Deborah who is the Managing Director and Chief Strategist at Echo E-Business, published her 2009 predictions for e-business in her white paper ‘E-Business Evolution 2009’, with comments from John Lewis, Cancer Research UK, PricewaterhouseCoopers, J.P.Morgan and Linden Labs. Her predictions have been progressing into reality.
This year Deborah discusses how social media, popular culture, new technologies and the economy will enable us in the forthcoming and following years. The growth of social media and the economic crisis have literally catapulted opportunities and entrepreneurship for online business. More and more individuals, as well as businesses have turned to the net to promote themselves and their offerings. The web is becoming more and more integrated and is having an impact not only on business, but also on popular culture.
What does this mean for the individual? What does this mean for the small business, and how does this affect the large organisation? Deborah Collier has put together an overview of her thoughts for the year ahead.
Prediction 1: Goodbye to the Middleman
Our analysis has shown that Twitter can give as much as ten times more clicks than email marketing, depending on the nature of the offering and quality of the campaign. I predict further adoption of such tools will have a heightened impact on industries such as real estate and arts and crafts, where individuals and sole-traders cut out the middleman.
Prediction 2: The Year of the Delivery Company
According to a report by the London Chambers of Commerce in October 2009, the postal strike cost London more than 500 million. Earlier in 2009, I urged online retailers to look at alternative delivery companies rather than lose customers. I predict delivery and shipment to be one of the biggest growth industries of 2010, bringing hundreds if not thousands of unemployed back to work.
Prediction 3: Creative Sponsored Advertising
Only the most innovative, integrated and seamless advertising will succeed. Businesses should focus on more creative sponsored advertising, or collaborative projects, not only for brand building but more importantly to bring themselves closer to their potential customers. We are living in a collaborative world where relationships are key.
Prediction 4: Mobile Commerce Revolution
I predict 2010 to be a year of exceptional growth for mobile, which will continue in years to come. Throughout the next decade, we will become less and less attached to our computers, and more connected to our surrounding world via cutting-edge technologies and hand-held mobile devices.
Prediction 5: Free Culture Frenzy
We are living more and more in a culture where we expect products and services for free. Where does that leave businesses? I predict that businesses will continue to embrace the ‘Free Culture’, as a means of building relationships and up selling to wider products and services.
