6 Tips to Get Your Business on Track Post COVID-19

It’s hard to find an area that does not have an impact on the pandemic today. Businesses are no different. All types of businesses, call it a small, medium, or a large one, are impacted by the pandemic in several ways. For example, it has become difficult to reach customers due to lockdown. So, digital marketing is a new option for businesses. The employees work from home, giving a boom to the online platforms like Zoom, Microsoft teams, etc. Everything is being sold online, from grocery to apparel. Hence, more online shoppers are in demand. All these effects demand a change in the traditional business approach and try fresh methodologies. If you are unaware of those, you must learn how to grow a business post-pandemic.

For full-fledged business growth planning, you will need to consider some points as follows:

Study the market demand due to the pandemic. There is a tremendous change in the market trend. Whereas some products have experienced an unusual elevation in demand, resulting in exhausting the supply, others have been facing a significant drop.

People are more concerned about their health now, so there is an increase in immunity boosters and health-related products. There is a reduction in the sale of cosmetics and makeup products during a pandemic due to fewer events, but this will increase sharply post-pandemic. Also, grocery items have faced a huge increase in demand as people started stocking them due to uncertain lockdown conditions. But this will reduce demand after the pandemic as the consumption rate is the same, and a lot of stock is still there at the customer end.

Hence, this type of market research will help you understand the market condition and help make a post-pandemic business strategy of supply and inventory management.

1. Establish Online presence and Selling

If you wonder how to ensure business growth post-pandemic, online selling is the answer. Since the outset of lockdown last year, customers have no choice but to opt for online shopping. It has attracted a large audience, and people are purchasing even the smallest things online and exploring technological advancements. It becomes important for any business to start its online selling and provide virtual assistance and services in this situation. People prefer online shopping, starting from food, grocery, and clothes to all other essentials like mobiles and laptops.

So, start with a mobile application or a website of your company. You can get it made by a professional designer and start selling your products online. It requires few steps like taking attractive product pictures, listing product details with how-to videos, damage-proof packaging for safe delivery, and after-sale service. Also, the issue of abandoned carts should be considered to improve your sales. Your post-pandemic business strategy should have these points for giving a great shopping experience to customers who visit your portal.

2. Ecommerce for contactless payment options

Along with online selling, online payments must be considered. Due to this pandemic, adopting a contactless payment mode has become a necessity rather than comfort. People who are doing online shopping mostly choose online transactions through Google pay or others. Even those who select pay on delivery prefer cashless transactions. Also, people use different types of payment services like E-wallets, Net banking, UPI transactions. Hence you must provide various options of contactless payment on your portal.

Even if the lockdown is removed, people will prefer contactless practices, so you should add the cashless payment option in your brick-and-mortar store as well. One way is to post an image of the QR Code and ta-da; you are ready to receive the payment through UPI transaction modes. This will also help you in learning how to increase your business growth by changing payment modes.

3. Digital Marketing

Compared to other marketing methods, digital marketing pays back a lot. Post-pandemic also, this medium is the strongest one to reach a large audience. People are now stuck at home; hence they have more time than ever to check out online products and services available at the comfort of their homes. So, in this era, connecting to the audience virtually has become easier, and you can take the benefit. You can decide on various strategies to build on your marketing and sales campaign. You can make your business pages on Facebook, Linked In, Instagram for sharing details of your products and services. You can also share daily updates of new offers or discounts on the portals. Also, the online web activity of customers can be traced for studying consumer buying behaviour. This will help you in understanding the customer's emotions and making a perfect post-pandemic business strategy accordingly.

4. Connect to customers

Marketing and sales are two different aspects. One must know this to make a strategy on how to increase the business growth. Whereas marketing enforces connecting to the audience creating business awareness, sales try to sell the products through offers and discounts. Virtual connections to a large audience can be made via storytelling. This could be done in the form of case studies, your success story, your history, or testimonial videos from satisfied clients. You can share your expert knowledge via blogs/posts or tips and tricks related to your industry. You can also create behind-the-scenes videos for entertaining and engaging the clients. This will not only attract the audience but also help you in building a trustworthy relationship with them. A customer will always buy from someone whom he trusts. Hence this could be a helpful way.

5. Financial planning and management

The biggest effect of a pandemic is on the economy of all countries. This also comes down to business sectors. Because of the recession, businesses have incurred huge losses and have gone down to a bad financial condition. To regain the finances, companies can work out various methods. They can initiate the cash flow by selling the inventory stock at reduced prices to bear with losses incurred. They can also try bundling similar products based on their functionality and sell them together as a package. Once ready to refill some stock, they should research the market for demand forecasting and start stocking in small amounts.

You can make assumptions of future demand, but it should be evaluated in small intervals when fresh data is received.

You can also focus on cutting down some expenses to stabilise the financial condition. You can reduce manpower as manual work is less, and Infrastructure maintenance costs can also be saved by taking necessary actions.  

6. Prepare to go back to stores.

Since the second wave is near its end, you should also make strategies for resuming your offline services. Customers, after a long break, are ready to experience retail shopping again. However comfortable online shopping looks, people usually prefer the traditional way. Brick-and-mortar stores guarantee a great shopping experience due to their ambience. They provide a chance to get along with friends and families and spend some time together cherishing those moments. So, they are eagerly waiting for the stores to open.

Knowing how to grow your business through your storm preparations can help you there. You can create a compelling in-store experience to remind the shoppers that retail shopping is great and fun.

• You must use all the methods of attracting more and more customers to your stores with appealing offers and post-pandemic discounts.
• You can connect to fellow retailers to provide shared services under one roof. Referrals and perks can be shared mutually. For example, you can offer gift cards for a meal at nearby restaurants if the bill exceeds a certain amount.
• The store must be visually memorable to gain more attention. Pay more focus on display and hygiene. Sanitisers and masks can be distributed for a safe experience. The safe distance can be maintained during shopping.
• If you have clothing and accessories, ask the customer to share pictures that you will display on your business pages on social media sites.
• You can give rewards to people who come in group shopping or shop for more than a certain purchase amount. This will drive them to purchase more for availing of those rewards.

There are a lot of changes observed due to the pandemic situation. It has not only affected businesses but also impacted buying behaviour. All these aspects listed above can help you understand how to grow a business and can be worked out to bring your business back on track post-pandemic, depending on the type of business you own. You have to strategise them according to the circumstances. If properly worked out, your business can easily recover the losses incurred and move towards growth.

Also read:

1) The impact of Covid-19 on Small Businesses. How bad this has been?
2) How small businesses are coping during Covid-19?
3) Best COVID-19 Lessons For Small Business Sectors of India
4) How To Manage Investment During Covid-19 Pandemic?

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FAQs

Q. How to grow your business by marketing post-pandemic?

Ans. You can use digital marketing to market your products and services. This will help you grow the business post-pandemic.

Q. What companies are in high demand post-pandemic?

Ans. Healthcare products are in high demand. Apart from that, sanitisers and other cleaning/hygiene-related products are in huge demand.

Q. How do I prepare my store to reopen post-pandemic?

Ans. Post-pandemic, you must pay attention to the hygiene and cleanliness of your store. Contactless payment should also be added.

Q. How to ensure business growth post-pandemic?

Ans. Post-pandemic, you should study the market demand and supply data, know the changed buying behaviour and make strategies accordingly. This will help you in getting the idea of how to increase business growth.