Emerging Business Trends: 2024 and Beyond
A lot has changed in the world in recent years. COVID-19 was a key driver of the transformation and necessity to overcome many previously unseen challenges in 2020 and the next few years. New technologies have emerged, shopping behavior and work norms shifted, and many businesses brought lots of innovation into multiple fields. The investment arena has drastically changed as well, making it visibly harder for SMBs and startups to attract external funds, causing many projects to shut down.
So, what are the latest business trends to look out for in 2024 and the years to come? Let's go over ten that are worth noting.
10 Business Trends 2024 and the Years to Come Will See
What has changed in how businesses run, and what's forecasted for the nearest future? Which are current trends in entrepreneurship? Here are ten entrepreneurship trends.
1. Even More Digitalization
Most people have already directly experienced major changes in many sectors. Numerous workflows and processes have drastically transformed for the better with the help of modern technology and tools. For instance, meet-ups organized in Zoom replace face-to-face meetings. Plus, opting for modern solutions saves a lot of time and human effort, such as using Slack automation bots instead of carrying out repetitive manual tasks or HR and payroll software to entirely cut out admin.
Let's face it, technology is continuously progressing. Therefore, it's no surprise that the existing digital solutions are expected to improve even more. They'll keep changing multiple traditional processes in banking, insurance, healthcare, travel, and other areas.
Interestingly, low-code and no-code builders that facilitate faster creation of products at various stages have been gaining wider adoption. An array of MVP tools like Bubble or Webflow are more commonly becoming part of the stack and are actively used by teams that want to speed up time-to-market and optimize internal processes. This is certainly becoming one of the recent entrepreneurial trends.
2. Enhanced Cybersecurity
As the digital world evolves, the need for improved cybersecurity measures grows too. Cybercriminals employ more sophisticated tactics, and the number of threats increases exponentially yearly.
It is imperative for businesses to have an even stronger cybersecurity strategy to remain vigilant. Continually reviewing fraud prevention means and other safety precautions to identify potential vulnerabilities before they become a problem is a must. Turning to a cybersecurity consultancy is a common best practice nowadays.
The bottom line is that data protection should be a business priority and is one of the recent trends in entrepreneurship. So, it's no surprise that building such solutions as a product to sell is among the common tech business ideas. Not to mention how important having multi-layered and versatile system protection and using the best modern tools is. This is the only way an organization can be safe from different types of cybercrime, including attacks aimed at:
- accessing, altering, or destroying data;
- extorting money from a company or its employees;
- or from attacks that disrupt day-to-day operations.
3. Social and E-Commerce Will Continue to Thrive
Online shopping continues to be one of the business trends 2024 and consequent years will see, as it won't become a thing of the past any time soon. As businesses continue to embrace digital transformation, the online shopping experience is evolving and becoming increasingly seamless and convenient.
For a growing number of people, shopping online is already customary. That's why purchases made in e-commerce stores and via social media shopping channels are only expected to grow compared to shopping in physical stores. Statistics predict steady online retail revenue growth.
There has also been a sizeable behavioral change in buying habits. So users expect to carry out any actions in an online store as simply as possible. It’s important to note here that eCommerce extends beyond just apparel and cosmetics. It has also embraced the food industry. This means you can now get vegan food delivered right to your doorstep with just a few clicks. How convenient and impressive is that!
What's for the future business trends in this field? We should be seeing more omnichannel transformations that'll remove any hassle for users to interact with a brand via various channels. This includes voice search and using multiple connected devices, such as smartwatches and smart speakers, to browse goods and shop. Plus, immersive technologies like AR and virtual try-on are expected to have even further adoption in e-commerce stores, marketplaces, and online sales on the whole in the coming years. The same goes for the expected expansion of IoT.
4. Better User Experience
Importantly, businesses have to be up in arms to tailor to user expectations and needs. That is, make sure:
- their online presence is strong;
- the services and goods are accessible from any device that customers prefer;
- the quality of the product or service is high;
- the solution is user-friendly, has intuitive UX/UI, and the user journey is impeccable;
- customer support is at the best level.
Providing a flawless user experience is crucial. As such, making purchases from mobile devices (or using smartphones instead of desktop computers) is becoming increasingly widespread. So m-commerce, which is also among the global trends in business, has to be catered for. This means more optimization for such devices and custom mobile app development that'll allow for building better user journeys and products that people enjoy.
What else does a better user experience imply? To give a few examples, it means that interacting with a solution is simple, the journey is personalized, and support is readily available at any time, thanks to the free AI chatbot or other leading solutions that take customer service to the next level.
5. Paid Ads May Cost More, and Email Marketing Is Back
As follows from the points above, digitalization is expanding steadily, meaning that numerous companies, regardless of size, are using paid online ads to promote their products and services. Therefore, online advertising costs are climbing, and such ad trends affecting business and startup budgets are especially visible during the holidays and festive seasons.
The past couple of years have shown a leap in global online ad spending. Recent statistics suggest that about 585 billion USD was spent on digital ads in 2023, and the figure is predicted to exceed 645 billion USD already in 2024.
What are other trends that are enabling entrepreneurship to thrive and grow? As surprising as it may be, however, email marketing is back on the stage. It is currently among the must-haves of most business and startup marketing strategies. A laser focus on a direct list of select recipients is what makes many entrepreneurs go back to good-old newsletters and drip campaigns with clear open rates. After all, having control of who sees what is highly important in today's ocean of content that's often distracting and overwhelming.
6. Subscription-Based Business Model
Mentioning other recent business trends, the license software model is continuing to give way. The transition to the subscription model is already evident in many segments.
According to statistics on digital subscriptions, cloud-based services (especially e-commerce and SaaS) occupy the biggest shares, and their market size is awaited to increase by 2025.
