Going “green” is something that more and more customers are prioritizing. Last year, nearly 60% of consumers reported they’d be willing to change how they shop to limit environmental impact. In the same study, 80% reported that sustainability is a priority for them.

But becoming a green business shouldn’t only be about public image. It should be about doing your part to help the planet heal and last. And it doesn’t take much.

We’ve put together a comprehensive list of the simplest ways to make your business more environmentally friendly. Start with one or two and work up to incorporating as many as you can.

Brainstorm Your Options

A great place to start is by brainstorming with your team. Some of your employees are likely familiar with environmentally-friendly habits. Maybe they’ve already researched how to lead green lifestyles.

Bringing your employees into the conversation shows that you value their opinions. It also helps them take some ownership over the process. They’ll feel more engaged and therefore more willing to follow through.

Your employees may also contribute ideas you hadn’t thought of. There are many benefits to brainstorming. If you start off getting your entire team involved in going green, you’re likely to have more tools to work with.

Sell or Donate Used Electronics

A simple way to become a greener workplace is by selling or donating your used electronics. Many people don’t think about how their old electronics end up in the landfill. But over time, they corrode, leaking harmful chemicals into the earth.

By selling old electronics, not only are you recycling in a sense, but you’re also getting a bit of your money back. You can reinvest that money can into the company or use it to buy something else you need.

If you donate your old electronics, you’re also saving them from ending up in the landfill. Not only that, but you’re offering them to people who may use them for years to come.

Another way to get rid of your electronics is to recycle them. Check online for drop-off locations near you. Or, call your local office supply store and see if they offer recycling services for electronics.

Allow Your Employees to Work Remotely

If most of your company’s work is done online, why not get your employees set up to work remotely?

One benefit of remote work is how it positively affects your employees. Working remotely gives them more flexibility. This can reduce stress and improve their sense of work-life balance.

Employees that are less stressed are less likely to become sick, miss days, or be unproductive. It’s also better for the environment. Every car that stays off the road keeps copious amounts of carbon dioxide out of the air.

It also means your company saves money on all those items it has to keep stocked. You may even be able to cut costs around heating, cooling, and lighting, too.

Offer Commuter Benefits

If remote work isn’t possible, offer benefits to those who opt to commute via public transit. Buses, trains, and subways are some of the greenest methods of transportation.

Companies can offer benefits like transit pass reimbursement or discounts. You may be able to partner with city transit companies to offer monthly or yearly passes at a lower rate.

Reduce Packaging

Reducing your packaging isn’t as hard as it may seem. As a first step, try not to add non-recyclable fillers to your mailing.

In particular, styrofoam damages the environment. And plastic cannot break down once it’s in a landfill.

So try using shredded paper as a filler instead. It cushions your items without adding too much extra weight. Best of all, it can be recycled!

Increase Recycling

Speaking of recycling, encourage your employees to do so. Place recycling bins all over the office.

For ease of access, there should be a bin everywhere recyclable products are used. Think by the printer, in the kitchen, the mailroom, and in meeting rooms.

Each desk should have both a garbage can and a small recycling bin. If you’re working with a cleaning crew read this resource and hire a team that is committed to recycling.

Use Sustainable Materials

Check the labels on your items to see if they’re sourced from sustainable materials. Dishes and utensils made from recycled materials are a great starting point. Additionally, eco-friendly toilet paper or paper towel products are helpful, too.

Another place to reduce your environmental footprint is in your cleaning supplies. Many include chemicals that, when flushed, end up damaging natural bodies of water. Additionally, they’re typically packaged in plastic.

Check for natural cleaning agents that come in recyclable containers. Encourage your employees to use these instead of the chemically-based ones.

Source Secondhand Items

When you’re considering new furniture or electronics, look for secondhand offerings. You’ll likely save money this way. And, you’ll be engaging in a form of recycling; you’ll be reusing products with life left in them instead of opting for something brand-new.

Secondhand doesn’t have to mean lower quality. A lot of times, people offer their used goods for sale because they don’t need them anymore or have never used them. You might be surprised by what you’re able to find!

