Four Business Trends That Will Shape 2024
Business trends are moving faster than ever so trying to second guess how the next 12 months will pan out can feel impossible. These four trends will have the greatest day-to-day impact on the way we work and do business in 2024.
It’s that time of year when I have a lot of conversations about annual business planning. But trying to second guess how the next 12 months will pan out can feel impossible for many small business owners because business trends are moving faster than ever.
There are many ways to describe the early 2020s, but predictable is not one of them. It’s no exaggeration to say that we're in a pivotal moment where unprecedented technological innovations, economic circumstances, and climate events are converging, leading to rapid and transformative change. An unstable geopolitical environment, the rise in the cost-of-living, staff recruitment challenges, the impact of AI. The list goes on.
Ever since the pandemic, we’ve had to accept that change is inevitable, and to survive and thrive, we must be adaptable; taking challenges and turning them into opportunities. This makes understanding business trends a strategic imperative when we’re deciding our goals for 2024. What may have been true at the start of 2023 may no longer be valid.
A good understanding of the key business trends for 2024 will not only help you shape and improve the customer experience, but they will also help you gain a competitive edge.
These are four of the trends I believe will have the greatest day-to-day impact on the way we work and do business in 2024.
Trend 1: Sustainability and green fatigue
58% of consumers would rather pay more for an eco-friendly product yet their desire for brands to be eco-friendly has declined. How do these two trends align? The answer is they don’t. Yes, customers want to buy from authentic brands that fulfil their commitment towards a sustainable, responsible future. But they’ve also begun to mistrust the ways that companies try to look good by flagging up their green credentials - known as “greenwashing.” This has led to “green fatigue.”
While greenwashing is not the concern it used to be, there’s a perception that sustainability has been taken over by superficial public relations tactics. With customer interest in finding out which products really do live by their promise for a greener and better planet, now is the time for small businesses to prioritize authenticity, transparency, and measurable sustainability goals. Ways to do this include:
Certifications and Standards: Consider obtaining certifications from reputable sustainability organizations that validate your eco-friendly practices. Examples include Fair Trade, B Corp certification, the Good Business Charter and USDA Organic.
Product Lifecycle Consideration: Evaluate and improve the entire lifecycle of your products or services. This includes sourcing sustainable materials, minimizing waste, and implementing eco-friendly packaging.
Customer Education: Educate your customers about the eco-friendly aspects of your products or services. Provide information on how they can make sustainable choices when using or disposing of your offerings.
Trend 2: The rise of AI
In 2023, Artificial Intelligence (AI) emerged as one of the fastest-moving consumer trends. With its ability to analyze vast amounts of data, identify patterns, and make intelligent decisions, AI is helping businesses gain a competitive advantage by enabling more informed decision-making, enhancing operational efficiency, and delivering personalized experiences to customers.
But AI a double-edged sword. Its potential is both exciting as well as intimidating. For many of us, AI had been a game-changer. Used well, AI tools are revolutionising our business operations. For example, Chat GPT can be used as a research assistant, speed writer and draft copy writer. It’s a great tool for generating and brainstorming ideas, helping us to get started when we have writers block and for delving deeper into topics to add additional points.
Here are three further ways you can incorporate AI into your business:
Enhanced Customer Experience: AI is revolutionizing the way businesses interact with customers, improving their experiences and increasing satisfaction. Chatbots, powered by AI, can provide instant and personalized support, addressing customer queries round the clock.
Automation and Efficiency: AI-powered automation is reducing costs and improving efficiency by streamlining processes. Repetitive and mundane tasks, such as data entry, can be automated using AI algorithms, freeing you and your team to focus on more strategic activities.
Competitive Advantage through Innovation: AI is driving innovation and enabling businesses to differentiate themselves in the market. Companies that embrace AI technology can develop innovative products and services, providing unique value propositions to customers.
Trend 3: Social commerce
Social commerce is a rapidly growing branch of e-commerce that taps into the growing use of social media platforms to promote and sell products or services directly on the social media sites people log into daily. Globally, the social-commerce market is expected to grow to more than $2 trillion by 2025, according to Statista.
