flevyblog

Flevy Blog is an online business magazine covering Business Strategies, Business Theories, & Business Stories.
MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP STRATEGY, MARKETING, SALES OPERATIONS & SUPPLY CHAIN ORGANIZATION & CHANGE IT/MIS Other

Top 5 Business Trends You Can Expect in 2021

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Business Continuity Planning - Guide, Process and Tools (61-slide PowerPoint presentation). The disruption COVID-19 caused has made businesses more aware of the importance of business continuity planning (BCP) for effective disruption-related preparation, response and recovery. Although the term "business continuity" is often used as a synonym for IT Disaster recovery [read more]

* * * *

Before the holiday rush begins, everyone likes to make plans and forecasts about what opportunities the upcoming year may bring, what to expect in terms of events, technologies, and new trends. So it is critical to understand how these trends can be integrated into your business model to meet unique customer needs, keep your old customers and acquire new ones.

Taking a look at global trends can help you find new directions relevant to your business line.

New Priorities and a Change of Thinking

The trend for practicality and comfort outweighs the desire to impress. Naturalness outweighs the cult of beauty, grace, and ostentatious luxury. These examples are most prominent in the fashion industry. However, similar trends can be observed in other areas – interior design, appearance, and functionality of various gadgets and technical devices. The key difference is to get rid of any “prettiness” or pretentiousness devoid of practical and functional meaning.

Maximizing personal comfort is becoming the main component of the concept of luxury. As individualism and uniqueness overcame owning products of well-known brands, satisfaction, and positive experience are the main elements of a purchase.

The improvement of customer experience must be a priority for any business owner. Follow the innovations in business technologies, make sure you have a Customer-Centric AR Platform, and implement problem-solving tools for your clients.

Technologies and a Deliberate Abandonment of Them

Many products that weren’t previously associated with concepts of “smart” or “technological” are now being morphed into becoming parts of smart houses. Kettles or irons are just some of the examples. All our actions – from the search history on the internet to the routes of movements become the subject of analysis for countless systems, applications, and programs.

This trend is so strong and comprehensive that it begins to seriously frighten many people with its scale and uncertainty of future changes. Therefore it begins to actively develop a counter-trend aimed at partial (for example, digital detox practices) or complete rejection of technology, return to reality, maximum proximity to nature, and the traditional way of life.

Eco-Friendly and Ethical Attitude

This one may not be new, but it isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Globally, this trend can be described as the customer’s desire to choose products and companies that demonstrate a commitment to the principles of ethics and transparency in all areas.

All products whose production infringes on someone’s rights, interests, or poses a threat to someone’s health or life acquire an aura of negativity and scare away customers, regardless of how high their quality is.

Customers choose products that are as natural as possible – whether it’s food, cosmetics, or fabrics. Anything labeled “without preservatives,” “without parabens,” “without GMOs” is automatically perceived as a premium product, even if the quality seems to suggest otherwise.

Fastest Delivery Possible

Today, the decisive factors for individual purchases may not be the brand or characteristics but time – that means the ability to get something (of course, of an acceptable quality) immediately, almost without waiting. You may want to give your customers the possibility to get convenience goods delivered faster than if they would go to the store to get them by themselves.

Standard online stores operating throughout the country, due to their logistics, of course, will not be able to guarantee delivery within a few minutes. In any case, the delivery time should be reduced as much as possible.

New Forms of Education

Education is going through a lot of changes right now. The most ambitious young people rely on highly specialized online courses and short-term training within professional groups and communities. According to their authors, such programs are created at a given moment to highlight all the latest and most relevant changes, as well as represent a stream of ideas, observations, and real-life case studies.

There is a need to choose between relevant skills in a highly specialized field and a systematic approach without sufficient real-life examples. Neither is an adequate solution to the deteriorating quality of education as we go into 2021.

New forms of schooling for the youth are bound to appear soon, combining the best of both formats. The demand is high, so it is an excellent opportunity to become a quality pioneer of this niche.

Final Thoughts

These are not all the trends and promising areas for businesses. The topic is endless, as well as the process of change in society and technology. Understanding these new waves and alternate approaches prior to their emergence in the mainstream can put you miles ahead of the competition in 2021.

We should always remember that we live in a constantly changing world and remain open to new things. Adaptability and the willingness to sacrifice old ways in favor of novel solutions can guarantee success in such an unstable external environment.

51-slide PowerPoint presentation
Even before COVID-19, the world has been witnessing accelerating change and increasing complexity, partly due to the speed of technological development and adoption. Strategic foresight includes a collection of method to help consider and anticipate an array of possible futures that could [read more]

Do You Want to Implement Business Best Practices?

You can download in-depth presentations on COVID-19 and 100s of management topics from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.

For even more best practices available on Flevy, have a look at our top 100 lists:

These best practices are of the same as those leveraged by top-tier management consulting firms, like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Accenture. Improve the growth and efficiency of your organization by utilizing these best practice frameworks, templates, and tools. Most were developed by seasoned executives and consultants with over 20+ years of experience.