Upgrade Your Energy-Efficiency

This is as easy as changing a lightbulb. Literally!

If you haven’t made the switch to LED lightbulbs, you should. They save your company money by using less electricity to run and they last much longer.  In fact, LEDs can last up to 50 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

Opt for blue-hued bulbs that will keep your employees feeling alert and productive.

Encourage Green Behavior

A key part of going green is getting your team on board. The initial brainstorm may have sparked interest at first. But if enthusiasm is waning, encourage your employees with incentive programs.

Celebrate employees who bring their own lunch to work. Encourage employees to use reusable dishware in the kitchen instead of disposable products. The little things your employees do each day will contribute in large ways.

Reduce Paper Usage

Many businesses going green are opting to cut down on their paper usage. It’s all about reducing waste. The less paper you use (and throw away), the less garbage there is in landfills.

This is especially true if you’re not recycling all that paper. Try cutting back on how much you print.

For starters, don’t hand out hard copies of your meeting agendas; display them digitally. Instead of printing out task lists for your employees, use an online management tool. And if you’re in retail, ask your customers if they want their receipt before printing one.

Green Your Bathrooms

There are two areas in any office that produce the most waste: the bathrooms and the kitchens. But you can green up both of them!

Start by using recycled paper towels in the bathrooms with spaces to recycle them in. If you want to go a step further, install hand-dryers instead.

Alternatively, you can bring hand towels instead. Just make sure you’re able to have them laundered regularly. Low-flow or motion-sensor faucets can help reduce the amount of water used, too.

Green Your Kitchen

To green your kitchen, consider how much people are throwing away each day. Are there ways you can reduce this? Try starting with not having any disposable cutlery, dishware, or cups in the kitchen.

If you have a coffee machine, try to avoid the ones that use small, plastic coffee pods. You can also turn off the machine in the afternoon to avoid using excess power.

Encourage your employees to recycle any paper or plastic wrappings they bring in. Use environmentally-friendly dish soaps and sponges.

Bring in Plants

A fun way to literally green up your office is by bringing in live plants. But what do plants have to do with sustainability? It turns out, live plants can improve employee productivity by 15%.

While you’re at it, bring in art, too. And encourage employees to take their morning coffee break or connect at lunch.

These little gestures can help employees feel less stressed and more focused at work. This improves their productivity, helping your business run more efficiently.

Become a Green Business

Turning your business into a green business takes time and effort, but is well worth it. You don’t have to overhaul your entire company structure overnight. Start with one item on this list and work up from there.

Before you know it, your company will be working more efficiently. And it’ll be doing its part to help the environment.

For more on office place best-practices, visit our business section.

Wearable devices have lots of potentiality for the average customers including mobile notifications, health, and fitness tracking, as well as other cool features.

However, this technology likewise depicts plenty of promise in the business world. One notable example is healthcare where wearables are used for collecting information regarding hospital patients.

All these tools have found a place in the manufacturing industry, particularly with the advent of IoT and related machinery. In the subsequent paragraphs, we have highlighted some notable ways in which wearable technology & IoT are transforming the manufacturing industry these days.

1. Enhanced productivity and process efficiency

Workers will be able to make use of wearable technology for improving existing functions and processes within commercial and industrial settings.

For example, on the production line, this technology can be used by staff members for staying focused on what is being done by them, obtaining additional information, or delivering remote orders.

Wearable technologies are capable of speeding up operations in warehouse settings as well with the implementation of modern tools such as JD Edwards ERP software.

The Dutch company Active Ants made use of an innovative technology named Google Glass for helping workers select and prepare custom-designed items. The result was that there was a 15% enhancement in speed while errors dropped by 12%.

2. Situational awareness

Although this is particularly true of development and construction, it also applies to manufacturing as well. The setting is changing at all times to accommodate more work and updated projects.

However, it is somewhat different as compared to general safety since it is quite difficult to stay aware of the hardware or equipment which is always moving throughout an area or space. With the help of IoT, body-worn wearable tech, and connected sensors, it will be possible for the workers to be more careful of what is taking place around them.

