Since the sudden onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the business landscape has been transformed dramatically. With the highly contagious virus lurking everywhere, human and in-person interactions have to be minimized, affecting many businesses worldwide.
This change has been difficult, especially for businesses which have been operating in a primarily brick and mortar model. For businesses which are considering digitizing your business, here are some ways you can adapt your business.
For businesses that deal with the trading of goods, e-commerce is definitely necessary for them to maintain interaction with their customers. There are several avenues to choose how to embark on your e-commerce business, depending on your goals and commitment.
Firstly, the business can choose to have their own website and online presence. This allows the company to control every aspect of the user interaction, providing them with a wealth of first person data from customers, giving the company an insight into the customer behaviour. This option would be more effective for an established business with brand awareness as there will be sufficient customers visiting its website for it to be economical to control its brand and customer data. You can either engage a web developer to build your website or use companies like Shopify and Wix to build your website. These platforms have made building your website highly intuitive and you’ll be able to create your own website and storefront within a day. Shopify even helps to manage your inventory and sales so that you can focus more on your branding and other operations.
Alternatively, if you just want to have an online presence to sell your products without too much focus on building your brand, you can choose to set up an account as a vendor on e-commerce platforms such as Shopee and Lazada. All you have to do is to sign up as a seller and add the products which you wish to sell. The e-commerce platforms will even supply logistics providers for your choosing to handle the delivery process, making it easier to sell online.
For those F&B businesses, with the on-off dining restrictions in Singapore, delivery and takeaway orders have become essential to keeping the business afloat. Businesses can choose from the many food delivery platforms (Grabfood, Deliveroo, Foodpanda) to provide delivery services to their customers. Every transaction fulfilled via the food delivery platforms will result in a transaction fee imposed on the business. In exchange, the food delivery platform will arrange for their own delivery riders to deliver the food to the customers. This helps businesses to generate additional revenue to cover their fixed cost e.g. rent, especially with the dining restrictions.
For those businesses with a loyal customer base, it could be more valuable to have their own website. There are many service providers e.g. Takeaway.com.sg and Qashier etc. that can help you to set up your online website and ordering system. This system will handle the ordering, the payments and is highly customizable to your business needs. With this, you would be able to save on the transaction fee from listing on food delivery platforms but you would need to have your own delivery provider. However, as having your own website is not mutually exclusive with listing on a food delivery platform, you could effectively do both so as to maximise revenue.
For those businesses involved in providing services, creating an online presence is a simpler affair. As most services are tailored to the customer needs and payment is usually made after the service is performed, there is no requirement for an online order and payment system to be integrated into your website. Instead, the business can provide a list of services with an estimated price range and also an avenue for customers to contact the business or book an appointment. Website builders like Wix can embed a booking function into your website for customers to book an appointment which will in turn notify you.
As the world gradually transits into an online world, more and more information is stored and found online, including information on businesses. Nowadays, customers are increasingly savvy, often researching thoroughly about a business before engaging their services or purchasing their products. And guess what? Most of this research is being carried out online.
With information easily accessible nowadays, potential consumers sieve through other customer reviews, compare pricing and features between other competitors before arriving at their final decision. A big determining factor of whether a consumer ultimately purchases your product or service is trust. Since there is no in-person interaction with the potential customer, there is little chance of earning his or her trust through an online setting. Instead, businesses can build trust by getting its existing customers to vouch for them either through leaving positive reviews or testimonials. This sends a message to other potential customers that the business is trustworthy as there are other satisfied customers who have engaged their business before.
If you are a relatively new business starting out and do not have an existing big base of customers to leverage on, you can instead opt to earn customers’ trust through Key Opinion Leaders (“KOLs”). KOLs are usually influencers on social media who have established themselves as an expert on a field through the content which they have created. F&B restaurants can invite KOLs to dine at their new restaurant and write a review online. This will generate buzz for the business and a good review will market the restaurant and drum up business. If enough customers visit, they can then influence their own networks through social media or word of mouth, generating more customers and business.
Similarly, for companies with a new product on the market, they can send a free sample to the KOL for their review and rely on the KOL’s network for business instead. To increase the authenticity of the KOL’s opinion and review of your product/service, they should not be paid to write a positive review on your product/service. Although this may sound risky, this will amplify their followers’ trust in your product/service if the KOL gives an honest and positive review.
Besides the major digital transformations mentioned above, there are some small tweaks and changes a business can make to its operations to take advantage of the advancement in technology.
1) QR Code / PayNow
With the new QR Code PayNow technology, receiving payment from customers can be a breeze. You simply have to print a QR code on your invoice to be billed to your customers. You can request the QR code from your corporate bank. If your customers have digital banking, they can scan the QR code to make payment to you. Upon scanning the code, the bank account and bank account name would have been pre-filled. They would only have to key in the amount to pay. This prevents any unnecessary human errors in keying in the bank account numbers. Furthermore, PayNow results in immediate fund transfer as opposed to cheques. This reduces the amount of cash being held in working capital and frees up more cash for your business needs.
2) Chatbots
Millenials and Gen Zs often want immediate answers in today’s world and do not want to wait around. Having a chatbot on your website to address visitors’ queries will help to retain their attention and potentially convert the visitor to a paying customer. There are many companies such as Botsy and PandoraBots helping to provide chatbots. They can help you to integrate the chatbots into your website and are highly customizable. For the best customer service experience, you should provide an escalation option for visitors to talk to a human operator should the chatbot be unable to address the queries. This prevents any frustration of the visitor from building up and hence, any negative feelings associated with your brand.
3) Cloud-based technologies
Utilising cloud-based technologies allows your business to tap on the latest technologies without investing a big amount of money into IT infrastructure. This is because cloud-based technologies are usually billed on a monthly or yearly basis, also known as Software as a Service (“Saas”). An example of one such technology would be Zoom. Zoom allows people who are in different geographical locations to connect and share their screens. This is especially useful in today’s world whereby social distancing is encouraged and remote working is now the norm. Through Zoom, you can stay in touch with your people while adhering to safe workplace management measures.
With the rise of technology affecting all aspects of business operations, businesses have to adapt to survive in the everchanging business environment. If you're keen to learn more on how to digitize your business, drop us a message below and we would be glad to help!