With the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses had to shift to the online market.
Darren Chapman is an economics professor at Fanshawe College, and this is what he had to say about companies having to shift online. “Their availability to the customer has been severely limited through shutdowns and provincial orders and federal orders. And so, the only way that they can keep their revenue going is to continue to sell. And it appears that the only market that is available to them now is through the virtual markets rather than on bricks and mortar. So, clearly those companies in order to stay viable have to change their way of doing business.”
“You know everyone says that the online stores that’s where it’s at. But in our experience, that’s not where we make our money. But we’ve had to adapt. It’s what you have to do,” said Ashley Boyce, the owner of Style Encore London which is a gently used clothing boutique.
Style Encore London. Photo taken by Victoria Newman/ XFM News.
Boyce highlighted how the pandemic has had many impacts on her business. She had to let go almost all of her employees- it is just her and one other person, she is doing a lot of extra work to put her merchandise online to try to gain some sales and market her business for when she re-opens. But even with all that extra work, her sales are still down.
“I would say they’re not great. I mean they’re ok. They’re keeping one employee here and helping toward our rent. But it’s not anything like before. Like I would say that the majority of our customers prefer to come in store and kind of see and feel and look at everything. But our hands are tied. We don’t really have any other option. So, it’s better than nothing,” she said when discussing the shift to online only shopping.
As Chapman pointed out, “some stores will survive but a lot of them won’t.” This is because for a lot of smaller businesses and mom and pop shops “the cost of staying open in a virtual environment make it very difficult.” As well as there are some businesses that simply cannot go virtual such as hair salons.
But as if it was not enough that businesses are struggling so are some individuals. “For folks that can’t afford to buy online or don’t have credit cards, and there’s a pile of people out there that don’t, you know they are shut out of a particular market, right? So, then that means that it’s much harder for them to get their basic needs looked after. And then I also look also at the other end of the spectrum, the seniors. Not a lot of seniors you know are comfortable with the online environment,” said Chapman.
Comments