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Food and Restaurant Trends to Watch From the Fancy Food Show

April 5th, 2013 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

If you own a restaurant, specialty food business or even a grocery store, you’ll want to know about some of the food trends spotted at the Fancy Food Show earlier this year. PizzaMarketplace recently reported on some trends that small business owners can make their own:

Gluten-free foods: Gluten-free product offerings were plentiful at the show, and today’s gluten-free products taste better than those of years past. One reason gluten-free is a growth industry is that people with Celiac disease (an allergy to wheat-based products) have a lifelong reason to commit to a gluten-free diet, so this is a trend with staying power. Of course, plenty of other consumers are going gluten-free either to show support for family members who need to, or because they believe it helps with weight loss, bloating or other health and beauty issues.

Coconut: Coconut is a hot ingredient in all types of food (including on pizza!). Think of how you can use coconut milk in alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages, in sauces and in desserts. Of course, traditional coconut also has a role in menu items.

Vegetable and fruit oils: Gourmet and flavored olive oils have shown their staying power and have even inspired olive-oil-only stores. Now, the passion for oils is expanding to include fruit and vegetable oils such as walnut oil, truffle oil, pumpkin seed, chili oil, cherry pit oil or tomato seed oil.

Beer as an ingredient: Craft beers are here to stay, and the latest iteration is using microbrews as ingredients in recipes. Beer Flats Crackers (in porter and pilsner flavors), beer candy and even beer jelly were spotted at the Fancy Food Show. In addition to prepared, packaged foods, restaurant owners can also feature meats cooked in beer, breads made with beer or beer-infused sauces. Of course, don’t forget to offer suggestions for pairing beers with foods on your menu or providing a beer tasting menu.

Salty and sweet combinations: Sea salt caramels, chocolate with bacon—salty-sweet combinations continue to be popular. Think about new ways you could mix salty and sweet flavors to break customers out of their familiar flavor combinations.

Image by Flickr user Sing Chan (Creative Commons)

 

 

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Posted in Marketing, Small Business, small business | No Comments »

Small Businesses’ Financial Outlook Falls

April 4th, 2013 ::

By Maria Valdez Haubrich

How are small businesses across the country feeling about their financial futures? According to the latest Capital One Small Business Barometer, not too positive. The study asked small business owners about their opinion of the current economy and their financial and business projections for the next six months.

 

In the most recent survey, conducted at the end of 2012, small businesses’ concerns about the future had risen, with more than one-fourth (26 percent) of small businesses polled saying they believe economic conditions will decline over the next six months. That’s a 12-point increase from Q3 2012. In addition, more than one-fourth (27 percent) of small business owners said their company’s financial position was worse than a year ago, up 11 points from the same time in 2011 and up 4 points from Q3 2012.

Given these concerns, it’s not surprising that just one-fourth of small businesses say they plan to hire in the next six months. “Among the small businesses we’ve surveyed, we are still seeing significant caution about prospects for growth, as well as hesitancy about making investments,” said Jon Witter, President of Direct, Consumer and Small Business Banking at Capital One, in announcing the survey. “Looking ahead, confidence in the economic environment will be key.”

As to the overall economy, the outlook isn’t great. While 44 percent of the small businesses surveyed believe economic conditions are holding steady, that’s a drop of 7 points from the same time in 2011. Fewer than one- third (28 percent) expect economic conditions to improve in the next six months, and the same percentage expect conditions to get worse.

The national Small Business Outlook index, which ranks business prospects for the next six months on a scale of significantly worse (1) to significantly better (10), continued its downward trend throughout 2012, hitting 5.6 in the most recent survey. What factors matter most to small business owners’ outlooks? Price margins and profitability topped the list, followed by cash flow and fuel prices.

Small business owners are keeping a firm grip on their budgets, with just 13 percent planning to increase spending in the next six months—down from 20 percent who planned to increase spending at the end of 2011. In addition, the number planning to cut spending hit 25 percent—the highest it’s been in two years, and up 8 points from the Q3 2012 survey.

With limited plans to increase spending, it’s not surprising that more than two-thirds (68 percent) of entrepreneurs polled don’t plan to hire in the next six months, either.

How do these opinions relate to your own outlook, both for your business and for the economy as a whole?  

