Business Opportunities for Small Firms Through Digital Platform in Post COVID Era

COVID-19 has changed the business operations worldwide, and India is not an exception. If we look at the current market situation, we can find huge losses incurred by industries because of certain restrictions imposed due to the pandemic. Nonetheless, alternative roots have been found, that is, physical to digital movement. But in a country like India, it is quite challenging because of the socio-economic conditions and buying behaviour of the consumers. Moreover, significant differences can be observed between small and large firms in terms of market operations. Large firms are adopting new digital techniques while targeting and promoting consumers to adopt. But for small firms, it is very much challenging to develop market structure in the same fashion because of financial constraints. It is predicted that in the post COVID situation, digital marketing can be a primary function for the marketers for the sake of operation and sustenance in this market. In this present study, we have tried to elaborate on the market position and also conducted an empirical study to identify the inner instinct of the consumers in the wake of adapting digital buying. The study mainly covered a geographical region which comes under semi-urban part of West Bengal, and it highlighted three important dimensions of digital marketing contents. Findings reveal that to convert consumers to digital forum, there is a need to develop mechanisms which are more culture centric like pricing design, trust centric like developing confidence on user friendly online transaction and operational efficiency in terms of prompt services. This may be productive and can ensure sustenance for small firms if they can design market strategies in small segments by highlighting on these components.