Readers of This Article Are Interested in These Resources


22-slide PowerPoint presentation
COVID-19 has taken the world by a storm. Financial markets, manufacturing, services, and tourism have been hit hard. In fact, it has also changed the way we work, communicate, interact, and shop more than any other disruption in the decade. As a result, there have been key changes in Consumer [read more]


 
31-slide PowerPoint presentation
 
 
26-slide PowerPoint presentation

About Shane Avron

Shane Avron is a freelance writer, specializing in business, general management, enterprise software, and digital technologies. In addition to Flevy, Shane's articles have appeared in Huffington Post, Forbes Magazine, among other business journals.


Complimentary Business Training Guides


Many companies develop robust strategies, but struggle with operationalizing their strategies into implementable steps. This presentation from flevy introduces 12 powerful business frameworks spanning both Strategy Development and Strategy Execution. [Learn more]

  This 48-page whitepaper, authored by consultancy Envisioning, provides the frameworks, tools, and insights needed to manage serious Change—under the backdrop of the business lifecycle. These lifecycle stages are each marked by distinct attributes, challenges, and behaviors. [Learn more]

We've developed a very comprehensive collection of Strategy & Transformation PowerPoint templates for you to use in your own business presentations, spanning topics from Growth Strategy to Brand Development to Innovation to Customer Experience to Strategic Management. [Learn more]

  We have compiled a collection of 10 Lean Six Sigma templates (Excel) and Operational Excellence guides (PowerPoint) by a multitude of LSS experts. These tools cover topics including 8 Disciplines (8D), 5 Why's, 7 Wastes, Value Stream Mapping (VSM), and DMAIC. [Learn more]
Recent Articles by Corporate Function

  

  

  

  

  

The Flevy Business Blog (https://flevy.com/blog) is a leading source of information on business strategies, business theories, and business stories. Most of our articles are authored by management consultants and industry executives with over 20 years of experience.

Flevy (https://flevy.com) is the marketplace for business best practices, such as management frameworks, presentation templates, and financial models. Our best practice documents are of the same caliber as those produced by top-tier consulting firms (like McKinsey, Bain, Accenture, BCG, and Deloitte) and used by Fortune 100 organizations. Learn more about Flevy here.
  


OUR CORE OFFERINGS
Flevy Marketplace: Top 100
· Strategy & Transformation
· Digital Transformation
· Operational Excellence
· Organization & Change
· Financial Models
· Consulting Frameworks
· PowerPoint Templates
FlevyPro (Subscription Service)
KPI Library
Streams (Functional Bundles)
Flevy Executive Learning (FEL)
PowerPoint Services

FREE Resources

About Flevy
Management Topics
Marcus (AI-Powered Consultant)
Partner Program
LinkedIn Influencer Marketing
FAQ / Terms / Privacy / Blog
Contact Us: support@flevy.com



CONNECT WITH US!
       
TOP 100 TRENDING TOPICS
Acquisition Strategy
Agile
Analytics
Artificial Intelligence
Balanced Scorecard
Best Practices
Big Data
Breakout Strategy
Business Continuity Planning
Business Plan Financial Model
Business Transformation
CMMI
COBIT
Change Management
Cloud
Communications Strategy
Company Financial Model
Competitive Advantage
Competitive Analysis
Consulting Frameworks
Continuous Improvement
Core Competencies
Corporate Culture
Cost Reduction Assessment
Customer Experience

BROWSE BY FUNCTION
Strategy, Transformation, & Innovation
Digital Transformation
Operational Excellence and LSS
Organization, Change, & HR
Management Consulting

Customer Journey
Customer Service
Cyber Security
Data Privacy
Decision Making
Digital Marketing Strategy
Digital Transformation
Digital Transformation Strategy
Due Diligence
ESG
Employee Engagement
Employee Training
Enterprise Architecture
Growth Strategy
HR Strategy
Hiring
Hoshin Kanri
ISO 27001
ITIL
Information Technology
Innovation Management
Integrated Financial Model
Kaizen
Kanban
Key Performance Indicators

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Business Strategy Frameworks
Case Studies
Consulting Training Guides
COVID-19 Trend Data
Digital Transformation
Financial Advising Services (FAS)

Knowledge Management
Leadership
Lean
Lean Manufacturing
Logistics
M&A (Mergers & Acquisitions)
Manufacturing
Market Research
Marketing Plan Development
Maturity Model
McKinsey PowerPoint
McKinsey Templates
Operational Excellence
Organizational Change
Organizational Design
Performance Management
Post-merger Integration
Pricing Strategy
Process Improvement
Process Maps
Procurement Strategy
Product Launch Strategy
Product Strategy
Project Management
Quality Management


Free Resources
KPI Library
Lean Management
Lean Six Sigma Training Guides
Marcus Insights
Operational Excellence

Real Estate
Remote Work
Restructuring
Risk Management
Robotic Process Automation
SWOT
SaaS
Sales
Scrum
Service Design
Six Sigma Project
Social Media Strategy
Strategic Planning
Strategic Thinking
Strategy Development
Supply Chain Analysis
Sustainability
Target Operating Model
Team Management
Total Productive Maintenance
Value Chain Analysis
Value Creation
Value Stream Mapping
Visual Workplace
Workplace Safety


Product Strategy
Small Business Owner
Startup Resources
Strategic Planning
Strategic Planning Process
Value Innovation Strategy


© 2012-2024 Copyright. Flevy LLC. All Rights Reserved.