Lockdown may have you ‘locked up’ at home, but it doesn’t mean your sales should go down – in fact, lockdown could be the key for your business, and could actually open up your business to a whole new, bustling market … Here’s how E-Channel could help you.
We’re sure you are aware that the UK is in lockdown yet again, as is most of the world. It is the unfortunate but necessary situation the world finds itself in as it endeavours to beat COVID-19. The UK is in its third lockdown since March 2020, and it may not even be the UK’s last – but that hinges on the next few months and the delivery of the vaccine. However, this third lockdown has once again resulted in the closure of non-essential shops, as citizens have been instructed to stay at home.
As a result, workers find themselves working from home, not the office, and non-essential shops have had to shut their doors once again – and it is sad to say many shops may not reopen without the adequate income. The High Street, for the most part, is at a standstill after a busy Christmas period. So, the responsibility rests on e-commerce websites. A website’s ability to generate leads and sell will make the difference for many companies in the coming months. After all this, will companies be in a position where they have to make redundancies, or will they be able to hire new staff? Will they be closing their doors, or expanding their operations? It’s the difference between shutting shop, surviving, or thriving. If lockdown is locking up shops, a good e-commerce website could be the much-needed key.
The growth of e-commerce isn’t a fad or a phase. Even before this global pandemic, the High Street’s importance was waning. I think it’s safe to say you’ve probably bought something online that you could have bought on the High Street. A book. Clothes. Your groceries. All of it is now accessible online, often with speedy and reliable delivery to your front door. COVID-19 has accelerated the growing trend of e-commerce trading. For many businesses, it is the key to accessing previously inaccessible markets across the UK, Europe, or the world. The reality is that online trading will surpass the High Street in value within just a matter of years.
Having an e-commerce website that works for your company is therefore important, and is only going to grow in importance, during and after COVID.
With a team of dedicated e-commerce experts, E-Channel can work with you to help your business raise its online profile. The E-Channel consultancy offer will look at your existing website and make suggestions designed to optimise your website and processes so that it delivers results in support of your e-commerce business plan.
We’ll achieve this by getting stuck into the nitty gritty of your business – collecting the relevant data regarding your industry and the markets, and understanding how your business operates. This data will form the foundation for your website’s architecture and will help form a plan regarding the necessary logistics to support e-commerce. Not only that, but EU funding is still in place for the next few weeks through our E-Channel project. If you’d like to know more about our expertise you can check out our other blogs, or if you would like to find out how we can increase your online sales, raise your online presence, or provide access to new markets, we’d like to hear from you. You can talk to us by emailing info@e-channel.org and there’s more information about our fully funded e-commerce project at www.e-channel.org