Business Websites: Operating During A Pandemic

The spread of the coronavirus worldwide has added unforeseen challenges for most entrepreneurs and their businesses. With social distancing measures in place, fewer people have been leaving their homes—especially for non-essential trips. In some areas, local or national government officials may even order brick and mortar stores to shut down their operations. The disease has thrown multiple business plans off course, leaving teams forced to change their strategies in order to adapt to the crisis. Don’t let the coronavirus pandemic stop your business. Take it online with your website. After all, websites have become a staple for businesses throughout the years for the abundance of functionalities you can integrate into them. They serve as crucial tools for marketing, brand awareness, and customer service. Furthermore, they’re designed uniquely and specifically for each business’ target audience, and more importantly, are able to accommodate clients round the clock.

Here are a few ways websites can help you stay afloat during a crisis:

Providing An Online Catalog

Business websites are the perfect place for displaying all the products you offered in-store. Once it’s fully set up, your customers can continue their shopping while staying at home. After all, there are some COVID-19 gear and supplies guides created specifically focusing on getting through the pandemic. It’s worth taking them as a critical factor that affects your target audience’s consumption habits and adjusting your operations accordingly.

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Electronic Payments

Unlike physical stores, where people can simply window shop as they go pass by, your business’ website can offer a different experience. In most cases, when your audience continually browses through your product pages, they may be considering purchasing an item. Keep in mind that there are a few pros and cons to accepting online payments on your website. However, most businesses offer this option for the convenience it offers to both parties. This way, clients will not need to call customer service representatives who take their orders one at a time. On the other end, this leaves the business more time to work on multiple tasks at once. And with the popularity of e-commerce even before the pandemic, your team will undoubtedly be able to maximize this feature.

Automation

At the end of the day, when you’ve sent your goods off to be delivered, you’ll still need a thorough record of how many are remaining in your warehouse. Keep in mind that the bigger your business is, the more inefficient and impractical it would be to manually update all your products’ records. This is where your website comes in handy. Have the web development team in the Philippines you’re working with add a Point of Sales (POS) System to it.

First of all, this now makes your business’ website act as a tool that helps you track your inventory sales levels. Beyond that, you can then use the data it records as a guide to help you forecast future market trends. For example, when you notice that the coronavirus has influenced your products’ demands, you can contact your suppliers ahead of time to replenish your stocks before they run out. This also allows you to minimize the impacts of encountering any unexpected delays.

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Publicizing Statements

Given the uncertain times, your clients will be looking for transparency and clarity now more than ever. Dedicate a section of your website to answer the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) you’ve been getting. Address a few concerns like the changes in office hours or the lack thereof due to the coronavirus pandemic. Alternatively, publish an entire webpage or article that details all the changes you’ve made to adapt to the current situation. This is especially important for businesses in industries that focus on essential products and services like food service establishments, housing or rent, and public utilities. Keep your patrons well informed in order to enable them to stay prepared at all times as well.

Explore Other Alternatives While Your Business Website Is In Development

Redeploy your employees to online tasks. Have them transition to becoming digital influencers. Engage with your brand’s social media followers to maximize your online presence and be seen as a highly responsive brand. Start a customer loyalty program or offer discounts. Send out special promo codes through your segmented email mailing list. Provide them incentives for maintaining their regular purchasing habits. At the same time, use this as an opportunity to gain new customers that may just become long-term loyal patrons.

Source: pexels.com

Moreover, make sure you also keep an eye out for both short-term and long-term trends. While both can help you stay afloat now, long-term trends may also be incorporated into your business plans for the future. Understand that different industries will take varying amounts of time to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. However, incorporating a business website into your current operations may significantly help you stay afloat throughout the crisis.

About Adam Tan

Adam is a charming geek who loves his family's Siberian Husky, enjoys the occasional night out with friends and, most of all, lives and breathes new trends and updates about the web and its technicalities. If you want to stay updated with changes or new trends on the web or learn about the technicalities that are involved, he's your guy. He's capable of writing cheesy stuff as well, but he'd rather stick with the manly stuff.

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