When the first wave of Covid hit the country, small businesses were among the first to feel the effects. Covid also disrupted the world’s economy and posed a major threat to the survival of small businesses.
Due to the pandemic, after their doors were shut, local business owners had to figure out ways to become online to stay competitive and survive in the market.
Pandemic led to a hike in digitisation, the local shop owners adapted to meet their customer’s needs. Small businesses thus used technology to aid in payments, deliveries and to manage their inventories.
When the government imposed lockdowns to curb the Covid spreads, local shop owners were permitted to open their shops for a specific time with necessary social distancing measures.
In such a scenario, these shops took the step of going cashless which made it quite easier to spot a Paytm or Gpay scan code in almost every kirana shop.
Apart from this, there were many mobile apps on Playstore to help such small stores to manage their finances including khatabook, Mybillbook, and Vyapar.
Technology indeed has saved a lot of businesses from going bankrupt.
Many small business owners have opened their websites to sell their products, creating an online presence for their business.
Social apps like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook have also helped them to gain a better reach and expand their business.
With the advent of technology, everything has become easier be it shopping or online transactions. It affects the way an individual communicates, learns, and thinks.
This specifically has become quite helpful for small businesses.
Even the administration acknowledged that the e-commerce platforms had assisted the small retailers not only to tackle the challenging time but also kept the economic engine running by reaching out to the customers in the last-mile supply chain.
During the lockdown, there has been a spike in digital payments as there was a surge in home shopping and this e-commerce is expected to have a further rise in the business, thus significantly helping small businesses to bloom as well.
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