Small to large vendors are thriving in-spite of COVID

Vendors were hit hard by the Covid-19. Lockdowns and the fear of going outside made parks, markets, and other public places destitute and silent. In cities such as Los Angeles and New York, vendors reported a 90 per cent decrease in income.

A silver lining can still be seen amidst the pandemic despite it creating a very problematic situation for vendors. COVID-19 pushed some vendors to become innovative and in effect, taught some strategies on during turbulent times.

Invest in Business Interruption Insurance

Most think that insurance can only help vendors deal with customer property damage claims or personal injury claims.

While is important, there are other helpful policies. For instance, business interruption insurance for vendors.

Business interruption insurance (also called business income coverage) provides money equal to the sales the vendor would have had if they were selling. Moreover, the policy can pay the cost of rental, lease, loan, and employee wages (if there's someone employed).

While business interruption insurance doesn't cover pandemics, the Covid-19 situation might pressure carriers to change how they run things. Data from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School's COVID Coverage Litigation Tracker show a total of 1,987 lawsuits filed for denied business interruption coverage. Carriers with the most counts are:

* The Hartford

* Zurich

* Cincinnati Financial Corporation

* Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's London

* Chubb

Whether or not business interruption insurance covers COVID-19 is still subject to debates, at least for now. But considering that many small businesses, including vendors, have learned how useful insurance can be during turbulent times, it's only a matter of time for groups to successfully pressure insurance companies to cover pandemics and other related crises.

Untapped Potential of Live Streaming

Moriarty's Gem Art is one of the oldest jewellery vendors in Crown Point, Indiana. But despite this, the business cannot do nothing but close in March when the city declared non-essential businesses to cease operations. Instead of waiting for restrictions to loosen up, Jeff Moriarty, marketing manager of Moriarty's Gem Art, decided to run live streams on Youtube for two weeks after their business closed. The initiative brought about unexpected results. Moriarty's Gem Show made $22,000 revenue from its first and second live shows.

The case of Moriarty's Gem Art shows the untapped potential of live streaming and how it can help vendors - small-time or big-time - to stop relying on person to person interactions for sales. Live streaming is a powerful tool. It shows how products look in real-time even if there's no physical store. Vendors can benefit from live streaming because:

* It creates a direct marketing channel

* It is a more personal approach to marketing and can greatly improve customer engagement and loyalty

* It has less competition

* It is cost-effective if done right

* It builds brand and recognition

Sell at Etsy

"Etsy and Block are Covid-era winners that will continue to thrive even after the pandemic" - Jim Cramer, CNBC

Etsy is one of the few companies that benefited the most from COVID-19. As businesses closed or downsized, many were left jobless and turned to other alternative sources of income such as becoming an Etsy vendor.

Collet Bice is a perfect example of how candle making vendors can make the most of digital marketplaces such as Etsy and stop worrying about how to sell their goods when it's impossible to interact with customers face to face.

Bice started selling candles in 2020. Business was slow but as operations went on, she found herself producing and selling 10,000 candles, which were then shipped to 50 states. Her candles were even ordered by companies such as Box of Dallas and Eastside Modern.

But success stories in Etsy mostly happened during the peak of the pandemic. How about now? Does Etsy still hold potential as one of the ways vendors can survive during turbulent times? David Moadel, in his writeup published at Nasdaq, confirms that this might be the case:

"Many of Etsy's customers returned to the platform even while Covid-19 lockdowns were being lifted. Indeed, 53 per cent of all active buyers and 37 per cent of new buyers who made a purchase in 2020, returned to Etsy's platform to make a purchase in 2021. Furthermore, 49 per cent of Etsy's 2021 active buyers had two or more purchase days. That's a higher rate than 48 per cent from 2020 and 41 per cent from 2019."

Having said that, vendors selling candles online via Etsy or any other platform, or even offline - will deal better with business crises should they decide to get with a business interruption insurance policy.

Investing on business interruption insurance, selling at Etsy, and doing live streams are proven ways on how vendors can survive in the turbulence of 2022. Do you agree? If so, share what you learned here.

This story is provided by ATK.will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/ATK)

( With inputs from ANI )

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