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How to get instant notifications on market trends before your competitors
Spotting market trends early helps businesses outdo rivals. It helps you grow from merely contending against rivals to surpassing them.
But surface-level analysis won’t do the trick. You need to use the right tools and techniques to spot market insights from raw data.
With proper tools, you can get a clearer picture of business trends and make quick decisions before your rivals. I’ve created this guide to describe these tools and how to use them to get ahead of the competition.
The top tools for spotting trends early
1. Google Alerts
I’m starting with simple tools before moving on to complex ones. Google Alerts is a straightforward, free-to-use platform that helps you spot trends early. It lets you receive custom alerts for specific search topics, keeping you ahead of the curve on industry news.
Suppose you’re in the automobile parts e-commerce niche. You can create a Google alert for “Automobile parts,” “New automobile parts,” and “New automobile parts promotions.” Google will send you email updates when new content about these topics gets added to its search index.
You’ll control how often to receive these updates– daily, weekly, or as-it-happens – and which regions to receive them from. With this alert, you’ll always stay up-to-date on industry trends and react to them before most competitors.
I’ve provided just one example, but Google Alerts can be used in so many other ways. You can use it to keep track of general industry trends or news articles about specific competitors. It’s free, and you can set up as many alerts as you wish.
2. Semrush
Semrush is your go-to tool for spotting search trends. It enables you to identify trending keywords, traffic sources, and high-ranking articles within your niche. You can filter these trends by country, region, and even city to spot highly localized trends.
You’re probably wondering, “Won’t my competitors use Semrush too?” Yes, but they won’t use it the same way. It comes down to which niches you choose to analyze and how you filter Semrush’s insights.
With Semrush’s vast database, there’s always a trend seemingly hiding in plain sight, and spotting these trends gives you the upper hand.
3. Statista
Statista is a leading statistics portal, known for its rich data insights and visualizations. Want to know the size of your industry worldwide, or in specific countries? Check. How about the annual sales of top industry players for the past decade? Check.
A chart highlighting the most preferred brands in your niche? Statista offers virtually all you can think of. Its database contains millions of charts, and more keep getting added.
With Statista, you can spot the most veiled trends and latch onto them early. I like Statista because it offers free access to many charts.
However, for more curated statistics, you'll need a premium subscription starting at $199 per month, a steep price. If you can afford a subscription, Statista is worthwhile for providing vast industry insights compiled into interactive charts.
4. Trend Hunter
Trend Hunter must be the most aptly named tool in this guide. It’s a platform that helps you discover, or let’s say hunt, trends in your niche. How does it do that?
Trend Hunter has a global network of researchers who scour the web for industry data, then transform this data into interactive reports you can read.
A visit to Trend Hunter's homepage displays reports like "Top 100 Cosmetics Trends in November" and "Unique Non-Stop Air Routes for 2026." These are samples of in-depth trend reports you can find on this platform.
You can sort Trend Hunter’s reports by niche, region, brand, and even individuals. The top menu helps you navigate different trend segments, and you can also use the search button to fetch specific reports.
Altogether, Trend Hunter’s database comprises 500,000+ trend reports you can leverage to gain a competitive advantage.
5. Google Trends
You can appreciate Google for providing numerous analysis tools in addition to its famous search engine. Along with Google Alerts, there’s also Google Trends, a free platform for tracking global search trends.
Visit Google Trends, and you can view the top search trends in each country. For example, if you notice people in the U.S. suddenly searching for a product you offer, it signals increased interest, and you can quickly run an ad to sell your product.
Google doesn’t just offer raw Trends data. It works with designers to convert data into high-quality, easier-to-grasp graphics. You can find these graphics in the Visualizing Google Trends data section.
6. Exploding Topics
Exploding Topics is similar to Trend Hunter, which I highlighted earlier. It’s a database of trend reports refined by professional researchers, covering many niches from gaming to travel, media, health, beauty, and finance.
On the homepage, you can view recent trending topics and analyze how their popularity has increased over time. Then, you can use the filter menu to find trending topics for specific niches and time frames.
I like that Exploding Topics provides forecasting reports to help businesses make informed decisions. These forecasts are created by experts in different niches.
Like with all forecasts, they aren’t guaranteed to happen, but they aren’t wild guesses either. They are in-depth analytical reports that help you identify trends earlier than competitors.
7. Sprout Social
I’ve talked a lot about search trends. Now, it’s time to discuss tracking social media trends and getting notified about them before competitors. Sprout Social is the right tool for this job.
With this platform, you can monitor Instagram, Facebook, and X trends at all times. For example, if a rival’s new product suddenly gets higher engagement, you’ll be notified on your Sprout Social dashboard.
You can create Spike Alerts for a topic, and you'll automatically receive an email or push notification if that topic starts trending.
You can also read Sprout Social’s frequently released trends reports. They contain valuable insights that help your business stand out from competitors.
8. Pinterest Trends
Pinterest Trends might not be what you have in mind about competitive research, but it’s a hidden gem. Consider that many people search for product samples on Pinterest before buying.
They search for product ideas before finally deciding what to purchase. This behavior makes Pinterest an analytics goldmine for e-commerce businesses.
With Pinterest Trends, you can monitor real-time shifts in consumer interest. You'll learn which products Pinterest users increasingly search for– increasing search popularity is a sign of higher demand that you can capitalize on.
Along with real-time trends, Pinterest also issues a special annual report predicting trends for the following year.
This report is released at the end of the year, e.g., a 2025 report predicting trends in 2026. The predictions, based on Pinterest user behavior, can guide your business strategy for the following year.
9. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is similar to Semrush, which I mentioned earlier. It’s an SEO platform for discovering search trends that you can leverage to move ahead of the competition.
You can enter your URL into Ahrefs to analyze it, then get suggestions to improve its search rankings. You can also analyze your competitors’ websites and learn how to outrank them.
10. BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo is a widely used content research and analytics tool. It lets you monitor general industry news, your brand mentions, and specific competitors.
BuzzSumo has many features, but I’m dwelling on its Alerts feature that lets users create custom notifications. For example, you can create an alert for a news topic related to your industry– if any important news breaks, you’ll receive an instant alert and act on it before most competitors.
You can also set alerts for your rivals, e.g., when their social media engagement exceeds the norm and when they start ranking higher for specific keywords. This lets you quickly adjust your strategy to remain competitive.
Why seek instant notifications for market trends?
Trends change rapidly in the business world, particularly in highly competitive niches like e-commerce. A new product can go viral, a news article can disrupt customer behavior, and new statistics can rewire corporate strategies, all within a short period.
By setting instant notifications for key market trends, you can react quickly and avoid losing out to competitors.
You’ll always stay up to date on your industry and be ready to capture a new audience when the opportunity arises. I’ve listed the best tools for getting instant notifications, so it won’t be a problem for you.
