USA and Canada Business Recovery Trends and Success Factors

For Canadian companies, what next ten years hold? How may they get ready for success tomorrow today? For business owners negotiating a fast changing environment, these are really vital issues. BDC hired Juniper Consulting to look at the main trends influencing the corporate environment between now and 2030 in order to provide solutions.

The survey identified various trends influencing every sector.

Among these, the most crucial one is the part technology will play as the main driver of change. More small and medium-sized enterprises than any other sector in Canada, the retail sector also employs more Canadians than any other. Big changes in the retail industry are clearly brought about by e-commerce. Still, the shift does not stop with internet buying. Rapid changing consumer preferences, growing competition, and the necessity of investing in new technology further challenge entrepreneurs.

The retail scene will becoming even more competitive during the next ten years. Thanks to reduced beginning costs for a retail business and more foreign competition, Canadians are already reaching peak consumption with a variety of buying options in every area. While new consumer preferences will polarize the market between the extremes of either luxury or value products, big stores will keep controlling the mid-price sector.

Dealing with the expectations of the future customer

Customers' requirements and wants are changing rapidly; stores must stay up by tracking their tastes using digital tools. Online reviews and ratings, for instance, will be ever more crucial for understanding consumer expectations and applying them to competitive advantage.

The explosion of the experience economy.

In what is now known as the experience economy, younger generations are clearly preferring to spend their money on activities rather than goods. Retailers are being pushed by this trend to investigate how they may meet "experiential" needs. Companies are, for instance, supporting more instore activities and seminars and involve consumers in co-creating products via online surveys.

Younger people also rather spend their money on access to products and services than on ownership. Consequently, the sharing economy is growing and renting instead of owning is becoming more and more popular. This trend shows growing environmental consciousness that is also driving a taste for reusable, green goods. Location; digital, physical, and hybrid

Retailers who want to succeed going forward have to provide a first-rate experience across all media—digital, physical, and hybrid digital-physical. Success depends on consumers being at ease switching between digital and physical purchasing and building a cohesive brand experience across several media.

What action Canadian stores should take?

Changing society and major player dominance of the mid-price market will put pressure on your business to migrate to the high-end or low-end of the market. Your brand and products will have to change in line with this. Should you decide not to migrate, your market difference should be more boldly unique to keep share.

Making more efficient use of data from online interactions and ratings can help you to better grasp your consumers. This will enable you to keep current with changing consumer expectations and tastes.

Make technological investments to provide a consistent, frictionless omnichannel shopping experience. Your capacity to survive in the next decade will depend critically on offering tech-enabled consumer experiences.

Top trends in manufacturing for Canada

Ten percent of Canada's GDP and sixty-eight percent of its goods exports come from manufacturing. Although the aerospace and automotive industries form the cornerstone of this industry, manufacturing of heavy equipment, machinery, and other commodities is also vital. In Canada, small and medium-sized companies account for more of the manufacturing sector than in peer countries.

Under the cover of what is known as Industry 4.0, the main trend influencing SMEs in the manufacturing industry over the next decade will be the growing speed of technical innovation. Growing consumer expectations for various services and product customizing are other important themes.

Move to Industry 4.0 then to 5.0.

Definitions differences notwithstanding, Industry 4.0 is usually defined as the increased use of robotics, the Internet of things (IoT), data analytics and artificial intelligence to improve productivity, customer service and innovation.

Since 2010, Industry 4.0 innovations have been gathering steam worldwide, and manufacturers stand to achieve very amazing results. For instance, sensors linked to the Internet can offer managers real-time, all-encompassing perspective of operations by constantly monitoring a variety of production criteria. The emergence of predictive maintenance, whereby sensors are employed to prevent downtime and possible equipment failure damage, is another illustration.

Industry 4.0's advantages will swiftly compound and help to identify great achievers from laggards. Industry 4.0 will eventually become a required need, hence businesses who neglect it will be driven out of existence. Sadly, Canadian producers are lagging behind rivals abroad adopting new industrial technologies.

Already on the horizon comes Industry 5.0, the next leap ahead. It entails having people work alongside advanced robotics in smart co-working environments, therefore bringing people back into the manufacturing process.

What will it take to arrive at Industry 4.0

Adoption of Industry 4.0 will present challenges for Canadian manufacturer to catch up with other nations and maintain pace with 5.0 developments. Lack of resources—including capital—is the main challenge among these ones. Regarding the scope and scale of their expenditures, SMEs will have to exercise great caution. Fortunately, some businesses could be able to leapfrogg over Industry 4.0 to become early adopters of Industry 5.0, therefore saving cash and leading ahead of the technological race.

To fully appreciate advanced manufacturing, technical skills and management techniques must change. The staff of a plant in the next years will consist of robotics technicians, programmers and data analysts. Companies will thus have to extend their search for these employees to cover more ground. Simultaneously, managers will have to catch up on the new operational environment and employees will have to adjust to new technology and routines.