Going online is the survival tool for small business .

.

Technology advancement has been seen in the growth of digital applications rapidly in the last few years in all walks of life.

The recent crisis has shown us that enterprises who have embraced technology are thriving and will continue thriving. Work from home, Online meeting, Online order, etc. is now becoming a way of life. Many of the traditional big houses have been using the technology platform for their business advantage for years. The small enterprise was not using these thinking the business caters to the local area. The small owners never thought that the e-commerce or mobile app is of much use for them. This phenomenon is prevalent in smaller cities, especially in the eastern part of India.

However, in the current COVID crisis for small stores, shops, restaurants the online sales, pickups, and delivery have become the survival tools. The use of technology is now becoming a need for running the business against growth, which was earlier the driving force for adopting it.

Often, the small business fails to realize that they are not getting online to take on AMAZON /FLIPKART, but by getting online, they are helping their customers. Going online, you ( the enterprise ) help your customers who also want to support LOCAL and buy from you.

This COVID crisis provides an opportunity to take advantage of technology and be future-ready ( most would want shopping without any physical interaction, i.e., Online shopping/services)

The best part is that you are already used to carrying out our regular activities like chatting, google search, and making a transaction. Moving interaction with your customer will feel a radical change neither for them nor you.

If you think that this may cost some time & money for you to go online, You’re right that it’s an investment of time and sometimes money to move your business online, but it’s worth it. It might take some time and money right now, but that will pay off many times in the long run.

Online can also help with your alternate business option, especially in this pandemic crisis. For example, a caterer ( basically a service provider for a catering business ) can start making food kit and sell online.

Of course, I am not advising that you completely change your business. We are just talking about changing the format and take advantage of the technology available.

It is essential to find the right platform to create your digital products; you need to put the technical pieces in place before you launch your online services. Make sure you set up secure payment options. You can have your own website or mobile application else; there would be local e-commerce service providers whom you can tie up.

Without any doubt, your business will roar back even after this corona crisis as long as you nurture this and grab the opportunity to be ready with online services to your customer.

Plan your marketing strategy, refresh your website ( if you have one ), adopt better tools and processes, rethink your business plans, and get everything fine-tuned so that you’re future-ready

In case you plan to go Online but finding some roadblocks, please feel free to contact, we can discuss and work out to overcome those.

www.pranaykumar.com