Is this the end of online small businesses?

By Jessica Bashir Stone

England has been in and out of lockdown now for a year. But what has this lockdown done to online business owners, and how are they going to thrive once the economy starts opening back up?

As we all know, the economy has taken a massive hit over the last year, with physical shops having to close due to the lockdown measures put in place for everyone’s safety.

This meant that the majority of England turned to online shopping for their goods, but what will happen to these online markets once the shops re-open?

A student from Barnet, London, has spoken about how he thinks his online shoe business will be affected once the shops re-open.

Harrison Wright, 19, is studying law in London and has been making money selling shoes online for around a year now.

He gains most of his customers from social media networks such as Instagram and Facebook, and has made quite the profit since he started.

“If I’m being honest, I don’t think my business personally is going to take a massive hit once the shops re-open because this isn’t something that you can walk down the high street and find anywhere. These shoes are rare, one of a kind, and it takes a special person to buy them,” says Wright.

“I can see how this is going to affect others who are selling high street items and using places like eBay and Amazon as their shops because all of this stuff can usually be found in your average town… the sales are definitely going to go down online and there’s a strong chance a lot of online retailers may have to shut their businesses.”

Anyone and everyone working online is working hard and putting a lot of effort into their businesses.

Still, retailers who sell items such as clothes, shoes, and food that can be found in the shops close to people’s houses will hit a wall when shops re-open.

With people starting to get vaccinated in the 50’s age bracket, is it time for online retailers to start rebranding to something that people are going to want to stay online for even after we can shop again?

Should more people be selling like Harrison does?

This seems to be the way forward if you want your online business to thrive.