The year 2020 continuing to 2021 spawned some innovative trends in the business field to cope with a world that’s going into quarantine. Owing to the pandemic, large and small-scale enterprises are compelled to look for ways to continue doing business despite the unusual restrictions brought on by endless lockdowns and quarantines. All the trends made, however, catered to both employees and clients by providing professionals with a safe and flexible working environment, and customers with a better shopping experience.
These trends benefit established and starting businesses, so if you’re a start-up and are looking for ideas to kick start your entrepreneurial journey, take note of the trends below.
Flexible Payment Options
With firm quarantine restrictions, people have limited chances to step out of their homes and get cash. Without cash, buying necessities is close to impossible. To address this problem, businesses are turning to cashless transactions which let customers make a purchase using online banking. Some flexible payment options also cater to individuals without bank accounts to accommodate every buyer’s needs.
Sustainable Business Operations
The pandemic has also shed light on other issues, including environmental problems. Although finding the balance between sustainability and creating new products that can potentially generate more waste has been an enduring struggle, the past year has seen some improvement in the area. Thanks to the steady clamor for environmentally-friendly business practices, small and big corporations now actively look for ways to maintain sustainably run operations. It can be seen in their internal and external business practices: from adopting eco-friendly ways in the workplace to choosing sustainably sourced materials to manufacture products.
Remote Workspaces
Shifting from traditional offices to flexible workspaces seemed impossible before the pandemic, but now that it is a necessity, this change continuously proves to be good for both employers and employees. Similar to the conventional workplace, this also presents unique challenges, especially during its initial phases, but now that professionals are in it for more than a year, there are more benefits than drawbacks. Some advantages include reduced operation fees and decreased commute time.
Personalized Customer Experience
These days, the most viable way to introduce a product or brand to the market is through the internet, especially for start-ups. It is the best method businesses can use to appeal to their clients, most importantly when coupled with excellent marketing and customer service. To give clients a personalized shopping experience, ventures tap different technologies, like artificial intelligence to collect data that can help them create a pool of the characteristics of potential customers, and from there craft personalized marketing materials.
Going Online
With the pandemic, the internet is the only place left where merchants can branch out and expand their operations safely. This is cheaper than building stores for your brand since you no longer have to employ additional staff, rent a place, and pay for the required permits and licenses. Now that the competition is held online, enterprises work to enhance their official websites, through their design and content to encourage visitors to make a purchase. For instance, as with a business offering affordable dental services, you can also cater more to your clients by allowing them to set their appointments online.
Live Streams as a Means To Sell
Even with more chances of promoting online, stiff competition is still expected. As a way to efficiently market products on the web, aside from promotional materials, businesses also use live streams to sell items, engage with customers, and answer queries in real-time. This is an efficient and cost-effective way to market products and expand reach because streaming platforms offer shareable links that your clients can send to their networks.
Valuing Employees’ Well Being
Not every trend this year solely focuses on generating profit, the past year also focused on the physical and mental health of employees. It was a difficult year, making it easy to understand that workers can feel depressed and unmotivated. The persisting pandemic situation and the continuous change in different business operations can take a toll on employees which is why companies go to great lengths to provide their staff with the best care they need by giving them flexible work hours, physical and mental checks, and other benefits that will help them get through the challenges of working in a new normal setting.
Enhancing Products Through Customer Reviews
Since businesses rely on their clients now more than ever to keep them afloat, using customer feedback and product reviews are now permanent ways of enhancing their items. Businesses create obvious and noticeable modifications to their products so that their clientele can see the changes made and create positive feedback regarding good customer service and a brand’s consistent production of quality items.
Running a business, whether in a pandemic or a virus-free situation is never easy, but thanks to trends and innovations in business practices and operations, both old and new challenges can easily be overcome.
