Small business trends 2023

Small Business Trends (2022 & Beyond)

The growth of an organization depends on various internal and external factors. It has also mean that small business in Singapore must adapt to the emerging trends, align to the developments, and consumer preferences.

All growing business ideas must align themselves with consumer preferences to ensure small business trends stay relevant.

The future of small business depends on their ability to adapt and integrate their business based on customer choices.

While some businesses could not sustain and faded away, many SME businesses in Singapore have focused on the transformation possibilities and are working on the necessary change.

The future of growing business ideas and the small business trends depends on how effectively they adapt to emerging conditions.

Exabytes Singapore supports growing business ideas by providing web hosting for business websites at affordable costs and 24x7x365 tech support.

Small business trends have changed drastically, and today SMEs in Singapore too are focusing on digital transformation trends, alongside working on growing business ideas

Some of the business trends emerging fast as a future of small business are sustainability and profitability of the business and how the growing business ideas can be translated to a viable long term small business in Singapore.

1. Digital Presence Enablement

digital presence

Small businesses in Singapore have encountered wide transformation requirements to their modus operandi across the industry verticals. 

As conventional practices have become a challenge, many growing business ideas working as a small business in Singapore started focusing on digital enablement, exploring the scope of using the technology and other means for internal and external communication. 

Some of the prevalent trends in the digital transformation of small businesses in Singapore is to use cloud hosting to build an online presence, get a company email account and have an online catalog of products and services, etc.

Despite that the business environment is coming into pre-pandemic normalcy, still, digital enablement has gained prominence as a small business trend

2. Lean Management 

As the businesses are reeling from the pandemic impact, small businesses in Singapore too are working their way to make their way into the future of small business.

However, focusing on the uncertainties and their relative impacts, growing business ideas and small business trends show an increasing focus being put on operational efficiency and effectiveness elements.

Irrespective of the growing business ideas, one of the common elements for strategic discussion among teams is lean management.

While wondering how much small businesses in Singapore are relating to the lean management theories, the effort is imminently towards.

Continuous improvements, sustainable development, and operational efficiency using digital and conventional practices have become the new norm as small business trends.

3. Increased Dependency on Social Media & Online Marketing 

social media platform

Unlike the past, in the recent past, small businesses in Singapore and other global countries are focusing extensively on social media presence and online marketing.

In addition to business web hosting, small business trends are about creating social media buzz over Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social engagement platforms.

The future of small businesses is about how effectively they are managing and growing their business ideas on the social media front.

Along with establishing a presence in social media, solopreneur running growing business ideas and owners of small businesses in Singapore are increasing their marketing budgets with a focus on online marketing.

Compared to conventional marketing, online marketing has different economies of scale.

The future of small business, the chances of growing business ideas of becoming a full-fledged small business in Singapore depends on taking up a tactical approach to the strategic needs of the small business trends.

Businesses focusing on creative content for online marketing, and accuracy in reaching out to target markets are attaining better returns from the process.

Related: Online Marketing Strategies Every Startup Business Needs

4. Increased Use of ICT infrastructure 

 ICT infrastructure

Information and Communication Technology infrastructure usage appropriately is seen as one of the key small business trends to be embraced by small business in Singapore.

The future of small businesses and growing business ideas is about how maximum impact is created with minimal systems and resources.

Today, using communication and messaging applications like Twitter, WhatsApp, and Telegram, many small businesses in Singapore are handling sales orders and customer service requests processing.

Some of the advanced features like chatbots, interactive voice response systems, and automated order management solutions are supporting the customer service teams in effective communication management and it has become an integral part of the future of small business trends.

Leveraging on innovation and development in the tech space, there are scores of cloud-based web applications catering to the business operations of SMBs.

It has become an integral part of the small business trends and is paramount for the future of small businesses to embrace such eCommerce solutions for their growing business ideas.

SaaS-based sales management, order flow management, CRM solutions, and financial transaction processing modules are enabling small business trends to scale up faster, and leverage on emerging opportunities.

5. Digital Financial Transactions 

digital payment

Digital financial transactions have become an inherent structure for the small business trends, and shortly more small businesses in Singapore shall prefer online payments or digital payments like credit or debit card transactions, revolutionizing the future of small business.

Related: 4 Best Payment Gateway for eCommerce Website

6. Optimization of Resources 

Another major trend envisaged as a future of small business, for growing business ideas and SMEs Singapore is the optimization of resources.

An example of this is web hosting for business websites. A solopreneur with growing business ideas or a small businesses could start off their journey with a business hosting on a shared platform and then scale up as the future of small business becomes brighter.

Exabytes Singapore has committed to offering premium quality services to small businesses in Singapore.

With Exabytes, a small business in Singapore with growing business ideas do not have to worry about working with different web hosting providers for their digital solutions, like web hosting for business websites, email hosting etc.

Contact Exabytes Singapore today to know more about what’s on offer for growing business ideas, small business in Singapore as business hosting solutions.

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Related article: Why investing in a local home-based business is beneficial

A Summary of Singapore’s SMEs

Over the next few years, we expect to see an increase in the total number of enterprises. These are mainly coming from 99% of SMEs and they provide 71% of the total employment. 80% of SMEs are locally-owned while 20% are foreign-owned.

Interestingly, with more businesses in the wider marketplace, we should see a small drop in employment from 3.52 million to 3.4 million by 2021. This is likely due to recent COVID-19 pandemic at the border which has kneecapped commerce and trade.

Number, Employment and Value
Source from: Singapore Department of Statistics

SMEs are typically categorized as enterprises which have annual operating receipts below $100 Mil and a workforce of no more than 200 workers.

Singapore GDP 2021 at Current Market Prices

Singapore’s GDP in 2021 amounted to around S$533,352Million with 7.6% Real GDP Growth.

Singapore Nominal GDP 2021

The top 3 industries in terms of their services producing industries are:

  • 17.9%, Wholesale Trade
  • 14.6%, Finance & Insurance
  • 10.5%, Other Services Industries

The top 3 industries in terms of their goods producing industries are:

  • 22.3%, Manufacturing
  • 2.9%, Construction
  • 1.2%, Utilities

For more information: Singapore Department of Statistics | Infographic