{"id":2449,"date":"2022-02-01T10:57:04","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T14:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skypointfcu.com\/wph\/workarea\/?p=2449"},"modified":"2022-03-16T15:32:59","modified_gmt":"2022-03-16T19:32:59","slug":"these-small-business-pandemic-trends-are-here-to-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skypointfcu.com\/wph\/workarea\/blog\/these-small-business-pandemic-trends-are-here-to-stay\/","title":{"rendered":"These Small-Business Pandemic Trends Are Here to Stay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When the pandemic hit, Carolina Sanchez-Hervas had to make some big changes to her small business. Limited by government restrictions, her company CSH Translations, which provides live interpretation for court cases, began offering virtual services to support clients whose needs couldn\u2019t wait. While the transition was challenging at first, it helped her company grow in unexpected ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Operating virtually, \u201cyou can work with talent from all over,\u201d Sanchez-Hervas says. \u201cI can find the best Italian translator and not just the one that\u2019s close to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s one of many small-business owners who have embraced pandemic-era trends for the long haul \u2014 not just to adapt to public health guidelines, but to diversify and grow revenue. As the pandemic passes the two-year mark, here are three trends that are here to stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going virtual<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How it started: <\/strong>For small businesses offering professional services, social-distancing requirements made daily operations difficult or impossible. To keep cash flow moving, some companies transitioned to virtual services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before going virtual, \u201cwe were all in a closed room for eight hours with no mask or anything,\u201d Sanchez-Hervas says, \u201cI think everyone has had to kind of adapt because it wasn\u2019t an option to do in person\u201d anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to TD Bank, a quarter of small-business owners who modified operations during 2020 transitioned to virtual options like video conferencing appointments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why it\u2019s sticking:<\/strong> Going virtual \u201copens a lot of doors and possibilities,\u201d Sanchez-Hervas says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Sanchez-Hervas\u2019 translation business not only offers a new service for virtual language lessons but also can hire the best candidates regardless of location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many small-business owners who have found that similar changes in their business models<\/a> have helped their companies grow are likely to continue with virtual services, as Sanchez-Hervas plans to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leveraging social platforms<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How it started: <\/strong>In 2020, Stephanie and Kevin Lin, siblings and co-founders of the clothing brand Kestan, had to close their storefront temporarily due to lockdown orders. During that time, they leaned into social media to connect with customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where we started to see a lot of changes,\u201d Kevin says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephanie began posting about how she selected designs for their store and used the Instagram Live feature to interact with followers while she sketched potential ideas. The new strategy paid off, and Kestan started receiving orders from across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that the nature of the relationship between brands and consumers is kind of getting a bit closer these days,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I absolutely love that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why it\u2019s sticking: <\/strong>A mid-2020 survey by GWI, a global marketing research company, showed that 47% of internet users typically used social media to discover new brands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPre-pandemic, people sort of thought that social media was a nice-to-have,\u201d says Elyse Flynn Meyer, owner of Prism Global Marketing Solutions, a digital marketing company specializing in inbound marketing. \u201cIt\u2019s really a need-to-have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Embracing online sales<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How it started: <\/strong>As public health guidelines encouraged more people to stay at home, many small businesses that used to rely on in-person sales quickly moved online. Seeking these alternative sales channels was a quick lesson for brick-and-mortar shops. Among businesses that started accepting online payments<\/a> in 2020, 52% started doing so between February and April, according to the payment platform Square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the growth continued. In the U.S., e-commerce grew 3.3 times faster in 2020 than it had on average during the previous five years, according to a 2021 McKinsey Global Institute Analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no longer e-commerce. It is commerce,\u201d says Justin Bauer, senior vice president of product at Amplitude, a digital optimization company. \u201cIt is all about that digital experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online shopping rose about 47% in the earliest months of the pandemic, according to a 2021 study by Amplitude. It peaked last summer, says Bauer, and has plateaued at a level that he anticipates will be a new e-commerce baseline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why it\u2019s sticking: <\/strong>After nearly two years of online shopping, consumers have become comfortable with the convenience of ordering from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConsumers are increasingly telling us that they are not going to be changing their behaviors,\u201d says Jeni Mundy, the global head of merchant sales and acquiring at Visa. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve heard from small businesses is that these changes are here to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online sales<\/a> have also become a major revenue stream for some businesses. A Visa study revealed that small businesses that had e-commerce channels brought in more than half of their earnings from online sales in the last quarter of 2021. It expects these trends to hold given consumer expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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