Image by Flickr user Michael David Pedersen (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Business Development, Small Business, small business, Workforce | 1 Comment »

Big Companies Are Hiring. What Does It Mean to Your Business?

April 3rd, 2013 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Big corporations are beginning to hire again, data from a variety of sources show. What does this trend mean to your small business? Bloomberg Businessweek recently reported that hiring seems to be on a steady upswing. After adding 236,000 workers in February, payrolls may add 216,000 new jobs in March, one expert cited predicts.

While job growth averaged 167,000 jobs per month in the second half of 2012, so far this year it’s reached about 200,000 per month. Another economist Bloomberg cites projects the U.S. will add 2.5 million jobs in 2013, up from 2.2 million last year.

Some other encouraging signs:

  • While the overall U.S. unemployment rate is currently 7.7, it’s steadily decreasing.
  • The number of unemployment claims is dropping, reaching 339,700 a week in the month ended March 16, for the lowest it’s been since February 2008.
  • Temporary-help-services payrolls hit 2.58 million in February, the highest they’ve been since August 2007 and an increase from 1.75 million when the recession officially ended in June 2009.
  • The housing market is finally strengthening, even in areas that were struggling long after the recession officially ended.

There are a range of reasons why companies are hiring, including:

  • Stronger demand for products and services
  • Need to replace employees who were laid off during the recession
  • Easier access to credit and business loans stimulating growth

Meanwhile, a couple factors could hinder the newfound growth:

The government budget cuts brought on by the sequester could lead to federal government layoffs and a drop in payrolls caused by loss of government jobs. Ultimately, cuts could trickle down to reduced demand for services and products from private businesses, hurting those jobs, too.

Businesses could be reluctant to hire if the Affordable Care Act turns out to raise health insurance costs prohibitively.

What does job growth mean for your business?

  • With large and midsized companies starting to ramp up, if you want to compete for qualified employees, now is the time to start thinking about hiring needs.
  • Consider hiring temporary employees if you’re leery of taking on full-time, permanent workers until the ACA’s effect on your business shakes out.
  • While companies of all sizes are having difficulty finding skilled, experienced workers, bigger companies are becoming more open to taking on less-skilled workers and providing on-the-job training. You may need to do the same.

Image by Flickr user bgottsab (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Capital Access, Small Business, small business, Workforce | No Comments »

The Future of Online Retailing

April 1st, 2013 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Spurred by the rapid adoption of mobile devices like tablets and smartphones, as well as by major retailers’ investment in their websites, ecommerce sales in the U.S. are projected to rise from $231 billion last year to $262 billion this year—an increase of 13 percent–according to the latest forecasts from market research firm Forrester. Three product categories account for one-third of that total: apparel and accessories, consumer electronics and computer hardware.

Ecommerce currently accounts for some 8 percent of overall U.S. retail sales (or 11 percent, if grocery sales are excluded). Growth in online retail sales is projected to outpace the growth of traditional retail sales in the next five years. By 2017, total ecommerce sales in the U.S. should hit $370 billion.

Forrester says the increased use of smartphones and tablets is a major factor powering ecommerce growth. With over 50 percent of U.S. online users owning smartphones, many smartphone owners use any spare moment to go online. As a result, people are spending more time overall online than they would if they had to go to their PC or laptop to shop—and that means more browsing, shopping and purchasing.

Another driver behind ecommerce growth is that major retailers are rapidly making investments in their ecommerce divisions in order to better integrate their in-store and online shopping experiences. Even customers who head to a brick-and-mortar store now often end up buying merchandise online within the store, or using smartphones to find the same products elsewhere and order them online.

Surprisingly, new shoppers coming online for the first time are not a major factor in the growth of ecommerce. Just 4 million people are projected to buy online for the first time this year. Instead, growth is coming because people who are already comfortable with online shopping are now spending more money online, ordering more often, and buying a wider range of products from a variety of sites. Forrester says online shoppers typically become comfortable with ecommerce by purchasing low-risk items such as downloadable music or movies. Only then do they move up to more expensive purchases such as appliances or home furnishings.

Forrester’s report has some more good news, not just for ecommerce vendors but also for the economy as a whole: Ecommerce companies are powering employment growth. Currently, Forrester says, U.S. ecommerce businesses employ over 400,000 people, and that figure is expected to hit 500,000 by 2017.

