Lockdown 2.0: Why fear of not changing must be greater than the fear of change

Lockdown 2.0: Why fear of not changing must be greater than the fear of change

After a long-awaited Summer which saw a peak in business confidence and even nurtured some of the green shoots of UK economic recovery, news of a second lockdown hit our industry and many others hard. Recently, we hosted another Food for Thought webinar, in which our CFO Nick Wilson broke down some of the tough-to-swallow economic predictions into more digestible nuggets, provided a clearer outlook of what we can expect during this long winter period, and how dealers can take steps to secure their business’ survival.

Watch the webinar recording on the Dealer Community Online, where Nick covers:

In-depth analysis of key UK economic indicators such as GDP, PMI, consumer confidence and redundancy rates, and what the state of these means for our industry
Whether the ongoing impact of this pandemic will be longer than we first thought, and why dealers need to be realistic about the effect on their businesses if they do nothing
How the drastic surge in online sales presents a key growth opportunity for dealers
How dealers can adapt and reconfigure to stay relevant alongside the 46% rise in digital adoption across their business customer base
The forecast for the future, predictions on major areas of transformation in our business customer base and the impact of this on our economy and businesses
The importance of offering value and service to compete against the 70% of manufacturers predicted to be selling direct to consumer by 2030
Why now, the fear of not changing must be greater than the fear of change

What was the verdict of the webinar?

Though there’s been some recent vaccine developments we’re certainly not out of the woods yet; fearing change won’t get us far and fallout in our industry is unfortunately still likely. So, planning for the next stages, making necessary business changes and adapting with what the post-Covid customer needs are the actions we’re likely to see from the businesses that survive.

This pandemic has been tough, and the economic repercussions of it are some of the most extreme we’ve seen in a lifetime. But it’s also showcased the true qualities of the office supplies dealer community, in particular our resilience, entrepreneurship and agility. There’s no doubting now the importance of making sure our businesses are relevant and configured to see ourselves through it.