Market Trends

The specialisation of markets

The end markets we work in are becoming ever more specialist, with highly focused and often innovative and dynamic subsectors and subcategories being created.

We believe this increase in specialisation is a long-term trend and see examples in all our markets.

Lisa Mahan
Chief Marketing Officer,
Taylor & Francis

In Academic Markets, increasing specialisation and an interdisciplinary approach to addressing global challenges are changing the world of research.

Underneath the broad disciplines of Humanities & Social Sciences and Science, Technology & Medicine, there are dozens of specialisms and advanced and emerging subcategories, such as psychoanalysis within behavioural sciences and chemical engineering within physical sciences.

Increasingly, there is also research that crosses several traditional fields including smart cities, tidal erosion and autism.

The value of B2B customer data

The pandemic has caused our professional lives to become more intensively digital, with a surge in the use of digital communications and connectivity, digital services and apps for more activities.

In B2B markets, where purchasing decisions are typically longer and more complex than in consumer markets, the combination of rapid digitisation and changing behaviour is creating new opportunities.

Max Gabriel
President,
IIRIS

Informa’s focus on championing customers in a series of specialist B2B markets has allowed us to form close and direct customer relationships and create highly engaged audiences around our brands, and the growth of digital formats and virtual events has been a key driver.

Digital registrations, downloads, connections and interactions around our events have created vast amounts of data plus newer and richer data types, including behavioural insights into what customers might do next.

In 2021 we developed IIRIS, our unified B2B customer data engine, to generate new commercial opportunities from capturing, managing, nurturing and applying customer data more effectively

The power of face to face

There are many ways in which businesses and professionals can connect, learn and do business.

The experience of the pandemic has shown both how powerful digital platforms can be for certain activities, and the distinct advantages and enduring value that in-person, face-to-face connection brings.

Athena Gong
Vice President, Informa Markets Asia

Ying Sang
Deputy General Manager, China Beauty Expo

In China, the last two years have shown that face-to-face events provide a very valuable way of doing business.

The purchasing process is more complex in B2B markets compared with consumer markets. For event visitors making high value decisions, spending quality time in person with suppliers is critical.

This is particularly true in beauty and cosmetics, where touching, feeling and sampling products at events such as China Beauty Expo is very powerful.

For small and medium-sized companies that may have smaller teams and less well-developed sales processes, B2B events are great ways to deliver leads.

The digitisation of knowledge

Advances in technology and changes in customer behaviour mean that more and more content is consumed in a digital format.

This is true for professionals working in commercial or academic environments and looking for knowledge relevant to their fields and roles, as well as for consumers more broadly.

Nick Fielden
Chief Commercial Officer,
Omdia

After bringing our Tech research businesses together as Omdia in 2020, we launched Omdia.com as a single, upgraded hub for our data, insights and research on specialist tech markets.

Driving all investment and product development decisions is how we can deliver maximum impact and value to customers.

While our hundreds of analysts and consultants focus on quality and depth of research, on the digital delivery side, we are prioritising choice and sophistication in format and how searchable, visible and accessible our content is, informed by continuous feedback from customers.