Image by Flickr user Mosman Council (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Business Development, Marketing, Sales Process, sales process, Small Business, small business, Technology, Web Design | No Comments »

Web.com Small Business Toolkit: Taptu (RSS Reader)

March 29th, 2013 ::

Taptu

If you’re grieving over the loss of Google Reader, you can be happy to know there are plenty of other options to help you organize and get your RSS subscriptions. With Taptu you get a visual dashboard to browse your feeds and you can also add your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter feeds so everything is in one place. Available for desktop, tablets and smartphones, Taptu also lets you customize the look of your feeds so you can see what’s important to you on the top of your page and push what you’ll “get to at some point” towards the bottom. You can build your own stream or enter a keyword and see what options pop up.

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Posted in Resources, Small Business, small business, Technology | No Comments »

No Same-Day Delivery? No Big Deal, Shoppers Say

March 29th, 2013 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Are you stressing because you know big retailers are increasingly offering same-day delivery, and your small ecommerce site can’t afford to do so? If you’re worried that same-day delivery is a game-changer that will make or break your business, you can breathe a sigh of relief. A new study by the Boston Consulting Group found that customers don’t actually care that much about same-day delivery, despite the emphasis that big ecommerce sites and retailers like Amazon.com and Wal-Mart may put on this service.

The BCG study found that consumers care much more about low prices and free shipping than they do about same-day delivery. Only 9 percent of consumers polled say same-day delivery would improve their online shopping experience. In contrast, 74 percent say free shipping would and 50 percent say lower prices would.

The study notes that lots of dotcom companies touted same-day delivery in the first dotcom boom in the 1990s-2000s, and that the service didn’t prove popular enough to keep those companies afloat.

There is one niche market that could be willing to spend on same-day delivery. Affluent, urban Millennials with incomes of $150,000 or more have shown greater than average interest in this service. If that’s your target market, you may want to consider this option.

However, even so, keep in mind this advice that BCG offers for making same-day delivery work without breaking the bank:

  • Charge additional fees for same-day delivery. The average respondent in the survey was willing to pay $6 for this service; affluent Millennials were willing to pay up to $10.
  • Limit same-day delivery offerings. It’s best to offer same-day shipping only for smaller, lightweight products, like electronics, office supplies or apparel, that can be quickly packed and don’t cost a lot to ship.
  • Focus on high-margin items. Products where you’re making a higher profit make more sense for same-day delivery.
  • Consider your location. If your customers are primarily in upscale, urban areas where delivery is common, such as New York City or Boston, it may make sense to test same-day delivery. If you’re in a rural or suburban area, however, it’s likely not going to be cost-effective.

Keep an eye on what happens with same-day delivery so you don’t get caught behind the eight-ball if the concept takes off—but also keep in mind that currently, BCG found that only 2 percent of online purchases are delivered the same day, meaning demand for this service is far from widespread.

Image by Flickr user Lachlan Hardy (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Customer Service, sales process, Small Business, small business | No Comments »

Web.com Small Business Toolkit: PageSpeed Insights (Website Speed Analyzer)

March 28th, 2013 ::

PageSpeed Insights

How fast does your website load? If it’s not fast enough, you could be losing customers who get impatient waiting for your beautiful but complex site to load. To help figure out what’s slowing your site down, check out PageSpeed Insights from Google. Simply input your URL and PageSpeed Insights will scan your website and make suggestions on how to speed up your site by optimizing photos, adjusting HTML and more. PageSpeed will also prioritize the changes in order of importance so you can see results immediately by taking care of the high-priority changes first.

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7 Timeless Pieces of Advice for Small Business Owners

March 28th, 2013 ::

7 pieces of advice that lead to successI have been reading a lot about what makes a businessperson successful lately, and the following pieces of advice really struck a chord with me. Of course, many different factors contribute to success, some of which you can control, and some of which you can’t.

One thing you can control is your attitude, and I think attitude plays a big role in success. Here are 7 timeless pieces of advice I always try to follow:

1 – Have a great product first

Before you have a company, you have to have a great product or service that people want. Doing market research is great, but what’s better is getting out there and talking to people. Run your idea by people you trust, potential customers, mentors, and people in the industry. Stay open to their suggestions, and make changes that will improve your product.

