Small Business Strategies

The technology innovation trendwe saw it the past year will continue in the retail industry, with mobilepayment as one of the emerging technology. Shoppers can now compare prices of any item online or inbrick-and-mortar stores with a smart phone. Retail analytics can predict shoppers’ life styles and target them withpromotions to increase margins.  So howdoes a small business compete with large retail boxes that have the ability toafford the cutting edge technology?  Thisis not an easy task but here are three strategies that could help.

 First, a small business should look to diversify its revenuestream.  A small business could notcompete on price along with the larger retail box.  One advantage the small business has overchain stores is that it knows its customers on a personal level.  Offer customers the experiences that theynormally wouldn’t get from a chain store. For example, local grocery stores could offer healthy eating and cookingevents.

We all know that small business is the backbone of oureconomy.  Local businesses can takeadvantage of their connection to the local community and enlist support from withinthe community.  One example is to partnerwith local schools and charities to offer support to these organizations.  By doing so, local businesses increase theirrole in the well-being of the community and therefore could increase thesupport and loyalty of the community.

Another strategy is to garner support from its vendors.  Vendors who sell to large retail boxes areusually forced in negotiation to provide products at a deep discount.  Small businesses could take advantage of thisfact to create mutually beneficial relationships with their vendors andsuppliers.

Finally, small businesses need to look at the technology andhow they could adapt and utilize what they can afford to compete with largeretail chain.  Small businesses could dothat by choosing scalable POS and back-office systems that provides them withthe same functions and capabilities as the large retailers.