WHEN most businesses reopen once lockdown measures are lifted, the environment may no longer be what it was a few months back.
A lot may change by then— from changing consumer behavior patterns to businesses struggling to reboot their operations.
Business owners have to expect slow sales once they restart as most consumers adapt to the new normal, said personal finance expert Marvin Germo.
“Your business will not be able to recover in a day. You have to wait for weeks or even months so you can recover the losses you incurred during the lockdown,” he said.
“As part of your business operation, it’s normal. You don’t have to make a big sale on the first day you resume your business after the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). Remember slow growth is still progress,” he said.
Gio Visitacion, who runs a coffee business, agreed, saying that foot traffic will never be as brisk as it was before the Covid-19 crisis hurt most businesses.
The ECQ has compelled entrepreneurs like Visitation to switch to the online space to reach out to their customers.
“(We’re) open (during ECQ) but delivery and takeaways. But we fully migrated online and it’s helping drive our sales up better than previous months,” Visitacion, who owns The Good Cup Coffee Co. in Cebu City, told SunStar Cebu.
“Foot traffic has severely dropped and this will hit small-, medium-and large-sized food and beverage outlets, however the customers will start to adapt with take out, delivery and most importantly digital ordering and e-commerce,” the Cebuano entrepreneur said.
The pandemic, he said, has catapulted the digital industry “to an extreme shift of inertia.”
Germo said some people will have to start again from scratch post-crisis, including those employees who are on unpaid leaves during the lockdown.
“If they are included in your target market, expect that there will be slow growth in your sales,” the financial expert said.
Apart from the slow growth in sales, he said both customers and businesses will face the new normal.
“This means that not everyone will go back to the same production or consumption of goods. If there’s one thing that is improved, that’s surely the ability of businesses to offer free and paid deliveries to customers. When you resume your business, expect that there is a lower number of customers who will visit your store,” Germo said.
Some will even criticize how safe a store is from the coronavirus, he noted.
“Some will prefer to order online. You will see a lot of new ways of how customers will adjust and you should embrace the change as a business owner,” Germo said.
To make sure that businesses can operate well after the ECQ, Germo said their supplies should last for weeks or a couple of months.
“This is so you can prepare in case another ECQ will be implemented. Monitor your inventories and ensure that you can sell them timely. Contact your suppliers and ask if there will be challenges when you order in the future. Use this chance to communicate with people keeping your supply chain,” he said.