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Tag: Retail Businesses

  • Top 5 Fastest Growing Industries for 2023

    Top 5 Fastest Growing Industries for 2023

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The world is changing rapidly, and with it, the industries that drive the global economy. In recent years, some industries have seen explosive growth while others have slowed or disappeared entirely. In this article, we’ll take a look at the top five fastest-growing industries and discuss what makes them so successful. From technology to health care, these sectors are driving the economy forward and paving the way for a brighter future.

    Related: These Are the 10 Fastest-Growing Jobs in the U.S.

    1. Shipping and delivery services

    The rising popularity of online purchases has led to an increased demand for shippers and is fast securing its place as the growth industry front-runner.

    The American Shipper reports that as much as 8% of all retail sales are made online, or $394 billion. With an increasing number of people purchasing items from websites like Amazon and eBay, there will be an increased demand for individuals who can transport these items from one location to another since the pandemic. It is predicted by many economists to be the fastest-growing industry world-over within the next year.

    As a result, shipping companies are hiring more people than ever, and your skills may allow you to join them. If you’re looking for a career that allows you flexibility in scheduling while still maintaining a stable income while working remotely (or at least part-time), this industry might be right up your alley.

    There are many benefits associated with being an independent contractor: flexible hours, no commute time, no dress code and a choice over how much work or money you want out of it (or how much time). These perks make it easy enough to fit into any lifestyle and succeed.

    2. The healthcare industry

    The healthcare industry is projected to expand by 19%, making it the second-fastest growing sector.

    The reason for this growth is the increasing demand for healthcare insurance and the need for more people to fill jobs in the healthcare industry. As our population grows, so do its medical needs — companies have to hire more doctors and nurses to meet those demands. More people are getting sick, which means that more people need treatment. This increase in demand has led to a rise in healthcare professionals’ salaries and an influx of new patients into the field.

    The influx of new patients who require medical attention due to new laws will also cause the demand for insurance policies to rise. For example, in 2019, many states mandated that employers cover their employees’ contraception costs under their health plans. This development has significantly increased the demand for healthcare insurance among young people seeking birth control coverage.

    Related: Telemedicine is the New Normal in the Health Care Industry

    3. Travel and food industries

    With the growing population and interest in traveling after years lost to the pandemic, dream jobs that combine travel with food and culture are set to land in third place.

    If you love to travel, consider a career as an agent or guide who helps others plan their trips. Ensure you’re certified by your local government to become a tour guide (usually required for historical sites).

    You could also be certified through organizations like the Professional Tour Guide Institute of San Francisco or the International Institute of Travel & Tourism Studies (IITTS). If you don’t want to work directly with tourists but still want to help with travel, become an agent for a company specializing in international flights and accommodations.

    Related: The Travel Sector Is Getting Upgraded

    4. Online retail

    As more consumers turn to online platforms for shopping, businesses are quickly adapting to meet this demand. Companies like Amazon, Walmart and Target invest heavily in online efforts to serve their customers better. With more people using the internet to shop and take advantage of discounts, the online retail sector is expected to grow significantly this year.

    The convenience of shopping online through the pandemic has significantly expanded — albeit less for wants and more for needs. However, e-consumerism is already showing a strong return, with 1 out of every five retail purchases occurring online and an estimated end-of-year worth of $1.1 trillion.

    5. The AI revolution

    The future of the global economy lies in Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI is expected to be one of the fastest-growing industries of 2023, already valued at $328.34 billion. AI has begun to revolutionize many industries, such as healthcare, finance and transportation. Through automation, improved data analysis capabilities and predictive analytics, AI is helping businesses become faster and more efficient while cutting costs. With its potential for tremendous growth and its ability to revolutionize existing industries, AI is set to be one of the most important drivers of economic growth not just today but for coming years.

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    Christopher Massimine

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  • 5 Crucial Predictions For Retail in 2023

    5 Crucial Predictions For Retail in 2023

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    With 2023 here, retailers geared up to make the most of the festive season with discount deals, slashed prices, free deliveries, bonus packages and more. That said, there’s an elephant in the room this season — and that’s the uncertainty about the consumer market. Recent headlines about inflation have changed most shoppers’ buying habits this year. Compared to 2021, one in four Americans (22%) is spending less on gifts this year. Conversations on social media around inflation relating to holiday shopping have increased by 35%.

    Further complicating the issue was the disruption of global supply chains caused by the pandemic. Increased demand for items led to skyrocketing prices. With customers now less willing to pay higher prices for goods, retailers face a potential decline in revenue, sales and profit margins. Retailers looking to minimize the impact of inflation, changing customer behaviors and an unstable market on their business must employ strategies to create an engaging and immersive shopping experience.

    Here are five predictions to help you meet your customers’ needs — and keep your business competitive.

    Related: How Compliance is Exposing the Fragility of the Global Supply Chain

    1. Increased adoption of an omnichannel approach

    A seamless shopping experience is quickly becoming the order of the day as customers want the flexibility of combining shopping on their phones with shopping at brick-and-mortar locations. The recent Shopify report proves this, with 54% of consumers saying they’re likely to look at a product online and buy it in-store — and vice-versa.

