New research from communications and payments platform Podium reveals that consumers favour their local businesses more than ever. Podium’s second edition of its Annual State of Local Business research, which highlights the issues that are top of mind for local businesses, notes that consumers are prioritising local businesses – especially those that offer ease and convenience, such as texting and click-and-collect, and give back to their communities.
The “support local” sentiment in Australia is as strong as ever in the wake of the pandemic according to the research, with seven in 10 consumers frequenting a local business at least once a week. In addition, over nine out of 10 consumers go out of their way to do business locally, and three in four consumers are more likely to spend money at a local business if it supports community and/or charitable causes. Meanwhile, 78 per cent of local businesses say their business actively supports local charities or causes.
“When the pandemic first hit, many of us went out of our way to support a local business and had to adjust to new ways of interacting with them from click-and-collect to payments via text,” Dave Scheine, Country Manager in Australia at Podium, said.
“What this latest research shows is that ‘supporting local’ wasn’t a short-term trend; it’s here to stay, and so are COVID-safe services,” Scheine added. “Consumers are deeply invested in supporting the businesses that keep their local communities thriving and they’ve come to expect digital-friendly ways of doing business with them, especially early in 2022 as local cases surge.”
While 2022 as a whole promises more certainty and stability, a sentiment shared by 85 per cent of respondents, the research found that many customer expectations have changed irreversibly. Offering services that were previously nice-to-have such as texting, contactless payment options and click-and-collect are now necessary for the 68 per cent of consumers who report spending more money on online purchases in the past 12 months.
The research also highlighted that 92 per cent of businesses believe customer expectations have changed since the pandemic, with 48 per cent of consumers saying their new expectations are permanent. In response, local businesses say they differentiate on reputation (79 per cent), customer experience (74 per cent) and expertise (69 per cent).
These responses come as local businesses still face the challenges from the pandemic such as skilled worker shortages (52 per cent) fueled by hard border closures, supply chain/inventory (48 per cent) and COVID restrictions (45 per cent), compounded by a marked increase in demand. As a result, 75 per cent of Australian businesses made technology purchases in the past 12 months to help their teams work more efficiently.
“The pandemic has taught us that small businesses are a vital part of the Australian economy,” Levih Warby, Executive General Manager at JAX Tyres & Auto, said. “We’ve had to create innovative ways to keep our doors open and as a result, implemented new methods of operating that are here to stay, with the help of technology.
“Small businesses took on the challenge to evolve and we believe consumers have become big champions of them within their community,” Warby added. “As we ease back into more normality in 2022, we are excited to take last year’s learnings and implement them in a post-lockdown environment.”
