New Business Ideas That Can Help Your Business Grow

See an Exciting Future Before Your Competitors

Stephen Wilson
Stephen Wilson, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Sep 10, 2007 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
It's very difficult to predict the future, the landscape is cluttered with the debris of thousands of supposed trends and sure-fire business ideas. However, first entry with a new product in your business category is a great strategic move for a company. Perhaps the best way to spot future trends that can be applied to your company's business plan is to identify emerging trends and track their success in their earliest stages of implementation. It may take a bit of creativity to apply new product ideas from around the world to your company, but it can be done.

Two Great Sources for Emerging Product Ideas

Shaping Tommorow

This web site highlights new ideas from around the world with an emphasis on technology-driven applications. You can get a free trial subscription but after a review period you must transfer to a paid service. There is a lot to see, but you'll find new ideas like holographic video store fronts that are fascinating.

TrendHunter Magazine

Like Shaping Tommorrow, TrendHunter is an online "magazine". There are thousands of new ideas provided by volunteer trendhunters from around the globe. The content is free and is continually updated. The content filter is turned-off at TrendHunter and some of the trends are, um, free-spirited.

My Favorite Trend

In this Web 2.0 world of ours, businesses will have to "buy" the business of customers by providing a free service of value to their customers. It will not be enough to have a quality product, customers will demand "added value". Some examples:

Emachine shop - this company provides free drafting software on their site so that you can design your intended project to your specifications. Emachine shop makes their money by tooling your request.

Online Storage - Many companies already offer free, unlimited online storage of your data in order to provide their primary service, i.e. photo processing, printing, etc.

In the future, there will be a two way transaction between businesses and customers, "I'll give you this, if you buy this".

Well, that's my prediction. If you want to see future trends, check out: shaping tomorrow or trend hunter.

Published by Stephen Wilson

I've been in marketing and communications for more than 20 years. The field is constantly evolving and I'm always interested in the next new thing.  View profile

  • Two Great Sources for New Business Ideas
New business ideas from overseas can provide profitable ideas to American business.

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