Editor’s note: This article was first published in May 2014; its forecasts, including the solar storage market estimates to 2018, personal drone prices of 90 to 1,500 euros, drone delivery still awaiting legislation and mobile apps replacing shop websites, reflect expectations at that time.
We continue our look at the industries that are starting to take off in this new era of change. We’ve already seen how the Internet of Things is shaping up as one of the most profitable businesses of the immediate future, driven by the need for every device to be connected to a network.
We also explained how e-commerce, although everyone knew it would be a trend with huge growth and reach, has grown much faster than expected, and has become a destroyer of traditional jobs at the same time.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur or an investor, these are 9 business trends where we should probably be present in one way or another, looking for that opportunity.
See also: 41 profitable businesses to start in 2018
The most profitable businesses we’ll see in the future
1. Solar storage
Although in many countries, such as our beloved Spain, the hidden interests of governments and electricity companies have killed off this business, the truth is that the future of energy supply will go this way no matter what. The future of energy lies in homes that are self-sufficient enough to meet their own energy needs and, at the same time, become suppliers of the surplus.
According to various reports, the market for solar energy storage systems in the United States alone (a pro-renewables country) is expected to be worth around $900 million by 2018. The NanoMarkets report says the global market in this sector will reach 2 billion over the next four years.
2. Commercial drones, and probably personal ones
Despite the controversy drones have stirred up, the law is expected eventually to let them fill the skies. They can meet needs ranging from the basic, such as delivering a supermarket order straight to someone’s home, to becoming an ally for people who depend on others for care.
For now, the investment companies are making in developing these “flying robots” shows how much they expect from this new form of home delivery, which could change the way products are shipped as we know it today. There are already online stores selling drones for personal use, priced from 90 to 1,500 euros.
3. Robots
Bill Gates himself predicted that the new age of machines combined with high technology will put at risk millions of jobs that will no longer be needed. Shopping in the future will take two forms: 1. buying online and having a drone deliver the order; 2. going to a supermarket where we won’t need a cashier to ring us up.
Either way, the job of sales assistant is at risk of extinction. As we said before, the combination of robotics, home automation and technology will be very profitable for companies and investors in this industry, but it will be an Armageddon of mass job destruction.
4. Mobile apps
The mobile app market is going to be huge if we keep moving our browsing habits to our phones. We can already see that people who browse on their phones prefer to install the apps of their favorite stores, where they usually shop, rather than browse the web.
That will mean adapting practically every store and website on the internet to mobile apps. Likewise, mobile apps remain a very lucrative business in entertainment.
(Read: 7 app ideas people pay up to $1,000 to download)
5. Smart clothing
Drones, robots… but what about futuristic clothing? Many designers and entrepreneurs are already working on all kinds of garments, from smart bras to clothes that measure your vital signs and adjust to your heartbeat.
The Japanese invented air-conditioned clothing, and there are already garments that charge mobile devices. You can read more about the clothes of the future here.
6. Selling luxury goods online
Online luxury is said to be growing twice as fast as the overall market, according to a McKinsey report. The fact that VIP consumers are more selective shouldn’t make us overlook e-commerce aimed at the 1%.
(Read: 7 business ideas aimed at millionaires that you probably didn’t know existed)
7. Selling erotic products
Although it is still the great taboo business for cultural, religious, ethical or moral reasons, we can’t dodge reality: online sales of erotic products for both men and women have grown astronomically. Erotic lingerie and all kinds of toys have found a very profitable niche in the anonymity the internet provides.
8. Organic food, in physical stores and online
The worrying rise in diseases such as diabetes and cancer will inevitably lead people, sooner rather than later, to eat this kind of food.
Organic farms and stores will see an unprecedented boom as people become aware of the real problem: the rise in disease caused by the use and abuse of processed foods and of the chemicals used by the food industry.
So far, businesses focused on organic baby food and online organic stores have been highly lucrative in cases where the marketing strategy was well targeted.
9. Smart cities
Professor Michael Batty is a great believer in the “smart city” concept and thinks that in the future people will tend to concentrate in big cities.
Major capitals around the world already have projects to make cities smarter, with all kinds of sensors: for example, streetlights that only switch on when someone walks down the street, or meters that tell us the city’s pollution levels.
Thanks to the Internet of Things, garbage collectors will get an alert from the garbage can itself when it’s full. Transport and public services will benefit from smart city projects, and so will citizens themselves.
If you’d like to know more about what the future holds for business, see our article on the 7 main technology trends. And if you’re looking for other kinds of business ideas, we’ve also covered some business opportunities for 2015, where entrepreneurs can find a business boom in the market’s new gaps.
Further reading
- 7 business ideas related to pets
- 18 business ideas you can start with almost no money
- 11 micro-business ideas
Featured image: B Ystebo, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr.
