With The UK High Street Reopening, E-Commerce Should Still Remain A Key Driver For Sustainable Growth.

As the UK high street begins to reopen, e-commerce should remain a top priority for small businesses, as it brings with it a number of key opportunities for growth.

Whilst omnichannel may have been a ‘call for survival’ by many small businesses during lockdown, Frank Breuss, – the Co-founder at Nikulipe (a Fintech company that connects fast-growth/emerging markets with the global payments industry) believes that the continual reliance on e-commerce is vital for small-to-medium enterprises (SME’s), – if brands want to leverage and secure sustainable growth in the long-term. Frank said:

“There is a risk that many smaller merchants will go back to running only their physical stores, with a possibility of closing down their newly-created e-stores. It would be a waste to neglect or stop their e-commerce business, once life moves towards the normal pace again. Maintaining their presence in the e-commerce space will allow them to access new, sustainable revenue streams, and better compete with the big e-commerce players, like Amazon and eBay.”

A significant number of shoppers are now making use of the ability to buy and pay online, picking up their orders in store. A recent McKinsey report found that 56% of shoppers plans to continue the shopping behaviour(s) they have adopted since last year. Shoppers have come to appreciate the many conveniences that omnichannel shopping can provide, and BOPIS seems to be one of the trends that might not go away.

“SMEs in emerging markets have faced a rather harsh existence: most have had limited prospects for growth and short life cycles, however, – their shift towards e-commerce and becoming omnichannel (which they might not have done prior), led them to reach larger audiences. There is of course, – still much to do in terms of cross-border solutions that would be a perfect fit for the shoppers, too, but SMEs in these markets are on the right track,” added Breuss.

Diversifying LPMs (local payment methods) for reaching additional target groups is also something that could keep the sustainable revenue flow for smaller merchants going, such as with Open Banking solutions, for instance, – as this allows the payments industry, and Fintechs to create new, safe and even regional local payment methods, which could work as a more easily applicable payment method for SMEs to employ.

“Smaller stores especially, – will benefit from these innovations and solution enhancements as they are agile, quick to adopt and use them. After all, they have a better understanding of the needs of their buyers. Solutions like these would offer merchants a serious competitive advantage, compared to most large, international players,” added Breuss.

Whilst small businesses are seeing the reopening of physical stores and experiencing a surge in customers as of late, their e-commerce component should not be forgotten. Leveraging people’s changed attitude towards shopping, and using this to their advantage could bring small merchants sustainable growth and revenue in a post-pandemic world.

Nikulipe is a Fintech company that facilitates emerging and fast-growing market access for Fintechs, Payment Service Providers, and their merchants by streamlining cross-border payment solutions. Established in 2019, Nikulipe was founded by serial entrepreneurs, who have vast experience in the Fintech-industry, with direct expertise in payment industry technology and business development.

Find out more here: nikulipe.com