By Rohan A T
Over the last couple of months, the world has been in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic. World nations have been working round the clock to make sure that the epidemic is brought under control as soon as possible. The outbreak of the virus has had a major impact on global trade and the world economy in general. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had to revise their global GDP growth estimate from 3.3 percent to 3 percent which is a scenario that is unheard of since the great depression in the 1930s. Businesses from almost all the various industry strata have faced the brunt of the economic impact which was caused by the spread of the coronavirus. Economic experts have unanimously pointed out that, businesses around the globe will face difficulties to get things back to normal post pandemic.
Manufacturing and sales of almost all the products excluding essential materials have faced a steep decline which has also adversely affected the retail and supply chain domain. Industry experts believe that going digital will help companies to bounce back from this situation and Peter Ballem, Executive VP of the TMI group said “Selling has to go digital in BFSI sector with lots of restrictions on face to face selling that are likely to come up. Fortunately, customers have adapted to an increasingly online world. Salespersons will have no choice but adopt digital selling which will require some unlearning and relearning.” While there are various advantages of going digital with your sales, in this time of desperation, digitalizing sales can also go a long way in helping your company find its feet in the post pandemic market scenario.
1. Avoiding Face to Face Contact: As mentioned earlier, no one knows what restrictions will prevail post pandemic and social distancing can still be a thing for some more time. While offline sales will have major limitations with this, digitalizing your sales will at least ensure that the company will not have to worry about facing a major decline in their sales just because of social distancing. Going digital will also help the customers to purchase products without having to fear the probability of coming into contact with the virus.
2. Reducing Intermediary Costs: Intermediary expenses amount to a major chunk of the expenses when it comes to selling their products. In the current context where businesses are facing various financial challenges amidst the coronavirus outbreak, reducing these intermediary expenses will help companies to acquire better financial stability. By digitalizing your sales, your company is not just generating more sales but it is also being more cost-efficient when it comes to making those sales.
3. Greater Flexibility: When it comes to selling goods during a lockdown, no one knows what is going to happen next. So, by digitalizing your sales, companies can take out the losses that can happen due to this unpredictability to a certain extent. Also, online sales will allow manufacturers to produce goods according to the demand and not manufacture goods to just fill up the retail shelves. By supplying goods to meet the customers demand, organizations can also avoid over-production or under-production. Optimizing your production according to the need in the market, will also help businesses to avoid unnecessary production expenses.
4. Formulating Productive Marketing Strategies: Digitalizing your sales will also allow companies to create more effective marketing strategies to attract customers. During these lockdown days, there is a limit to offline marketing strategies that companies can undertake and with the prevailing scenario even if organizations are able to pull off those strategies no one can really predict whether it will have the desired result. While in the digital realm, companies can make optimal use of their time and come up with various innovative digital marketing strategies at a fraction of a cost and get the attention of the consumers which can translate into better sales.
The list doesn’t end here but these are some of the most important reasons why digitalizing your sales during the coronavirus outbreak will help you to create a solid business platform that your company can use to prepare themselves for the post pandemic business environment.