Turning signals into futures intelligence: How the Booksellers Association of Finland built their industry trend radar

In a time of rapid transformation, it’s no longer enough to simply react to change. For the Booksellers Association of Finland (Kirjakauppaliitto ry), helping its members stay ahead of the curve meant developing a deeper understanding of the future. That’s why the organization set out to build a comprehensive trend radar for the Finnish book industry: a visual and collaborative foresight tool designed to map the most important forces shaping the future of books, reading, and retail.

This customer story explores how they brought that vision to life using FIBRES, a digital platform for strategic foresight and futures intelligence.

Guiding an entire industry through change

The Booksellers Association of Finland supports bookstores and works in collaboration with publishers and other stakeholders across the country’s literary and cultural landscape. As digitalization, shifting consumer behavior, and evolving policy landscapes began reshaping the industry, the association recognized a critical need: its members required a clear view of emerging trends and future opportunities.

“Our goal was to offer our members not just isolated observations, but a structured, forward-looking view of where the industry might be headed,” said Laura Karlsson, CEO of the Booksellers Association of Finland. “We wanted to bring foresight into our strategic work in a way that felt useful, creative, and grounded.”

Rather than produce a one-off report, the association chose to build a living, evolving tool that could grow with the industry’s needs. They envisioned a trend radar that would be accessible, regularly updated, and grounded in robust foresight methods.

Bringing the radar to life with FIBRES

To support this vision, the team selected FIBRES as the digital platform to build and manage their foresight work. With its intuitive interface and flexible structure, FIBRES made it possible to collect signals from a wide range of sources, organize them according to key themes, and assess their relevance through collaboration.

The resulting trend radar is centered on the PESTEL framework, analyzing developments across six key dimensions: political, economic, social, technological, ecological, and legislative. For each theme, the team defined specific trends and phenomena, evaluated their potential impacts, and contextualized them with insights from across the book industry.

“FIBRES gave us the ability to collect weak signals, interpret them collaboratively, and turn them into something strategic and understandable,” said Ilona Vuori, Lead Communications Specialist at the Booksellers Association. “The tool helped us create a shared understanding, not just within our team, but across the whole industry.”

The visual nature of the trend radar also played a key role in communicating complex ideas. Designed to be interactive and user-friendly, the radar invites exploration and encourages ongoing engagement.

Impact: a public foresight tool for the book industry

One of the most powerful aspects of this project is its openness. Rather than keeping the radar as an internal document, the association made it publicly available. This decision reflects their commitment to sector-wide foresight and to supporting all book industry players—big and small—in preparing for the future.

The trend radar now serves as a strategic guide for booksellers and publishers, helping them:

• Spot emerging opportunities and threats

• Make more informed strategic choices

• Align their planning with broader industry dynamics

• But beyond strategy, the tool is also shaping culture.

“We’re seeing more and more conversations about the future within the industry,” said Vuori. “The radar acts as a catalyst. It encourages our members to think further ahead and to approach change with curiosity instead of fear.”

Looking ahead: from radar to full foresight reporting

While the trend radar already represents a significant leap forward in the association’s foresight capabilities, the work doesn’t stop here. The Booksellers Association of Finland is now evolving the content into a more detailed futures report, aiming to provide deeper insights and ongoing updates that reflect the latest developments.

“We see this as a long-term commitment to strategic foresight,” said Karlsson. “The world won’t stand still, and neither can we. With tools like FIBRES, we’re able to keep building on what we’ve started and support our members in more meaningful ways.”

Lessons for other organizations

The experience of the Booksellers Association of Finland shows that futures intelligence is not just for large corporations or academic think tanks. With the right mindset and tools, even small teams can build structured, impactful foresight programs.

Using FIBRES, the association was able to:

• Move from scattered signals to structured insights

• Involve stakeholders in collaborative sense-making

• Create a visual, living foresight asset for an entire industry

• Empower strategic conversations across diverse member organizations

If your organization is looking to take the next step in foresight, their story is a powerful example of what’s possible when futures thinking becomes a shared capability.

Learn more

Interested in building your own trend radar or starting your foresight journey? Explore how FIBRES can help or book a demo to see the platform in action.