‘The virus caught people off guard’: How SMEs are fighting to survive Covid-19
From cash flow to furlough, soaring demand and the shift to browsing behaviour, small and medium-sized businesses are finding themselves uniquely challenged by the coronavirus crisis.
There are many new marketing challenges as a result of the current Covid-19 pandemic – but they have not been distributed equally. Some companies and sectors are coping with a sudden, massive drop in sales, while others are faced with unprecedented demand for their products and services.
For SMEs – which can lack the budgets and resources of truly large companies – coping with such sudden fluctuations is especially difficult. So what can they do?
Shoemaker Joseph Cheaney & Sons was established in 1886 and remains a small craft-based company, employing around 170 people. Traditionally supplying a wholesale market, over the last decade the company has evolved into a chain of 11 stores and consumer website.
It is extremely glad of the latter in the current climate, according to co-owner and joint managing director William Church. “Right now, that’s our only stream of revenue coming into the business,” he says. “We are in a situation where nearly everybody in our business has been furloughed. There’s just five of us left.”
