Businesses turn to other means of income to boost post pandemic recovery
The pandemic has clearly left its mark on business globally. The majority have noticed a certain shift in trade. Those in the travel and hospitality sectors would have seen a nasty downturn which they’re not starting to slowly recover from, while businesses like Amazon prospered like never before. The shockwaves sent ensured that many businesses were scrabbling for more income. It led to them seeking other areas where they can make some money. Whether transitioning their business to target a different demographic, or looking at a different niche altogether. Here are some of the other ways businesses have looked to pull in that all important extra income.
Property boost
Property prices have soared. Driven in the main by first time buyers who have managed to save up a decent chunk of cash due to the many lockdowns since the pandemic began. The huge increase means a lot of businesses are taking a bite of the pie. John Lewis, a chain of premium department stores, recently revealed plans to get into properly and create ten thousand homes to rent out. It creates a knock on effect too, with business owners buying and renting out expensive property leading to an upsurge in the need for property management across the country. Certain analysts have voiced their concerns that the property bubble will surely burst, but it hasn’t stopped many business owners from trying to hedge themselves against any future loss by investing in property. Some, on the other hand, have sold properly off. With prices at a high, many have sold up with the intention of having their staff work permanently from home resulting in an immediate cash boost which can be used to help them ride out the last few months of covid uncertainty.
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The transition to takeaway
The restaurant business was hit particularly hard, while the demand for takeaway food services increased. Although restaurants are now open in the main, many transitioned to a takeaway service during the worse times of covid. Some have kept this element of their business open as it proved to be a lucrative stream of extra funds. Especially as in most cases the restaurant wouldn’t need to deliver food themselves but would rely on a business like UberEats to handle the delivery aspect. Many restaurants sustained themselves using this method during the hard times over the pandemic and have clung to it to boost their recovery now things are slowly returning back to normal.
Businesses are trying new promotions
Many businesses are trying out more alluring promotions than before to try and bring customers into their networks. Some have tried utilising discounted product giveaways while others have turned their attention to TV ads. One such example is that of Peloton, who dumped huge amounts of cash into TV ads with the intention of capturing people who could no longer go to the gym but who wanted to exercise at home. Differentiating ads is a good way to pull in more business income, but many businesses have turned to ads themselves. If they have a decent amount of search traffic but a slowing conversion rate, jumping on the Adsense of Ezoic ad networks can help bring in more income. It might not be something worth doing long term, but short term the ad revenue can be a nice little boost until things return to normal for the business.
More research into grants
There are still a myriad of grants available for businesses in different situations. The furlough scheme is winding down, but there are still some business grants available for those needing cash injections. Many are offered by the government, such as its flagship research and development grant. However, there are many private grants for small businesses which are increasingly being tapped into. It isn’t a method of long term support, neither is it genuine income, but it’s a way to help balance the books and keep the business above water until the recovery is in full flow.
The turn to pertinent products
Many businesses have changed their product range accordingly. For some the shift was easy depending on their set up. An example is in many businesses offering facemasks to the public where they didn’t before. It’s a case of looking at suppliers and weighing them up against each other, such as Aliexpress Vs Alibaba. Smaller businesses might have found this harder because quickly transitioning can be expensive, however offering alternate and popular products have helped many businesses out in these tough times. Many businesses have stayed the course through the initial periods of recovery with the intention to keep the new products they’ve sold over the pandemic.