For instance, suppose somebody is walking through a narrow pathway which is blocked on every side by tall and packed shelving.

It is not possible for them to visualize what is there on the other site and they will also not be able to comprehend what is waiting for them once they depart from that area. Smart wearables such as connected eyewear or helmets will be able to pinpoint exactly where equipment and objects are positioned. This will enable the workers to avoid walking out in front of a forklift or top-loader which is moving.

This type of setup will also notify the workers once something has changed within a plant. For example, in case there is a hazardous spill somewhere, the managers will be able to inform everybody to avoid that particular area of the property.

3. Opportunities for remote management

It is a fact that connected sensors and IoT, particularly in a manufacturing plant, will allow the managers to visualize how all things are operating remotely. Almost all the things are synced back to a central system or hub that allows administrators to review status information, make alterations, or even plan actions for the future.

However, the personnel will also be able to experience the same thing in case they have wearable technology as well. Managers will be able to visualize where everybody is, what is being done by them, how efficient they are, and also the potential problems or bottlenecks.

While 2 employees are walking in different directions, it is possible for them to collide. The actual allure will be the option of delivering requests and commands irrespective of the location of the managers or what is being done by them.

4. Security planning and authentication

In specific industrial and manufacturing settings, it is important to maintain appropriate security protocols and also authenticate 3rd parties or workers before accessing specific areas of any property. For instance, the management might not like an equipment vendor to gain access to any area of the plant with unannounced items or products.

Wearable technology has the ability to monitor, block, and allow certain movements of the workers. It is feasible to authorize their headset, mobile device, or wristband for letting them in.

Once the assignment has been completed by them, the area can be locked down once again. In case you have identified somebody not sticking to the proper protocols, it would be possible to prevent them from accessing the equipment in the future so as to prevent any further harm or injury.

Conclusion

Modern wearable technology is presenting lots of innovative possibilities for enhancing the way things function. Human workers as well as the equipment used by them can be modified for enhancing productivity, efficiency, and safety.

Barely a day passes without the news being hit with headlines about coronavirus. The virus was first reported in Wuhan, China, towards the end of 2019. It has since become a global health crisis, having spread to other countries, infecting millions, and killing most of its victims.

Even as governments tried their best to put in measures to protect their people, the media coverage of the virus caused a lot of anxiety. Face masks are the new walking billboards, with social gatherings becoming rare. As we knew, life has significantly changed as we try to coexist with the virus.

Businesses have not been spared either. The pandemic has brought unexpected variables that existing crisis teams and plans were not fully prepared to handle. Though many companies have now come up with effective strategies specific to the pandemic, there is no denying that the pandemic has reshaped business activities.

Workforce

The following are the five workforce areas that emerged as priorities for business leaders;-

• Ensure the continuity of work
• Employee protection
• Maintain effective communication even during a global pandemic
• Assessment of workforce costs

When the pandemic first hit, most governments imposed lockdowns restricting people’s movement. Social gatherings were prohibited, and people were advised to remain at home unless it is necessary. With most businesses have to cut down their operations or close down altogether, a majority of people found themselves jobless in the middle of a pandemic.

As for companies that continued operating, things were not as usual. Anyone who could work remotely was advised to do so from the comfort of their house. An employee could only report to the office only if it were necessary.

Furthermore, the management had to develop contingency plans to ensure their workers remained healthy. The working space has to be reorganized to ensure a distance of at least 1.5 meters was maintained between employees. Individuals at the office had to sanitize or wash their hands frequently.

Even with the pandemic, effective communication between employees and the management had to be maintained. And since meetings could not be held, teleconferencing became the norm. Office meetings were now held via Zoom, Google Meet, or any other similar app.

That forced businesses to create more technology-friendly working environments. Network connectivity had to be improved, and employees were trained on adopting technology to facilitate their work.

Though these were tough economic times, companies recruited new employees, either due to an increased workload or to replace sick workers; the recruiting team had to get creative. With physical applications being out of the question, mobile recruiting software became the trend.

Mobile recruitment involves mobile career pages, ads, and applications to find a suitable candidate for the job. Tasks such as scheduling interviews, providing feedback, and communicating with candidates can be handled remotely.

