So, You’ve Had To Close Your Retail Shop In The Short Term – All Is Not Lost
It’s a scary time for us all, but there are a few things you can do if you’ve had to close your store. The government is providing assistance to small business and we firstly would recommend that you jump online and see what support is available to you. The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has resources available to you, visit them online https://www.victorianchamber.com.au/business-support/crisis-information/covid-19-coronavirus-resources or call them on 03 8662 5333 or contact DHS. Your accountant is alsoa good option, they should have information of what help, and support is available to you.
So, what next?
It’s time to try to think outside of the box………Can you continue to provide your services by going online? If you can, there are lots of free tools you can use, that can link to your POS, if you’re tech savvy to get you online. Or simply reach out to your website developer to help
you and see if they offer payment plans to help with cashflow.
Some other things to remember:
Website / Business Listings:
If your business is listed online it’s important to jump into these listings and update your details to show your current situation. Don’t forget about Google My Business – you can create an event to show you’ve shut your shop for the time being and make sure you update your website.
Existing Customers:
Reach out to your existing customer base, ask for their loyalty and perhaps offer them a discount or reward to buy now and shop later. Send regular updates and keep them across when you’re likely to re-open.
Social Media / Google:
Again, reach out to your online community and make the same offer to them. This is a wonderful opportunity to build on your social community online and provide your customers with opportunities to support you, if not now, in the future.
Gyms are live streaming classes for members at home, counsellors and coaches are live streaming sessions and some stores are live streaming from in-store to highlight new stock and styling advice. It’s time to get creative.
Google has just announced that they’ll be providing ad credits to small businesses who are running Google Ads, there are some conditions attached to this, but you can find out more at https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9803410?hl=en. If you’re outsourcing
this, talk to your ad agency. This isn’t something that will happen straight away, but Google are providing over $340million in ad credits worldwide to SMB’s.
Finally, reach out to your suppliers, landlords, banks and government agencies. We’re all in this together and if we help each other we’ll get to the other side.
