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The COVID-19 lockdown has impacted businesses in different industries of different sizes. Even big corporations are suffering as a result of the quarantine while smaller businesses start closing completely. For example, comics shop owners in the United States are having a hard time right now and some have announced that they will not reopen after the quarantine ends.

Thankfully, there are many people helping each other, especially those living in the same community or those working in the same niche. Here’s how Canadian retailers are handling the COVID-19 lockdown.

How Has the Lockdown Affected Businesses?

Most businesses are divided in their positions during the lockdown. The problem is that some businesses are allowed to operate still because they either sell essential products or provide essential services. On the other hand, there are businesses that are forced to shut down completely during the lockdown simply because they are not essential.

What this means is that the workers from the first group of businesses risk their lives more by going to work while the workers from the second group of businesses can’t earn anything while they sit at home. And still, there are different circumstances even within these two major groups.

For example, the first group has some businesses asking their workers to stay at home and work from there. Some even start hiring freelance or remote workers to replace their main body of employees. Writing services review site like Pick The Writer is one of the most popular places to find freelance writers while other platforms can assist with finding other specialists like designers, consultants, and so on.

The issue with this is that some of the businesses replacing their employees, for the time being, can potentially fire their permanent workers which are not very good for these very workers. It is important to be mindful of your team’s well-being, and experienced business owners know this and make sure to look after their employees.

The second group of businesses has some challenges too. There are some businesses within this group that pay their workers even while they sit at home (either for sitting at home and working or for solely sitting at home), but there are also businesses who don’t pay their workers which is even a greater problem.

The thing is that not everyone is prepared for such long periods without receiving a salary. Those who are used to being paid on a monthly basis for their work don’t always set aside money just in case something happens. This is exactly why it is vital to keep in mind that not all of your employees will be able to “survive” the lockdown. Many decide to take out loans or borrow money, but if the quarantine is prolonged further, these might not be enough.

That being said, some employees who are forced to sit at home without work and without being paid are starting to look for other jobs they can work on remotely. This can result in an effect similar to the one where businesses fire their regular workers in favor of freelance workers. If the employees suddenly realize that they prefer freelance work, they can quit their jobs leaving the business with a new problem of finding employees after the lockdown ends

How Can You Improve Your Strategy During the Lockdown?

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So, how can you improve your business strategy during the lockdown? Here are some practices Canadian retailers have been using to handle the COVID-19 lockdown:

1. Streamline Processes: One of the best things to do when you have so much more free time is to analyze how well your business is working and think about which things can and should be improved. By streamlining processes, you will be able to significantly increase your revenue, reduce expenses, and so on.
2. Reduce Costs: Actually, reducing costs does not necessarily mean that you will first need to streamline your processes. You will need to examine your expenses and decide what things take too much from your budget and whether or not these costs can be reduced in some way. If this is possible, then definitely go for it.
3. Take a Break: It’s true that for a business to function properly, you need to keep it working and continue moving forward. However, the lockdown provides you with a unique opportunity to finally take a break. This is especially useful for small business owners who are either the only employee or have one or two employees besides themselves. You can’t open it right now, so sit back and relax at home. You won’t have a vacation like this anytime soon.
4. Support Customers: During the lockdown, most business owners tend to think about their businesses first which are completely natural. However, you need to understand that your customers also need support, especially if you sell products that are essential for them. Provide them with discounts and gifts, offer delivery options, and so on.
5. Evaluate Prices: Evaluating your prices is also a way to support your customers. Maybe you could sell some products for a reduced price during the lockdown and raise the prices back up once you go back to the usual business.
6. Keep the Focus: Online: Keeping the focus online means that you dedicate more time to your online efforts instead of thinking merely about your physical store as you do on a regular basis. Improve your social media marketing strategy, update or redesign your website, and so on.
7. Limit Store Access: When it comes to businesses that are still open, it is important to remember the necessary regulations. Don’t let too many customers inside your store at the same time, ensure that you disinfect your store at all the set times, and maybe even provide your customers with free face masks or gloves.
8. Do Research: Doing online research is now much easier because almost everyone is spending their time online because of all the free time they have. You can survey your customers all you like and get a lot of valuable statistical data that you can then use in your marketing and product development.
9. Publish Content: Publishing content is an aspect of keeping the focus online, but there’s still something more to it. By publishing entertaining, educational, and other content online during the lockdown, you can improve your company’s reputation, raises your brand awareness, get extra exposure, and so much more.
10. Renovate and Innovate: Renovation and innovation go hand in hand with progress, so if you want your business to develop, you will need to think of these two. Now that you have more time, you can renovate your store, find new approaches to advertising, improve your products, and so on.
11. Plan A Re-Opening Sale: Last but not least, retailers are getting ready for what will come after the lockdown. You need to plan a re-opening sale which is what will come right after businesses can finally open and let in customers.

Final Thoughts

All in all, there are many things you can do to make the quarantine easier to bear for you and your business. In general, Canadian retailers are doing fine right now, but some admit that the lockdown brings challenges they haven’t experienced before.