Small business brands, both well-established names and newcomers, will be required to adjust, adapt, adopt, and pivot their operations to get on the right side of trends erupting from the pandemic. As even before the virus, many consumer brands were struggling to create unit growth.

A slew of new-business trends have been turbocharged, including:

1. Digital technology use for purchasing, marketing, scaling — “digital transformation”
2. A proliferation of eCommerce sites — businesses have had to move their sales online
3. Impact of Millennial and Generation Z purchasing habits
4. More health-conscious eating and living
5. Explosion and increase of brand competition
6. Physical store footprint squeeze — having to take social distancing into consideration
7. Pricing pressures, increased discounting, innovative pricing packages

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed price sensitivity to new levels…

Consumer values are shifting as they seek brands that are special, different, and authentic. As a result, they prefer purpose-driven brands that understand their lives, needs, wants, and pain points. Therefore, this will force all brands to pivot as consumer demands for value and relevance accelerate.

Small brands need to confront these challenges by rethinking their “where we play” strategy. That is to day, a strategy that embraces a digital transformation in marketing, sales, and operations. Furthermore, you must understand your customers and share in their values. Pairing this with superior performance is essential for building brand equity. Above all, innovation is crucial to retain your brand’s competitive position as marketing becomes much more audience specific.

In addition, small businesses must be very disciplined and careful about spending. They must focus on supply chain and operations which are the essentials for scaling. As direct-to-consumer (D2C) delivering becomes more prevalent, the new business model must be target-market focused to maximize brand relevance. In other words, put yourselves in your target market shoes — how have their needs and pain points changed?

Recovery is Now or Never

The current and post COVID-19 pandemic world will be different in many ways. However, in order to survive recovery, all businesses will need to adjust and amplify their operations to compete.

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