As anyone who has been paying attention has noticed, the economy has started to slow. The definition of a recession is 3 consecutive quarters of negative GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth. The US Economy has had the 1st of 3 three, that had negative GDP growth. This primary driver of the US Economy has major implications for businesses large and small and for the Consumer. Continued supply chain issues, inflation, higher interest rates and millions of unfilled jobs have thrown the US economy a sharp curve ball. Although incomes are up, inflation has eaten away at much of the discretionary income that many American rely on to purchase the goods and services they desire. So how do we move forward and still prosper? All of the aforementioned take time, monetary polices by the federal government and higher levels of consumer confidence to continue to spend in these very uncertain times.
As a small busines owner, how do you handle all of these, what seem like, insurmountable issues to keep your businesses open and growing? It takes consumer confidence that they will be okay in the end and although painful for them now will less spending power due to inflation, that they will still be able to buy and spend and support the businesses that operate in their communities. At some point when an economy is in negative growth territory that you have to offer more than just a great customer experience. What typically makes a consumer feel better and more confident about spending is when there is an opportunity for financial savings. As a business owner, offering discounts can certainly grow the interest to buy from consumers. If a business can offer a discount and make up the revenue lost on volume sales, then it is worthwhile for everyone. Consumers love to save money and they also love telling others when there are opportunities to save money.
Social media, SMS, Email and just picking up the phone can go such as long way for spreading information about a great deal. For instance, moms love to talk within social groups. If a mom learns of a great deal such as a back to school deal, they will quickly alert other moms of the same deal and so on and so on. Regardless of the deal content, consumers in general, love to tell others. So if you are a small business and can offer a great deal during these very turbulent times, consumers will often go out of their way to tell others about the deal and your business. Increasing the purchase power for a consumer and offering a great customer experience is the ideal way to consistently grow your business. Consumers love to save time and money searching for great businesses and if they are provided a tool to share the information in a easy to share platform, then you will see a consistent introduction of your business by shoppers in your community.
So thinking about how you will move your small business forward as a small business owner or, as Consumer, find ways to find and save money at businesses that operate in your community. Think about how people communicate when they find worthwhile deals and want to alert others about the deals. Using smartphones and the various social media platforms, SMS and even email to communicate with others has been and will be the best way to spread the word. Imagine being about to be alerted that a great local small business is offering a terrific deal on a great product or service and all parties are able to save money with that purchase.
Even when times are great and all is right with the economy, consumers still love to save money. Being able to save money in todays environment and also being able to help others save money is considered even more of a value added proposition. Remember that saving money helps increase the purchasing power of the consumer and can often help a small businesses wanting to grow to gain more customers at a much lower customer acquisition cost.
Dealium is a cloud-based SaaS digital referral marketing & customer engagement platform that integrates referral code sharing technology & popular social media platforms. Dealium helps create brand awareness, brand exposure & new customer acquisition opportunities for our small business subscribers.
Dealium allows consumers to save time, money & oftentimes frustration searching for reputable local small businesses.
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