    Sephora is an excellent example of a company already adopting this approach. Customers can visit the brand’s website to add products to their carts and visit the store to try on their items before buying.

    To take advantage of the omnichannel experience, retailers should create a social presence that retains the brand identity across multiple channels. This includes messaging, services, pricing and overall customer service.

    Doing this well can make it easier to understand and predict customer behavior. You can tailor your consumers’ experiences to match your marketing and sales needs.

    Related: Future Of Retail Is Omnichannel

    2. Hyperpersonalization will skyrocket

    With shoppers now spending cautiously, typical personalization tactics are becoming ineffective in driving sales. Gone are the days of generic marketing emails with automated first-name snippets.

    Now, customers want purchases to fit their needs which requires brands to make customers feel more connected to the brand — which can increase loyalty and retention. According to a McKinsey survey, 71% of customers expect companies to personalize their experience, and 76% are frustrated when they don’t find it. Creating hyper-specific recommendations based on customers’ browsing history, past purchases, location, gender and age — increases the likelihood of making more sales and generating 40% more revenue.

    3. AI redefines the shopping experience

    The introduction of DALLE-2, LensAI and, most recently — ChatGPT — has sparked discussions around their use in retail. ChatGPT is an AI with nearly accurate responses to user queries—which can be used for conversational commerce. For example, in terms of personalized recommendations, AI can accurately recommend products using customer data. This helps the customer make an informed decision, driving sales.

    Regarding customer service across different channels, AI can easily give users the same experience by providing support and assistance at a far larger scale. While artificial intelligence is already in play in most parts of the retail industry, its adoption in 2023 will redefine the entire shopping experience.

    Related: Princeton Student Builds ChatGPT Detection App to Fight AI Plagiarism

    4. Data privacy laws will become stricter

    The debate on data privacy will likely become more heated in the next year, with the European Union proposing stricter regulations via GDPR. Under GDPR, user consent plays a big role in collecting sensitive and non-sensitive data. This means retailers and advertisers need to be transparent in using user’s personal data and offer consumers the option to delete or erase their data.

    The problem with the GDPR: Advertisers need user data to serve targeted ads. Retailers need advertisers to market their goods. Now, with laws becoming stricter in collecting this data, advertising prices are expected to increase.

    5. A switch to organic marketing

    The recent rise in advertising costs has pushed most retailers over the edge. Why? The current ad space price is double (with some triple) what it used to be. This means retailers are paying more to reach the same audience—with no estimated profitability, sales or even revenue guarantee.

    As a result, many brands are now moving toward organic marketing and capitalizing on its benefits. SEO, social media, content marketing and influencer partnerships are all tactics to ramp up in 2023. Using organic marketing in retail is a strategic approach that can help you build trust and maintain long-term customer relationships.

    Looking ahead, retailers are facing ups and downs in the market. Finding ways to appeal to customers’ needs is vital to staying afloat — and profitable. The strategies we’ve highlighted here will help you along the way while preparing you for what’s to come.

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    Jacob Loveless

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  • Bed, Bath, Beyond & Bankruptcy: Low Inventory Threatens Chain

    Bed, Bath, Beyond & Bankruptcy: Low Inventory Threatens Chain

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    Bed Bath & Beyond said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday that it is doubtful it could continue operating the business — i.e., the company is staring down bankruptcy.


    Bloomberg / Contributor I Getty Images

    Bloomberg store closing sale in September.

    Based on “recurring losses and negative cash flow from operations… as well as current cash and liquidity projections, the Company has concluded that there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue,” it wrote in the filing.

    Still, the company is trying to get out of the hole.

    But according to Insider, there’s another problem: Inventory levels are low, with stock at 53% for the end of last month, compared to 61% at Kohl’s for example, per DataWeave, an e-commerce analytics company.

    This was due to Bed Bath & Beyond’s lack of credit to purchase inventory, said Bobby Griffin, an analyst at Raymond James, per Insider.

    It’s a vicious cycle — low inventory could mean lower sales.

    After 27 years of positive growth, Bed Bath & Beyond began to have problems in 2018, per a podcast from The Wall Street Journal. The chain was founded in 1971.

    A new CEO, Mark Tritton, who took over the chain in 2019, focused on “private label” brands made by the store itself and hurried a host of them to market. During the home goods boom of 2020, sales were up, seeming to advocate for his strategy.

    Then, later in 2021, sales began to tank. The products, as the podcast noted, were not well thought out nor of high quality. Tritton was pushed out in June.

    Bed Bath & Beyond now has some $3 billion in debt on its balance sheet as of March, per The New York Times, and is low on cash and time for new CEO, Sue Gove, to make large-scale changes.

    The company also announced in September it would cut 20% of jobs and close 150 stores. The holiday season didn’t provide hoped-for capital to rescue the business, one expert told the paper.

    “Before Christmas, there was just a glimmer of hope,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, per the outlet. But, he added, “things have just got worse.”

    The company in its preliminary quarterly data said it expected to report a $385.8 million loss for the quarter ending in November 2022.

