The pandemic has waned in its severity and impact on the human kind. The number of cases coming out these days is not as terrifying as they were before.
Apart from the numbers, people are also not bound to stay at home all day, even though work from home is still something that is being practiced religiously. People can go for walks, they can go eat at restaurants, they can go the mall, these are pretty basic things that we used to take for granted, but no more.
My point here is that things are slowly becoming normal again.
Taking the business world into focus, things will become normal for it as well; however it might take a little longer. Businesses, especially the small scale ones, had witnesses losses like never before. The difficulties and challenges they need to overcome are substantial.
However, they would be able to do it and make the most of what they have got. Today, let us have a look at their struggles and he ways they can outweigh them.
The Challenges
Every source of employment has been hit by the pandemic, be it the service class losing their jobs or the business class winding up their shops, the devastation of income is visible everywhere.
Taking about the business class or the employers, the COVID-19 has affected them in three tragic ways;
- The Lowered Demand
The 2020 pandemic has made people lose their jobs. The unemployment rate is at an all time high. People are solely relying on government benefits for their survival.
Now, you tell me, in a time like this;
Can people think about buying new clothes, jewellery or gadgets?
When people do not have the means to pay rent can they be thinking about buying property?
So, what is the result? People only buy the things that they absolutely need and the demand for everything else lowers to the point of negligible. Look at the property prices for instance, have hey not reduced from last year? You know they have.
- The Financial Deficit
The pandemic brought along a nationwide shutdown that has ravaged all the non-essential businesses in its wake. People have gone from earning hundreds and thousands of pounds in sales to earning a zero, all because the government had asked for all business to close shop.
The result of no income for weeks upon weeks was a financial distress, people could not bear. The businesses who still had multiple loans to repay suffered the most. They had to take debt consolidation loans for bad credit with no guarantor to get some reprieve. For many, even that wasn’t long lasting with minimal sales.
- The Distrust of Customers
It is a well known fact that customers do not trust the local brands and shops as much as they trust the bigger names. A local shoe manufacturer would not have the same level of loyalty from you as Nike or Adidas would. It is a fact and you cannot deny it.
Now, in a time when people need to socially distance themselves, would they trust a small business owner?
I do not think so.
Rather the opposite would happen. People would only shop at renowned stores that they have heard of and the sales of the smaller businesses would continue to plunge.
It is truly a sad state of affairs.
The Overcoming
Yes, the pandemic has only brought along difficulties for people. It has had devastating effects on people’s health and their finances.
The challenges are indeed tough to bear, but they can be overcome and that too with ease, since here isn’t a problem in the world that does not have a solution.
So, here are three solutions that the small entrepreneurs can easily adopt.
- Going Online
The foremost thing a small business needs to do to combat the pandemic is to take its services online. People are afraid to venture outside and even more so to places that can be crowded. And you must know that shopping at stores makes them utterly crowded.
So, a solution for the same is to take your business online. You might already have a website; use it as your primary means of sales. If you do not have a website, then make one.
And if that cannot happen, start making calls. Call all of your loyal customers and even the ones who are not, and promise them that you would deliver whatever it is that they need. However, this solution is only applicable for restaurants and supermarkets. Nobody would buy clothes or accessories this way.
- Providing House Visits
This is an alternative to online services; however, this serves a different sector of businesses. The service industry is the one that was hit the hardest in the pandemic.
From restaurants to salons, everything was closed. These may be preferred by the people, but they are certainly not essential businesses. So, the lockdown meant these would be shut down.
Now that every business has slowly started reviving, the businesses providing salon and grooming services are still not getting as any customers as they would like.
Nobody would be too willing to go to a salon to get a full-body massage as that could have dangerous repercussions. However, if the same service was offered at home, not many would be able to deny. And that is how the service industry, especially the body care, would be able to outshine the pandemic.
- Showing Caution
This is quite obvious, yet quite helpful. During the pandemic, people have become overly cautious about what they touch and where they go. The nature of the virus we are dealing with mandates this, or else we just might become a victim.
So, a small business that is as cautious as the potential customers will make them want to come inside and shop.
The salesmen wearing masks and gloves at all times;
Sanitisers at every nook and corner of the place;
A temperature check and sanitising of hands at the entrance;
An advisory note to not touch any items on the counter;
These things make the customer believe that you will do anything to protect yourself, your business and your employees. Consequently, the customer would feel safe with you.
At the end of the day, safety is all that would make us go through the pandemic unscathed.