Conferences

The pandemic saw almost all significant conferences canceled due to concerns over the virus. A perfect example is the Mobile World Congress that was to take place in Barcelona in late February 2020. Facebook canceled its Global Marketing Summit and F8 developer conference, while Google shifted its Good Cloud Next event online. Likewise, IBM was forced to stream its developer’s conference, with only 30,000 attendees.

Though some of the conferences eventually took place online, there is a concern that the experience was not the same as a live one. Besides, people did not interact as they do in face-to-face meetings, making it almost impossible to network and create new opportunities for their businesses.

Operations and Supply Chain

This is perhaps the clearest and most immediate impact of the pandemic. Companies with a limited raw material inventory and heavy reliance on Asian countries experienced the highest disruption level. Tools and hardware, building materials, electronics and appliances, and auto parts were the most affected.

Having originated in China, the world’s second economy and leading manufacturer and importer of fuel, several citizens were infected and forced into quarantine. This led to the partial and full closure of major factories and plants.

Companies that depended on these industries experienced shortages in raw materials, resulting in reduced production units. For example, when Foxconn shut down most of its production in China, Apple experienced a shortage of its iPhone supply. That resulted in a 10% decline in iPhone shipments in the first quarter of 2020.

Most businesses have learned in the hard way to look beyond their first-tier suppliers. However, the pandemic has proven that having multiple suppliers may not be the solution. For example, in the light of travel bans and lockdowns, it was almost impossible for goods to cross to the neighboring country, let alone from one continent to the next.

Therefore, the best thing is for business to identify their supply chain risks and pre-emptively develop mitigation approaches. Analysts say that those with effective mitigation measures find a solution or can at least minimize the impact. However, those without a plan are left at the mercy of the pandemic and the public.

Finance and Liquidity

The pandemic saw companies report a decline in business activities, resulting in reduced revenue and cash flow. This meant that maintaining normal business operations became an uphill task.

During such times of economic uncertainty, managing funds and liquidity positions became crucial. Steps taken by most businesses include but not limited to;-

• With the modeling of worst-case scenarios to determine the current cash position’s impact, frequent revision became mandatory.
• Identification of the financial and operational levers that can conserve and generate money or potentially increase access to funding; for example, companies that realized they had too much office space as people continued to work remotely could lease some of the room. Austin startup office space made it easier for new and small businesses to start operations even in the middle of a pandemic.
• Assess the financial prospects from tax reliefs and other local measures taken to help a business survive the harsh economic times
• Comprehend and plan for the financial reporting considerations that will be a consequence of the pandemic

Strategy and Brand

In the light of the pandemic, businesses had to develop strategies to help mitigate the pandemic’s impact on their brand and operations. The ultimate goal was to ensure enterprises emerge stronger than ever before.

Admittedly, a shift to remote working revealed gaps in IT infrastructure, employee digital skills, and workforce planning. Consequently, companies have to adopt fresh strategies to accelerate these digital transformations.

Besides, companies have been forced to go back to the drawing board to develop strategies to ensure growth and profitability in the middle of a pandemic. Adequate preparedness is the new motto for most businesses, through more frequent financial modeling to boost resilience, scenario planning, and new models to incorporate the unexpected’s economic impacts.

Consumer needs, preferences, and requests changed significantly during the pandemic, probably due to a shift in income or ease of accessibility. Analysts advised companies to take customers’ pulse, considering their long-term changes in core markets and business models due to the pandemic.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, the coronavirus pandemic reshaped every aspect of our lives. Businesses were not spared; either had had to either shape up or shape out. Without much of an option, most companies had to adopt new strategies.

The good news is that a vaccine has been found for the virus and is already in distribution. As economies and businesses transition into a recovery period, the biggest question lies in whether the changes adopted during the pandemic will continue or people will go back to their old ways.

Did you know there are between 12 to 24 million eCommerce businesses across the internet?

Based on these numbers, there is a lot of competition among online stores. If you’re ready to get into the e-commerce game, it’s important your business can stay ahead of the competition.

