Corporate Traveller survey: 4 in 5 NSW and VIC businesses not impacted by the 2021 lockdowns, or are planning their bounceback

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A new survey by Corporate Traveller has highlighted the resilience of Australia’s SMEs and the promising future businesses in NSW and Victoria can look forward to after the 2021 lockdowns.

The survey of 161 SME business owners in NSW and Victoria found that more than a quarter have not been impacted by the lockdowns, while 53 per cent will focus on bouncing back when restrictions ease.

Unfortunately, 19 per cent of respondents said their businesses won’t come back when the two states reopen.

Among the 53 per cent of SMEs that have been impacted but will bounce back after the lockdowns, most will focus on growing their sales, scaling their customer offering and recovering their internal resources to handle new sales. Specifically, 42 per cent will put more of their time, budget and resources into new customer sales, marketing, or changing their sales model.

Meanwhile, a fifth (20 per cent) will mostly focus on changing or growing their product or service offering, while 19 per cent will focus on bringing resources back into the business, such as ‘stood-down’ employees.

A smaller percentage of Sydney and Melbourne SMEs will focus on downsizing to help fuel their recovery. Just 10 per cent said will focus on reducing business costs, downsizing and/or improving supplier arrangements, while nine per cent admitted they will mostly focus on changing their employee-working model and/or improving company culture and morale.

Corporate Traveller General Manager Tom Walley said, “While it is extremely unfortunate that one fifth of businesses cannot come back, it is promising to see that most SMEs across NSW and Victoria will build their businesses back up after lockdown. SMEs are the backbone of our economy and a renewed focus on thriving rather than surviving will be important in driving the country’s economic recovery. We’re likely to see businesses, even those that thrived during lockdowns, focussing on several areas to flourish and grow in a world beyond lockdowns and restrictions.”