Changes In Small Business Trends.
Every passing year, rural and urban business trends continue to diverge, rethinking what kind of lives we want to live, creating much broader megatrends; reshaping retail business, redefining the meaning of distance and geography.
Geographic Limits Redefined
Small towns felt isolated from the world of big cities as information, communication and technology innovations were often slow in reaching beyond city suburbs. Lines on a map used to define small towns. Today, these lines mean nothing. As we step into the 17th year of the millennium, a series of developments stretching back over a century have shortened the distance between any small town and a major city in the world. So much, that more and more larger companies are moving their factories and research base to smaller towns.
Have you ever given a thought to all that went into getting us to this point?
- Internet access
- Cell phone service and mobile devices
- Rural postal service
- Rural electrification
- Global and overnight shipping
- Telephone cooperatives
Looking forward, think about the innovations that are in the process of completely reshaping the cost of moving, connecting people, companies and places; advanced automation in manufacturing, processing, and transportation.
- 3-D printing
- Augmented and virtual reality
- Telepresence robots
- Self-driving vehicles
- Delivery drones
How can small businesses capitalize on such trends?
Residents of small towns and cities are finding work as independent professionals or contingent workers, connecting them to the larger economy, often at better pay rates than strictly local jobs.
Innovative business models are replacing old business structures. Old way of doing business is not the only way to go into business anymore. Community and cooperative ownership structures are replacing traditional ownership in challenging business cases. Smaller, shared, temporary, and mobile businesses are all increasing.
Retail splits into two main branches- The infinite and the selective. Infinite retailers will capture the no-thought automatic re-orders for anything that doesn’t matter. Small independent retailers will shine for carefully considered selections of things where the experience matters most. The big boxes will be caught in between and will capture less and less. So, the same technologies that are reducing geographic limits apply to retail as well. Customers are changing the retail industry. During the 1970s and 80s, when downtown Main Streets were emptying out and everyone was predicting the complete eradication of independent retail, no one predicted that eventually chain stores will become almost extinct. Now, big box retailing has triggered its own scale implosion. Chains are closing stores, reducing square footages and trying to retool to imitate that small-town downtown feeling. Here are some ways in which small businesses can capitalize on such trends:
A good understanding of the economic factors affecting your business makes you more competitive in handling day-to-day matters. If the operations are conducted though known focus functional areas in your company, such as finance, marketing, personnel and production etc., knowledge of capital investment serves as an integrating agent by coordinating the activities in these areas to a better outcome. Think of wish lists, related product recommendations, user reviews, and expanded product information. Tie that to a knowledgeable staff and a curated selection, and you’ve got an experience that can win. Small retailers are adopting technology that lets them bring the best of online information and tools directly to the real-world of stores for a mixed real and virtual experience.
Talking about technology, advertising your business has never been easier with the advent of social media. As discussed in my post Quick Business Development Tips, one of the best things about the internet is that the size of your company does not really matter. If you have a good website, that is user-friendly and sells unique products at competitive prices, there is no reason why your website would not rank ahead of a large multinational competitor on Google, and funnel off some of their traffic. This is an important reason why a website is very important for a small business. Once you have a website for your company, advertise as many products as you want on it. Just make sure you contact a good company to create and manage the website. HyperEffects is your answer to all the website related requirements. Along with being extremely professional in our approach and work ethics, HyperEffects also provides free business consultation to entrepreneurs and small-business owners. Call us now to schedule your one-hour free consultation with one of our business experts.
