To say that businesses and industries have taken a huge hit from the pandemic is quite an understatement. With several months under lockdown, businesses have experienced a steep decline in sales and transactions. The lockdown season has even put thousands of establishments and companies out of business.
Meeting monthly dues has been quite a struggle for business owners. For instance, a brick-and-mortar owner had to break the unfortunate news to his mortgage broker that they can’t make payment because of the pandemic. Social distancing has kept the number of customers to a minimum forcing companies to either temporarily close-shop or change the way they do their business.
Experts and analysts say that the main goal of businesses for this year is to make it until the end of 2020. The finish line is no longer profit but survival.
5 Ways to Maintain Your Business and Keep It Growing During the Post-Lockdown Season
1. Set up your online platform.
If you’ve been thinking about whether to go online or not, the pandemic pretty much already made the decision a lot clearer for you. Now’s the best time to set-up a digital shop, regardless if you’re offering products or services.
Ever since the lockdown was implemented, people took to online shopping for their needs. Even after the states reopened, a huge chunk of the consumer market still prefers online transactions over physical in-store purchases.
2. Focus on improving your fulfillment strategy.
Now that we’re living under the new normal, consumers have a higher standard when it comes to meeting expectations. How you meet these expectations and commit to your fulfillment model will be your game-changer, especially now that most of the competition is online.
Make the necessary adjustments to your fulfillment model so you can promptly ship and deliver your customers’ orders. Doing so will turn casual buyers into returning customers.
3. Utilize hyperlocal delivery services.
In light of the above-mentioned point, one of the best ways to get your products out to your customers on time is by partnering with hyperlocal delivery services.
With the demand for essential items (and even non-essentials) on the rise, people are looking for convenient and quick ways to get items without the need to step outside their homes.
In comes hyperlocal delivery services that can get their orders to their doorsteps within two or three hours. The faster the turnover of goods, the better the feedback for your business.
4. Get acquainted with the new essentials.
The pandemic has determined which items are essential and which ones are not. While at the onset of the lockdowns, essential items pertained to food, medical supplies, and personal protective equipment (PPEs), the post-lockdown season has seen an emergence of new essential items such as:
- Home appliances
- Kitchen equipment
- Hobby products
- Home improvement materials
- Fitness and exercise equipment
- Toys
- Fashionable PPEs
Knowing what the market wants now and utilizing that knowledge will give you the upper hand on your competition and make you relevant to your consumers.
5. Incorporate contactless deliveries and payments into your operational system.
Since social distancing is still in place, the need for contactless transactions and deliveries are at an all-time high.
Set proper protocols for contactless deliveries and curbside pick-ups. Update your system to accommodate non-cash transactions. Doing these will give your customers confidence that you value their health and safety above all.
As the days go by, business leaders and industry experts will still keep finding solutions and better practices to navigate COVID-19. You may even come up with innovative systems and processes that can help your business and industry thrive despite the global health crisis.
The important thing now is we remain adaptable to change and resilient to challenges. If you have these two in your arsenal, you and your business will be okay.