Apart from offering services on subscription, many SaaS companies tend to give their users the opportunity to test their products before paying. As such, free trials and freemiums are among the best pricing strategies, which are popular end-customer engagement strategies that have proven to be effective.
What's the catch? Users get to try out the product without committing straight away. They discover its values first-hand and are, therefore, more convinced that a tool or service is worth it. This way, the product demonstrates its capabilities and almost sells itself, which is a common product-led growth "move".
7. Cryptocurrency Becoming a Standard Payment Method
Providing customers with the freedom to pay you using the solutions they trust is a must for modern businesses selling their services or products online. Opting for some of the best payment gateways, like Stripe or Paypal, is certainly a best practice. Yet some companies are taking it one step further and now accept payments in cryptocurrencies.
Offering cryptocurrencies as a payment method has become more common recently and can be considered one of the latest trends in business. Why do some companies accept crypto payments? The opportunity to make transfers quickly, as well as the rather low transaction fees, are among the major reasons why some companies, including Shopify, are meeting buyers halfway. But you should read about crypto taxes before using it.
8. A Focus on Sustainability
Companies need to consider their impact on the environment when starting a startup or creating new products or services, as this is what customers care about more lately. Running a sustainable business continues to be one of the emerging trends in business.
How do organizations become sustainable? They adopt green strategies and use eco-conscious methods to preserve the planet's natural resources and ecosystems. This can include protecting soil, water, biodiversity, and energy sources such as sunlight, heat, and electricity. Even doing small things, such as replacing disposable containers with reusable high-quality pre roll tubes, can make a big difference.
There are many ways sustainability is incorporated into a business model (and it doesn't go down to just eco-packaging or recycling paper). Sustainable business practices can, for instance, be carried out by:
- using green technology;
- making eco-friendly product designs;
- setting corporate carbon emission reduction goals;
- investing in social responsibility programs.
9. Remote Work and Virtual Offices
Although lockdowns are hopefully a thing of the past, the previous years have shown that more people choose in favor of working from their home offices, this surely counts as one of the current trends in business. For many, remote work also brings visible savings (e.g., less money spent on commuting) compared to on-site work and more time for a healthy work-life balance. Remote workers use tools such as an AI meeting assistant to connect with each other without having to come to the office to exchange information. This tool summarizes and transcribes meetings making every task a lot easier for everyone involved.
So, a growing number of professionals in various spheres are continuing to shift to completely remote or hybrid work with flexible hours. It is still among the biggest global trends in business, reshaping the traditional office life everyone was used to a few years back. And it's no surprise that lots of employees are not excited about the necessity to return to the office. In fact, Gartner suggests that employers can risk losing over 30% of their workforce if they mandate employees to work from the office full-time.
Many companies have already adapted to the changes and restructured their business processes to run smoothly regardless of someone's physical location. They embraced the required tools and are also reaping the benefits of the "remote" movement, such as cutting costs on office rent.
Interestingly, some employers have even begun using virtual offices to bring together remote teams to keep the corporate vibe and startup culture going. With a hint of gamification, such online solutions allow for giving employees their own desks, holding meetings, and connecting with colleagues as if everyone were in a single workspace. Virtual offices are currently among the most popular SaaS ideas and trends in global business.
10. A Growing Number of Startups (Especially AI Startups)
Closing up the top business trends in 2024 are startups. Curiously, the startup market is visibly expanding. The USA alone currently has over 79k startups, followed by followed by India, the UK, Canada, and Australia.
Were all of these startups created by seasoned entrepreneurs? Actually, recent statistics state that about a third of all entrepreneurs who've launched startups in the past few years are first-timers, and most of these companies were run from home.
What moves people to create their own small business? Although it takes a lot of work and luck for a startup to succeed, more people are becoming entrepreneurs and investing in their own startups lately. A survey revealed that startup founders are motivated by the idea of being their own boss, the possibility of making money, as well as the desire to fulfill a dream and make the world better.
Curiously, in the course of the startup funding process, tech-related startups received more funding approval than other sectors. The most popular startup fields include developing fintech apps, blockchain, e-commerce, EduTech, HealthTech, and biomedical and environmental solutions like climate tech.
Notably, the number of artificial intelligence-based products has been on the rise. Lots of AI startup ideas are being brought to life, with dozens of generative AI and other tool types emerging on the market by the week. This explains one more of the current trends in entrepreneurship: the rising demand for specialized skills, including those dealing with AI app development.
What are factors and trends impacting entrepreneurship? The main ones to mention are funding. Funds are among the hot topics in entrepreneurship, as there has been a visible drop in startup and small business financing in the past years. Investors and venture capital firms tend to provide funds not as generously as they have before.
Meanwhile, the economic trends in business aren't very sunny. Obtaining funding and convincing investors to support a company with cash is harder than ever before, marking one of the most notable yet disappointing small business trends 2024 is already witnessing. What does this mean for the future of entrepreneurship? This implies the increased pressure on entrepreneurs who have to be extra careful with their expenses, as it is vital to have a reserve fund and know how to extend your runway.
Final Thoughts on 2024 Business Trends
Those were the main entrepreneurship trends, so what can we conclude from the major predictions and forecasts? For one thing, the role of technology in business will only be more prominent. We'll be seeing more digital transformation in every sphere of our lives, not only related to work.
As shortly mentioned above, digital presence and effective use of resources are vital for both aspiring and established businesses. So if you need a hand with the tech part, Upsilon provides MVP development services for early-stage startups as well as an array of team augmentation services for growth-stage startups that founders can find handy. We have dedicated team pricing based on sprints and a 2-week money-back guarantee. So, feel free to contact us, we'll be glad to help make your ideas a reality!
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