Over the past few years, every industry on the planet has undergone some big changes. As a result, new and exciting trends have started to emerge in the quest to boost profits — and you need to know about them.
Whether you’re a small start-up or a fast-growing business, it’s important to keep up-to-date with the latest business trends. Otherwise, you’ll fall behind the times and quickly lose sight of your customers.
Some trends stick while some don’t. That’s the nature of business. What this guide has done is take the 5 top business trends right now that are guaranteed to be relevant for years to come. As a business owner, it’s highly advised that you engage with these trends and use them to your advantage.
Table of Contents
As soon as you’re ready to start learning, dive into the list of trends below!
1. The In-Store Customer Experience
During the COVID-19 pandemic, most people did their shopping online. Now, everybody is back to shopping inside stores — and businesses are heavily focused on the in-store customer experience as a result.
When customers walk inside your store, you need to (metaphorically) roll out the red carpet from them. From greeting them with a friendly welcome to always making sure their needs are taken care of, there are some big boxes that you need to tick.
There also needs to be a significant level of focus on the customer’s surroundings. For example, most popular brands now use streaming music for business so that they can set specific tones and vibes inside their stores. In a nutshell, music helps to engage customers and ultimately encourages them to stick around and purchase products.
Aside from adding music to your establishment, you also need to upgrade the lighting. These days, customers care a lot about lighting — especially when they’re shopping for clothes and other personal items.
Once you have an excellent blend of friendly customer service, engaging music, and the right lighting, your in-store customer experience will be unbeatable.
2. Hybrid Work
Here’s a crazy statistic: according to Forbes, 74% of employers now offer hybrid work plans. Essentially, this means that employees work in the office on some days and from home on the remaining days. Not only does this help businesses to cut costs, but it’s also great for employee productivity and work-life balance.
So, if you aren’t hybrid already, it’s time for your business to embrace the work-from-home trend that’s taken over the world. This will benefit your existing employees while also attracting new ones in the future. It’s something you certainly won’t regret doing!
3. Email Marketing
Email marketing has seen a resurgence like no other marketing trend in history.
Research from Statista shows that 80% of industry experts use email marketing strategies. The reason for this is simple: the ROI (return on investment) is excellent.
Your business can join in the email marketing craze by using emails to:
ü Communicate with customers
ü Promote new products and sales
ü Generate new leads and sales
Over the coming year, the aim of your business should be to build a large email marketing list. You can easily collect emails from existing customers and add them to your database while also collecting emails from future customers, too. This way, you’ll have a reliable pool of customers who you can regularly email and interact with — which is something that most major brands currently do.
4. Sustainability
In the age of climate change, countless businesses are now becoming more sustainable.
According to the World Economic Forum, 51% of US business students would take lower pay if a company was environmentally responsible, which shows just how important this trend will be moving into the future.
5. Outsourcing
Outsourcing is an excellent business strategy that you can use to cut costs and make life easier for everyone in your business. All kinds of tasks can be outsourced, from social media marketing to accounting, so think carefully about what would work best for you.
