Introduction
Every industry faces changes in its trends. The business industry also witnesses different changes in its working which are emerging over time. These changes are known as business trends. These business trends have changed the way of conducting businesses completely. Let's explore some of these trends and get to know about them. The names of some business trends are network marketing, franchising, e-commerce, business process outsourcing, knowledge process outsourcing, etc.
Various Trends in Business
Many business owners tend to overlook the latest emerging trends in it, which ultimately impacts negatively. The business sector requires people to stay up to date with emerging trends in business. It is mainly because this sector changes quickly (the way business is being conducted), and hence to stay at the top of your game, you need to be aware of the emerging trends in it. In this article, we will make you familiar with the latest trends in the industry, such as emerging trends in e-commerce, network marketing, franchising, digital economy and many more. Reading this article will help you further advance your business and boost your profit margins. Let us start by looking at E-commerce and emerging trends in e-commerce.
E-Commerce
E-commerce has been one of the best ways in recent years to take your business online and open your market to the whole world. It essentially means buying and selling goods over the internet. You can deliver your products right to the doorsteps of the customer. It will inevitably boost your conversion rates and the number of sales. There are currently several emerging trends in the e-commerce industry such as Amazon, eBay, etc. Whether you have your business online or want to set it up online, you must be aware of the emerging trends in e-commerce.
The other names of e-commerce are electronic commerce and internet commerce. E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services through the internet. Everything is done through the internet network. Transactions of money and data also come under e-commerce. There are four ways in which these business transactions are being done and they are - Business to business, customer to the business, business to customer and customer to customer. The name itself signifies that e-commerce is the meeting of buyers and sellers over the internet. The things involved in it are as follows - transaction of goods and services, transaction of money and exchange of data. The latest examples of e-commerce websites are Amazon, Myntra, Ajio, Flipkart, Zivame, Meesho etc.
Network Marketing
Network marketing is one of the best emerging trends in the business environment. It is essentially a medium used by manufacturers to increase their sales. In this method, manufacturers rely on their distributors and their sub-distributors to form an efficient chain or network of delivering products to the customers. This chain of distributors will enable you to reach a huge number of customers and increase your products' sales.
The emerging trends in the field of marketing have changed the way of working of businesses in a complete manner. The new types of marketing are helping the companies in attracting a large number of customers and helping them in expanding their business rapidly. The expenses are also being reduced in these trends as compared to traditional marketing. One of those trends is network marketing.
Network marketing is considered to be a medium of marketing that businesses use so that they can expand their sales. Is usually used by manufacturers when they have to push out their products and deal with a lot of distributors. Indirectly, they reach out to more customers which eventually is beneficial for them. Network marketing is generally used in business structures that need multi-level marketing because these manufacturers have a large number of products and services and involve a large number of distributors and sub-distributors.
Franchising
The latest business methodology also includes franchising as one of the emerging trends in it. Franchising can be an incredible way to expand your business even further. It mainly involves providing your business's rights or license to a third party called a franchise, and you will be the franchisor. You will let another party conduct the business on your behalf and receive some profit from that.
Franchising is considered to be a right that the manufacturers or business entities give to others. In franchising, one party (known as franchisor) allows or gives the authority to the other party (known as a franchisee) to sell the products or services of the franchisor. Franchisees are authorised to use the brand name, its trademark and other things. Basically, a franchisee is just like a dealer. In return, franchisees have to pay a commission or one-time fee to the franchisor. In other words, we can say that franchising is the agreement between two parties, in which one party allows the other party to sell its products or services by using their techniques which used to be confidential. A lot of examples are there in the market these days like McDonald's, H&M and Dominos.
Digital Economy
As the name suggests, the digital economy means taking all of your economic transactions online. In other terms, it is also known as the internet economy or the web economy. As you know, technology is expanding like wildfire, and sooner or later, the traditional and digital economy is bound to be one. It essentially includes all the businesses that are conducted via digital technologies or the internet. Also, it includes businesses such as e-business, e-commerce, etc. So be aware of recent trends in commerce.
