Melatonin gummies, Teamflow, +2 more exploding topics

Exploding Topics scours the internet to find emerging trends before they take off.

Here are four of the latest developments, along with some insights and analysis to help you take advantage.

1. Melatonin Gummies

Melatonin gummies are a form of “sleep gummies” that contain the sleep-promoting compound melatonin.

The prevalence of Americans reporting sleep issues has risen significantly over the past few years, with more than 40% now reporting difficulty falling asleep.

And melatonin has been listed in the top 7 best selling ingredients across all dietary supplements, outperforming ubiquitous categories such as multivitamins, vitamin C, and whey protein.

Amazon has even launched its own melatonin gummies as part of its growing list of private label brands (specifically: Amazon Elements, Reply, and Solimo).

Growing brands in the melatonin gummies space include OLLY, Natrol, Nature Made, and ZzzQuil.

What’s next:

Melatonin gummies are a part of the OTC sleep aid meta trend.

35% of older adults aged 65-80 use a prescription or OTC product to improve their sleep.

And the sleep supplement category (where melatonin is the most common ingredient) is forecasted to reach $1.4B by 2023.

Growing brands in the OTC sleep aid space include Toniiq, Nested Naturals, SugarBear, and HUM Nutrition.

2. Teamflow

Teamflow is a video-based workplace collaboration software designed to simulate the office environment virtually.

Each team member has their own “video bubble” on a virtual office floor plan. And can “move around” to hear what others are saying around that bubble.

Besides a Zoom-like video communication tool, Teamflow also has team collaboration features, like screen-sharing, scratchpads, and timers.

Teamflow registered over 50,000 hours of user testing during the private beta. And had 1,000 users on their waitlist before opening up to the public.

The startup has raised $49.9M across three funding rounds this year.

What’s next:

TeamFlow is a part of the virtual office platform meta trend.

74% of companies plan to shift in-office employees to more remote work after COVID-19.

However, according to Gartner, issues with collaboration, communication, and loneliness are three of the most common struggles that staff on distributed teams report.

Which is why there’s growing demand for software designed to simulate the physical workspace.

Other growing virtual office platforms include Tandem, Branch, Pragli, Gather, My Digital Office.

3. Realme

Realme is a tech product brand based in China’s major tech hub, Shenzhen.

Founded in 2018, Realme’s product portfolio includes smartphones, TVs, headphones, and smart home devices. Realme is currently operating in 61 countries, with a strong focus on emerging markets.

Realme has been consistently ranked in the top 7 global smartphone brands by market share (they delivered over 28 million smartphones in the first nine months of 2020 alone).

Realme’s smartphones are especially popular in emerging markets. For example, they’re the 4th most popular smartphone brand in India by market share.

And the company’s watch was the most shipped wearable in India last year, with a 21% market share.

What’s next:

Realme is a part of the smartphone democratization meta trend — smartphone products produced specifically for emerging markets.

Despite the rise of smartphone ownership at a worldwide level, growth lags significantly in developing countries. For example, India currently has 32.1% smartphone penetration, and only 50.7% of Brazilians own a smartphone.

Which is why smartphones priced between $100-$400 dominate the global smartphone market (60% share of all smartphones now fall within this price range). That market share is expected to grow to 63% by the end of this year.

Besides Realme, other examples of emerging smartphone brands include Vivo, OPPO, Xiaomi.

4. Ear Cleaning Kits

We first covered “ear cleaning kits” over 6 months ago. But searches growth has increased to 188%. So we thought we’d take another look.

What are they?

Ear cleaning kits contain tools like silicone wax removers, metal picks, and irrigation systems.

Many are sold on Amazon or over the counter at supermarkets and pharmacies.

(In fact, one of the top-selling ear kit brands on Amazon grosses an estimated $171k per month.)

What’s next:

Ear cleaning kits are part of the ear health meta trend.

Ear cleaning as a medical treatment has been around for centuries. But ear cleaning products and services began growing as a mainstream, non-medical trend in Japan in the mid-2000s.

And more recently we’ve seen the same start to happen in the West:

Ear drops that soften the wax for easier extraction.

Ear candles, a DIY approach to removing ear wax.

Ear salons for getting your ears cleaned by someone else.

And ear seeds are gold-coated magnets that provide ear acupressure.