For small businesses, EOFY is a chance to recalibrate, reflect, and put strategies in place to spearhead growth in the new financial year.
FY23 posed challenges and opportunities. Australia moved steadily away from the limitations of the pandemic, but we also began to experience cost-of-living pressures, which have reduced consumers’ discretionary spending and forced businesses to adapt.
The tough financial landscape has been met with stoicism from Australian small businesses. Although 74 per cent of Australian SMEs believe a recession is looming, 82 per cent are confident of weathering the storm.
As we move into the new fiscal year, there are some techniques that small businesses with limited resources, budget and person-power can adopt to drive growth and better meet their customers’ needs.
Think like your consumer – Now could be the time to get into the mind of your customer. New Evolution of Commerce research from PayPal reveals that 54 per cent of Aussies are looking for more digital payment options, including instalments or split payments such as BNPL. With your financials at hand and a thorough understanding of the last year’s performance, the end of the year is a good time to review your website’s performance and ensure your checkout is seamless and offers flexibility – potentially including BNPL payment options.
Improve your social skills – The number of Australians who use social media for online shopping will increase to 6.4 million by 2024. In addition, more than a third of Australian online businesses sell on social and almost nine-in-10 market via social media. Businesses could do well to assess their social media presence and performance and decide whether they are focusing on the right platforms for their audience. Facebook, for example, is the dominant option for consumers to buy through, with most social shoppers (56 per cent) purchasing through it in the last six months.
Make your content resonate – Social media is an opportunity to show your uniqueness – so businesses may do well to focus on authentic, educational, and interactive content such as highly engaging pictures, videos incorporating multiple angles, styles and colours. User-generated social content is also a helpful tactic both for community building and for filling your social calendar up with hyper-relevant content.
Put safety first – According to the Australian Retailers Association, 48 per cent of Australian SMEs spend less than $500 annually on cyber security, and over 60 per cent do not survive a cyber-attack or data breach. Updating your payment system to one with robust and extensive security and fraud protection in-built can be an effective element of a comprehensive security strategy.
Get your channel strategy right – Businesses can improve the customer journey across their sales channels. Simple changes like installing a Meta Pixel, Google Tag Manager or similar on your site (a piece of code on your website that can help you better understand the effectiveness of your advertising), using Instagram’s shopping feature, creating a listing on Google Business, and integrating your products on online marketplaces can make a huge difference in the way your customers interact with your business online.
Use your own data – While today’s tech allows businesses to gather incredible amounts of data, the reality is much of it is collected, but not used. Using the data you collect from your customers – such as age, geographical location or average spend per transaction – can help you enhance the customer experience, focus your business strategy, and approach, and ultimately help increase your bottom line.
