4 Must-See Trends for Your Business in 2022

by | Feb 22, 2022 | Blog

With businesses of all shapes and sizes recovering from one of the most unpredictable and challenging periods in business history, it makes sense that it would be worth getting to know the must-see business trends for 2022.

 

Whether you’re a small business employing a handful of staff, or a large corporation with multiple offices, at least one of these trends is going to affect you at some point this year.

 

  1. Sustainability

Sustainability is increasingly becoming a way for businesses to not only improve brand image, but also increase profits and cut costs. Selling on your waste to be reused by others, as well as reducing packaging and energy usage, are all fantastic ways to achieve this. With the UK looking to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, sustainability is going to become a central tenet for your business to adopt, whether you’ve already given it thought or not.

Remember that if you’re looking to minimise shortages in materials or supply chain issues that many businesses experienced last year, switching to local suppliers can help you do this.

 

  1. Technology

Authenticity and meaning are both themes that consumers in 2022 want to see from businesses of all sizes. Personal branding through the use of technology is going to become a majorly important tactic for your business to use in attracting new customers and maintaining existing ones. Not only will technology help your customers experience a greater sense of connection with your business, but it is also an extremely low-cost way to improve your digital marketing approach.

Technology has enabled business owners to build online communities in which the needs and wants of the customer are easily surveyed and understood. Due to the highly interactive and intimate nature of social media, many businesses are now utilising apps such as TikTok and Snapchat to grow their customer base and understand stakeholder needs.

 

  1. Wellbeing

Wellbeing and wellness are fast becoming the new metric by which businesses will measure employee satisfaction and engagement. With mental health at the forefront of societal trends in the present day, it makes sense that your business would look to make this an important aspect of culture to cultivate over the coming year. Understanding and improving the wellbeing and mental health of your employees will see a drastically improved rate of productivity; happy employees are productive employees.

Those businesses that do not place mental health and any accompanying wellbeing assessments at the forefront of their business principles will suffer for it. The metrics gathered here can also be used to accurately predict employee retention and performance. New Zealand-based company Xero conducted a survey in which they found that 43% of small business owners raised concern about their own mental health; so if you’re suffering as well, it’s even more important to implement the correct wellbeing assessments.

 

  1. Costs and Pricing

One of the most worrying trends for businesses in 2022 will be the inevitable rise in the price of services and products. The rising cost of energy, which could potentially double in the coming year, is going to affect your business, whether you are based solely within the UK or not. Add to this the soaring cost of living in the UK and a 6.6% increase in the minimum wage that your business will be paying out to its employees, and you have what could be a perfect storm.

High inflation and planned tax increases also loom around the corner for 2022. So what can be done to mitigate these risks? Regularly assessing your pricing, and whether you can get your different materials or expenditures at a lower cost to your business is a good place to start. With the consumer price index rising by over 5%, its important that any price rises are communicated to your customers professionally, delicately, and in a way that illustrates why your product is still the best on the market for them.