Since 2020, China and the world have experienced a disaster. The sudden epidemic quarantined people at home, which meant that the retail industry lost its main customer base. When no one enters the store to shop, the difficulties faced by retail stores are not just the number of customers on the surface. The series of impacts behind this will have serious consequences for the retail industry.
What are the main impacts on the retail industry?
- Sales fell sharply
During the epidemic, most consumers were quarantined at home, and the frequency of consumption dropped off a cliff, coupled with the closure of a large number of stores during the epidemic, leading to a substantial decline in business sales. - Cash flow is tight
While companies do not have stable sales income, they still have to bear costs every day. Labor costs, rental costs, etc. have led to tight cash flow, and are facing tremendous pressure. - Difficulty in resuming work
Under the influence of the epidemic and national policies, there are still many stores that have not resumed work, and a series of conditions such as retail stores, factories, and logistics have not been fully restored. Therefore, it is still difficult to enter the recovery period.
How small retail companies save themselves
Method 1: Reduce expenses and control cash flow
During the epidemic, small retail companies can reduce the number of purchases and reduce procurement expenditures. Close loss-making shops and stop loss in time. Reduce all advertising revenue and marketing promotion expenses that cannot produce direct profit effects. According to different local policies, apply for deferred loan repayment and tax reduction and exemption support.
Method 2: Deal with inventory and increase cash flow
For small retail companies, the existing inventory will take up a lot of cash and depreciate every day. The company must try its best to dispose of the current inventory through various channels and withdraw funds.
Method 3: Increase channels and supplement cash flow
The emergence of the epidemic has indirectly promoted the digital development of enterprises, and all enterprises have begun to try online sales models. The retail industry is the same, you can try to increase online sales channels. And you can try to increase cash channels through bank borrowing, shareholder financing, private lending, and employee stock purchases, to replenish cash stock.
How can medium and large retail companies save themselves
Method 1: Stimulate employee confidence
The situation of large and medium-sized companies is different from that of small companies, because most of the problems faced by small companies are cash flow problems, and some large and medium-sized companies will cut staff and salaries in order to survive, but manpower is both a cost and a valuable resource for the company.
Under the epidemic situation, corporate employees are anxious. If employees are not willing, the company’s mandatory layoffs from top to bottom will reduce morale and cause greater losses and panic. Excellent talents may flow to competitors as a result, so it is even more unlikely for companies to survive the crisis.
Therefore, what the company has to do is to show the responsibility and care for employees as much as possible, and clarify the future direction of the company’s development, so that employees can feel at ease at the same time ignite the recognition and confidence of the company. Everyone is united and faces difficulties together. , In order to survive the crisis smoothly.
Method 2: Innovative business
If the development of enterprises before the epidemic was limited to offline channels, then the changes brought about by the epidemic have sounded a wake-up call for all enterprises. Why not take advantage of this time to accelerate the completion of enterprise digital transformation, increase revenue and reduce expenditure, and innovate business model transformation?
Method 3: Innovate customers
The current trend has entered the age of community, and companies can increase customer stickiness and repurchase rate through current community marketing, and open up new customers. Make full use of online resources to allow employees to use social media to directly communicate with customers, such as Facebook, Instagram, etc. launching limited-time special events, etc., and finally achieve a new model of increasing revenue and reducing expenditure.
Method 4: Innovation channels
During the epidemic, the performance of an enterprise is no longer the responsibility of the marketing department alone, but the task of the entire enterprise. Enterprises need full-staff marketing from top to bottom, expand online new channel business, and accelerate digital transformation.
Method 5: Innovative products
Another major benefit of the digital transformation is that user analysis can be conducted through big data. Companies can use big data analysis to gain insight into changes in customer needs and re-examine their own product development and innovation.
Method 6: Short video live broadcast with goods
In this epidemic, many offline stores have been closed, and live-streaming sales at home have enabled contactless shopping.
So why are short videos and live broadcasts so easy to bring goods?
There are three reasons for the outstanding ability of short video/live broadcasting to carry goods;
On the first, short video/live broadcast was introduced by the anchor, and conveyed people’s feelings to buyers; on the second, on the “field”, it was mainly with the help of Douyin, Kuaishou, and various live broadcast platforms. , And these platforms have the advantages of high-traffic and high-attention scenarios;
The third is to focus on “people”, allowing the anchor to interact with buyers in depth, and allowing buyers to participate in content creation and dissemination, thus forming a strong potential for bringing goods.
Summarize:
Enterprises must strengthen their confidence, calmly respond to the epidemic, adopt appropriate measures to deal with the changes brought about by the epidemic, and take self-help. As long as we always have confidence and hope for the future, we will be able to usher in spring.
