More than four in five small business owners (81%) have made key changes to their business and services in order to prepare for the economic uncertainty in the months ahead, according to new research from Hitachi Capital Business Finance.
The poll of 1,447 explored what small businesses were doing nationally to adapt – with a specific look at how family-run enterprises and start-up firms were adapting.
Disruptive versus traditional businesses
Family-run businesses were significantly more likely to focus on the physical workplace. These businesses were most likely to have adapted the layout of their work premises to comply with PHE guidelines than the average small business (29%). Family business owners were also more likely than the national average to have:
- re-skilled and retrained their staff (25% versus 20% on average);
- introduced new competitive pricing or promotional offers for their clients (24% versus 19% on average);
- simplified product lines / focus on areas of core strength (20% versus 17% nationally).
In contrast, bosses of tech start-ups took a different approach, being more focused on expansion. One in ten had pulled out of unprofitable overseas markets (10%) switching work to countries where there were new business opportunities (14%). Other priority areas included:
- launching new products and services that were responsive to the current market (22%);
- picking up business from bigger brands that were suffering (14%).
Looking at the national picture, the research suggests that investing more heavily in digital capabilities and making adjustments to the workplace were the key considerations for the average business.
Digital capabilities
Overall, 27% of respondents said they were now spending more time talking to their existing clients through online platforms, with 25% saying they were looking to sell more goods and services through online channels, In addition, 21% of small businesses said they were investing more in digital marketing to reach new audiences.
Making adjustments to the workplace
One on four small business (25%) said they were busy adapting the layout of the workplace so staff could come back to work quickly and safely. Coupled with this, 20% of respondents were focusing on re-skilling and re-training staff to help the business better focus on new priorities.
Other steps being taken related to adapting the service offer and pricing to new market conditions:
- Introducing new competitive pricing / promotional offers (19%)
- Simplify product lines / focus on core strength (17%)
- Reinventing our service offer to respond to what people actually need (16%)
- Switching the focus to quality – and more premium services (15%)
- Picking up business from big brands that are in trouble / contracting (13%)
- Increasing work in overseas markets where there are exciting opportunities (12%)
- Pulling out of unprofitable overseas markets (9%)
Joanna Morris, Head of Marketing & Insight at Hitachi Capital Business Finance commented: “With businesses working at reduced capacity since the beginning of the outbreak, the majority of bosses have been forced to change many aspects of their business in order to stay afloat. What is striking from our research is the variance of approaches taken by quite different small businesses. They are drawn to the agility of the tech age, but it is noteworthy that the most traditional of enterprises are adapting too – just in a different way.
“There is no right way, there is not really a typical or average small business any more. At Hitachi Capital we are interested in understanding how different small business groups react differently to common challenges, as this gives us the basis to ensure we can help more small business to secure growth in the uncertain months ahead.”
