How can small businesses beat the competition/COVID situation in 2021?

No Comments
How can small businesses beat the competition/COVID situation in 2021?

Competition is the key essence of market. Every business needs to compete with its rivals and to succeed one needs to keep a step ahead of competition. However, in the year 2020 Covid 19 pandemic has shattered the economy and it also affects the small businesses up to a great extent. They have to face innumerable challenges due to Covid 19 situation and existing competition in the market. Some challenges they face are quite harder to overcome and some are fixable. Interaction with employees and costumers become a major challenge in this pandemic and many other issues related to production and expansion are also challenging.

Table of Contents

Characteristics of a successful business

Small businesses should focus on some traits for developing business. Some of the characteristics are as follows:

  • Clarity- Small businesses must have a clear mind-set about what it wants to accomplish before commencing any business and it must have a clear vision.
  • Planning– Before starting any business, planning is an essential element. Conducting good planning session can save a lot of time and money. Planning should include the aspects related to future goals and how to achieve them.
  • Setting a benchmark- The planning should be in such a way that it helps in achieving short-term goals. It is an ongoing process which targets on weak or monthly goals which in turn lead to achieve annual goals.
  • Know your customer- A business can only become successful when they focus on the needs of customer on a priority basis. Giving importance to customer and their needs not only lead to success of business but also helps in creating loyal customer base.
  • Flexibility- In this continuously changing environment, a business should be flexible enough to adapt changes when required to maintain its existence in the business world.
  • Skill development- Skill development is a continuous process. Expanding knowledge and utilising skills to the best of ability is an essential task.

Major challenges/problems face by Small Business during pandemic

There are many challenges that are faced by small businesses during this pandemic. Some of these are:

  • Transformation to a Digital world– Small business have less ability to transform to a digital world by so sudden. They have lack of resources to arrange for new technologies, flexible payment options, arranging systems for working at home, etc. Whereas large companies have the resources to quickly transform to a Digital world by using sufficient resources.
  • Lack of face-to-face interaction- Small and Local business owners prefer face-to-face interactions rather than interacting on networking platforms such as Zoom call or Google meets. They find themselves more comfortable while interacting face to face due to many obvious reasons.
  • Forward planning is impossible- Covid situation is quite unpredictable and in such a situation it is almost impossible to make forward planning with respect to the planning marketing efforts, staffing needs, customer and client demands, etc.
  • Increase in shipping costs- Situation of Covid creates a drastic impact on the cost of shipping procedures and it leads to severe loss for small business.
  • Lack of creativity- To work in a virtual environment, a high level of creativity is required to be maintained and maintaining such creativity is a challenging task for small businessman.
  • Pressure to perform- In a situation of Covid, people are more concern about their health and working in a stressful situation is more challenging and creates a pressure in the minds of people working and dealing with such business.

What kind of challenges are to be overcome by small businesses in 2021?

Some of the major challenges that need to be overcome by small businesses in 2021 are as follows:

  • Remote working- Covid 19 pandemic has rattled the small businesses to a great extent. Adapting new ways of working in order to survive is quite difficult for small businessman as such businesses are unable to cope up with technological developments. Remote working is an option to the employees in which employees are not expected to work from a specific work location rather choose a formal business work location while practicing social distancing norms.
  • Unemployment– Another major problem or challenge that need to overcome is Unemployment. To reduce cost and to prevent business from huge losses, small businessman retrenched their many trustworthy and productive employees in Covid 19 situation.
  • Technological upgradation- The pandemic has almost reduced physical business operations to zero and it gave rise to technological developments. To cope up with this challenge, small businesses need to develop creative strategies to respond to new technological developments. Technological upgradation is sometimes costly.
  • New Marketing Strategies- Consumers are getting bored with the old marketing forms and are looking for something new and innovative. Hence small businesses are looking forward to attract consumers from anywhere by new marketing strategies like video content or by using social media apps and platforms.  

Strategies of Small businesses to beat the competition/Covid situation in 2021

There are several strategies to beat the Covid situation or competition in 2021. Some of which are as follows:

  • Find and solve customer pain points- Small businesses must find what exactly a customer wants while using the product or service and it must also identify the pain points so that it can be solve by discussion. The focus of such businesses is to provide solutions to the issues faced by the customers.
  • Find a niche by storytelling and specialization– To achieve an ultimate goal, one needs to build a niche. Unique room has less room for competition and to build a niche, storytelling is a great way and specialization leads to a successful business.
  • Set competitive pricing- To beat a competition, small business must offer more affordable pricing and offer them best value. A competition-based pricing strategies need to be adopted to beat competition.
  • Change business to step ahead of competition- The traditional model needs to be changed by the small businesses. Small business must need to identify that business model which can be changed easily to beat the competition.
  • Provide customer service– Customer service is a great way to enhance loyalty among customers. If a customer remains happy then, it can avail more products and services of same brand from same businessman. For providing customer service, a customer care team should be formed which can provide better services to the customers.

Wrapping up

Small businesses find difficulty in competing with their rivals especially in Covid 19 situation but such businesses are unique, innovative and can easily cater to the needs of people. Through the strategies that are discussed above, small businesses can easily beat the competition. There are several business lessons that small business learn in this pandemic situation like not to be afraid from trying something new and innovative, Focusing on online business, Providing customer services, Building the brand and of course prepare for uncertainties.

Also Read: MCA recently introduced new form AGILE-PRO-S

Neelansh Gupta is a dedicated Lawyer and professional having flair for reading & writing to keep himself updated with the latest economical developments. In a short span of 2 years as a professional he has worked on projects related to Drafting, IPR & Corporate laws which have given him diversity in work and a chance to blend his subject knowledge with its real time implementation, thus enhancing his skills.

About us

LegalWindow.in is a professional technology driven platform of multidisciplined experts like CA/CS/Lawyers spanning with an aim to provide concrete solution to individuals, start-ups and other business organisation by maximising their growth at an affordable cost.

Ask an Expert

More from our blog