Consider your growth and expansion plans. Preparation is key, as is a close understanding of your finances and how you should prioritise.

2023 has been a turbulent time for lots of businesses, but as 2024 dawns many will be looking forward to the year ahead with renewed optimism.

That’s not to say there won’t be challenges – and with continued economic uncertainty across Europe and beyond, many of them will be all too familiar.

But there could also be opportunities. Now is a good time to take stock of your individual situation and make sure your business is in a strong position to take advantage of them.

Here are four key suggestions to help you get ready for 2024.

Now’s the time to look back on your achievements over the last year and identify the areas where you could improve in 2024. Setting goals can motivate your team and helps you to allocate resources correctly.

Of course, it’s important to be realistic and factor in any challenges you are likely to face too. On a macroeconomic scale for example, supply chain professionals say the biggest challenge for cross-border e-commerce in 2024 will be the impact of inflation and recession, with shipping costs coming in second.¹

Conducting a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) can be a good way to determine where you stand. Once you’ve done that, you could set SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based) to help you progress during the year.²

Trends move on, products fall in and out of fashion and customers’ needs change over time. So it’s essential your marketing evolves too to ensure your messaging remains relevant and continues to resonate.³

Analysing customer data will help you find out whether your consumer profile is changing and whether there are new buying patterns to consider. In addition, assessing your competitors could give you a broader understanding of how the landscape may be changing and what they are doing to meet market demand.

If 2024’s the year you want to expand into new markets, that’s great. Preparation is key, however, so make sure you take some time to do your research.

That can involve many different aspects but an important one is to thoroughly research your chosen sector and the potential customers in it, to help ensure there is sufficient demand for your products.⁴ Analysing the local competition, and adapting your products and marketing if necessary, are good ideas too. You can also check out this episode in our Going Global series for more insights in expanding into new markets.

But before making any large investments, it could be worth checking out the macroeconomic prospects for your chosen country or region. There are many resources that you can turn to for assistance, such as the IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook page.

The start of the year is a great time to review your current spending. Not only can this help you identify any efficiencies you can make, it can also help you to work out what you can afford to invest to support your business objectives.

Tracking and analysing your budget can be an essential part of this. Most businesses have a good idea of the costs associated with operating, but these can change over time. Proper budget tracking and line-by-line analysis can help you see how any changes will impact on your bottom line – and whether it’s time to shop around for better deals.⁵

Then, you could consider the areas you’d like to invest in for 2024. You will likely have finite resources for this, so it’s essential to prioritise. If you have a strategic growth plan then this will guide you, but it’s also worth remembering key considerations such as focusing on solutions that solve a genuine need, understanding how any investment will benefit your business processes, and emphasising return on investment rather than any short-term cost benefits.⁶

Check out these key trends and developments that are expected in 2024 – and how you could turn them into opportunities for your business.

The global e-commerce market is booming and expected to reach a size of $6.35 trillion by 2027.⁷ Within that, the importance of mobile commerce is continuing to grow. Sales are expected to make up 70% of all e-commerce purchases in 2024.⁸ This includes shopping through social platforms: 67% of consumers have already made purchases through social channels, and 53% intend to shop more through social in the future.⁹

Make it work: Think online-first, especially mobile-first, when considering your sales channels and the ways in which you interact with your customers. One smart way to do this is to prioritise their experience, while another is in payments. Integrating digital wallets and enabling fast payments makes it more convenient for consumers shopping on their phones – and can reduce cart abandonment as a result.¹⁰

Artificial intelligence has been one of the most talked-about trends in 2023, and it’s likely to become even more ubiquitous. It’s being used in a host of different ways, from improving customer service through chatbots to reshaping supply chains.¹¹ It’s also being used to offer personalised experiences to customers. By combining existing data and predictive analytics, businesses can use AI to target ads, promote more relevant offers and send personalised emails to help customers find the products they’re most interested in.¹²

Make it work: Preparation is key before integrating AI into your operations. Make sure your staff and technology are ready for the change, carefully consider which of your processes can be improved through AI, and do a cost/benefit analysis in advance.¹³ It’s also important to understand that AI can only be as good as the data it’s trained on. Make sure your data is as complete, accurate and as up to date as possible, and be on guard for data that is skewed in favour of certain attributes over others, as this can lead to biased AI decision-making later.¹⁴

Sustainability continues to grow in importance, and that is being reflected in the way businesses are behaving. Globally, 73% of C-level consumer industry executives increased investments in sustainability in the last year, and 65% of them are now using more sustainable materials.¹⁵ Meanwhile, the pull of sustainability is also being felt by consumers. Research shows that 87% of them would purchase a product based on a company’s environmental values,¹⁶ indicating that being as sustainable as possible could be better for your business, your customers, and the planet.

Make it work: Our articles on making your operations more sustainable and how to find the most sustainable packaging for your product are good places to start when trying to make your business more environmentally friendly. You could also monitor consumer trends regarding sustainability and see how your business could align with them.

As an example, figures from 2022 show that 53% of people repaired an item, rather than replacing it, during the previous 12 months, while 40% bought second-hand or refurbished items.¹⁷ Offering a repair service or branching out into the resale of second-hand goods could be a way of addressing this apparent customer need.