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Small businesses can take on big chains.
Today in America there is a Wal-Mart,
Home Depot, Best Buy, Walgreens, or other various discount retailers on every corner of
cities across the nation. At the same time
there are many small businesses shutting their doors and the owners, as well as many in
the public, are blaming these retailers for the fact that they are going out of business. I do not agree with this point of view, and I do
believe that there is something that small business owners can do in order to compete with
the large discount retailers.
Today there is less time for the “American
family” to get everything accomplished in one day due to dual working parents and the
increasing activities that many children are taking place in today. This has led to a change in the way that business
must be done in order to meet the needs of the changing American family. Change is the heart of the problem and the main
reason why the discount retailers are running small businesses out of town. Many of the small businesses that have been around
for years and are knows as the “Mom and Pop” stores refuse to change the way
that they have done business since they opened their doors.
In today’s way of life one cannot do business in the same old way and
expect to expect the same results as they had before when the competition is increasing.
The main change in the way business is
conducted today has to do with what the customer now looks for when shopping. With the change from a slow to fast-paced society
also comes the change in what customers look for. Customers
still look for value in what they buy, a variety of choices where they shop, and anything
new that can catch their eye and interest them. The
21st century shopper also looks for convenient, one-stop shopping, long
business hours to match with their busy schedule, and no hassles. The main constant both then and now is the fact
that the customer wants a friendly, personal touch in a clean and fun place to shop. The latter is where small businesses used to have
the advantage over the large discount retailers and where those retailers have caught up
to the small businesses. This is also where
small businesses can once again take the advantage and be able to compete with the large
retailers once again.
In the end, it all comes down to one
thing: The successful small businesses that still compete with the large retailers change
the way they think, treat their customers, and run their business as a whole. Small business have to be willing to change the
way that they have done business for decades even if those ways are still successful
because there will come a day in which those ways are passed over by some better ways of
doing business. However, do not look at
change as a burden but as a challenge. Take a
lesson from David when he went up against Goliath.
The picture to David was gloomy when he
went up against Goliath, but David stuck to the fact that he had hope that he would
succeed. The picture may look gloomy at
times, but always remember there is hope. Small
businesses can survive, get customers back, prosper, and grow in the changing times that
we are currently in. To do this, small
businesses must go forward with determination while refusing to run and hide from the
large retailers that are filling up cities across America.
They need to arm themselves with an aggressive attitude and learn how to
fight back against the large retailers that threaten to put them out of business. Change is a good thing, believe it or not, that we
must embrace, welcome, and use in order for our small businesses to succeed against the
large discount retailers of today.
---Blake Bradley, HSU SIFE
From the Abilene Reporter-News,
February 17, 2006, p. 9C.
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