Point of Sale, eCommerce and financial services platform provider, Square, recently released their 2024 Future of Commerce report. The report analyses survey responses from businesses across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia in order to ‘understand how businesses and customers will shape the global commerce landscape in 2024’.

Highlights from the report:

Customers are seeking out new experiences and technology at local businesses.

We know that increased cost of living and the resulting drop in discretionary spend is making customers more mindful of where they spend their money.

The report suggests that:

Customers are seeking out businesses that offer value and efficiency.
80% of customers are interested in trying a new offering at a business known for something else and 86% of customers would participate in specific perks, activities or events offered by a business.
 

Multi-hyphenate strategies are key for growth and longevity.

Multi-hyphenate businesses diversify their revenue by adding non-core offerings, subscriptions and/or other services.

According to the report:

77% of restaurants surveyed intend to expand in the coming year by adding non-core offerings like meal kits, events, or merchandise.
99% of retailers plan to invest in additional revenue streams such as in-store events.
 

With the news earlier this week that Godfrey’s have gone into voluntary administration, are the days of a single store selling a single product range behind us?

Personalisation and Differentiation = Success

Improving customer relationships and standing out with unique offerings to maintain a competitive advantage appear to be the new year’s resolution, particularly for those surveyed in the retail industry.

According to the report:

56% of retail businesses will be taking a look at their marketing tactics for Gen Z in 2024 as the younger generations’ purchasing power continues to grow.
42% of survey respondents will be looking at improving customer relationships through faster and easier communication channels.
 

With one month of 2024 already gone, what are the goals are strategies you’re hoping to apply to your business this year?

Small business members, when you left work yesterday did you put your computer into sleep mode or shut it down completely? Do you use the same password for everything? Are your passwords short, sweet, but easy to crack?

According to new research from the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia (COSBOA) Cyber Wardens Program, cybersecurity bad habits are prevalent among Australian small business. The research identifies that 78% of small business owners practise habits that inadvertently make them more vulnerable to cybercriminals. Five habits have been identified in particular:

• Putting computers into ‘sleep mode’ rather than shutting them down, increasing the risk of out-of-date software giving access to cyber criminals.
• Reusing the same passwords across multiple systems and platforms, using short passwords which make them easy to crack. It’s suggested that passwords should be sixteen characters long, a mix of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols/special characters.
• Snoozing software updates
• Sharing passwords between team members.
• Deleting suspicious emails, they think could be scams without alerting their IT support provider or scamwatch.gov.au

According to scamwatch.gov.au, Australians lost more than $429 million to scams in 2023. Don’t let your business be a victim, make a new year’s resolution to improve your business’ cybersecurity habits.

Need help? Let us know and we can suggest experts in the field.

In today’s Mercury on page twenty-five there is a fantastic opinion piece by their Launceston-based reporter, Alex Treacy, entitled ‘Launceston is leaving Hobart in the dust’. The headline, which based on the 120 comments the online version of the article has received has left Hobartians fuming, is followed by the bi-line ‘Launceston is a city on the move – while the state’s capital stands still’.

The opinion piece highlights some of the positive developments planned, commenced or nearing competition around our city, including the beautiful new St.LukesHealth building in Cimitiere Street, the brilliant buildings that make up the Inveresk Campus of the University of Tasmania and the $43.6 million Northern Suburbs Community Recreation Hub that will provide more participation opportunities for the entire city and compares and contrasts them to the challenges of the state’s capital.

But it begs the questions, what’s next for Launceston?

• With Councillors endorsing the City of Launceston Urban Greening Strategy 2023-2040 at last Thursday’s council meeting, work can now begin to implement the strategy and increase our urban canopy cover from 19% to 40% over the next seventeen years.
• The Albert Hall redevelopment is anticipated to get underway in early 2024. Once completed this will reopen a valuable conference and community asset.
• Will 2024 see City Heart Stage 2 projects commence?

Call me parochial but reading Alex’s op-ed made me proud of our city and excited for 2024 and beyond…


Read the Mercury article here