When inflation exceeds double-digit, the customers are in the same situation as small business owners. According to Arif Habib Limited, average inflation in the first quarter of FY23 stood at 25.11 per cent, compared with 8.58 per cent in FY22.

Small and medium-sized companies will undoubtedly witness a decline in income due to the slowdown in the consumer spending. Inflation has reached its highest level in 40 years and the revenues have failed to keep pace with the rising living costs. A decline in the customers’ spending is brutal for a small business.

While every company despises recession, this reality is, especially concerning for small businesses. Preparing and having a strategy are the keys to surviving a business slowdown.

What you can do to increase sales

In today’s inflationary market, a slowdown in spending and the resulting stagnation in profitability may be unavoidable. Still, you have total control over how your company responds to this issue.

Running a company necessitates being ready for whatever is thrown at you. The good news is that solutions are available to help you survive a recession and emerge stronger than before.

It is more crucial than ever for the businesses to remain top-of-mind with the consumers by continuing to the market even when spending is down. It is typical for everyone to experience some amount of pain during a recession. Because of all the upheaval, it’s easy to lose the sight of a company’s objectives.

Maintaining some degree of marketing activity, even limited, is critical for keeping your company’s name in front of the consumers and prospective purchasers. If sponsored advertising brings in clients, I recommend limiting your marketing budget rather than eliminating it. As a result, you may re-ramp up later rather than having to re-optimise and construct a conversion channel from the ground up.

Modernising how you communicate with the customers and prospects is essential. I suggest showing them how much of a difference you can make in their lives, particularly in the present economic circumstances. This kind of branding keeps your firm in front of them in a way that demonstrates your concern for them and their predicament.

The next piece of advice is to present yourself in your best light constantly. Ensure your branding remains compelling and consistent across all platforms. Your social network platforms, website and printed promotional materials are all fair game. Keep it immaculate, well-lit and friendly if you own a physical institution.

Think out-of-the-box to improve your pricing methods.

Differentiating your products from the competition through innovative pricing tactics may boost sales and income. I recommend offering incentives to both new and returning customers. If you run a physical shop, lower your pricing during idle periods. The clients will spend more money on your products if the plans are successfully implemented and they will gain more value from those purchases. Add value to the package with additional features.

The consumers feel like they are receiving a bonus, especially when saving money. Almost every product or service might profit from including a value-added accessory or something that doesn’t make much money but helps sell more of your core offerings. Combining complimentary commodities may raise the perceived worth of your most popular items.

In these times of slow trade, I feel that link growth is much more important than ever. Please get to know your customers more personally and express gratitude to them. The people are more eager to do business with you when times are tough if you had already developed trust and rapport with them. A drop in the business is the best opportunity to contact prior customers. You may contact them again by sending a simple email, inquiring how things have been going since your last conversation. Include a short synopsis of your most recent successes and a link to a related blog post. They’ll be glad that you checked up on them and could even get some money out of it.

Every consumer loyalty programme has the same aim: a primary punch card or a complicated point system. You keep track of what clients purchase and reward them with freebies or price cuts if they are loyal.

The customers respond by continuing to purchase with you until they get the reward. You may promote repeat business and new clients to buy from you by giving special incentives to the previous customers or implementing a formal incentive programme. If a customer usually spends 100, giving them 30 off on a 200 transaction may enhance your sales.

Conversion rate optimisation

Using conversion rate optimisation (CRO) to increase rates on your e-commerce site might quadruple your revenues from the online visitors. More visitors will join your conversion funnel if your CRO is effective, raising the possibility that they will purchase from you. Continuous optimisation is the most efficient way to increase CRO.

(The writer is an Edtech expert)