6A Identifying Opportunities in Economic and Regulatory Trends

Economic Trends
1.)     Baby Boomers Aren’t Retiring
https://www.thebalance.com/top-usa-future-economic-trends-3305666

·        The baby boomer generation consists of individuals born between 1949 and 1964. According to The Balance article, a Prudential survey found that Baby Boomers are delaying retirement because of the recession. Thus, the retirement crisis continues as older generations are continuing to work longer and leaving significantly fewer jobs for the younger generations. The article suggests the use of “technological innovation” to create more jobs. To solve this issue, the government might consider offering benefits to individuals once they’ve reached a certain age willing to retire. Employers might also consider offering better pay or part-time positions to senior level employees willing to teach employees of the younger generations.

·        I came across this opportunity while researching economic trends in the U.S. This particular trend appealed to me because of the previous trend I researched. I also thought this economic opportunity was interesting because I recently noticed there are a lot of older adults still working. I first started paying attention to this when I realized my grandparents retired before my parents will. I’m not exactly sure how easy or difficult this opportunity will be to exploit. I think that depends on which option the employer or employee takes.  


2.)    Tariffs will be changed
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7671-regulatory-issues-changes.html
·        I believe that there is an unmet need/opportunity here because tariffs are barriers and raise up prices within our economy. Also, it reduces the number of available goods and services for consumers and business to use. Moreover, it lowers income and employment which will overall lower our economy.

·        The prototypical customers are consumers and any companies that trade or have their products manufactured with foreign companies. Also, I think because this could also escalate politically leaving the people of this country dissatisfied with the government, leading to more animosity among the two parties.  I saw this is as an obvious opportunity because, in situations where the government implements tariffs and barriers, it will greatly affect companies 

·        I noticed this opportunity because I have been catching up with the trade war among the US and China and reading many articles about it.

Regulatory Trends

3.) Is Banning Plastic Straws A Good Strategy For Companies?
 https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardkestenbaum/2018/07/11/is-banning-plastic-straws-a-good-strategy-for-retail-brands/#13fa6e894119
·        There is an opportunity to decrease the production of plastic waste by replacing plastic straws with a biodegradable option like corn straws or paper straws.
·        The prototypical customer of corn straws or paper straws are everywhere. Any business from a smoothie place, coffee place, or any restaurant can reduce plastic waste by simply changing the type of straws they use.
·        I think this opportunity would be fairly easy to execute but may have some unforeseen problems with distributors and education about the problem to get everyone on board. I’ve already seen companies attempting to implement changes to paper/corn straws from plastic straws, but not all businesses will have the financial capabilities to change over all at once, it definitely needs time to raise the appropriate funds and find a method for the change to be implemented.

4.)    Amazon & E-commerce Putting Pressure on Supermarket Giants
https://www.cpcstrategy.com/blog/2018/09/cpg-industry/
·        Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods last year officially led to the opportunity for there to be e-commerce for groceries. According to the article, 59.5% of internet users bought groceries from Amazon in 2017-2018 after the service went live. The growth of online grocery shopping has also encouraged other grocery giants (such as Walmart) to sell online with same day delivery or a pickup option at the location of your choice. I think this is a great opportunity for small grocery chains to offer online grocery shopping with same day pickup or next day delivery similar to the Amazon model.

·        The prototypical customer would likely be local residents including college students, adults (particularly mothers) and people from older generations. Although large retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Target have the resources and means to implement an e-commerce service. The challenges for local grocery stores to take online orders and quickly fill the orders for local residents would probably be more feasible compared to the large national chains.


·        This opportunity is something I think could be very beneficial to people in our society. I know for me personally, I prefer online shopping over in-store shopping because it's more convenient. However, I also enjoy small local grocery stores that I know carry certain foods I enjoy. I think all grocery stores should offer some sort of online shopping. Especially because our society relies so heavily on the internet. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

30A Final Reflection

Image
As I look back on this past semester in ENT 3003 I can only imagine what it would be like if I had chosen not to take this class during drop/add. I have learned so much not only from a business perspective but on creative thinking and perseverance even when things were to become difficult. From the Bug List assignment to all the reading reflections as well as the numerous interviews I had to do with potential customers in my concept, I would not be the same person I am today without these frustrations. When I originally signed up for this class I thought I was going to learn what I had to do to be an entrepreneur but in the end, I learned that and so much more. For me, the most formative experience was the Bug List assignment. It was really frustrating to think about the world in the negative way that the assignment requires but it was the eye opener I needed in order to do well in this class. It might have been hard but I did it, which is something all the entrepreneurs that we read...
Read more

9A Testing Hypothesis Part 2

The interviews: As a continuation to the first part of my opportunity, I conducted 5 more interviews of students, fans, and other members of the community to gain a better understanding of the lack of affordable food options at major events around Gainesville. Some interesting findings that I noticed throughout the interview process are that this issue seems to mainly affect students and people who don’t necessarily have an endless amount of free income. Students obviously have a lot of educational expenses with tuition, room and board, books, etc. So, they don’t necessarily have the ability to spend $10-$15 on two small items from concession stands at sports games or food trucks at concerts. While adults with stable jobs are better equipped to accommodate to the increased price since they don’t necessarily have the same quantity of economic constraints that students seem to have. There are a few exceptions to this including members of the elderly age group as they also could share ...
Read more

15A Figuring Out Buyer Behavior #2

        Summary of Interviews Based on the three interviews that I’ve obtained for this assignment there are definitely some clear elements to products in this space that are huge determining factors when it comes to buyer behavior. One of the common threads that were brought up numerous times throughout the interviews was the quality of the food is better than that of the vendor options offered inside the stadiums. They told me some of their horror stories of how terrible their experience was with some of the concession stands that they’ve experienced while attending sporting events. They’ve seen food under heat lamps while they stood in lines for about twenty minutes. I don’t know about them, but I would not have stood in line any longer if I had seen these food practices at a vendor I was literally minutes away from buying from. Another element that seemed to play a major role in the buying process for these interviewees was the overall cost and affordabili...
Read more