Practicing Opportunity Identification, Cont.

1. The first opportunity for economic trends is about green consumerism. Green consumerism is about caring for the planet and buying ethically sourced items, or items that have been or can be recycled. This trend is currently on the rise and will affect many retailers. The opportunity here is for more stores and brands to create and use products and materials that are ethically sourced and/or made from recycled items. We see how some brands are making clothes out of recycled plastic bottles, or only allowing their shoppers to use reusable bags when shopping in store. The opportunity here exists because so many people have become involved in the green movement to try to save the planet and the endangered animals. "Going green" is a trend that won't fade away soon. The prototypical customer would be anyone who cares about the environment and wants to help lessen their carbon footprint. I think this opportunity is relatively easy because it's not hard to make small changes to how you produce your goods.

2. Another economic trend on the rise is mobile shopping through social media. We've seen the introduction of being able to click on specific Instagram posts to buy an item. The opportunity here is to fully integrate the e-commerce experience with social media and allow consumers to be able to directly buy items from Instagram and other platforms, instead of clicking on a post to take them to the brand's website. This opportunity exists because so many people use social media and shop online, and if they were fully integrated, it would make the online shopping experience easier and more enjoyable for the consumer so they wouldn't have to keep switching back and forth between shopping and their social media page. The prototypical customer would more than likely be those 18-35 who regularly use social media and shop online. This opportunity might be a little hard since the stores and brands would have to work directly with the social media platforms to make this happen.

3. One opportunity in regulatory changes is with the geopolitical atmosphere affecting business's risk management and social responsibility. The opportunity here is for companies to evolve into more environmentally conscience businesses in the wake of the green movement. This opportunity exists because more and more people are making efforts to lessen their carbon footprint and be more socially responsible, and this includes shopping with businesses that also share those same values. I believe this would be an easy opportunity because there are so many ways that a business can become more socially responsible in today's society.

4. The other opportunity in regulatory changes is dealing with data protection and cloud storage in businesses. The opportunity here is to come up with a standard set of rules involving how data is dealt with, since there are many different views and regulations on this. This opportunity exists because with everyone now shopping online and using their phones for practically everything, businesses come in contact with a lot of personal information, and they guidelines and rules on what to do with this information isn't always clear. The prototypical customer would be any kind of business that deals with consumer information. This opportunity would be rather hard since it's determining what to do with consumer's personal data and information.

I saw each one of these opportunities because of my own personal experience and beliefs. I love supporting local businesses and especially business that contribute to the green movement in some way. I also love shopping online, but it's a pain to see something on social media, then have to navigate away from the social media page to view the product. It would be so much easier if it was all just integrated. As for a business's social responsibility, this kind of goes with the first one; people love to support businesses that are doing something good for the environment. And with the data protection, I've had my bank information stolen before so I know how important it is for a business to have a secure set of guidelines for dealing with consumer's information.