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Conducting businesses in the post-pandemic era is proving to be more difficult when compared to the recession-era.
An apple to apple comparison may show that the buying power has altered in both scenarios. However, the major difference is the need for the restrictions that are in place. These steps make it especially difficult for the economy to be back on its feet.
How can you be creative to survive such a tide which has taken a toll on many? Can technology help drive the demand and help the economy to be back on its feet? The answer to that question may not be so easy, and it needs a deeper understanding of the current scenario.
Staying Afloat
New approaches are the need of the hour to stay in business in such stressed times. The pandemic has an impact on the economy that brought recession across different spheres of the world. People losing jobs and businesses have become the common norm.
Data suggests that nearly fifty percent of the small businesses with five hundred or fewer employees have been trying to stay afloat. Society for Human Resource Management suggests that some of them are thriving.
Most of the small or medium businesses that are still functioning are opting to have methodologies that are out of the ordinary. They are making adjustments in their business process and product categories. Such changes may include adding new verticals, changing the sales vehicles, or redrawing the marketing efforts from scratch.
Since the pandemic has set in, the number of people going out to purchase anything has dropped significantly. It is wiping out the biggest modes of communication by the manufacturers or sellers with their customers. The social distancing norms and restrictions have made it difficult for brick-and-mortar stores to sell their products.
There is a change of regimen of the people from spending most of their time outdoors to working from their homes. This way they connect or socialize with their friends and family only through social networking sites. It gives a chance for businesses to market their products to the target customers more easily on such platforms.
Many businesses are opting to:
- Adopt contactless deliveries to keep their services available
- Impart knowledge of new skill sets for the employees to aid the business
- Embrace the new avenues for growth based on changing demand
- Installing new safety protocols, especially for the customer interaction areas
- Ratifying the latest technology processes to curb costs
The Stressed Ones
The post-pandemic era has seen a lot of companies going out of business for various reasons. It can be due to the shortage of demand, inadequate fund availability, or the absence of a skilled workforce.
Though the economy is showing signs of recovery there are very few companies that are being able to get back to their pre-pandemic regime. The stressed order book has led to scanty fund flow and thereby unavailability of resources to function properly. However, the discouraging demand that was predominant in the first phase of the pandemic is slowly picking up.
At these desperate times, businesses that are not being able to restart are going back to the drawing board to have a fresh approach. The change of stance for the routes opted for business has been in the chore of business strategies in these times. Reaching out to the customers through new channels and opting to make products that match the novel needs is the new norm.
However, many companies are not being able to get back on their feet. If you are in such a situation, you may have to take a call to sell your business. Selling an entity created over the years is not an easy task. You can opt for the services of an experienced intermediary.
An intermediary of repute and with years of experience can help you ease the process of selling the business. Shortlisting an intermediary with greater exposure to larger geography is beneficial for both buyer and seller.
Though this may be the toughest time that we are facing in the human history of the last hundred years, there is still hope that shines through those who are paving the path to recovery. The pandemic has led us to explore avenues that were untapped before and have proven to support the businesses of this era.
Many businesses are trying their hand at creative ways to reach their customers or make their offerings available to them. Some of them who are not so fortunate may face the evident closure of their businesses.
