We’re about to enter a new year, and 2017 has been a year full of changes for small businesses. While this year has the year of the millenials, next year will be the year of the new generation Z. Live video interaction, social media interaction and new business models are part of the trends for small businesses in 2018.
Trends for small businesses in 2018
The rise of e-services
According to the Society for Human Resource Management, wages in the United States are expected to grow in average a 3%. Considering the current trends of e-commerce and how the scale economy is behaving, a trend to look for next year is the rise of e-services (in opposition to regular e-commerce). Average american will have more to spend, and will prefer businesses that not only sell them products, but a more complete service offering. This is one of the most important trends for small businesses in 2018.
Live video takes over the web
Websites like YouTube or apps like Instagram brought live video production to the masses. This has been one of the big trends of 2017 and will definitely grow in 2018, being embraced by more and more small businesses.
Also the reach of these channels, make it also mandatory to accept payments online. Businesses using these channels may expect traffic from everywhere, not just their local audience. This is specially useful for personal services like coaching, therapists and other type of consultants that can easily bring their current business to the live video bandwagon.
New subscription business models for services
The last two years were the years of subscription. Services like Birchbox or One Dollar Shave Club. This has made the subscription model flourish. Next year will be the rise of the subscription model, and also when this model will start reaching the masses. With new tools available for small businesses to take recurring payments, one of the main trends for small businesses in 2018 will be this model coming to the service industry. We will going to start seeing more local businesses embracing this model. For example, laundry services subscriptions, grocery shopping subscriptions, pet care subscriptions and or coaching as a service businesses. 2018 will be less about purchasing and more about subscribing.
The rise of generation Z
Also known as the post-millenials, the generation Z is about to start having purchase power. Are you ready to embrace this new audience? Their overuse of the internet and how fast trends change in this generation will surely complicate millenial marketers and business owners. The businesses that can understand this generation, and where they are now, are going to be the winners of 2018. You can start exploring Snapchat and Instagram as marketing channels, or see how on-demand can be a nice addition to your current business.
