These 18 key business trends for 2023 will continue to grow dynamically in 2024, according to business analysts. The business trends of 2023-2024 will shape the future of trade, business, and work in the world. Business magazine B-MAG.RU has prepared a large review, we will talk about trends in business sectors, changes in consumer behavior, and technological innovations that underlie each trend.
Whether you are an entrepreneur, investor, start-up, or run a large company, you should know and take into account the main business trends of the year that will seriously affect business both in Russia and around the world.
E-commerce in 2023: click, click, buy
After two-plus years of astronomical growth during the pandemic, what eCommerce trends can online retailers expect in 2023?
E-commerce growth continues in 2023. Although the dynamics of e-commerce have slowed down since the pandemic, it is still growing modestly and steadily. E-commerce companies continue to adjust their marketing and sales strategies to maximize their bottom-line impact.
According to statistics, in 2021, global e-commerce sales amounted to $5.2 trillion, according to analysts’ forecasts, this figure is expected to grow by 56% over the next 4 years and reach $8.1 trillion by 2026.
Key e-commerce trends in 2023:
Multi-channel;
Mobile shopping;
social commerce;
Customer service;
Sustainable development, eco-strategies;
Re-commerce;
personalization;
Subscription trading;
Many payment options;
New consumers enter the market spaces;
Augmented reality, artificial intelligence;
Delivery services.
Globally, e-commerce is forecast to account for over 22% of all global retail sales by 2023. Some specific retail categories such as electronics, homewares, and homewares have been able to maintain post-pandemic growth.
For example, the furniture industry generated over $149 million in e-commerce revenue in 2022 and will grow to $208 million by 2025. This is approximately 12% of total US e-commerce sales. There are currently over 4 million e-commerce companies in North America.
5G progresses: improving data collection, AI opportunities in business
The development of 5G mobile networks in the world can radically change all business operations. Simply put, 5G can provide faster data rates, greater reliability, and sub-10ms latency.
As of August 2022, China and the US are leading the race to adopt 5G. In China, 5G is available in 356 cities, in the US it is available in 296 cities. The global 5G market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 65.8% through 2030 and reach a valuation of $797.8 billion.
5G technology is critical for companies that strive to be modern, offer new services, and follow trends to stay ahead of the competition.
For example, the development of the 5G mobile network is helping to expand data collection and analysis for businesses. Overall, this means companies will get more data from more diverse sources at faster speeds. They can then make the artificial intelligence work in real-time.
5G capabilities include data mining, remote medical management, smart cities, remote control of traffic lights, and virtual reality monitoring of city traffic.
The 5G network is also critical for healthcare providers who have invested in telemedicine. The high speed of the 5G network allows video surveillance and remote monitoring of patients in near real-time.
Companies are also using 5G connectivity over the Internet of Things (IoT) to expand and improve business operations and launch new services. IoT sensors are already being used in production lines, supply chain tracking, autonomous vehicles, and more.
We expect the agribusiness industry to rapidly integrate 5G and IoT into daily operations in the coming years. Remote sensing and connected devices can monitor soil conditions, assess crop readiness, and control pests.
The remote and hybrid work market will continue to grow dynamically
At the height of the pandemic in North America, 71% of people who had a real job switched to “remote” and worked exclusively from home. In fact, the number of people working from home tripled between 2019 and 2022. Young people with college degrees most often have access to remote and hybrid work environments.
However, companies remain suspicious of the ongoing work-from-home trend. According to the Microsoft Work Trend Index, 85% of business leaders find it difficult to ensure employee productivity in a hybrid work environment.
As the trend of remote work continues, we expect more companies to choose workflow monitoring technologies that will ensure worker productivity. Many businesses are already using screen monitoring, keystroke recording, and implementing facial recognition software that scans employees’ faces multiple times a day.
Statistics Garter reports that the number of large corporations using workflow monitoring technologies has doubled, reaching 60%, since the start of the pandemic. This figure is expected to rise to 70% by 2024.
Cloud Computing Growth Trends 2023: Government and Industry Clouds
The dynamic socio-economic environment of the past few years has had a lasting impact on cloud adoption. The global pandemic and stay-at-home demands have forced companies to accelerate their digital transformation, including shifting to cloud-based applications to support remote workers and rapidly deploying new cloud services to retain customers.
Global companies cannot afford to take breaks in digital transformation, despite the crisis and recession. The elasticity and scalability of the public cloud reduce the financial risk of innovation, providing business agility when companies need it most.
By 2025, companies will spend more money on public cloud services than on traditional IT solutions, according to Gartner analysts.