2 – Don’t have a back-up plan

I recently read this, though I can’t remember where, but it stuck with me. The premise is that if you have a back-up plan, you won’t go all out to achieve your goal. You’ll start making excuses for why Plan A isn’t working, and then it’s a downward spiral from there. Have one plan, and go for it.

3 – Never judge a book by its cover

CEOs, company founders, venture capitalists, millionaires, royalty, United States Senators – they look like you and I. Just because you don’t recognize the person sitting next to you doesn’t mean they’re not worth knowing. I talk to everyone, and I have met some really cool people simply by reserving judgment.

4 – Be resourceful

Learn to solve problems quickly so you can take advantage of any opportunity when it arises. I have taken on clients even though my roster was full; I simply pulled in contractors to help out.

5 – Be passionate

If you are enthusiastic and passionate about your product or company and project confidence, people will respond. I know a lot of startup founders who are bootstrapping it and making huge sacrifices to launch their company. You know what keeps them motivated? A strong belief in what they are doing.

6 – Focus on what you’re good at

There are two big mistakes any business owner can make: 1) – trying to do everything, even the things you are not good at (I have been guilty of this, which is why I now have a CPA), and 2 – deviating from your core competency rather than being really good at that one thing.

7 – Be honest when you mess up

We all make mistakes; sometimes they’re huge. When the founder of Zipcar realized her pricing was way too low just as they were about to launch, she emailed her customers and told them she had to raise rental fees by 25% or the company wouldn’t survive. She didn’t lose one customer – they all loved the concept and appreciated her honesty.

What other pieces of advice have served you well?

Image courtesy of binauralbrains.com

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Are You Making the Wrong Offers on Social Media?

March 28th, 2013 ::

By Karen Axelton

If you’re trying to grab fans and followers on social media just by offering discounts, deals and special offers, you might be making the wrong move, according to a study by mobile video advertising firm Rhythm NewMedia.

The study, which looked at how customers engaging with brands on mobile social media platforms, found that discounts and deals (although important) aren’t the only or even the biggest factor in whether customers like or follow companies. What mattered more was simply showing loyalty to the companies.

Rhythm found that while 51.9 percent of mobile social media users follow brands on Twitter to get discounts, 60.7 percent do so because they want to support the companies and show their loyalty. Similarly, 55.9 percent like brands on Facebook in order to get deals or discounts, 57.6 percent do so to show support for and loyalty to the businesses.

The study reports that customers are engaging with businesses on mobile social media in increasing numbers. Some 74 percent use Facebook on their mobile devices several times per day, and 68 percent engage with brands on Facebook on their mobile devices. A slightly smaller figure (63 percent) use Twitter on mobile devices multiple times per day, and 56 percent say they engage with businesses or brands via Twitter.

Brands are engaging, too, with about one-quarter (24 percent) of marketers in the study reporting that they have mobile social media campaigns. That’s an increase of more than 400 percent from a year before the study was conducted in late 2012.

Try these three tips to improve your engagement on mobile devices:

  1. As you create your social media campaigns, think about how they will play out on mobile devices. That means keeping posts short and sweet, using images that display well on mobile devices, and thinking about the kinds of content users will want to see on the go.
  2. If you use mobile advertising, consider putting social media buttons within the ad so that users can easily share, tweet or like it. The study reports that social media buttons in ads increased using engagement by 36 percent.
  3. If your current social media campaigns are focused on discounts and deals, expand what you do to appeal to loyal customers. Consider spotlighting customers, encouraging them to share photos or make comments, or asking questions so users will feel like they’re part of your brand.

Image by Flickr user Beverly & Pack (Creative Commons)

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media, social media | 1 Comment »

Web.com Small Business Toolkit: 2013 Leading Moms in Business Competition (Web Contest)

March 27th, 2013 ::

2013 Leading Moms in Business Competition

The number of mom-owned businesses is growing and fueling the American economy—and there’s no time like the present to honor these busy entrepreneurs. StartupNation has launched its fourth annual ranking of mom entrepreneurs and the businesses they run. If you are a mom business owner or know of one, enter today for a chance to win prizes including $10,000 cash prize from Staples. Additional prizes include a complimentary business growth consultation by the founders of StartupNation and a $1,000 gift card from Staples for the top three winners. The deadline is April 30, 2013.

 

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Posted in Entrepreneurs, Resources, Small Business, small business | No Comments »

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