The cycle of globalization, which lasted from 2009 to 2024, has come to an end. This cycle can be characterized as a period of domination by global services. During this period, the following services reached their peak:
- social networks
- messengers
- marketplaces
- payment gateways
- search engines
The listed services have reached their peak and are already on the decline, with the first signs of this:
Social Networks – They are beneficial (interesting) when there are few of them, and they are global. When the number of social networks grows, their main purpose is lost. Being on every network creates a sense of incompleteness, and eventually, clutter. Moreover, each social network has its own limitations and is generally only available for use in its own and neighboring countries. This can also be applied to video hosting services – the principle is the same. It is also important to note the significant decline in the quality of content itself and the quantitative surplus.
Messengers – The situation here is similar to social networks. While social networks were used by businesses for advertising, using messengers for business communication is simply impractical for certain industries. At the very least, even with a small volume of paperwork, everything turns into chaos, and finding a necessary document becomes impossible after a month, let alone a year. At most, such communication methods are highly distracting, and the main advantage – speed of delivery – becomes a disadvantage in the process. Business communication returns to email, as messengers are only convenient for personal communication, nothing more.
Marketplaces – They are convenient only for certain types of goods, such as when buying a refrigerator for a dacha with delivery or tools for apartment repairs while being in the city center. However, when it comes to branded goods, you are most likely to buy a counterfeit and be disappointed. The vast number of counterfeit items on marketplaces creates the impression that you are at some kind of Cherkizovsky market (and similar) – only online. Buying goods from official websites, such as the online stores of brands like Lacoste, Guess, and others, still exists and serves its purpose perfectly – there, you are guaranteed to buy an original product. The example with clothing is not the only one; it applies to electronics, spare parts, consumables, etc.
Payment Gateways – At one point, it was profitable to be a customer of a large green monopoly bank for transferring funds between clients. The same situation was with a popular foreign service. The market, interbank SBPs, and the ability to pay via QR code have minimized the uniqueness of once-popular payment systems. The bank itself is no longer as valuable as it was before – technologically, they are all more or less equal. A certain percentage of international transfers has been taken by cryptocurrency.
Search Engines – With the advent of artificial intelligence, search engines are increasingly losing their monopoly, which is a positive trend for small businesses. Sooner or later, all commercial requests for top-10 rankings are paid for by SEO company clients. Artificial intelligence has taken jobs not only from freelancers (programmers, designers, copywriters, translators) but also from search engines, which have lost a significant portion of queries. Marketplaces also "help" in this regard; when you need to buy something and pick it up at a nearby branch, the search takes place directly within the marketplace, not globally.
The new cycle, from 2025 to 2044, will create a trend towards maximum decentralization, with even more new niches and ways of interaction being formed. Depending on the type of business, specific tools beneficial for that field will be available. The previous trend will lose its positions significantly by the middle of the new cycle when being part of everything will be, at best, uncomfortable, and at worst, unfeasible.
Conclusion: The choice will become even greater; there will be both this and that, and new things. Every sphere goes through a maturation phase, which the aforementioned services now have to go through, just like in the past cycle, when hosting services, virtual servers, and website builders were the trend.
P.S. The greater the resistance, the greater the desire, and vice versa. Therefore, it’s never too late to launch your own online project, and we will be happy to see you among our clients.
P.P.S. It’s not necessary to search for trends; the main thing is that you enjoy it. For example, if you deal with antiques, create your own online catalog, and certain items might be very valuable to someone – “A vase from British cuisine turned out to be a treasure from the Qing dynasty and was sold for $1.8 million.”