The Effects of Lockdown on Business
With lockdown coming to an end, we’ve had some time to reflect on what we’ve achieved as a business during this time. The term ‘achievement’, however, means something completely different as to what it did pre-pandemic. Simply surviving and keeping a steady client base is the new achieving, especially for the creative industry.
As a company, we’re all well versed to remote working and so fortunately working from home during lockdown hasn’t affect our day to day running. But being isolated as a team always poses problems. From low staff morale, to rubbish Post Office wifi cutting off team calls, lockdown has certainly not been easy.
The key to surviving in such a time is adaptation. Understanding what our consumers needed (in our instance, a surge in e-commerce websites) and gearing our marketing to this was key to ensuring a flow of new clients during this pandemic. Adapting for retail brands meant a fast turnaround in setting up an online shop, if they didn’t have one already. Adapting for restaurants and pubs meant setting up a takeaway business to make sure they were still providing for their customers and preparing for gradual reopening.
Despite the best efforts of some businesses, COVID-19 has close to destroyed their chances of economical recovery. The arts, as a prime example, is suffering a massive hit as theatres are closed indefinitely and actors are unable to rehearse or perform together because of social distancing measures. At such a time it’s important we support each other, and support the struggling industries that are given little chance to adapt.