Sixty per cent of SMEs have pivoted their business to survive coronavirus, according to a recent survey of over 900 SMEs by The Entourage.
From airlines to local cafes, businesses across Australia have been impacted in some way or other by the federal and state restrictions of the past six months.
Small businesses are undeniably the backbone of the Australian economy and while economists and politicians have focused much attention on the devastation to this community in recent times, there’s no denying its resilience in the face of crisis.
In fact, recent unemployment rates of a predicted eight per cent have undershot what was seen during the last two recessions in Australia, when unemployment cleared 10 per cent.
This is a testament to the SMEs who have found new ways to keep functioning through this period and, remarkably in some cases, grow.
In a recent survey of 900 SMEs, business owners were happy to declare they were ‘winning’, with the same percentage pivoting their business model to adapt to these new times.
And even if the world does not return to the status quo anytime soon, many SMEs will continue to shift their offering to address new opportunities and clientele.
Shiran Faast owns hydroponics retailer, Aqua Gardening, which has capitalised on the trend of Aussies spending more time at home.
“We created products and packs to help our customers grow their own vegetables at home, retrained our retail team to be over-the-phone sales consultants and focused on our online strategy which, until then, had only ever been an after-thought,” he explains.
“We ended up tripling our revenue in a single month and did $450,000 last month alone.”
Jack Delosa, founder of The Entourage with a member base of almost 40,000 SMEs says the number of its business members pivoting and growing their businesses during coronavirus is astounding.
“While unemployment is up and a recession looms, 60 per cent of our business members are surging. That doesn’t sound like the end of the world, does it?”