If you want to create an online store, you came to the right place. Read on to learn how to start an e-commerce business.

What Is E-Commerce?

If you want to start an e-commerce business, the first thing you need to do is to become familiar with the term. Also known as electronic or internet stores, e-commerce is a business model for buying and selling products.

The purpose of e-commerce is for people to acquire goods without visiting a physical store—both the seller and consumer benefit from e-commerce businesses due to the convenience and availability of goods.

Are You Planning on Starting an E-Commerce Business?

Because e-commerce businesses don’t require you to have a physical location, it’s easier for many people to start an online store. While you might not need to rent out a physical store location, which is a big expense, you still have other significant start-up costs.

The most common start-up costs include a business license, web design, e-commerce platform, payment processing, etc.

Also, before you start an e-commerce business, ensure you have the answers to these questions.

What are you selling? How Will you source your products? Who is your target audience?

Once you have the answers to these questions and estimate your start-up costs, you can start by putting a plan in motion.

Start by making the goals for your online business SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based.

Steps to Take to Launch an E-Commerce Business

Now that you have a better understanding of what e-commerce is and the initial planning, you can move on to the next step. This checklist will help you in the next steps of planning.

What Is Your Niche?

E-commerce is a broad concept, so if you want to start a business, you need to narrow it down to what you want to sell. Before choosing a color scheme for your website, you need to narrow down what your niche will be.

For example, if you want to sell organic beauty products, this concept can be quite broad. However, selling organic beauty products that contain CBD is a lot more specific.

Having a clear niche will help you in the marketing process in the future.

Choose the Right Business Model

Once you have a clear niche, you need to choose the right business model for your e-commerce business. Some of the most common business models include B2B, B2C, C2B, and C2C.

Business to business or B2B is a business model in which a business provides goods to another business and not to a consumer.

In a business-to-consumer or B2C business model, the business providers goods to the consumer. An example of a B2C is Amazon.

Consumer to business or C2B, on the other hand, refers to a business model in which the consumer provides a product or service to a business. Social media managers, content strategists, and content creators are examples of a C2B business model.

Consumer to consumer or C2C refers to goods or services exchanged between consumers.

Choosing the Products for Your Target Audience

When setting up an e-commerce business, the next step is to choose the products you will sell based on your target audience. Answer these questions to decide the types of products your e-commerce business will feature.

What are your company values? What does your company stand for? Who are your customers?

Once you have the answers to these questions, you will know how to market your online store. Establishing a solid brand and business concept is how you will present your business to the world.

Create an Online Store

Once you have established a niche, target audience, products, and brand concept, you’re ready for the fun part.

You cannot sell products from your website without building an online store. It’s important to add an online store to your website, or you won’t be able to sell products.

Online stores have special features that allow you to display your products, add to the cart, and help customers check out.

During this process, you will choose a template, logo, and layout of your online store. While many platforms allow you to do it yourself, you can pay a designer if you want a more complex and professional design.

You can also try sitecore and e-commerce growth if you are new to e-commerce.

Focus on Attracting Customers to Your Store

Your e-commerce business needs to attract customers to succeed, so attracting customers should be high on your list of priorities.

There are many ways to attract new customers to your online store, such as organic traffic, social media leads, and pay-per-click advertising.

The different ways you can advertise and attract customers to your e-commerce business will also depend on your budget. Although there many benefits to attracting customers organically, it also takes a lot longer.

You might be able to see results faster if you pay for ads to bring exposure to your online store.

No matter how you choose to attract customers, ensure, you can measure your results in real-time.

Market Your Products

Marketing your products is another way to create exposure and attract more traffic to your site.

Start by measuring how well your products are selling, and If you noticed sales are stagnant on some of your products, you could benefit from changing your marketing strategy.

Taking actionable steps to increase your sales will help you stay on top of your low-performing products.

Are You Ready to Start an E-Commerce Business?

Now that you know what it takes to create an e-commerce store, you’re ready to launch your online store.

If you’re ready to set up your online business, remember to start by choosing your niche, choosing the right business model, create an online store, and market your business.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to learn more, check out the rest of our blog.