BIG lessons from a small business

Kim Oliver, owner of The Chocolate Tour, marks Small Business Day with a look back over the tough decisions and positive outcomes of the past 12 months.

No one has been left unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and for small businesses the challenge has been particularly tough. For my e-commerce business selling artisan chocolate gift boxes, COVID has been a rollercoaster – testing my resilience and forcing me to innovate to survive.

At the beginning of New Zealand’s COVID journey, business was looking good. The first lockdown coincided with Easter and Mother’s Day and people were keen to find gifts to send to their loved ones. With physical shops shut as we all hunkered down at home to save lives, my chocolate gift boxes, able to be purchased online, were just what people were looking for.

But with every lockdown I lost a significant number of my subscription customers, which were the core of my business. This is all understandable as my customers faced reductions in their own incomes and some had even lost their jobs – but each cancellation really hurt.

“I had to face the reality that my existing business model was no longer viable. I was going to have to pivot and invest in my business in a big way, or shut down.”

After the excitement of the Easter and Mother’s Day sales died down, I had to face the reality that my existing business model was no longer viable. I was going to have to pivot and invest in my business in a big way, or shut down.

Unfortunately, I didn’t qualify for the small business funding that the Government was offering, but I did get approved for special funding to hire a business coach, which is something I would never have been able to afford by myself.

Together we looked at the numbers and decided I had to make changes to my gift box offerings. I had to essentially redesign every gift box I had on offer. I created a whole new range that included non-perishable items, allowing me to purchase them in higher quantities for a lower price, increasing the profitability of those boxes. I also started offering special dietary needs boxes, filled with New Zealand made artisan chocolate, catering for people who are vegan, or following a keto, sugar free, dairy free or gluten free diet.

My next big change was a hard choice to make – in the face of sales slowing down and subscriptions being cancelled, I chose to invest in my business. I hired someone to help me make over my website, and signed up with a public relations company to help get my business better known.

And lastly, in a total change of business model, my business coach convinced me to start selling individual chocolate bars alongside my gift box and subscription offerings. This involved hours of work to create and manage.

It has been a big, scary year – and I admit I considered shutting up shop more than once. But stubbornness, support, and pivoting my offerings allowed The Chocolate Tour to go on delivering sweetness to Kiwis while supporting local chocolatiers.

Kim’s COVID lessons for small businesses:

• Be open to change – pivot when necessary.
• Look for opportunities – just because you don’t qualify for one type of support doesn’t mean you can’t get help from other avenues.
• Don’t give up – good things can come from adversity.

https://thechocolatetour.co.nz/