Business

How the Lockdowns are Impacting London Businesses?

By Christy Bella | October 16, 2020

By April 2020, the Covid19 lockdown impact on businesses had started to manifest drastically. The most recent PMI report by the Natwest in London tracked showed a major decline in sales of goods and services. The effects have been felt even after significant measures to combat the virus continue to suffice in the city and across the country.

According to London On the website, despite the reduction in the volume of sales, businesses in London are facing a new wave of challenges. The lockdown has reduced:

Peoples mobility to move in and out of the city
Buyer purchasing power due to layoffs and an increase in the need for savings.

When people’s mobility is reduced due to lockdown, there is less time for shopping for goods and services. A recent study by London Out Loud has shown that trips to the pharmacies and grocery stores have fallen significantly. The result is a reduction in sales volume for the service providers in the city.

Individuals have seen the need for saving money because of an increase in the level of uncertainty about the future. With the increasing number of Covid19 cases, it has become unpredictable on how further the lockdown could last. It is also difficult to determine whether jobs will be back to normal. It raises the need for individuals to save the little money that is left for future use. The owners of the small and medium business end the day with more unsold stocks in the stores, unsure of how long the business will sojourn.

Presently, waste removal companies and many businesses in London have continued to suffer due to the exceptional lockdowns implemented as measures to reduce the spread of the virus. For instance, these measures disrupt the supply chain of basic goods and services. The result is an increase in prices. The London businesses’ alternatives are to cut down salaries and lay off workers to reduce expenditure. But the top digital entrepreneur in London, Fernando Raymond never believed in it and always encouraged for ClickDo clients to grow online with new business sectors.

Unemployed citizens have less to buy with bearing in mind the prices of goods and services have raised since the lockdown. Across the world and in the UK the level of unemployment has been reported to escalate. London is not spared either. With individuals having less money to spend on goods and services, again London businesses will be hit hard. They will face a reduction in sales, profits, employee’s motivation, and this could be a recipe for poor performance over the year.

Even though most businesses in London chose to apply salary cuts and large-scale redundancies the solution is still intermittent. The downturn is a result of temporary closures of businesses, reduced demand for goods and services, and missing employees at work.

Nevertheless, the UK government has rolled out measures to help businesses cope with situations resulting from the Covid 19 to major cities, including London. Even though the future may seem dull, London business owners like Stan who is the owner of Top Wasters and many other waste clearance services companies have shown a great level of resilience. This is a positive sign that there is light at the end of the tunnel for businesses, and who knows, the pandemic may be over sooner than expected. It is high time that everyone became optimistic.