Companies focus on sustainability and green technologies
Sustainability in 2023: from oceans to offices: eco-smart business approach enters the scene. In response to the growing demand for sustainable products, retailers are trying to reduce their environmental impact. They are working to combat the effects of climate change, reduce waste and eliminate the carbon footprint.
Research by IBM and the National Retail Federation shows that half of US consumers are willing to pay more for green products, and 62% of consumers are willing to change their shopping habits to reduce their environmental impact.
Research worldwide shows that 85% of people have changed their shopping habits in the last five years. Companies are responding to this consumer demand by focusing on their sustainable business processes and green technologies.
A 2022 study found that nearly 80% of global retailers who have committed resources to sustainability and sustainability believe their efforts have resulted in increased customer loyalty.
Another business trend and business buzzword associated with sustainability initiatives is the circular economy.
Environmental activists call the way the world works now a linear economy – companies take resources and materials from the earth, and customers end up throwing them away as waste. In contrast, the circular economy aims to ensure that materials and products have a closed process and are used for as long as possible.
The World Economic Forum reports that if companies invest in reuse and recycling, there will be $1 trillion in annual savings globally.
Immersive technologies in business: companies are experimenting with AR, VR, MR
As companies seek to engage customers in various cutting-edge ways, immersive technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) are setting a new standard in business.
Major tech companies are already investing heavily in various types of immersive technology, hoping to see widespread adoption in business soon.
The global market for immersive technologies (including AR/VR/MR) was estimated at almost $28 billion back in 2021. The market is expected to grow to $252 billion by 2028.
Consumers are also showing increasing interest in immersive technologies, with over 50% of consumers willing to use AR/VR to evaluate products. Sales of AR/VR-related hardware and software previously showed a 50% increase between 2019 and 2020.
Some companies are boldly venturing into immersive technology and investing in the metaverse. Gartner predicts that the metaverse will soon become a place for employees to communicate and collaborate. Instead of video conferencing, they say, employees will interact, collaborate, and connect like avatars in the metaverse.
They predict that by 2025, 10% of workers will regularly use the metaverse. This is more than 1% in 2022. However, this is a weak trend, since the metaverse currently has more minuses than pluses. Many business experts and world leaders do not perceive the metaverse as a promising direction and believe that this is another hype and “market bubble” like it was with NFT.
Wholesale Trends in 2023: B2B Goes Personal
Currently, nearly 21% of distributors say that e-commerce sales account for 20% to 30% of total revenue, and this trend is likely to continue and even expand, the report says. Digital transformation will be key for B2B players. Many wholesale distributors have also abandoned their traditional ways and accelerated investment in technologies such as data analytics and artificial intelligence to grow their businesses.
In 2023, B2B personalization will become the wholesale trend.
Thanks to e-commerce, mobile devices, and quick access to information, today’s B2B shopper is very different from years past. They expect the same convenient, fast, and personalized experience as in the consumer world.
Today’s B2B customer expects the company they buy from to understand their individual preferences and needs. According to Forrester analysts, personalization has gone from a pleasure to a necessity in B2B sales.
Social Media Companies: The Further Growth of Social Media Commerce
Running a business without a social media presence is next to impossible. The importance of social media in business marketing will continue to grow in 2023. Research in November 2022 showed that consumer social media usage has grown by almost 8% year-to-date.
As of October 2022, it is estimated that social media currently has 4.74 billion users. We see a lot of spending on advertising that will follow these users and turn them into consumers. More than half of the CMOs of global companies say they will increase their spending on social media ads in the coming years.
Of the new trends, TikTok advertising is one of the marketing strategies that is increasingly used by businesses in almost all industries. A study found that TikTok feed ads are 23% more memorable than TV ads and 13% more memorable than other types of digital video.
We expect companies to move beyond advertising and focus on building communities as part of their overall social media strategy in the coming years. Nearly 80% of people say that the most important group they belong to is online. HubSpot reports that 64% of marketers plan to invest in social media communities in 2022.
In addition, we are already seeing brands moving to connect with more authentic influencers who can influence small communities. This can be a more profitable business strategy. Companies that use micro-influencers report 60% higher engagement rates than more popular influencers.
The conversion rate is also better: 1.46% for micro-influencers compared to 0.61% for influencers with 21k followers or more.
In an effort to increase engagement and sales, brands are likely to invest in social commerce in the coming months. Social commerce is a popular concept in China, where 14.3% of total online retail sales in 2021 came from social commerce.
