Top Five Industries to Start a New Business
Shoes for sale in Deal, New Jersey: photo by Leora Wenger, 2010
Starting a new business is actually a very big decision, which has to be taken with much thought and diligence. No two years are the same and with changing trends one has to be vigilant enough to tap the right business opportunities at the right time.
The year 2012 is the year of the retail business, personal care, hospitality and education. While these are not the out-of-box industries that seem to be providing good potential for growth, but it is the way one propels their business using the right techniques catering to the modern times. Success lies, not in what you sell, but how you sell it. Here is a brief overview of the top five industries to start a new business:
Health and wellness: a healthy lifestyle is something which every one aspires for. The health and wellness industry covers a large domain including healthy eating, fitness centres, fitness consultancy, personal grooming, care of the elderly and to an extent hospitality. Consumers are growing aware of what they are eating, the sources of their food, keeping fit by visiting gyms and fitness centres, consulting with yoga gurus and experts and even opting for stress management activities. All these areas of health and wellness offer opportunities to start a new business.
You could start a franchisee of a food chain that offers healthy snacks or open up a fitness centre or a gym. If you are good at providing consultation, you can go for a health and fitness centre with expert consultants offering tips on healthy and nutritious eating. The corporate sector too is urging its employees to be more fit, healthy and stress-free, which means that you can introduce wellness plans for the corporate sector.
The beauty industry: trends are indicative of the fact that the beauty industry is a growing sector and so it has made the list of the top five industries to start a new business. As per the surveys conducted worldwide, it has been seen that consumers have more disposable income, allowing them to spend more on personal grooming and healthcare. For this reason, there has been a surge in beauty salons, spas and centres for beauty treatments. Barber schools and cosmetology are the growing sectors in this industry with more and more people becoming interested in looking and feeling good.
Clothing industry: clothes have always been a favourite with women. However, with the new trends pouring in, it is seen that even men are getting more particular about the way they dress up. For this reason, the clothing industry along with the clothing accessory industry is a very good area to tap into when looking to start a new business.
Education: with increasing globalisation and the need for highly trained and skilled professionals all over the world, education has come to the forefront as one of the top industries to start a new business. Whether it is a business school, language school, a trade school or an educational consultancy, you are sure to receive a very good response.
Food industry: with recession almost gone now, people have higher levels of disposable income. This means the capacity to spend on healthy and organic foods and snacks has increased. Taking up franchisees of a frozen yogurt, healthy snacks, organic foods can be a way to start a small business.
So, if you are interested in starting up a new business, one of the safest bets would be in one of these mentioned industries. However, these are only five of the many industries out there. So, if these don’t take your fancy, there is a plethora of other industries to choose from.
Author bio:
Working as business & finance analyst in Brisbane, Jim is very much interested in management consulting for finance projects. He writes about new challenges coming up in next year’s in the industry. Follow Jim on Twitter for more information at @JamesForrest8
Jim – I agree with you on these major domains to consider for any new business venture. I would also include education as a close runner up, especially in countries like India, there is a huge potential for new reforms in education and also internationally recognized schools.
Nice read. Thanks Leora for sharing this article.
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Praveen, thanks for the added information about education in India.
In India it is education and medical that would top. Also restaurants are doing well in the metros. In fact, given the large consumer base, US wants to enter into the education field in a big way in India. Alliances are happening with Indian institutions.
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Ah, so there are ways that U.S. players want to enter the education field in India. But this doesn’t sound like a small business move.
Regardless of the times there will always be opprtunites. The key is to always be aware of what is the moving force in the economy we’re in. All the listed businesses above have the opportunity for staying power for anyone willing and able to work hard. :-)
Susan Cooper´s last [type] ..An Assumption, a Dog & A Rabbit: Story
Yes, Susan, awareness is key!
Wish that was true for Europe as well Leora.
In Europe, including Sweden that has an extremely well performing economy, people have started saving and even giants like H&M are selling less clothes. And with the global economy being in such a bad shape that trend is bound to continue.
As you know, politicians in the West are for the first time ever trying to get out of a recession through austerity. It has never worked before and will not work now either. So it’s just a question of how long it takes before we have another global collapse.It’s time to revive Keynes and make the global economy grow again.
Starting schools is however a lucrative even in Sweden where you – believe it or not – use tax payers money to make profits. Other areas of interest here are business that you can make the authorities hire aiming to improve the situation for immigrants, handicapped people and other minorities with problems. Catch is it takes about 1,5 years until you know if the authorities will hire your services.
Catarina´s last [type] ..How do you network on social media?
Sounds like despite the difficult times, people are coming up with innovative solutions. Hope some of them work out well for Europe.
Hi Leora, These ideas are great, and I would suggest tech as it seems to be the industry that is growing very quickly.
My mother used to work for Revlon and the feeling there was that no matter how bad the economy was, women always wanted to look beautiful!
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Carolyn, ah, that seems to be true about many women! There’s almost always a market for beauty.
I agree – tech grows the quickest. To do well in tech, one needs specialized fields. Students, are you paying attention to those STEM fields (Science, Tech, Engineering, Math)? That’s where your best options for the future lies, in my opinion.
These areas do seem to be booming. I think anyone with the right background and a little ingenuity to make it a bit different and stand out from the crowd will do rather well.
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“the right background” – so important to make good choices while in school on what to study. But a lot of ingenuity can help one study on one’s own, as well.
It’s crazy how fast industries are changing – from the electronic/high tech industry to healthcare. However, as you pointed out, what’s “old” can easily become new again. There are so many opportunities with the ease of entrance into the global marketplace through the internet. I just have to pick my path and figure out how to make it work :)
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Innovative people can do well in difficult times and under strange situations – that is true!
The Adult Beverage industry . Craft Beer and Hard Cider are growing at great rates. I am not surprised with the food and fitness though.
I guess even if times are a little rough, people like to treat themselves to a good drink.
These do all seem like good prospects, though I’m surprised that computer technology was not included. Certainly in the SF Bay area the upsurge has been enormous, but maybe it’s solely focused in that region.
I agree with Catarina regarding the clothing industry. High st retailers are having a real hard time over here (UK) and stores are closing all over the place. That said, I’m also a firm believer in how a business is promoted and managed as important as what you’re selling.
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I can understand why clothing would do poorly in a difficult economy. And I agree – tech (biotech as well) are great fields to enter; however, one often needs years of study to approach those fields from a technical angle. So I recommend all young people to keep tech in mind when choosing their studies.
I think the food industry is a good one too. I keep seeing more and more people switching to a healthier lifestyle.
A couple of years ago I just ate anything but I too have switched.
Thanks for your ideas!
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Opportunities in education are only going to become more diverse. While I often regret leaving the classroom, I have entertained ideas of how to translate my skills into other avenues via online enterprises. Alas, they still just IDEAS.
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Jeri, keep working on those ideas out loud! Maybe one or two will work into a positive result.