While the covid-19 pandemic has thrown life as we know it into a tailspin, you cannot afford to take your eyes off the ball as pertains to your business.
While these are not the best of times for retail business owners, you must keep your head above the water. While it might seem like your hands are tied, there are things you can do during this time to survive and even grow your business. The following are 3 tips to help you along.
How to Grow Your Retail Business During The Covid Pandemic
1. Take Stock
This is an important time to take stock of where your business stands. Look at your inventory and how long it can take you. If you are running low, find a way to avoid stock out. It is understandable if you aren’t liquid at the moment, but you do not want to turn away the few clients trickling in.
The other thing to do is take an inventory of your staff. Congratulations if you have held on to your employees despite the hard times.
However, one thing businesses are doing at this time is to operate as leanly as possible. You want to cut your expenses as much as possible and channel the money into activities that will bring in business. If you don’t do this, you might end up losing your business altogether. Think about temporary staff layoffs as necessary to keep the ship afloat.
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2. Sharpen Your Skills
With business being as slow as it has been, you can take advantage of this time to sharpen your skills.
There are already enough articles and blog posts on how businesses are coping with the recession. This is one place to start. Here, you can pick up excellent tips on how to run your business leanly and how entrepreneurs are managing to survive during this time.
Taking a retail course is another option. Such a course can help you relearn the basics of retail and emerging trends in the retail business. This will not only be helpful now but also when things go back to normal.
If you are concerned about your health, you don’t have to physically sit in a classroom. Technology has made online classes just as interactive and effective as in-person learning. This means that you don’t have to leave the comfort of your home or office to get a great education. As a plus, taking an online class will not be too disruptive to your business.
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3. Amplify Your Social Media Presence
With most day-to-day activities significantly scaled-down, people have more time to be online. This includes your prospective customers.
If they are still hesitant to come to your store, you can safely meet them online and offer them the same value you do at the shop. What this calls for is a great website that will allow them to buy and get their goods delivered without hassle.
The good thing is that this isn’t hard to set up and will not cost you a pretty penny. But what is more important is getting the word out there.
This is where social media marketing comes in.
For whatever reason, if you have neglected your retail business social media accounts, this is the time to plan and implement a strong comeback because it can make all the difference. Now more than ever, you have more time on your hands to create content for your social media sites.
There is really no structure to this; just publish whatever is likely to resonate with your audience. The only rule is to make it fun and avoid controversial topics. A good thing about social media marketing is that it will hardly cost your business anything. You could call it a godsend in these tough times.
Final Thoughts
The actions you take now will significantly determine how well your business will be able to bounce back after this.
While it’s normal to feel some anxiety over your investment, it’s better to channel your energies into recovery mechanisms. The best way to go about this is to begin thinking and implementing the right retail business strategies today.
