Low Purchasing Power: How to Grow Your Business Under Harsh Economy
Growing your business in today’s Nigeria is hard, thanks to the harsh economy. Ask any business owner ’how far’ and watch him go into a bitter rant about how low purchasing power has dealt a heavy blow to his business. With the inflation rate currently at 33.88% and the purchasing power on a progressive downhill, this is one of the toughest times to do business in Nigeria.
While survival is most likely the first thing on your mind, harsh economic conditions offer great opportunities for businesses to grow and expand.
As we wake up to endless news of economic woes, the ultimate question remains: What is the way out? When will it end? While I don’t have answers to the latter question, I can help you with the former.
To navigate through these times and grow your business, here are the top 6 proven strategies.
6 Ways To Grow Your Business When Purchasing Power Is Low
Focus More on Value Offerings:
One thing every business owner needs to do is to stay vigilant about consumer needs. While staying vigilant has always been key to product marketing, there’s never a time that calls for more vigilance than now.
Staying vigilant in a harsh economy means ensuring that every piece of your product is optimized to meet core needs. As purchasing power is low, it only makes sense that consumers are looking for more value for their scarce capital.
Can your product offer that extra value?
Offer Flexible Pricing:
With low purchasing power comes the question of pricing. You must find a way to ensure that your products or services remain affordable to your audience without incurring heavy losses.
To achieve this, you must focus on implementing tiered pricing and discounts for bulk purchases. Also, offers payment installment plans, subscription models, and other financing options.
Another popular solution you can explore is to sachetize your products.
Boost Customer Experience:
While it’s great that you’re offering products and services that present extra value and flexible pricing to your target market, never neglect the customer service end. It’s easier for small business owners in Nigeria to get overwhelmed by their success and start neglecting customer experience. It doesn’t matter how great our product/service is–how a customer interacts with your business determines your success more.
Diversify Product/Service Line:
One proven strategy to grow your business when purchasing power is low is to create and improve your product line. Find means to combine multiple products into one and offer at a discounted price.
A key example is what Nestle is doing with the Milo 3-in-1. Why go for a Nestle Milo, Milk, and probably sugar when you can get it all in one package at a discounted price?
Other proven strategies include,
- Leveraging on Technology
- Be Open to Partnerships & Collaborations.
There’s light at the end of every tunnel. History has shown that businesses that thrived in a harsh economy always come out top in their industry. Will history repeat itself? I can’t tell. Rest assured that regardless of how hard the going gets, Mecer Consulting is here, illuminating your path.
