Handelskraft Reading Tips of the Year 2021 [5 Reading Tips]

The year is coming to an end. We have spared neither expense nor effort to compile the most clicked Handelskraft Reading Tips of the year 2021 and link the corresponding articles here.

It was a wild year. It had everything. Stay tuned next year and find out everything you need to know about digital business!

Second-Hand Fashion as a Business Model: How Companies Benefit from Rising Consumer Awareness

In the fashion world, one collection follows the next – at a rapid pace. Especially because of the impact this has on the environment, more and more people are rethinking their consumer behaviour. The alternative that everyone has already heard of is called second-hand fashion. Its popularity has increased so significantly that even fashion giants like Zalando have decided to launch their own second-hand platforms.

Of course, the question now is whether it even makes sense to jump on this bandwagon when there are already so many competitors. The answer is clearly yes! Let us show you why: according to the »Fashion 2030 – Sehen, was morgen Mode ist« study conducted by the management consultancy firm KPMG and the EHI Retail Institute, second-hand fashion has the potential to claim a 20 per cent share of the market in the next ten years. The study also found that 34 per cent of consumers in Germany have already bought second-hand clothing. In addition, the sustainability debate, which is currently more heated than ever before, also plays a fundamental role in the fashion industry.

Read the full article here.

Future Retail Trends 2021: Best Practices and Tips for Successful Retail

Shops benefitted from many new ideas and concepts last year – despite or maybe even because of COVID-19. These ideas and concepts show how important shops will continue to be in cities, but also that their role is changing. Established retail virtues such as environmental compatibility, good service or straightforward shopping processes are taken up and developed further. Without further ado, here are some of the future retail trends of 2021:

Sustainability

Eco is IN and fair trade is a big seller. Sustainability has long since moved from its former niche into the mainstream. The market as a whole needs and demands it: it is not only the frequently cited millennials who are interested in sustainable, healthy and environmentally compatible products, but also other population groups. Countless start-ups run by dedicated young entrepreneurs have addressed this very issue – from vegan nutrition to recycling. Those who do not take advantage of this trend on the market will quickly be left behind by sustainable competitors.

Connected Retail

Despite the countless ways to get advice, shop and browse online, there is one thing that once again plays a major role for many customers these days: shopping in brick-and-mortar stores. Of course, this is only the case if customers expect added value. For consumers, it is no longer a question of »either/or«. They want both online shopping AND shopping in brick-and-mortar stores – and they want them to be intelligently linked. This brings brick-and-mortar retail back into the game.

Gamification

In recent years, many yoga studios, climbing walls and football goals have been installed in sports stores. This makes retailers a regular meeting place for the community and encourages every visitor to do sports. Nike also tried this in its stores, but did not have the desired success. After all, not everyone is a super athlete – people have inhibitions about getting active. If you want to activate them, you have to break down these inhibitions, and that works particularly well with playful, digital concepts, for example.

Read the full article here.

Hybrid Office: How Colleagues Stay in Touch Despite Physical Separation

If you ask colleagues for their opinion on working from home, there is certainly no consensus. While some people take full advantage of their new-found freedoms, such as sitting in meetings in sweatpants and cranking up their favourite music, others miss the everyday office gossip and are annoyed by parcel deliverers, network problems and noisy neighbours.

The latter should be all the more pleased that the current incidence rates have led to the lifting of the obligation to work from home. However, in order to still be able to comply with social distancing rules, it is usually not possible for all colleagues to be in the office at the same time. Under these conditions, the flexible model of hybrid working has emerged. This gives employees the option of working in the office or from home. This solution seems to do both groups a favour. Nevertheless, it presents companies and their employees with new challenges.

Read the full article here.

TikTok Overtakes Instagram: Get Ready for the Mobile Shopping Generation

It was bound to happen. We all knew that the day was not too far away, but now the time has come. The Chinese short video app, the super social media portal, the digital teen dance video among social networks has made it: TikTok overtakes Instagram, the number one social media platform. But in which category? Usability? Number of users? Range of features? Almost. TikTok has become the opinion leader. Somehow.

In March 2021, Uswitch.com surveyed 4,380 people who frequently shop online, asking them how their shopping habits have changed, what their preferences for online shopping are and, most importantly, where they shop. The study found that the majority uses the Chinese video app TikTok for information about online shopping trends. Although TikTok is considered a relatively new social network in the Western world, it is already changing a lot. 41 per cent of those surveyed use the app to look for the latest shopping trends and 37 per cent to be inspired by TikTok influencers.

Read the full article here.

MDM: Why Is Master Data Management So Important for Companies?

There are numerous arguments in favour of implementing an MDM system. First of all, such a system helps to bring together all of a company’s master data in one central place – and does so across all domains. In technical jargon, this place is called »single source of truth«.

Basically, an MDM system also improves data quality as well as data exchange between employees and different departments. Innovative analytical options, which, in turn, can lead to new insights, are another advantage for companies. In addition, duplicates are avoided, data silos are dissolved and manual efforts are significantly reduced. Moreover, companies invest less time in unprofitable activities, which means that these resources can be used elsewhere.

It is also possible to integrate an MDM system into a product experience platform (PXP) in order to process content according to the specific needs of target groups and to further promote the efficient provision of data through automation.

Read the full article here.