How to recover from business loss post lockdown?

“This pandemic has caused my business a great loss. It used to do well, but not anymore. What should I do to recover from this loss as soon as possible? What changes should I implement in my business model to make it profitable again? “I don’t know what to do! If only I had a magic wand which I can just wave in the air and everything will be back to normal.”

Probably something similar is running in the minds of all the sellers right now. And it is logical to have doubts. But don’t worry. Amazon is always there to help. At Amazon, we did some research to find out the best ways for our sellers to recover from their business loss. We have some amazing features and services which can help in getting your business back on track at the earliest. So, here are the top 5 ways that may boost your Amazon business.

Re-evaluating the business model, to regain revenue in the business should be the topmost priority right now. And the best way to do that is to find out the current top-selling products across categories. Check out our recent blog on products that are trending on Amazon since the lockdown. The demand for products has shifted significantly. Products like fashion clothes, shoes, home decor, etc. which sold massively earlier have been replaced by essential products like groceries, PPE kit, sanitizers, medical equipment, etc. So, it’s time to start manufacturing or selling such new emerging categories, as customers are seeking these products more at the moment.

The market is already witnessing an increase in demand and it will surge even further. This means, the competition will get intense and in such a scenario, to stay ahead of the competition, revision of prices will play a very crucial part. This is the time to improve the pricing, to both compete with fellow sellers and sustain the product value. As a seller, you need to convey how much value you provide compared to other alternatives. While setting deep price cuts can be fatal for your business revenue and devalue your products, not offering enough discounts or selling at a higher rate can drive customers to other sellers.

What you need is flexible and dynamic pricing. Amazon lets you automate your product pricing through its Automated Pricing tool. It changes the product price depending on criteria like Buy Box price or the lowest offer price. Buy Box price is the price at which a customer buys a product by clicking on the ‘Buy Now’ button on the product page. Setting competitive pricing can help you if you sell in a high competition product category. It becomes more beneficial in special situations like Amazon sale events, where people come looking for great discounts or the lowest price.

Let’s go back to the time when you first opened your local/online shop. Initially, you would have had less inventory. But as the business picked up pace, you had to increase your inventory capacity, both in terms of increasing quantities and bringing in new products as per the market demand. You always made sure that you never ran out of stock.

The situation is a bit similar right now. The lockdown has been lifted, and as much as you’re delighted to start selling again, so are the customers to buy all they had planned for. But, as a seller, if you don’t have enough inventory to match the demand, it can prove to be a big losing point here. Ensuring inventory becomes critical for all the businesses post lockdown.

On Amazon, you can easily manage your inventory through your seller central account. Amazon's tool lets you search, view, and update your product and inventory listing information in no time. You also get to peek into your inventory performance and customer demand trends. It gets more insightful as you can see the sales history that shows which products did well and which didn’t. All these insights will help you in curating your product listing to get more business revenue.

Talking of growing a business and not mentioning Fulfillment By Amazon is impossible. FBA offers many benefits to sellers. In the current situation, FBA can help you in efficiently managing your operations. Imagine a situation where you are getting massive orders, you have sufficient inventory but lack the manpower to fulfill those orders. This is where FBA comes to your help so that you don’t lose out on any business. Just apply to FBA and Amazon will take care of the rest - from storing your products, packing, shipping, delivering, managing returns, to handling customer service. See how. You also get to be a Prime seller, which means you have access to unlimited free one-day and two-day delivery options.

And in case you have sufficient manpower, you can also opt for a Merchant Fulfillment Network (MFN) or Easy Ship. MFN gives complete control of managing entire order operations in your hands from packaging to delivery. On the other hand, with Easy Ship you can partially offload the logistics by assigning the delivery to Amazon associates while you store and package the items yourself. You can choose from the three options as per your flexibility.

During the lockdown, most of the local shops like Kirana stores, mom and pop stores, stationery shops, other retail stores, gift shops, etc. had to remain shut. It has impacted the local sellers deeply. Withdrawal of lockdown is the perfect time for the local shops to join Amazon and potentially make more sales. How? By reaching out to more customers locally. Local Shop on Amazon is a program specially designed for local sellers to reach out to maximum people within and beyond your locality. As you join Amazon, you get a Prime badge that allows more customers to find your store easily on Amazon.in. This way, you can potentially increase your monthly sales and also interact with the customers to understand their demands and deliver the needed products. A win-win situation, right!

These are just a few of the measures to restart your business after the lockdown and potentially start earning good revenue again. There are several other means through which you can revive your business like investing in PPC (Pay Per Click) advertisements, optimizing the product listing, building strong customer reviews, etc. It all boils down to the individual business model, how it is impacted by the lockdown, and which part of the business needs to be focused on. Accordingly, you need to implement the correct method to recover from business loss with Amazon’s help.