Every financial year comes with new trends for businesses to follow. Here are a few major business trends for 2017 that you may need to consider if you wish to be successful, not just stay afloat.
Millenials have been ‘besieging’ the market in the last few years, socio-demographics experts suggest. According to the Census Bureau, they are now the largest group out there ready to take over the world of business.
Outnumbering other demographic groups, Millenials have the decision power; their buying actions shape the market trends. With a large audience that craves for success and technology, the market becomes extremely volatile. With this in mind, market analysts have identified the following major business trends for 2017.
Tech Tools for Non-Tech Savvy Entrepreneurs to Develop Tech Products
In the era of booming technology, not being a tech savvy person, let alone a business owner, may feel like walking with dinosaurs (with you being the dinosaur, of course). However, technically or not so technically-skilled, we have to keep up and use technology to stay afloat. In 2017, technology will be a must for every business if it expects to be competitive in today’s market conditions. CMS-based platforms like WordPress allow easy website management and require minimal technical skills for non-tech savvy people to help them build their online brand.
Personal Branding Tools
One of the widely used now buzz phrases now is ‘personal branding’. As the name suggest, personal branding is the technique that people use to create a sellable image, nicely-packaged product of themselves and their career. How to do it? Through the Internet, which opens up like Pandora’s box to people who in different circumstances may not have done anything special in their lifetime, can have a go at making something big. Two big names today have succeeded like that – Anthony Robbins and Oprah Winfrey. So, following the trend they created, an increasing number of individuals and businesses are releasing similar products making competition harsh. Personal branding tools are therefore expected to trend even more in the years to follow. Making use of these tools, businesses will gain individuality and reduce the number of competitors. Check out for more info on how it’s done.
Remote Employee Training
10 years ago the notion of ‘remote employee’ was not only non-existent but unconceivable. Currently, most of the technology companies and startups do their hires remotely. IBM initiated this trend and other big names followed, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, to name only a few. After all, meetings can be done online via Skype or any other videoconference platform, and social media, customer service or programming positions only require access to a computer and a good Internet connection. Talented people can make a good match for these roles regardless of what side of the globe they live.
Businesses Cater to Millenials
Compared with their predecessors, baby boomers, who were conscientious doers, Millenials are doers on a constant lookout for innovation and improvement in their job. Their desire to work smarter not harder is the driving force of innovation that triggers change in large organizations. According to Ian Altman, author, researcher and speaker on integrity-based sales and business development, there is a business trend where companies seem to be embracing Millenials and catering to their needs rather than rejecting them. He points out that this tendency will become more and more obvious as the generation takes over a larger part of the job force in 2017.
Businesses For Sale
Baby boomers were the ones who created this entrepreneurship trend. However, times change and so does the business environment. As technology becomes more user-friendly and accessible, items that were once sold only in specialized shops are now available online, and baby boomers enter retirement. These shifts complemented by the economic recovery in the last few years have led to a wave of business sales. In turn, this trend passes the responsibility of business ownership to Millenials, who will give the new generation of entrepreneurs that will lead businesses to the top, constantly looking for ways to be ahead of their competitors.
Nutrition-Tracking Products
Health and nutrition are now in the center of attention. Not only is the Internet full of healthy lifestyle and diet tips, but also there seems to be an increasing demand for health and fitness wearable technology. Women entrepreneurs among Millenials are more concerned with their well-being more than they predecessors ever were. This associated with the latest advances in technology has led to a new trend in the health and wellness industry – Fitbits. The marker will soon be ‘assaulted’ by these new gadgets, which complemented by virtual reality and the advent of fitness apps and activity tracking software will trigger unprecedented growth of the health and wellness market. So, if you have funds to invest and want to make a start in business, this is one thing to consider this year.
Growing E-commerce
With an increasingly digitally-minded audience, manufacturers have to come up with better ways of marketing themselves. Therefore, the easiest way of spreading the word on new products and special offers is e-marketing and e-commerce. Let’s face it, whenever there’s a hot story out there or a new product launched, where does it go first? On social media. Social media in turn attracts visitors to your website, thereby generating new leads, who visually-challenged (because everything about e-commerce is visually-focused above all else – image sells your product better than anything else) are easily turned into customers. So, e-commerce is the way to go in 2017!
Connection-Based Sales
With Millenials taking the lead on the market, who are highly sensitive buyers, entrepreneurs will need to change the way they engage with their customers if they want to survive in such a competitive market.
Critical as they are, Millenials can be easily put-off by any ‘aggressive’ sales technique and the moment when they sense they are being ‘sold’, they move on to the next company. Therefore, the only way to approach them is to allow them to have delivered whatever they need to wherever they need it in a more eBay style. For instance, Uber is the largest if not the most successful taxi company worldwide. Have you seen any physical Uber office anywhere? No, because their existence is entirely online-based. Digitally-minded people need to be engaged digitally!
Eco-Friendly Products
Millenials are eco-minded buyers. They are the generation who turn off the tap when brushing their teeth, ‘Save resources, go green’ is their motto. Hence, they will be on the lookout for eco-friendly products. This kind of behavior has created a new ‘green’ trend in business, with a growing number of manufacturers developing green-label products. This is not at all bad, as more than $500 million has been saved in energy efficiency alone and it follows and ascending trend, experts say.
These changes are not only likely but will happen. With this in mind, you need to reconsider your approach and come up with a viable and attractive business plan likely to yield fruit in a Millenial-driven world. As Millenials make up most of the workforce, they also become your target audience. Therefore, if you want to succeed in your line of business you need to carefully consider these trends for 2017.
