Trendwatching.com, leading trend firm and publisher of Trend Briefings, declares that e-commerce is hotter than ever. Whether in mature markets, where consumer spending is shifting online, or in growth markets where rapid urbanization and increasing (mobile) internet penetration are unlocking new shopping habits, shoppers are “e-commercing” it up.

The May 2012 Trend Briefing notes:

• US e-commerce sales will grow 62% by 2016, to USD 327 billion (Source: Forrester, February 2012).
• European e-commerce sales will grow by 78% by 2016, to USD 230 billion (Source: Forrester, February 2012).
• Brazilian e-commerce sales will grow 21.9% in 2012 to USD 18.7 billion (Source: eMarketer, January 2012).
• Chinese e-commerce sales were CNY 780 billion (USD 124 billion) in 2011, an increase of 66% from 2010. E-commerce is expected to rise from 3% of consumption to 7% by 2015 (Source: IDC, March 2012).
• India’s e-commerce market is expected to grow to USD 70 billion by 2020, from just USD 600 million in 2011 (Source: Technopak Advisors, February 2012).
• Indonesian e-commerce sales are forecast to grow from USD 120 million in 2010 to USD 650 million by 2015 (Source: Frost & Sullivan, February 2012).

Now, consumers’ current “online” experiences are of course fundamentally different to those during the early dotcom boom: e-commerce is no longer just about choice, price, convenience, reviews and ratings, but also about everything that consumers look for in any purchase: status, the right product and a compelling experience.

Innovations are transforming e-commerce, and ultimately, reshaping shopping behavior. Both on and offline. Four themes jump out:

1 | e is for everywhere
For consumers who are constantly connected, buying online is simply another option, rather than a wholly separate and distinct medium.

2 | (m)etail
Going “online” now means immersing oneself in (and enthusiastically adding to) a rich, personalized, social web.

3 | e(asy)-commerce
All the barriers initially holding e-commerce back (e.g. correct fit, secure payments, convenient deliveries) have been significantly reduced, if not totally removed.

4 | oh, what a wonderful web
Consumer expectations at large are now set online. Endless choice, instant gratification, total transparency, seamless collaboration, the list goes on…

You know something’s gone mainstream when USA Today runs a piece, and food trucks are no exception. Foodies have known this for a long time. You know something’s hot when there are apps on virtually every platform, and apps for locating food trucks are also no exception. Tech savvy foodies know this as well.

The most recent addition to the collection of food truck–locating apps was developed by The Barbarian Group for the Android OS. Gastrodamus, a free app for iPhone and Android, is also uniquely built to aggregate Twitter content. Unlike other apps that rely on self/consumer reporting or GPS, the digital agency’s creation lists trucks and locations based on Twitter mentions. No location, no listing.

Developed as a side-project-in-progress — and taking recommendations for more food trucks — there are some obvious hiccups. The “nearby” functionality is glitchy and some vendors don’t show up as expected. The fact that the app is tracking and collecting specific content may have something to contribute to the less-than-perfect user experience, but should this app’s popularity pick up we may see that vendors and fans alike optimize their tweets, ensuring inclusion in each day’s display of not-to-be-missed locales.

Here are some of the mobile apps built to connect the hungry with local food trucks. Take a look. Is your favorite on the short-list? Could your agency design and develop something better for you and your famished colleagues?

Food Truck Fiesta

Eat St.

Roaming Hunger

Road Stoves GPS

TruxMap Lite Food Truck Map

If you aren’t aware of the current infatuation with street art and graffiti, well, you have definitely got to get out more often. From Oscar-nominated “Exit Through The Gift Shop” to MOCA’s “Art In The Streets” in Los Angeles, graffiti has taken a prominent position (again) in pop culture. But now technology enables all of us (with an iPhone, at least) to bring out our inner street artist.

The San Francisco Arts Commission has tapped McCann SF to create a free iTunes app that lets graffiti artists tag their work using their iPhone. They can also share these techno-tags through email or social media share functions baked into the app. The Arts Commission hopes to support creativity while taking a chunk out of an annual graffiti clean-up cost of $22 million.

