Steve G Papermaster, Nano CEO and chairman, is a passionate and experienced entrepreneur who has successfully launched and scaled multiple ventures. This article will provide an overview of some of the most prominent entrepreneurship trends of 2023.
Continued Growth of E-Commerce
E-commerce had already made significant headway prior to the emergence of COVID-19. Nevertheless, the pandemic undeniably helped the sector to take off at pace, with Shopify reporting the industry saw a full decade’s worth of growth in the space of just three months during the pandemic. Although growth has slowed somewhat, it continues on an upward trajectory, with total e-commerce sales predicted to top $8.1 trillion by 2026.
Affordable Sustainability
More than half of small and medium-sized businesses have invested in sustainability and plan to do more in 2023. According to a report by Deloitte, consumers are becoming increasingly discerning, buying just what they need, driven by a combination of an evermore foreboding climate crisis and the rising cost of living. Shoppers are favoring brands that align with their environmental and ethical values, unapologetically abandoning those that fail to live up to their expectations. This is especially true when it comes to the products purchased most frequently, such as food, drink, household and beauty products and clothing.
5G Boosted AI Capabilities
The development of 5G mobile networks provides scope to transform operational aspects in various different industries. Capable of delivering enhanced reliability and significantly higher data speeds with drastically reduced latency, 5G is available in 356 Chinese cities today, as well as 296 cities in the United States. Experts predict that the 5G market will grow at a 65.8% CAGR through to 2030, reaching a valuation of $797.8 billion. 5G networks will enable businesses to draw data from more diverse sources at faster speeds, creating a framework to put that intelligence to work in real time and enabling them to integrate AI and automation more easily and effectively than ever before.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
With modern consumers placing greater emphasis on social and environmental responsibility, shoppers are becoming more aware of ‘social washing’ and ‘greenwashing’, where brands overstate their social and environmental credentials. Along with affordable sustainability, ESG is predicted to be a major theme throughout 2023, with forward-looking brands creating ESG strategies that demonstrate what they are doing to be more socially and environmentally responsible. Although ESG isn’t mandatory for small businesses, it nonetheless presents significant benefits, with research from Moore Global suggesting that businesses committed to ESG saw profits rise by circa 9% over a three-year period.