘v’ tick symbol be as likely to bite down on a ble...

Food : Culture : Veganism

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Corinne van Grevenbroek on a post-verbal future

The concept designer discusses how augmented reality has the potential to create new forms of emotive interaction.

Communication : Augmented Reality : Media

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Is offline the new luxury?

As brands continue to mine consumers for their data, the ability to withhold information is increasingly the preserve of luxurians.

Luxury : Digital : Travel

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Why brands need to pay more attention to hormonal fluctuations

Why the healthcare sector should take note of the new beauty and lifestyle brands factoring in biological differences between the sexes.

Health : Wellness : Hormones

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Can safe space apps support users’ mental health?

How a new generation of anonymous digital apps are helping users maintain their psychological wellbeing.

Wellness : Digital : Social Media

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Will product drop culture save the department store?

Barneys New York’s partnership with Highsnobiety shows initiative, but may not prove a viable long-term strategy.

Retail : Fashion : Luxury

Viewpoints

Why are Millennials turning to ancient spirituality?

Global crises and the ubiquitous presence of digital devices are prompting many young consumers to escape into mysticism and mythology.

Culture : Millennials : Astrology

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Are we entering an age of technologically defined beauty?

By investing in technology that not only transforms but also judges the way we look, we’re only compounding the cult of beauty.

Beauty : Digital : Technology

Viewpoints

How will technology change democratic engagement?

With consumers’ appetite for on-demand, personalised services having transformed everything from how we shop to the way we learn and date, it’s a m...

Technology : Digital : Culture

Viewpoints

Ed Finn on the cultural importance of algorithms

The author of What Algorithms Want: Imagination In The Age of Computing discusses the magic and pitfalls of working with algorithms.

Technology : Digital : Algorithms

Viewpoints

Is suburbia ready for a creative, cultural and commercial comeback?

As major cities become less liveable, businesses should explore the potential of locations beyond the city limits.

Placemaking : Architecture : Branding