It encompasses activities such as product discovery, reviews, ratings, sharing, recommendations, transactions and loyalty programs. But social commerce is more than just a new shopping experience. It represents a paradigm shift in the way customers interact with their favourite brands, transforming the shopping experience into entertainment.
This emerging form of shopping removes friction from the buying process, creating a more engaging journey for the consumer, and offering new opportunities for companies to connect on an emotional level with their prospective customers than is possible with traditional e-commerce strategies. This is particularly appealing at a time of insecurity and instability, when customers are looking for delightful distractions and emotionally resonant experiences to entertain themselves.
For example, instead of just watching an advertisement for a new skin-care formula, your favourite celebrity takes you behind the scenes of their everyday skin-care regimen. They give you a glimpse of how they apply the branded product and share why it's their favorite. It's like having a personal skincare chat with your favourite star, and you can snag the product without leaving the platform, be it Instagram, TikTok, or through YouTube Shopping.
Here are three ways you can incorporate social commerce into your business:
Influencer Content: Work with a social media influencer or micro-influencer to advertise your products, raise brand awareness, and drive users to your profile or shop. The influencer will tag your products in their posts, and if a shopper is interested in the product, the tag will take them directly to your product page on that social platform to make a purchase.
Live Shopping: Create a fun, interactive livestream experience to promote your products, which viewers can then buy directly from the livestream.
In-app Messaging: Interact with your customers on your key social media platform(s) through direct messages. This provides a space for customers to ask questions and get product help. In-app messaging is also a useful tool to help customers discover products or to provide payment links for quick checkout.
Trend 4: Personalised communication
Personalised communication means taking a piece of content or a customer interaction and targeting it to the interests, needs, and preferences of your customer or prospect. Basically, providing your customers with exactly what they’re looking for right when they’re looking for it.
People prefer businesses that offer a personal touch and don’t look at them as just a sales opportunity which is why, according to a McKinsey report from 2021, customers associate personalisation with being made to feel special. This prompts them to respond positively when a company demonstrates that it’s invested in the relationship it has with you, and not just the transaction.
This is one of the reasons why you should never share or publish AI generated content without personalising it first. Customers are looking to invest in brands that align with their preferences and values which is why they want to understand what sets your brand apart from everyone else and makes it special. They want to hear your unique perspective, your insights and your stories.
Here are three ways you can inject personalised communication into your business:
Build Data Driven Personas: Build real-life, data-driven personas of your target groups, and personalise your communications for each of them.
Offer Self-help Options: Sometimes customers have simple questions for which they expect immediate, straightforward answers. Offering self-help options can save your customers time, while and freeing up your team to respond to more complex issues. Then, if the customer wants to talk to somebody in the customer service team, they can.
Provide Channel Choices: As we explored earlier, customers are looking for omnichannel, social commerce experiences. Customers have favourite channels they want to reach you through and/or they want the option to switch to other channels such as voice and messaging apps, email, and social media as needed.
Next steps
To help you decide what your priorities and goals should be for 2024, review and update your SWOT and PESTLE Analyses in light of these trends. And if you’d ;ike help putting together a plan for how to achieve your most successful year in business in 2024, download my new e-book, Annual Business Planning - A Step By Step Guide to Set the Stage For Business Success in 2024.
Download: Your free copy of my new e-book, Annual Business Planning - A Step By Step Guide to Set the Stage For Business Success in 2024, here.
About The Author
Hi. I’m Denyse Whillier, a former CEO and strategic business coach specialising in female entrepreneurship. A very warm welcome to CEO Secrets, a business blog dedicated to one thing, breaking down the strategies, concepts and tools that I’ve gathered from 25 years working in purpose-led companies and showing you how you can use them in your business.
This is the real nuts and bolts of running a successful purpose-led business, broken down in an easy, accessible way. Confidently plan, grow and scale your business and build it safe and strong.
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