Did you know that the Singaporean economy shrank by a record of 5.8% in 2020 amid the pandemic? It was the worst year of economic performance Singapore has ever seen.
With the movement restrictions and border closure, many Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) were left unprepared and suffered significant financial losses.
The situation has forced local businesses to recalibrate their marketing strategies, and in this article, you will discover how Singaporean SMEs have used the following six online strategies to sustain their businesses amid the outbreak of pandemic:
- E-commerce platforms
- Food delivery apps
- Influencer marketing
- Facebook groups
- Virtual tours and experiences
- Video conferencing platforms
- E-Commerce Platforms
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused many Singaporean retailers to shut down.
According to the Department of Statistics, Singapore’s retail sales fell a record of 52.1% in May 2020, the biggest year-on-year decline since Singapore’s record-keeping started in 1986. This has resulted in many retailers shutting down their physical stores and transition to sell on e-commerce platforms to save on rental costs.
But why Singaporean retailers prefer to use e-commerce platforms?
Because the Government has encouraged the nation to stay home as much as possible, this has led to an increase in the number of online shoppers in Singapore. Change in habit has caused many local retailers to sell through e-commerce platforms like Lazada.
Since then, local retailers have seen an increase in online sales along with other benefits such as being able to reach out to a wider audience, operating business 24/7, and maintaining operations at a lower cost.
The above-mentioned benefits of e-commerce platforms have helped many local Singaporean retailers to sustain their businesses amid the pandemic.
- Food Delivery Apps
Singaporean Food and Beverages (F&Bs) were not immune to the negative impact of the pandemic and suffered significant financial losses…
During the period of March-April 2020, sales by local F&Bs fell by a record of 38.8%, the steepest fall since the Sars outbreak in 2003 when F&B sales fell by a record of 22.9%.
To help local F&Bs, food delivery apps have waived some fees, for instance, Foodpanda will not charge registration fees for new vendors. Moreover, during 2020, the government had announced a scheme to provide funding of SGD500 to each hawker stall that got on food delivery apps.
With these efforts of food delivery apps and the Singaporean government, hundreds of local F&Bs, like hawker stalls and restaurants, have been added to the food delivery apps such as Foodpanda and WhyQ.
But why are food delivery apps on demand?
Because when the Covid-19 cases in Singapore rose (during the period of April-June of 2020), dining-in was restricted. This resulted in a significant increase in food delivery orders compared to takeaways as people want to minimize their time outdoors.
Since then, food delivery apps have helped local F&Bs to increase their sales. Furthermore, this improvement has helped many F&Bs to recover some financial losses caused by the pandemic and prevented a few F&Bs from closing during this difficult time.
Without a doubt, food delivery apps have helped Singaporean F&Bs. This strategy has played an important role in helping Singaporean F&Bs to sustain operations amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Influencer Marketing
Amid the pandemic, internet usage in Singapore has tremendously increased.
Because Singaporeans are spending more time on social media platforms such as Youtube and Instagram, many local SMEs have started to take advantage of this habit and have used influencer marketing to promote their brands.
But what is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is an online marketing strategy that allows businesses to leverage the social media platforms of the influencers, such as Youtube and Instagram, to promote their products.
Furthermore, many Singaporean SMEs in the beauty, fitness, and health industries have used influencer marketing to promote their brands.
Given the large community of followers of the influencers, Singaporean SMEs witnessed a growing demand for their products.
Today, Singaporean social media world has a total of 6,858 influencers which has allowed local SMEs to pick the right influencer with the right target audience to better promote their brands.
Without a doubt, influencer marketing has helped Singaporean SMEs to sustain their businesses during the pandemic.
- Facebook Groups
Did you know that Facebook is the biggest social media platform of all time?
With about 4.45 million monthly Singaporean users, Facebook has allowed local businesses to target a wider audience, and many Singaporean SMEs have used Facebook groups as a marketing strategy to promote their products.
But why Singaporean SMEs use Facebook groups as their marketing strategy?
Because the use of Facebook groups is a free tool that allows local businesses to establish a direct line of communication with their customers. Moreover, many Singaporean businesses are on a tight budget and look for effective ways to promote their products amid the pandemic.
Since then, Singaporean SMEs have started to witness a significant increase in sales and able to maintain a better relationship with their customers.
For example, a local Facebook group: “Hawkers United – Dabao 2020” has a total of 286.7k members which allows hawker stalls, customers, and food delivery drivers to share promotions and engage within the community.
The above-mentioned benefits of Facebook groups have helped many Singaporean SMEs to sustain their businesses during the pandemic.
- Virtual Tours
The pandemic has caused many events and gatherings to be canceled in Singapore.
Local businesses engaged in the events and tourism industries have suffered significant financial losses, and are forced to alter their marketing strategies to survive. Since then, Singaporean SMEs have started using virtual tours to sustain their businesses.
But why Singaporean SMEs are offering virtual tours to sustain their businesses?
Because of the movement and travel restrictions, SMEs in the events and tourism industries have to find alternative ways to conduct their activities and to keep businesses afloat.
Since then, the use of virtual tours has allowed local businesses to host events, tours, and engage with their audiences online.
For example, several concerts are performed live on social media platforms, and tour guides sell virtual tours to their customers.
Without a doubt, the use of virtual tours has played an important role in helping Singaporean SMEs in the events and tourism industries to sustain their businesses during pandemic.
- Video Conferencing Platforms
Similar to the rest of the world, the pandemic generated a significant demand for video conferencing platforms in Singapore. Many Singaporean SMEs have been using these platforms as part of their business strategy.
But why Singaporean SMEs spend more time on video conferencing platforms?
Because of the safe distancing measures and travel restrictions taking place in Singapore, local businesses find it hard to conduct their meetings face-to-face. This has resulted in disruptions of many client deals, training sessions, and business meetings.
However, the use of video conferencing platforms, such as Zoom and Skype, has enabled Singaporean SMEs to stay in touch with their employees and clients during the pandemic.
For instance, teachers are able to conduct live lessons with their students, and sales agents are able to close client deals through video calls.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, video conferencing platforms have played an important part in helping Singaporean SMEs to sustain their businesses.
Conclusion
In 2020, Singapore experienced the worst economic recession in its history. Furthermore, many Singaporean SMEs are forced to recalibrate their marketing strategies to survive during the pandemic.
In this article, you have learned how 6 online strategies adopted by Singaporean SMEs: e-commerce, food delivery apps, influencer marketing, Facebook groups, virtual tours, and video conferencing platforms, have helped them to sustain their businesses during the pandemic.