Only 4.1% of US sales are through social commerce. However, Accenture predicts that social commerce will grow three times faster than traditional e-commerce, reaching $1.2 trillion by 2025.
Retail Trends 2023: Social Commerce, Personalization, Omnichannel
The glory days of malls are long gone, but that doesn’t mean today’s shoppers want to shop exclusively online. Despite the massive growth in e-commerce caused by the pandemic, physical stores continue to live.
If you think back to two decades ago when our only recourse was to shop. Visiting the mall would mean visiting a few stops or choosing everything we could find before our time or patience ran out. Big brands didn’t have our data, and when salespeople asked, “How can I help you today?” it was the closest we came to personalization.
Today, consumers are interacting with brands and making purchases through various channels in completely new ways. Interactions, data, front and back office – everything is interconnected.
Despite the extreme challenges of coping with the effects of COVID, soaring inflation, and disruption to the supply chain, the retail industry is poised for strong growth. Forrester Research predicts total retail sales will reach $5.5 trillion by 2027, with online sales accounting for 30% of the market.
When pandemic-related restrictions were lifted, many consumers returned to brick-and-mortar stores, according to Forrester, leading to record retail sales growth, such as in the US year-on-year (14%) in 2021. They predict that in 2023, three-quarters of all U.S. retail sales will be offline.
The forecast points to the importance of “trade ubiquitous” and the development of an omnichannel presence. Brands that embraced this early on have done well during the pandemic. Data from McKinsey shows that omnichannel shoppers shop 1.7 times more than single-channel shoppers—and spend more.
Self-care becomes a profitable business model
According to a TikTok study, self-care in its many forms, such as improving mental health, fitness, public health, and work-life balance, will continue to dominate social media.
Based on TikTok research, this can come in the form of humor, positive marketing, and video strategies. In addition, products and services in the space are expected to continue to sell, suggesting that entrepreneurs will be using the space wisely in 2023.
The most popular hashtags on health, fitness, and healthy lifestyle topics:
#Hotgirlwalks hit 552 million views and is up 521% year over year in 2022.
#Innerchild hit 1.5 billion views and is up 248% year-over-year in 2022.
#UnwindWithMe hit 102 million views and grew 2644% year-on-year in 2022.
#Treatyourself hit 2 billion views and is up 409% year-on-year in 2022.
Brands are investing in logistics: a response to a long-term supply chain crisis
Over the past three years, almost every e-commerce business has experienced supply chain problems, from delivery delays to production shutdowns. While some stressors eased, regular deficits and setbacks were expected.
According to Shopify commerce trends, companies are realizing that the best way to solve these problems is to invest in their own pipelines by increasing inventory, diversifying their sources, discouraging returns, and adopting technology. Meanwhile, customers have higher demands for fast and cheap shipping than ever.
In a Shopify survey of 900 small businesses in 14 countries, 66% said they expect supply chain problems to get worse in 2023.
Faster and more adaptable logistics strategies can strengthen supply chains in the long run, according to a Shopify report.
What’s more, brands will increasingly use live shopping and augmented reality to serve online shoppers, and more companies will charge restocking fees to reduce returns.
The semiconductor industry in the world will grow and develop
The growing race between the US and China in the semiconductor business will give this area additional importance in 2023. Competition for 3nm manufacturing will be the talk of the industry. Leading manufacturers TSMC, Samsung and Intel will dominate, helping drive even more innovation in the semiconductor industry.
Recently, TSMC and Intel’s new semiconductor manufacturing plants will increase the importance of semiconductors to the US and global economy. New lithography processes and new advanced materials will be critical in this competitive race. Intellectual property and semiconductor licenses are forecast to remain a hot topic as China seeks to create an advanced geometry chip for cutting-edge military and scientific projects.
Super apps will become commonplace in our lives
The increasingly common term super app refers to technology that combines the features of an app, bringing the ecosystem and platform together into one app. Super Apps can replace multiple standalone apps, and they provide a platform for third-party Widgets to be developed and published by third parties.
According to Gartner, super apps will become more common and grow rapidly. His prediction is that by 2027, 50 percent of the population will use more than one super app. Customers around the world are looking for mobility solutions that are both impressive and easy to use. This will help propel the super-app movement forward, especially among the younger generation.
Popular examples of super apps include WeChat, AliPay, Alibaba, Revolut, PhonePe, Rappi, Grab, Tata Neu, Troop Messenger, Gojek, and Clap Messenger. It will be interesting to see which ones grow the fastest and which new entrants get user support.
