The marketing challenges for start-up café shops during COVID-19 –Useful insights by Ej Dalius
Thursday, July 30, 2020
(Gloucestercitynews.net)(July 30, 2020)--2020 hasn't been easy for anyone! The COVID-19 outbreak and its contamination rates have caused deaths and the economy to stagnate. As the economy struggles to get back to normalcy, there are several business houses and organizations unsure of how to resume operations. Employees and entrepreneurs have to abide by the social distancing and partial lockdown rules to stay safe. One of the sectors that got adversely affected by the pandemic is restaurants, eateries, and café shops. Do you own a café shop? If yes, you will face several challenges currently before you start making sales as you used to, in a pre-COVID-19 society.
Eric J Dalius on café shop challenges
Currently, the government has relaxed the lockdown rules so that the economy can improve gradually every day. Hence, along with other offices and corporate houses, you must have decided to resume operations with your café shop. But are things the same! Eric J Dalius talks about a few challenges that start-ups and café entrepreneurs have to face.
- "There will be decreased demand," says Eric Dalius
Don't be upset if you find very few people arriving at your café shop currently. You might be making the useful social media updates about sanitizing your cafeteria and providing sanitizers for guests; still, the number of footfalls can be less for a while. People are currently afraid to leave the house as they don't want to fall prey to community transmission. That doesn't mean you will shut shop. Keep doing your job, and gradually you might find an increase in the footfall. However, right now, you shouldn't expect regular customer visits daily. There will be fluctuations in customer demand and fewer footfalls.
- Customer trust
In a pre-COVID-19 society, you enjoyed great customer rapport! However, the pandemic has changed everything. And one of the challenges that you will face is to gain back customer trust and good-will. If you already have an online food delivery system and not getting adequate orders, people are afraid to place an order.
Eric Dalius says it is essential that you come up with a solution here. Make your customers believe that it is safe to place an order at your café shop. Create short videos about how your kitchen and café gets sanitized. Make sure you have the best delivery partner that maintains correct sanitation protocols. Once your customers get the trust that the ordering and delivery process is safe, they will place orders, and it will increase your sales.
- Expanding business
Were you planning to add another outlet to your café shop? If yes, then you might need to hold on to the plan. Ej Dalius says that you might have the capital for this business expansion, but you need to check the feasibility. You should not start construction at a zone where contaminations are more.
The coming months are going to bring crucial challenges for start-up entrepreneurs. The café shop entrepreneurs might already resonate with the problems mentioned above. It's best to take things slow and arrive at solutions and to go with the flow.