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In the last 4 months, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the world to come to a standstill. Almost 4 billion people all over the world were under some kind of lockdown because of this pandemic. Millions of business organizations lost customers and business opportunities, regardless of their industries.

At present, we are moving towards the initial “unlock” phases. The lockdown will be over too. However, considering the nature of the pandemic, a lot of things are going to change for businesses. Along with losing customers, the graph of revenue has hit an all-time low.

The new challenge right now is to gain customers. With the market reopening, reaching out to the customers has become the number one priority for the brands.

As much as we all want to get back to our normal lives, there will be a lot of changes in our lifestyle. The business brands will also have to come up with new strategies to adapt to the new conditions.

The government doesn’t have any other alternatives than to focus on the lives and livelihoods of the people. The primary challenge businesses will face is to restart their operations since a large section of our ecosystem is still in lockdown.

What could be the possible changes in customers/people?

People are not going to be the same after the lockdown ends. People will change and the changed behavior needs to be handled differently. Life will not be the same.

• There will be more compassionate and humanitarian requirements to deal with. Thus, businesses that are more humane will thrive and not the ones that focus too much on sales, performances, and promotions.
• It is important to combine performance with humanitarian activities. Moreover, businesses need to accept the fact that the way things used to work has changed now. Part of the reason why small and medium-sized companies will find it tough to bounce back is that the suppliers are not in good shape.
• The micro, small and medium enterprises were already facing major difficulties even before the lockdown. The COVID-19 acted as a double whammy.
• Online shopping has increased drastically. According to a survey by Janrise, a Hyderabad-based communication firm, 60% of people are in strong favor of online shopping. 49% of them said that they are not going to visit a mall in the future.
• Another significant change in the e-commerce brands will be to rewrite the delivery policies and returns. The brands have to communicate the changes without offending or discouraging the existing customers.

For instance, the food delivery platforms like Swiggy and Zomato are going good jobs by sending out customized messages and updates assuring the users on the maintenance of hygiene and safety. It helps in building confidence among the customers.

What can businesses like retail, manufacturing & construction do to cope with the changing environment?

Right from getting their workers back to securing factories, every company is creating business continuity blueprints. Under such circumstances, almost every business organization needs to reconsider its product, promotion, service, and branding strategy.

• Automation is something that the majority of business organizations are looking for. There should be a balance between deploying people and utilizing machines/bots. Since the stakes are higher at present, even if a single employee is found to be infected, the entire operations unit has to be sealed.
• Almost every company is in the middle of “scenario planning”. Even if automation is on the minds, it is a long-term goal. A lot of companies are fixing the supply side. They are securing raw materials, managing up the costs, enhancing the workforce, and getting the workers back.
• Business sectors like construction and manufacturing, which are heavily dependent on manual labor, could face issues in bringing their workers back. Considering the non-essential goods, fixing the supply chain will not be easy either. In the cases where supplies are domestic, the companies need to micromanage the smaller suppliers.
• It is important to deploy a “people-first – economy-second” approach. Considering the economic consequences of under-utilized factories, manufacturing units, and operating units, the companies can start with 30% capacity while increasing the human resource power to 40-50% gradually.
• With a humane approach, it can help in securing the trust, not only amongst customers but among employees too. To get the manufacturers on their feet, Indian requires drivers to move raw materials and goods.
• The segment of drivers has been massively impacted by this pandemic. Not only the drivers, getting back the migrant laborers to the workplace will require compassion and care. For the electronics and hardware manufacturing business, the immediate challenge is to ensure social distancing norms on the operational floors.
• With fewer people on the operations, it becomes difficult to run everything smoothly. Also, it will increase costs. In the retail industry, a huge number of stores are established in shopping malls.
• This is the time to train the staff to be sensitive towards the visitors. It is important to understand their body language whether they are comfortable or not. Brands like Panasonic have used the lockdown period to get its retail sales staff prepared and enhance their skill.

How can businesses like e-commerce and online stores cope with the changing scenario?

• Businesses need to look for diversification from B2C to B2B segments. Build the digital ordering infrastructure. There are a lot of startup app developers who can rapidly create and launch a branded mobile app at a modest expense.
• This is the time to build the app, install store shelving, and create marketing collateral. Thus, when your offline store reactivates, on the very first day you will be launching your online ordering platform as well. Make the most of SEO with the help of professionals during this pandemic to increase website ranking.
• For online delivery stores, this is the time to reassess the menu. Identify the opportunities for the items that are designed for a new environment. Find out which consumers could be reluctant to dine in, launch catering items packed individually, or offer “grab n go” lunch boxes.
• An online business can plan activation events for new revenue channels. For instance, Blackwood BBQ invested in hand-painted signs, tents, and lights for launching a new pop-up drive-through operation. For building awareness in the community, they created a promotional launch day that will raise money for the #feedfirstresponders program.
• This is the time to optimize COGS (cost of goods sold). The pressure on occupancy and labor expenses will become greater in the post-COVID-19 scenario. Making all the possible strategic changes in the menu, pricing, packaging, and portioning will bring the COGS in line.
• Communicating with your employees is a key aspect. Amidst the uncertainty, you cannot leave your employees out of the loop. Phone calls work better than emails. It makes them feel secured.

In conclusion, it can be said that the whole planning process is going to change. Most companies used to quarterly or monthly planning of demand. Now is the time for weekly planning and assessment of the situation. Large companies have more complications because of a lot of products and services.

One thing that remains certain is, as we exit the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses will be moving towards a new “normal”. This is the time to reassess their online marketing, branding, and operational strategies to re-establish themselves amidst their customers.