The world of business is constantly changing and evolving to meet the needs of customers. If a business doesn’t adapt to what a customer wants it may find itself suffering across a variety of measures. It’s startling to think how swiftly business trends can change in only a number of years; within a lifetime people could witness so many differences to the way businesses function. For instance, only a short while ago, plastic was one of the most popular materials in products, both durable and single use. Fast-forward a few decades and now people are keen to look for more environmentally friendly resources across production and the eventual product. It is difficult to extrapolate and accurately predict what will be trending for businesses in the future, but what are some of the business trends we’re seeing right now?
Social Responsibility
One important factor more and more businesses are taking seriously is social responsibility. Simply put, this means the consideration of the the ethics of a businesses’ practices, perhaps finding the right balance between making a profit the potential impact they have on the environment, or their employees and those affected further afield. The cause of this rise in social responsibility is due to the fact that as a society, we’re now much more conscious of things like carbon footprints and fossil fuels, and the wider impact of their usage. It’s not just the physical environment, but also the process in which products are made. Fairtrade and organic products are constantly increasing in popularity as people like to know where their products are coming from and the assurance that these processes were ethical. This can be reflected in two trends: shopping locally and purchasing cruelty free products. The latter particularly can be seen within the beauty industry.
Going Green
Now let’s focus on the environment trend impacting businesses, more of them are embracing and attempting to be more environmentally friendly, which is a wonderful trend to see being taken seriously with widespread potential benefits. As an example, we have witnessed a rise in green technology, such as the use of electric vehicles and charging points at some places of work. Plus many offices are embracing the use of solar panels or nation-wide policies and movements to use cut down on carbon emissions.
Sustainability
Leading nicely on from going green is the trend of sustainability. It’s all well and good for a business to make changes to help impact the environment, but they also need to ensure these changes will last. It’s not just about improving the recycling in the office or biking to work every so often, sustainability is now a key factor within the marketplace. For this trend, we can turn to the hospitality industry. It wasn’t too long ago when vegan diets were seen as awkward or perhaps even laughable. Whereas now the number of vegans in the UK has risen to 3.5 million. This is reflected in the number of vegan restaurants we see on the high streets, or even more restaurants offering vegan choices; and these outlets are likely to use smart and energy efficient equipment in line with their approach, such as those from JLA. This nicely reflects what so many of these trends have in common: a social, conscious decision, which benefits not only the person but the environment as well.
Subscription Services
People have always had control in what is popular within the world of businesses – what they want matters, otherwise various companies wouldn’t have been created in the first place. So it makes sense that the marketplace is growing increasingly personalised and tailored to suit an individual’s needs. According to Entrepreneur subscription services are increasing one percent per month. With plenty of niches for these boxes to fill – from makeup to dog toys – it’s safe to say subscription services will be in style for a while.
Businesses will continue to grow and develop around what society wants. Let’s hope the current trends discussed above are not just being done fleetingly because they’re fashionable. Hopefully, in the future, we will continue to see the environment and what’s best for people being the forefront in what makes a successful business.