Business Process Outsourcing
Business process outsourcing or BPO has been one of the fastest emerging trends in the business sector. It is a huge industry now and also has a significant impact on our global economy. Huge businesses tend to outsource their business process job to third parties from different countries which helps them cut down their costs and increase profit margins. Overall you can outsource a certain task of your company or business to another company at a low cost.
A business strategy where one company hires another company for a particular task to perform that means they are outsourcing a certain job of their company and this is known as business process outsourcing or popularly known as BPO. It is necessary and essential to outsource the non-core activities of the company so that they can focus more on the core activities for making it more productive. Companies outsource only non-core activities and do not outsource the core activities. BPO makes a company more flexible and more focused on its main goal or its main activities. It is also very cost-effective.
M-Commerce
M-commerce, also known as mobile commerce, is a type of e-commerce. It is also one of the emerging trends in the e-commerce industry. This method brings forward a way for you to get your business to the mobile phones carried around by people in their pockets. You are providing ease of access to your customers, which will ultimately boost your sales significantly and also increase your profit margins by a great deal. These days, most people like to shop online using their phones, so this trend is not something to ignore for business owners.
Aggregator
The aggregator is one of the unique and emerging trends in the business sector. We have loads of information available on the internet via thousands of websites. To put it simply, the aggregator is a way for you to combine all of the information available on a certain topic in a single place. It will provide convenience to the people who are searching for that particular information.
Knowledge Process Outsourcing
Knowledge process outsourcing or KPO essentially means outsourcing different business tasks related to information such as analysis, consultancy, research, or high-level tasks. Businesses who do not have the human workforce to conduct such tasks efficiently tend to outsource them to other companies. These KPO companies are mainly there to help these companies complete such tasks, and they have a dedicated workforce precisely for that purpose.
Knowledge process outsourcing is just like business process outsourcing but in KPO, knowledge-based tasks are being outsourced like analysis, researching, a consultancy. Knowledge process outsourcing can be done either by any other company or by the subsidiary of the same organization. The most famous companies providing knowledge process outsourcing are TCS, Wipro, WNS global, etc. The advantages of knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) are - they are cost-effective, they can access the best talents, resources are being utilised in a better way.
Fun Facts
Since the coronavirus pandemic, global e-commerce sales are predicted to reach over 4.2 trillion dollars and make a whopping 16.2% of total retail sales.
FAQs on Emerging Trends in Business
1. What are the Recently Outdated Business Processes?
Running your company with outdated business models is asking for a loss. There are several outdated business processes that people are still using these days. One of them being people are afraid to take their businesses online. Another is relying on the workforce for certain tasks that can be automated using technology. Some business owners also fail to stay up to date with market trends, which is extremely crucial for businesses to grow.
2. Is Moving Your Business Online Profitable?
Yes, undoubtedly, moving your business online will be very profitable in the long run. Not only do you have a considerable number of customers visiting your online store but also convert the number of sales per day. If the service provided is good, you can make a loyal customer base that will stay with you for the years to come. It also helps you provide access to your customers to your available products. Several businesses have gone through significant transformations after coming online in a mere number of days. Do not hesitate to move your business online; it is the perfect time to do so.
3. What are the demerits of Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO)?
In spite of many benefits, KPO does have certain disadvantages. The first is that there is a lack of confidentiality. The second is that there is a risk of leaking private financial information and sensitive data which is harmful to the companies. The next disadvantage is that there is a possibility of hidden costs. Rather than these disadvantages, knowledge process outsourcing has a lot of advantages and is very beneficial and helpful for companies.
4. What are the advantages to franchisees?
There are a lot of advantages to a franchisee. They can start a business with a pre-established brand which can help them in predicting their success and can reduce their failure. Franchisees also get to know about their unique techniques and their secrets.