Our firm is in the business of selling businesses. We see, literally everyday, dozens of requests from would-be buyers, stipulating what it is they target for acquisition. The world of business marketability is changing, and the grand-slam home runs in the sale of businesses tomorrow will involve different segments, with different focal points, than the businesses sold 10 or 20 years ago.
We often are asked to predict "hot spots" in the marketplace of the future. We have chosen 10 of our favorites, which we highlight here as the businesses to develop and nurture, for optimum sale in the future.
#1. Health products and services- With the aging demographics around the world and the constantly evolving technical capabilities within healthcare, there will be an insatiable appetite for newer and better healthcare products and services, for years to come.
#2. Wellness-related products- Again, aging demographics play a part. Couple that with the worldwide trend toward natural health enhancement, and there is a very clear path to growth.
#3. Infrastructure maintenance and enhancement- The world population continues to rise, and for every developed nation the once satisfactory systems for water, power, sewer and roads are trending toward under maintenance and over use. The need for infrastructure enhancement will increase steadily over the coming decade.
#4. Public Safety- In an increasingly tumultuous worldwide environment, with terrorism on the climb, and natural disasters multiplying (global warming?), the perception of need for and value of innovative safety enhancements is steadily on the rise. For products ranging from airport security to emergency communications to computer virus combatance, to Iris-scanning devices -- safety related and emergency response mechanisms are perceived as critical and fundamental services needed.
#5. Alternative energy- Every nation in the world today is beginning to consider a very primal need to ensure availability and sustainability of energy for the future. Products to come will include products related to harvesting such energy, but will also go far beyond that - to innovations of every sort which will allow utilization of the newest sources in every power device in modern culture.
#6. Experiential marketing- With the explosion of information in today's world, it becomes even harder to capture the attention of consumers to sway them to consider a possible new direction. Marketing techniques must also evolve, to find new and more powerful mechanisms to reach and convince consumers to consider new products or services.
#7. Educational products, services, and training- As the world climbs to new heights in international competitive participation, with ever more distant providers intruding competitively on once "local" or "domestic" products, the importance of up to date and relevant educational opportunity takes on an ever more critical role for future work forces.
#8. Outdoor recreational and fitness products- The Gen-X generation in the US and in many developing nations has a far more self-oriented perspective on how time and resources should optimally be utilized. The shift toward value of personal time, combined with the trend toward valuing "natural" products and places, makes long-term likelihood of continued growth good for products and services that relate to enjoyment of nature and preservation of physical wellness.
#9. Outsourced services- As governmental regulations continue to increase in complexity, the potential to outsource certain services becomes increasingly desirable. From services ranging from basic employee outsourcing to records maintenance, logistics management, claims processing, retail POS systems, and more, outsourcing skilled expertise is increasingly economical and viable.
#10. Elder products, services, and facilities- As the baby-boomer generations age, life expectancies lengthen and birth rates decline, the mix of populations around the world lean toward aging. Such aging populations require eldercare facilities, new and enhanced service capabilities, and products designed to suit different needs. The number of catalogue products geared to "over 50" has multiplied by ten fold in the past 5 years. This demographic shift is expected to continue for at least the next 20 years, and will nurture providers accordingly.
All of these segments described above are areas we see acquisition targets increasingly growing toward. Though certainly not a comprehensive or all-encompassing list, the preceding are the "top ten" that we see growing in velocity of interest by buyers. Owners of businesses in these segments will inevitably see intense marketplace interest in potential acquisition of their businesses, for years to come, and will build an almost certain path to financial security for tomorrow.
Deborah Douglas, Managing Director and Author
DouglasGroup.net
'Ripe: Harvesting The Value of Your Business'
'Cashing In! Selling Your Company for Maximum Price'
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Interesting that so many of these areas are where the public sector is already active, or is trying to become active. These will make more sense when it is clear that public sector regulatory activity isn't too heavy handed. For a free report on selling a business go to http://www.selling-a-business-without-stress.com/support-files/freereport.pdf for immediate access.
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