Business Trends
At last week’s Women TIES Ithaca Luncheon Sally Berry, Bristol Creek Tourism Consulting (http://www.bristolcreekconsulting.com) success strategies on How to Spot and Use Trends to Help Your Business. These are tips from that presentation:
Trend vs. Fad:
* Fads are short lived and only affect one industry
* Fads burst into the scene and then die out
* Trends affect more than one industry
* Trends grow slowy and then “tip”
Entrepreneurs should be spotting new trends.
* To do this conduct a PEST analysis once a year
* PEST stands for Political (trends), Environmental (trends), Social (trends) and Technological (trends).
* It’s important once a year to take a “50,000 foot view” of what is happening in the economy and in your industry.
* Do this by subscribing to online industry newsletters such as Smart Brief (http://www.smartbrief.com), reading major newspapers like the Wall Street Journal and noticing their headlines, and getting together periodically with other business owners and discussing trends. * Once you gather trend information, it is important to anaylze it, prioritize the information and then make informed decisions for your business development.
Some of the most recent major trends according to Sally are:
1. Twitter hitting the mainstream
2. Globesity – heavy, over weight people
3. Smart Phones
4. Locavores – people wanting to buy their food from local sources
The women in the audience also think other trends are:
1. Women entrepreneurship
2. Online stores
3. Free shipping
4. Shorter work weeks
5. Pet care