    The company also had a meme stock moment, where renegade investors take on a stock that is not performing well and kick Wall Street in the process, in August 2022 and in 2021, but the company’s stock is way back down to earth, trading at just $1.31 a share Friday afternoon, compared to $13.80 around this time last year.

    And things in stores are not looking good, as Insider noted. The company has just 39% inventory availability in lighting and kitchen. The company also cited inventory issues as a reason it is considering bankruptcy in its SEC filing.

    Bankruptcy, however, could still mean the chain sticks around. The process often gives companies a chance to restructure.

    “What we’ve seen many times is that it ends up being a stay of execution,” Michael Baker, who studies retail at investment banking firm D.A. Davidson, told The New York Times.

    “Sometimes that works, but oftentimes you see an announcement of scaling back and having fewer stores, and then that’s followed by a complete liquidation,” he added.

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    Gabrielle Bienasz

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  • Buffalo Target Hosts Blizzard-Stranded Motorists For Holidays

    Buffalo Target Hosts Blizzard-Stranded Motorists For Holidays

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    A Target store in Cheektowaga, New York, was turned into an Airbnb of sorts when it played host to two dozen stranded motorists during one the Buffalo area’s worst blizzards on record, according to The Buffalo News.


    Facebook/Jessica Lee

    Frozen doors at Target in Buffalo

    One stranded motorist, Jessica Sypniewski, was running what she thought would be a quick errand before the storm (with her boyfriend and two children in the car) when the weather took a turn and the snow began to come down “sooner and heavier than we thought it would,” she told the outlet.

    After running into white-out conditions, the group turned into a shopping plaza and were turned away from a grocery store, she said, before trying Target — where they were greeted with warm cocoa and blankets.

    “I got so emotional, I just sat down and started crying,” Sypniewski told The Buffalo News. “You never know. People could have died. I truly believe they saved lives.”

    A group of seven Target workers was also stranded at the store. They filled carts with inflatable mattresses, linens, water, food, clothes, phone chargers, and personal hygiene items to accommodate what was going to be an unexpected overnight shift for themselves and their new guests.

    “They said, ‘Anything you need, it’s on us,’” Sypniewski said. “‘Just let us scan it first.’”

    Workers also opened a new TV so everyone could watch the Buffalo Bills game.

    Tiktoker Carla Rodriguez was also stranded at the store and posted footage of the experience.

    @carlarodxd Stay safe and Merry Christmas Eve Everyone #buffalostorm #blizzard #target Feliz Navidad – José Feliciano

    A rep for Target confirmed to the New York Post Monday that nobody would have to pay for anything used during the storm.

    “Thanks to the compassion and quick thinking of the team members at our Walden Galleria store, they were able to provide shelter to those who were stranded, and also offered care, comfort, and holiday cheer,” said Mark Schindele, an executive vice president with the company. “Their actions are a living example of Target’s values and we are thankful to have been able to assist those in need.”

    The area has since been plowed and guests have made their way out of the store.

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    Entrepreneur Staff

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  • 3 Secrets of Upside Co-Founder’s Success

    3 Secrets of Upside Co-Founder’s Success

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Alex Kinnier is the co-founder and CEO of Upside, a retail technology company that helps consumers get more value on the things they need while simultaneously allowing merchants to earn more profit on every transaction.


    Upside

    Alex began planning his company when he saw how Google Adwords revolutionized the online shopping experience by using anonymized historical user data. As Google optimized brick-and-mortar businesses, their economically inefficient static pricing and curation were having a hard time keeping up.

    Drawing from his work experience at Google, Alex realized that he could create the same optimized shopping experiences in our neighborhoods that we’ve come to expect online. Seven years later, Upside has 50,000 locations on its platform, reaches 30 million people and is valued at 1.5 billion dollars. Here are the three things that Alex contributes to his success.

    Related: The Internet of Things Might Not Be Doomed, Here’s Why

    1. Create a business model that ensures mutual benefit

    When Alex founded Upside, he made sure the product was a win for businesses, consumers and his bottom line. Its profit-sharing business model is structured so that when Upside brings its merchants a customer or a purchase they weren’t expecting–and can prove it–his company and the merchant share in the profit earned on that purchase. Users get cash back for choosing that business and businesses get more profitable sales. It’s a win-win and Upside doesn’t get paid until both make money first.

    Related: How to Give Customers the Digital Experience They Crave

    2. Empower teams to think for themselves

    Alex kicks off all new employee orientations by telling them to always do what’s right and not necessarily what they’re told. Having people follow orders means at least 50% of the brainpower in that equation is sacrificed. But because Upside’s culture empowers everyone to weigh in on a decision, it maximizes the company’s probability of success. If people don’t know what the right decision is, then they need to ask questions. This creates an opportunity for everyone to learn.

    3. Prioritize measurement as you grow

    Alex believes entrepreneurs must prioritize measurement so they don’t delude themselves into thinking they’re making an impact when they’re not, or develop a culture of personality where people blindly believe in the founder’s direction. Measure everything, set goals and then measure against those goals so that you have a rational set of factors to judge whether your business is actually succeeding.

    Related: 13 Ways To Increase Your Ecommerce Sales This Holiday Season

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    Robert Tuchman

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