These are uncharted waters, folks. The coronavirus, or COVID-19, has knocked a lot of us off our feet and dubbed by WHO (World Health Organization) a global pandemic, resulting in both Spain and Italy completely locking down their countries’ borders, sporting events being canceled, and schools taking on eLearning en mass.
The effects the coronavirus will have on businesses both small and large are unknown, however, large tech firms such such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Amazon, are implementing remote work policies to help sustain their practices and continue employment for their workforce.
The most afflicted will be local businesses; brick and mortar shops that depend substantially on foot traffic. In Seattle, alone, 80% of businesses have seen a decrease in demand, with closure looming for 35% of small businesses since the city started weathering COVID-19.
As of 2016, there had been 28.8 million small businesses in the U.S., that made up 99.7 percent of all businesses in the country. Taking the Seattle figures as a loose representation and expanding across the U.S., the pain of the coronavirus will be widespread across small businesses in various sectors.
As consumers are shying away from visiting locations, what ways can small businesses leverage online tools to offset physical sales impacted by the coronavirus and recoup losses?
There is no size fits all solution for the diverse industries that exist in the the U.S. however the goal of this post is to help small businesses maintain what sales and brand identity they can by shifting from their physical store location to a digital space.
The coronavirus crisis is shifting day by day, hour by hour, and my hope is there is some sort of relief digitally.
Adopt E-commerce
With sales drying up, small businesses should look towards adopting e-commerce capabilities to either their new website or existing website if the core of your retail business depends on hard goods. Granted, it will require building a framework around merchandising, online billing, as well as incorporating your brand around your website.
63 percent of shopping occasions began online prior to the COVID-19, despite where the transaction took place; either online or in store. Moving towards an online shopping experience, changes how customers buy from your business. That is to say, the coronavirus may have in fact expedited online shopping trends based on the current risk to consumers’ health and the need for social distancing.
With that, you will want to secure a content management system (CMS) that can sustain e-commerce transactions. Below you will find some of the more popular e-commerce CMS’s in the field.
The above will require substantial time and thought, however, if you don’t have a website or are looking for a quick and easy way to get your business on e-commerce, I suggest Shopify as I’ve known brands to get their sites up and running quickest with this CMS.
Conversely, if you’re not looking to build a website, you may want to consider Fulfillment by Amazon; granted, I’ve heard negatives associated with this approach (from the large cut Amazon takes to Amazon being stringent on how long they retain products in their warehouse). However, if you have goods that need to be pushed out quick, this might be an option as users use Amazon to fulfill their everyday needs.
If you do have a website that is non-e-commerce, like WordPress or Drupal, or anything in between, and can’t afford the effort to move to another CMS at this time, I suggest you work with a developer to help integrate online shopping into your website. Not suprising, most small businesses don’t have in-house developers, so consider a freelancer that can help. See websites that can help you find developers for hire.
- Toptal
- Hired
- Upwork
- GitHub Jobs
- Freelancer
- See a more robust list on Developer’s for Hire
For those in the services field, i.e. Legal Services, Copywriting, Health and Wellness, etc., you may consider options from the “Embrace New Workflows ” portion of this post.
Maintain Communication with your Customers
Your customers may shop with you out of convenience but please don’t undersell yourself and your brand. The identity you’ve built can help sustain customer loyalty even into the unknown territory that is coronavirus. Below is an excerpt from Yotpo, a ratings and review provider,
Asked to define their brand loyalty, consumers polled overwhelmingly characterized it as repeat purchasing (67.8%), followed by “love” for the brand (39.5%), and finally, preference despite price (37.7%).
Brand Loyalty
The second statistic is crucial; 39.5% of 2,000 consumers stated brand loyalty as “love” for the brand. With that, maintaining communication with your devote consumers can help sustain a relationship and awareness for your brand as you foot traffic halts. This would help avoid consumers forgetting why they fell in love with your brand and help relay any updates that you may have for your shoppers.
I would encourage your business to use channels such as those below.
Google My Business
If you have Google My Business verified, it can serve as a platform to update your shoppers on any changes due to COVID-19 within Google search results. Google has even made it a point to email business owners, asking to provide such updates to shoppers.
Similar to Google My Business, you can keep your customers informed. Facebook has released a Business Resource Hub to provide support for all businesses affected.
Email list
Email marketing is fascinating as I’ve found it to be the marketing channel that is made up of your most devote shoppers. Don’t delay on emailing your customers, keeping them updated on your business and the steps your taking to ensure that they are at the forefront of your thoughts. AWeber provides a great guide to Email Marketing During a Crisis.
Expand into Video
Your business can have a physical location but your brand transcends your brick and mortar. Continuing the notion of building upon your brand as physical sales dwindle, consider this, 56 percent of consumers feel brands should house video content on their website and 62% of consumers watch product review videos before making a purchase.
Why does this matter to a small business owner? Tying together the shift towards having an e-commerce website and maintaining communication with your customers can help evolve your business performance (tied to store sales) so that it’s supplemented by your online presence.
Yes, you can’t see your customers on a regular basis but you can speak to them via YouTube and Instagram videos. You can have webinars talking on behalf of your business and brand on an ongoing basis. And, if a personal touch is needed, you can even take it a step further with video conferencing.
As the coronavirus drives people away from your physical location, I urge you to continue driving your brand identity through video.
Embrace New Workflows
During this day and age, we’ve had such an influx of new technologies that working remote, away from a physical location, is much more feasible. In fact, and this is a personal opinion, I believe that social distancing and hunkering down, will give new ways of improving the remote workspace as well as new technologies (time will tell).
This might be more applicable to those that provide services, embracing or being cognizant of new technologies will continue to help maintain a customer base and drive your business as the coronavirus drives away consumers.
See possible technologies you can use below.
Appointment Scheduling
File Sharing
Screen Share and Web Conferencing
Last Few Words
Like I mentioned early on, these are uncharted territories. I’m aware that the above can only help so many and may only apply to a fraction, if that, of all the issues that lay ahead of us in the midst of the coronavirus.
However, as someone who has spoken time and again to small business owners, I understand that there is a gap in knowledge during tranquil times and I can’t imagine the burden that is tied to being a small business owner at the moment.
I hope that at the very least with the above, I can help business owners to some degree, if not, in their brick and mortar, than digitally using new means.
My hope is that what is ahead will pass quickly and with ease. If you feel there is any suggestion on the above, please reach out.
