Contents:
Trash to Treasure: Opportunities in the Waste Industry | Trends by The Hustle
Introduction
Every day 28k tons of single-use plastic finds its way into the world’s oceans, ~86k dump trucks full of used or discarded clothing are either burned or dropped in a landfill, and ~109k tons of used electronics (the weight equivalent of ~68m laptops) are discarded.
Left unchecked, that would certainly spell environmental disaster, but it can also spell something else — big business opportunities.
Diversifying Revenue: Strategies from 1-800-Flowers. | Trends by The Hustle
Valentine’s Day got us thinking about how entire companies are built around certain holidays. But outside of these times, how do holiday-reliant businesses diversify their revenue?
To find out, we combed through dozens of SEC filings, cross-referenced them with Google search data on several holiday-reliant companies, and gathered lessons from one company — 1-800-Flowers — that has figured out ways to produce strong revenue streams outside of popular flower days.
Google searches for 1-800-Flowers spike on both Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. Searches for Party City crest on Halloween. And many people come calling for Canada Goose around Christmas.
High Margin Breakdowns: Pool Cleaning Edition | Trends by The Hustle
Inside the Margins
Residential swimming pools and hot tubs are seeing a surge in demand since people have been homebound. According to the Pool and Hot Tub Alliance, the main U.S. industry trade group, revenues rose 10%+ in 2020.
Riding this same wave is the pool cleaning industry. Google searches for “pool service near me” and “chlorine tablets for pool” have doubled since last year, per Keywords Everywhere.
Business Trends 2021 Predictions | Trends by The Hustle
What do we expect for 2021? Here’s what our analysts had to say…
Ethan: Virtual events will be the “San Francisco” of 2021 as people flock back to in-person ASAP. Innovation in virtual gatherings will stall, as existing tech is “good enough” and lacks raving fans after being tainted by the memory of 2020. The only major exception will be esports (and Trendster Natasha Miller’s variety shows, of course).
Julia: While Bitcoin stole the show in 2020, decentralized finance (DeFi) will dominate in 2021. The road might be bumpy, but the total value locked in DeFi will continue to grow, spurred by the introduction of Ethereum 2.0. As a result, we will see a range of new DeFi innovations and applications (in addition to insurance, lending, stablecoins, prediction markets, and margin trading — which already exist).
High Margin Breakdowns: Laundry Detergent Edition | Trends by The Hustle
Source: P&G and Unilever annual reports, 2019
Key Takeaways
- Procter & Gamble and Unilever, 2 heavyweights in the laundry detergent business, consistently make a significant share of their revenue — and, in particular, their profits — from fabric care.
- Consistent innovation around convenient, sustainable, and premium design has created high margins for smaller, newer players.
- Entrepreneurs can participate in this space with relatively little expertise (a bestselling bleach alternative has a single ingredient and a 97% profit margin).
Inside the Margins
Liquid detergent has historically had high profits, thanks to its reliance on water as a main ingredient and consumers’ tendency to over-pour.