If you are like most of us, last month you made a number of New Year's resolutions to improve yourself in some manner over the coming this year. In the U.S., the number one resolution was to become more fit. Americans don't seem to be doing very well with their diets: over one-third of the population is obese. Nonetheless we continue to promise ourselves we will lose weight, exercise more and spend less money.

During last month's Canadian Home Furnishings Market, almost every vendor I spoke with complained about the lack of attentive, informed and caring sales consultants on retail sales floors. For some, it's not usual to walk a retail floor for 40 minutes or more without a simple acknowledgement.

The dawn of the New Year isn't the time to look in the rearview mirror; it's the time to stare into the crystal ball and look for obvious signs of what be aware of for the next 12 months and beyond. While many pundits have been notoriously bad at predicting such earth-shattering events as how Donald Trump will change his hairstyle or when the writ will be dropped for our next federal election campaign, the trends that follow are based on measurable, findable facts.

It seems everywhere I turn I'm reading something about the importance of understanding that our marketing efforts should be directed to the female consumer. I've always thought this was a given. After all, what husband would dare challenge his wife on how she wants to decorate her nest? Women generally make the final buying decision so manufacturers should pay more attention to what they want.