Small businesses face external threats that could interfere with your ability to make a profit and grow. Market threats don’t affect all businesses equally; it depends on how external threats exploit a business’s weaknesses. You should have identified potential threats in the SWOT analysis of your business plan, and the necessary steps to mitigate and respond to threats. The first step in responding to business threats is to understand how threats can affect your business.
Market threats refer to any changes that increase the cost of operations or make compliance difficult. Threats can also be new products entering the market that perform better at a lower price. New competitors entering the market, particularly those that operate at a lower cost, are also market threats. Take a closer look at some of the most common market threats that businesses face.
1. New Product Threats
You need to have an effective, long-term strategy for new products that threaten your market share or profitability. Working with a product development team is a great way to create scalable product development strategies that keep you at the forefront of innovating new products. You could also license or source an up-and-coming product in the short-term and integrate it into your own product line.
2. Financial Threats
Financial threats include customer credit, company debt, and interest rate fluctuations. You can brace for financial threats by adjusting your business plan in a way that avoids hurting cash flow or creating a loss. Pay down company debt as best you can, and avoid putting all your eggs in one basket. If you only have one or two clients you get income from, your business could suffer if you lose either client. Avoid unexpected income losses by diversifying your customer base.
Purchasing restaurant supplies and kitchen equipment for a commercial kitchen is expensive. Rather than purchasing new restaurant equipment, you can get a great deal on used restaurant equipment and merchandise. The Restaurant Warehouse offers used commercial kitchen equipment and smallwares at far lower prices than competitors, and they offer the option of financing the best equipment around as well. They carry key pieces of equipment, such as commercial freezers, refrigerators, ice machines, equipment stands, dishwashers, slicers, griddles, deep fryers, charbroilers, undercounter fittings, and display case equipment. When it comes to finding the best equipment for your commercial kitchen, do your budget a favor and shop for high-quality used equipment.
3. Security and Fraud Threats
Customers are increasingly sharing personal information online and through mobile channels, creating greater opportunities for cyber threats. Businesses are constantly faced with data breaches, identity theft, and payment fraud. Any successful security or fraud threat could damage your brand’s reputation and trustability, and you could be held financially liable. The best way to prevent security and fraud threats is to focus on security solutions, fraud detection tools, and educate your workforce on how to detect potential threats.
Being vigilant against threats may sound like a daunting task, but the right security tools can handle this task for you. LifeRaft offers a digital threat intelligence platform that monitors social media, and deep and dark web sources 24/7. It automates the identification of critical information to save you time and resources in the event of a threat. Real-time alerts and actionable intelligence allow you to investigate, validate, and track threats. Location services, link analytics, social reenactment, and intelligent data mining give you the competitive intelligence to stay ahead of threats. Implementing the right business tools is an effective way to minimize and act on potential threats.
There’s no way to eliminate all potential business threats, but you can take a proactive approach. Always be aware of the threats specific to your business and have a plan ready in the event your business experiences a threat. Planning is the best way to protect your reputation, credibility, market share, and customer base.