Cybersecurity comes to the fore
Cybersecurity will become more important as consumers and businesses face a growing number of security risks. Gartner identifies the Cybersecurity Mesh as a top strategic technology trend, predicting that by 2024, organizations adopting the Cybersecurity Mesh will reduce the financial impact of security incidents by an average of 90%.
The Cyber Security Grid emphasizes securing networks through multiple checkpoints. CIOs need to integrate security measures into their IT infrastructure to protect customer data and information.
As security technologies become more integrated into products, product developers will ensure that security becomes a major benefit. Gartner reports that global spending on security and risk management will grow by 11.3% in 2023. Key influencing factors include working more remotely, moving to cloud delivery models, and moving to zero-trust network access.
It is also likely that more tech-savvy members will serve on executive boards. We will see more collaboration between companies as they look to implement standard security features across industries.
Robotics in industry, AI-powered supply chain automation will grow
Given Covid and the world’s previous over-reliance on China, most developed countries are trying to diversify their supply chains. Many developed countries are also trying to bring the supply chain back to their countries. Labor shortages are now commonplace in developed countries; this makes industry, manufacturing, and supply chain automation critical. We are predicted to see an increase in AI and robotics applications in 2023 as industrial processes become more automated.
IBM Research reported that the use of AI in commercial manufacturing will increase by 40-80% within 3 years. The key industry leaders in this area are ABB, Yokogawa Electric, Siemens, Honeywell, Mitsubishi Electric, and Schneider Electric, among others. Leading startups playing an important role are Mujin, Dexterity, Nimble, Righthand Robotics, Universal Robots, Covariant, and Vicarious (recently acquired by Alphabet). They help automate various manufacturing processes and I expect them to push the boundaries in this area.
Robotic process automation plays an important role in manufacturing process automation. In addition, adaptive AI allows the creation of models that can self-adjust during production or change after deployment using real-time feedback from past human and machine experiences. This trend is becoming increasingly important as the decision-making process becomes more connected, contextual, and continuous.
Web 3.0 Technology and the Metaverse: Evolving and Changing for a New Life
Recently, Web 3.0 technology has become a more common term, although it may not have a universal definition. Web 3.0 will be based on open-source software that will be used to build connected platforms. Users will be able to create their own online spaces that combine technologies such as blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and cryptocurrencies.
We will probably soon see a new focus on service NFTs, digital assets that offer benefits such as access to restricted content or real-life experiences. This can change the perception of this technology, which can have a big impact on society and the concept of Web 3.0 technology.
Giant tech companies like Meta (the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) and Microsoft are investing heavily in Metaverse. Their vision is that the Metaverse will take the Internet to a higher level, and there will be financial consequences whether they are right or wrong.
Most likely, government intervention and regulation will increase in the Web 3.0 space. As the transformative impact of this technology becomes more apparent, the likelihood and need for government regulation will increasingly have an impact on the economy, society, and the environment.
Demand for Computing Power: Quantum Computing, Big Data, and AI Chips
As the industry becomes more data-driven, the power of large machine simulations will become increasingly important. The development of hardware and software for quantum computing will be the main focus of large-scale data analysis and simulation. Quantum startups including Xanadu, Zapata, ColdQuanta, and Q-Ctrl along with public companies IBM, Google D-Wave Systems, and Rigetti will play an important role.
Quantum computers, running millions of times faster than supercomputers, could help meet the growing demands of the industry. Quantum computing hardware and software are expected to deliver great advances in cancer research, DNA analysis, space exploration, nuclear simulation and safety, and autonomous driving.
Both the development of quantum computing and the development of AI chips will help meet the growing global demand in 2023.
Space Exploration Technologies and Satellite Internet
As the US and China seek to develop advanced space exploration technologies, advances in this sector will increase dramatically in 2023. SpaceX has developed next-generation rocket technology to lower satellite launch costs. Moreover, India has developed missile launch services to further reduce costs. The Indian Space Research Organization is the pioneer space exploration agency of the Government of India headquartered in Bangalore. It provides services to launch a rocket into space for less than $5 million.
Advances in rocket launch technology have prompted the creation of a mega constellation in lower Earth orbit (LEO) to make satellite Internet widely available. SpaceX Starlink has launched more than 3,500 satellites (of a planned 12,000) into low Earth orbit, creating the largest constellation in the world. This makes satellite broadband Internet available in more than 40 countries with more than 50 million subscribers worldwide.
One Web, Viasat, Telesat, Amazon Kuiper, and the European Union satellite constellation are making rapid progress in the satellite broadband Internet sector. In Asia, China has developed its own space station and plans to build a Starlink-like constellation of 13,000 satellites.