Despite past failures and false starts, virtual reality is taking off. According to a report by Rider Research, virtual reality has become one of the hottest technology buzzwords for 2016. Consumer demand is rising fast as realistically priced virtual reality and augmented reality products hit the market.

But what exactly are augmented reality and virtual reality products? Who can use them? And which industries are going to most benefit from these new technologies? Read on to find out.

U.S. sales for natural polymers will exceed $5 billion in 2020. Natural polymers are polymeric products derived from plant and/or animal sources, including copolymers containing synthetic compounds such as cellulose ethers, starch and fermentation products, exudate and vegetable gums, protein-based polymers, marine polymers, and others.   

These natural ingredients are used extensively in the large food and beverage industry. However, the medical market will take over as the largest outlet for natural polymers by 2020. A slowdown in oil and gas drilling activity will restrain growth for natural polymer use in this industry, especially for gums and other polymers that are used as additives in drilling and fracturing fluids. Read on to see how the many and varied natural polymers are used, and learn how the demand is shifting.

Back in 1954 in the classic business book The Practice of Management, Peter Drucker wrote:

"Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two — and only two — basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business."

Yet how many businesses manage, staff, and budget their marketing departments as their ultimate competitive weapon? Are businesses failing to thrive because their marketing departments lack the proper “nutrition” in the form of market research to use to create innovative marketing strategies and tactics?

We have a strange fascination with fat cats — not the wealthy members of the modern aristocracy, but rather plus-sized felines who flaunt their curves in roly poly reverie in pictures and online videos. Youtube is littered with hundreds of thousands of videos of overweight pets, including a video of the world’s fattest cats that has over 31 million views. That’s more views than most videos of the president, and approaches Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift levels of ogling devotion.

Educational institutions face a unique set of security issues in order to ensure student safety. They must protect vulnerable student populations while balancing budget limitations, the desire to maintain inviting spaces for the students and community, and maintain government safety standards.

Media coverage of a number of school related tragedies has spurred upgrades to security equipment and procedures focused on student protection as public outcry boosted funds available for security spending. As a result, there has been a shift at a large share of schools — particularly primary and secondary — to devote a portion of their budget each year to evaluating and improving their existing security systems. 

Read more to see how security challenges vary by the type of education facility.

There’s a sentiment in some quarters that applying technology to market research, particularly automation, is either out of scope, or introduces sampling or methodological variability. As a result, an amazing amount of mundane survey setup, and data integration, and reporting remains manually done. This is rather silly given the rich complement of technology available to take that off of market researchers’ hands, and frankly, assure greater accuracy.  

Jack W. Plunkett, CEO of Plunkett Research, Ltd, opens a recent video with the remark, “I can’t imagine any single sector that has been more disrupted or forced into more change than the media and entertainment industry over the past few decades.”

According to Mr. Plunkett, there’s more disruption to come. This vast, global industry will continue to evolve rapidly over the next decade as business models shift. Watch the video below and read this post to get valuable insights into this complex industry.

MarketResearch.com's publishing divisions are frequently quoted in a broad range of trade journals and business publications. Packaged Facts was recently cited for a variety of trending topics including local foods, salty snacks, millennial menus, and pet product trends. Research from the Freedonia Group appeared in articles focusing on corrosion inhibitors, insulation, and corrugated boxes.

Check out the press highlights from April and May below. Links to the full reports are included so you can dive deeper into the subjects that interest you most.

Affluent consumers in the U.S. have played a critical role in the world of luxury brands. With 11.53 million millionaires in the U.S. in 2013, the American luxury market is considered the largest across the globe. But, while these consumers may appear affluent, they don’t always feel that way.

In the past few years, affluent consumers have shifted their spending habits to align with how they feel about their wealth, and not what the numbers show on their income statements. American’s new attitudes toward wealth and affluence have disrupted the traditional model for luxury marketing in the U.S.

One of the world’s oldest professions is matchmaking, and given the role of technology in today’s world, it’s no surprise that the industry is booming. With an explosion of new websites and apps, the dating services industry has performed very well in the past five years and is continuing to grow as today's singles turn to the Internet for help finding love.

Read on to discover insights into the market for dating services and what the future holds for this industry.