For today’s consumers, conscious commercial actions speak louder than words or labels. Shoppers want brands to proactively demonstrate commitments through how they conduct business. They want to see you do.

There’s an opportunity here that a lot of retailers aren’t taking yet, and that’s completely personalizing their site experience around customer values and lifestyles.

The most important part of managing your business heading into a potential demand downturn is focusing on cash. With borrowing costs increasing, ensuring you have the cash flow to survive through to the end of a recession is what may ultimately separate the winners from the losers.

In the internet age, we have moved from negative word-of-mouth reviews to 1-star ratings of businesses online — with comments that are out there for the world to see indefinitely. When the pandemic hit, eCommerce marketplaces became go-tos and necessities for product purchases, but they also became havens for increased fraudulent, illicit and counterfeit activity.

As small businesses weigh a potential U.S. recession, they continue to face economic hurdles such as inflation and supply chain disruptions. In the March 2022 Small Business Recovery Report, respondents reported increasing prices by an average of 21% across industries, largely due to increased costs from vendors (54%) and of raw materials (45%).

Inflation casts a grim shadow far and wide; there likely isn't a single business that has escaped its recent
advance—this is especially true for those relying on e-commerce sales.