Creative ways businesses are staying open

[klmama]

I know several small business owners who are very worried about being able to continue in business.  They provide services, and those services aren't in high demand when people are broke, scared, or both.  

What new ways have you seen businesses expand in your area?  

[mommyoffive]

There is a website that sold boys and mens dance clothes.   We lots of studios shut down in March,  they started an online dance training for guys .   They usually hold a dance intensive over the summer.

[prairiewindmomma]

Our restaurants have pulled out seating onto parking lots and onto parking stalls in the street. More are also offering family style meals with pickup at the door (don't have to go inside).   Some are also selling meal prep kits--especially for bbqs. 

My favorite shoe store is offering curb-side picking AND fitting. They specialize in their fitting services.  They also limit the store to 2 customers, and you can set up private appointments.

Our local movie theater is offering private showings; you can book a theater for your group, up to 10 people (state law).

The local toy store has put together entertainment kits.  They have set up a matching donation program where you can either have your purchase matched or you can purchase a kit at a discounted rate to give directly to less advantaged families. (Lots of apartments and condos here, and kids stuck inside.)

A friend's gym put workouts onto Zoom, but opened the content up to everyone for certain classes.  People paid to join the gym online for other classes.

A hair salon is putting together custom color kits (based on your formula) with directions on how to dye at home. 

[prairiewindmomma]

I think this raises the point, which a lot of businesses haven't addressed, is that the poor are affected disproportionately by the pandemic.  Since most businesses target people with discretionary income and they haven't been hit as hard AND most businesses thrive by doing a value-add of services to the product that they are selling.....they should be looking at strengthening their online sales with delivery or curbside pickup or offering boutique style VIP in person services in limited numbers.

Right? Sephora does so well because they offer personal attention in color matching that is difficult to get elsewhere. Apple likewise has their genius bar for servicing their product and offering tutorials. The companies that have done well post-2008 recession are the ones that have figured out the value-ad. I think the current pandemic is going to accelerate that shift.

[ktgrok]

One restaurant, when they were still closed to dining, was doing a thing where you could buy raw ingredients, sauces, etc and cook the food yourself. I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to see more restaurants do that! Like put together meal kids like those subscription services, but local, using your favorite foods. 

[catz]

There was a little toy store putting together quarantine adventure baskets for different age ranges - curbside or delivery and doing live stream previews one day a week.  I thought that was very clever and seemed super popular.  

[73349]

Local bookstore offers free media mail shipping to your home, consulting on the phone, or private browsing in-store by appointment. They've always offered free gift wrapping year-round.

[medawyn]

Our local donut shop has turned into an all out farmers market.  In the space of two weeks, they pulled together a ton of small local farms and food stores, put together a website, and managed to coordinate twice a week pick up of goods.  It not only is helping them but also keeping other local businesses afloat.  I love supporting them.

[ashfern]

The school district that serves the karate studio where my son works is doing only online school. So, the studio is doing a program where the kids come and do their online school at the facility. It's an expansion of their normal after school program. Over the summer, when everything was closed, they did live online classes where one instructor demonstrated and the other was watching the kids to correct their technique.

[Bootsie]

On 8/5/2020 at 3:40 PM, prairiewindmomma said:

I think this raises the point, which a lot of businesses haven't addressed, is that the poor are affected disproportionately by the pandemic.  Since most businesses target people with discretionary income and they haven't been hit as hard AND most businesses thrive by doing a value-add of services to the product that they are selling.....they should be looking at strengthening their online sales with delivery or curbside pickup or offering boutique style VIP in person services in limited numbers.

Right? Sephora does so well because they offer personal attention in color matching that is difficult to get elsewhere. Apple likewise has their genius bar for servicing their product and offering tutorials. The companies that have done well post-2008 recession are the ones that have figured out the value-ad. I think the current pandemic is going to accelerate that shift.

Focusing on value added is definitely important for many business--in fact for any business that isn't in a commodity business.  If I am in a commodity industry, I can't really add value, I have low margins, and have to have a large volume to stay in business.  I may be pessimistic, but I think this is going to be increasingly difficult for business to do in this environment.  Groceries, for example, are extremely low margin, businesses.  Restaurants are much higher margin--I am not really buying food from a restaurant.  I am not willing to pay Restaurant X more for tomatoes than I am willing to pay may grocer.  I am willing to pay a restaurant to wash my dishes,  chop the tomatoes, refill my water glass, clean the pots and pans, unload the dishwasher, mop the floor, control inventory, and other tasks that I would have to do in my own kitchen.  Or, I am willing to pay the restaurant to have a table that seats 12 for a graduation party.  Or, I am willing to pay the restaurant to provide me a warm fish dish when my husband wants a steak and my daughter wants pasta.  I don't think over a longer period of time people will be willing to pay restaurant margins to get a box of food for a meal that they have to take the time to order, go pick up, take home, prepare, and clean up afterwards.  It is much less of a hassle for me to make one large trip to the grocery store and purchase ingredients for lots of meals and it is more compact for storage--not to say much cheaper.

I have a friend who has had a successful monogramming business.  She has always had a drop off/pick up location where she didn't have to personally interact with people.  She has been monogramming masks.  But she has had a huge downturn in business--people didn't go to graduation parties, so didn't get a monogrammed gift, people didn't get end-of-the-year gifts for teachers, people didn't get duffle bags monogrammed for camp, people aren't getting lunch bags monogrammed for back to school, teams aren't getting personalized baseball caps... Hearing her talk I really wonder how long some of these business may continue.  For a few weeks parents may go to the toy store and purchase some toys to get through the pandemic--but I don't think they will keep doing that,and they won't be buying a toy for the birthday party that their kids isn't getting invited to.  The local craft shops sold lots of fabric and elastic for people making masks early on--but now they aren't selling all of the sorority big sister/little sister gifts as college rush isn't happening and won't sell homecoming materials, etc.  

 

[JustEm]

4 hours ago, ashfern said:

The school district that serves the karate studio where my son works is doing only online school. So, the studio is doing a program where the kids come and do their online school at the facility. It's an expansion of their normal after school program. Over the summer, when everything was closed, they did live online classes where one instructor demonstrated and the other was watching the kids to correct their technique.

This is what my kids' martial arts studio has done/is doing.  I don't actually know how well they are doing with it. They made it through the last recession just barely.  I hope they survive this.