The Evolution of Business Trends in the Digital Age

Source: Buffer

To remain in the game, it is no doubt that businesses have to constantly evolve and many have turned to expanding from simply having live stores to eCommerce options ranging from various websites to social media like Facebook, Instagram, and even Youtube.

6 years ago, there was a prediction on Forbes that Instagram would be a formidable selling application. Within three years, Instagram has gained 150 million of users and as of today, we can expect 1 billion users. As of June 2017, there are 25 million business profiles using Instagram. With this wide base of users, Instagram charges $6.90 per thousand views, and estimating at 3000 views per day, this would cost $603,000 a month!

I personally believe in the powerful effects of social media on modern businesses. Evidence can be seen from various success stories just like Singapore’s very own actor and well known emcee Wang Lei, who began selling fresh seafood via Facebook Live Streams. His live streams have garnered over 1.2 million views and he has publicly stated that through live streaming sales, he has earned 2-3 times more in an hour than what he did as a stage performance host.

Source : Facebook

Even blogshop influencers like Sophia Chong, founder of The Juice Market, promotes new launches utilising live streaming. Due to the nature of the impact that Covid-19 have had on the community, many businesses have adopted a Live Streaming strategy to engage with its customers. In the current economic landscape, live streaming auctions are the most intimate that any business can be with its customers. Consumers have shown positive feedback in Live Streams as they are able to get quick responses for any enquiries as compared to just looking at a static image of potential products, they are able to see raw unedited footage of products that are being offered. However, a perfect world doesn’t exist. As much as we hear these advantages of live streaming, there are a few cons to this new marketing tool. For one, it is challenging for business owners to engage its entire target audience as not everyone can accommodate to the limited time that the live stream is online. To keep the audience entertained and interested, hosts on these live streams have to be charismatic with an appealing personality.

This year has been a rough start for everyone. The impact of Covid -19 has put a great extent of businesses to test, with an estimate of 3,800 businesses shutting down in Singapore alone. With new government regulations , this has caused many ripples in business operations. From a female shopper’s perspective, many simple purchasing decisions have became much more complex. An example of this would be buying make-up, as previously, testers could be provided for shoppers to try out and identify a suitable shade to their liking. With government restrictions, brands are unable to provide testers in physical stores. These brands have thus, turned to social media influencers to showcase new product launches to engage potential customers to understand the benefits of products offered.

Do share your thoughts about this with me in the comment section below! Ciao~