Innovative businesses thriving, traditional businesses fall short during COVID
Photo by Burak K from Pexels
When the world was put into lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses scrambled to find what services could be put into effect, and how marketing could be changed to make the most of it during newly-remote work landscape. Innovative businesses including marketing agencies, eCommerce, and logistics companies were able to take full advantage of the opportunities that the virus has brought, while many companies that were unwilling to change have shuttered their doors for good. Businesses that were branded as innovative pre-COVID lockdown have simply risen to the challenges, as apparent by a variety of businesses. Examples of thriving businesses include Contra Vision which continually innovates as they supply perforated window vinyl options to other companies. Amazon is another key example of a huge business that responds quickly to changes and is able to innovate rapidly.
When you look at businesses that have succeeded during the last four months, they did not wait until 2020 to be innovative. Contra Vision, as the example used earlier, was an early revolutionary of physical marketing, but the initial objective was simply to increase the accessibility of a squash game. Yes, a squash game, and with that, their initial invention turned rapidly into a global advertising phenomenon. Why? The business saw the opportunity and grew and innovated on it. They did not stop there; as the world evolved, so did their products. Another example of that is the huge eCommerce player in the field: Amazon. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is known for referencing that when his customers leave Amazon to purchase another product elsewhere that it is motivating to change the process and services that Amazon offers. Love it or hate it, Amazon has proven to be incredibly innovative over the last twenty years as they transitioned from simply being an online bookstore to supplying nearly anything an average consumer could want. While eBay has continued to survive, Amazon was able to trounce the once huge eCommerce player by continually evolving and innovating. It does not matter how huge or how small a business is, it needs to be innovative and problem-solving from the moment they open their doors.
It could be that argued that smaller businesses have more opportunity to be innovative and move more quickly, especially when there are fewer cogs in the wheel to move. A close-knit group of five or eight people can move mountains, especially when every voice is heard. However, money makes the world go round. While smaller businesses might be able to move faster since there are fewer people to wrangle, bigger corporations have no excuses since they can literally pay for changes to occur. In the end, innovative companies will grow and thrive, while companies unwilling to change will simply survive or begin to crumble. While the COVID pandemic has been a giant reset button for businesses, it’s also highlighted the realities that businesses that are creative and innovative who are willing to stray from the traditional course will outlast the ones who favor sticking to the traditional.