Using the iPhone’s accelerometer and augmented reality, GraffCity turns iPhones and iPod Touchs into virtual aerosol cans. Artists can “tag” any wall or surface, duplicating the experience of real-world tagging. And with two modes, different brush options and filters, plus an AR (augmented reality) view, street artists can make their mark without worrying about the mess and hassle.

The app will be incorporated into San Francisco’s StreetSmARTS and Where Art Lives programs, two initiatives that support the creativity of established and emerging urban artists. The question is: Who will really be “expressing their creativity” with this iPhone app — urban taggers who have decided to put down the can or hipsters who want to impress Facebook friends and co-workers?

The hopeless romantics went for chocolates and flowers. The lovestruck went for oysters and champagne. The singles went anywhere the other two were not. And NYC Health went mobile.

The New York Health Department celebrated National Condom Awareness Day (also known as Valentine’s Day) by launching NYC Condom Finder, a free smartphone app available for the iPhone and Android OS and designed to locate the five nearest New York City venues that distribute free NYC Condoms. With nearly 1,000 locations throughout one of the world’s most populous cities, free condoms are almost certainly within walking distance.

In addition to geo-locating the nearest condom, the app also provides specific directions to each venue, the hours of operation for each location, the types of safer sex products available and helpful tips on condom usage.

“The NYC Condom Finder is a useful tool to ensure that New Yorkers have access to free condoms wherever they are in the city,” said Dr. Thomas Farley, New York City Health Commissioner.

New York City’s free condom initiative began in 1971 when the Health Department started distributing male condoms through its STD clinics. Over the last 40 years, the NYC Condom program has distributed condoms in 3,000 public venues citywide (i.e., community-based organizations, clubs, restaurants), released the country’s first municipally branded condom, and most recently, launched an NYC Condom Facebook Page followed by an online NYC Condom wrapper design contest last year.

Inspired by high fashion and Japanese minimalism, Forsman & Bodenfors created not only a desire for the brand’s products (specifically kitchen appliances) but a beautiful cookbook and fun mobile app. When tasked with promoting the home furnishing’s spatulas, bowls, and the like, this creative team turned what could have been another oh-look-how-they-shot-those-tongs exercise and instead delivered something memorable and measurable.

The “Homemade Is Best” campaign’s foundation is a 140-page cookbook that looks like nothing we’ve seen before. Leave it to Ikea to shift the frame and show us cooking from an accessible and design-savvy perspective. Carl Kleiner’s photos are curious and playful. Who knew that the ingredients for thumbprint cookies were so spectacular?

Copies of the book are being distributed as a free gift to customers who visit the kitchen areas of Ikea stores in Sweden. It is not currently available in other countries, but the agency hopes it will be soon.

Not content with just the baking guide as coffee-table book, the campaign also includes an app to help folks work off the calories they consume as they bake and eat their way through 30 classic Swedish recipes. Users choose their cake and form of exercise, and off they go! Tracking routes, counting calories, and saving favorites front a gentle reminder to check out Ikea’s goods, but are always at the forefront.

From small cookies to large cakes, Forsman & Bodenfors have cooked up a delicious campaign that puts Ikea in the kitchen, having fun and inviting us to join.

A recent project put me, once again, into a mobile frame of mind. The design challenges that come with a mobile initiative can be daunting, but the opportunities to rethink everything from audience to content to usability can be a great “reset” for a designer/developer. I warmed up with a swift reading of Cameron Moll’s Mobile Web Design.

Moll makes an especially good point when referencing context, the “circumstances and conditions that surround a place, thing, or event.” While content and component (mobile device used) are important, it’s the context, the situation in which the user finds him/herself, and our attention to this detail that I think makes all the difference in an effective mobile web solution. I recommend this read to anyone designing in this space. I also recommend checking out these resources as well. Enjoy!

The Mobile Context by C. Enrique Ortiz

Mobilize, Don’t Miniaturize by Barbara Ballard

Global Authoring Practices for the Mobile Web by Luca Passani

Mobile Web Design: The Series by Cameron Moll

Resources for designing and building mobile apps and sites from Design For Mobile

Mobile Web Developer’s Guide from mobiForge