How to make an Amazon Coronavirus crisis plan for your business

The situation surrounding the Coronavirus pandemic is changing hourly around with the world, with a huge amount of information and advice circulating from multiple sources.

There’s little any of us can do to predict what will unfold over coming days, weeks and months, and a tiny fraction of the population is qualified to offer scientific reasoning.

But Amazon business owners can take steps to protect themselves in a worst-case scenario, which could actually be beneficial if the world’s economy recovers more quickly than some of the worst predictions are forecasting.

Thompson and Holt’s managing partner Craig Gedey explained: “We’re not in a position to advise people on best to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic, but we can help them put plans in place to protect their Amazon business as well as possible.

“Some of these measures are general good practises anyway, which will help you to analyse how your Amazon business is operating at present. It can also be empowering for you in uncertain times - there’s little any of us can do to affect what is happening worldwide, but it can help your own well-bring to take steps that protect your business and ultimately your family. Creating a detailed plan can help ease the anxiety that will be affecting people at present.

“It’s also better to be prepared if matters do take a turn for the worst in coming months, rather than being rushed into a panicky state when events around us make that more difficult. So here are four steps that you can start taking today to prepare yourself and your business for what may lie ahead.”

1. Construct a leadership team

This can include employees and members of your family that you can discuss any crisis issues that arise with and plan how to deal with them. Find somewhere accessible to all that you’re able to meet. Take detailed notes of what you discuss and the key moves that your business is able to take if a serious crisis unfolds.

2. Research crisis plans

There are plenty of crisis programs you can find online for planning and executing crisis plans. More commonly used project management tools can also be useful for this. Spend time online researching the kind of plans businesses put in place to deal with a crisis, and take the most relevant points for your own business.

There are some great resources online about how to create a business crisis plan, here is a blog with a free template.

3. Compile your own Plan of Action for a crisis

Everything you have discussed as a leadership team collate into a plan on paper. The key questions you need to answer include: What position are our suppliers in during the current pandemic? Are there options to change if we need to? How much would that financially impact the business? How long could the business continue to operate should income be reduced by various different percentages? What are your liabilities and how long are you tied into agreements such as leases and rent? Basically all aspects of your business’ incomings and outgoings. The document should also be available to all members of the leadership team online as well as physically.

4. Keep a calm head

Ultimately, nobody can control what is about to unfold worldwide, or how Amazon itself will deal with the pandemic. At some stage in coming weeks and months, buyer confidence is likely to drop. That is something you cannot control, but you can put measures in place to make your own business as robust as possible. That might be reducing costs where you can for the short-term. It may well be that events don’t decline as dramatically as some are predicting, and if that’s the case the above steps will still have allowed you to thoroughly analyse your Amazon business and know exactly where you stand. And taking a panicked approach to matters won’t help.

Conclusion

Thompson and Holt managing partner Gedey added: “These are uncertain and unprecedented times for all of us. Certain things we cannot control, some we can. It is much more useful to focus on and dedicate energy to the things we can control. Analysing all elements of your business and preparing for worst case scenarios can be helpful, whatever unfolds in coming months. All we can hope is that the Coronavirus pandemic has a minimal impact on all of our lives, and that our families and friends remain healthy.”

One of the risks your Amazon Seller Crisis plan should include is what to do when your Amazon seller account is suspended. There are lots of useful tips and advice available here.

* If you have had your Seller Account Suspended, contact Thompson and Holt for a free LiveChat to get your Amazon Seller business back online as quickly as possible.