The COVID-19 pandemic hurt companies of all sizes. But small businesses were hit hardest. If your small business is finding it hard to stay...
The COVID-19 pandemic hurt companies of all sizes. But small businesses were hit hardest. If your small business is finding it hard to stay afloat during the pandemic, you’re not alone.
According to Alignable’s latest report, 45% of small businesses have stated that they have earned less than half of their Pre-COVID revenue.
Alignable Road to Recovery Report
When we talk about economic recovery, we talk about revenue. And small businesses are still a long way to earn what they used to earn in the Pre-COVID world.
45% of small businesses have accepted that their revenues are less than 50% of Pre-COVID World.
It goes without saying that small businesses require more customers to reach their Pre-COVID revenue levels. But having more customers alone won’t make the cut in today’s time. Customers also need to have the same purchasing behavior they used to have before COVID-19 started.
Small businesses with below Pre-COVID level revenue are having slower revenue growth than customer growth. This means customers are increasing, but they are not buying as much they used to buy before the pandemic started.
We can easily understand this customer behavior. People are working from home and avoiding unnecessary travel amid the crisis. As a result, they are not eating out often and buying things as they used to do earlier. Also, the financial strain put by the COVID-19 crisis has also contributed to low consumer spending.
The Alignable report has confirmed the same – total consumer spending at local businesses is down by 18% YOY.
However, not all is gloom and doom for small businesses. The silver lining is more and more businesses are opening, and customers are increasingly returning.
65% of businesses were fully opened in September 2020, and 35% of opened businesses have reported that they have started to touch Pre-COVID customer levels.
More businesses are opening, and more customers are going out. This will eventually improve the revenue of small businesses.
Navigating Through the Crisis
Just because you have reopened your business, customers are not going to flood into your establishment. You have to adjust your small business as you reopen your business amid the coronavirus crisis.
Change your marketing philosophy, audit brand content to address new challenges COVID-19 has presented, and adopt the best hygiene practices to win customers back. You should also increase your advertising budget to amplify your message.
About the Report
Alignable conducted a poll among 7,726 business owners to prepare the report. The company conducted the poll during the week of September 28, 2020. Click here to know more about the report.
Image: Depositphotos.com
This article, "45% of Small Businesses Have Earned Half or Less of Their Pre-COVID Revenue During Pandemic" was first published on Small Business Trends
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