Introduction
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused tremendous distress to the country’s economy, but the most significant damage was imposed on small businesses. For example, Furniture & Mattress Discount King had to close one of its branches at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis. Indeed, this store is still closed and has already been removed from the official website. Furniture & Mattress Discount King is a discount furniture store that has been a successful market player for about thirty years (Furniture & Mattress Discount King [FMDK], n.d.). This family-owned business offers high-quality furniture directly from factories for a relatively affordable price (FMDK, n.d.). Furthermore, the customers still have an opportunity for free layaway without a credit history check (FMDK, n.d.). However, one of its stores, located in the East End Center in Wilkes-Barre Twp., PA, had to terminate its functions in July 2020 (Reinhard, 2020). This small enterprise was affected by the pandemic and was forced to shut down one of its branches because the firm had a limited budget and did not provide online purchases and delivery.
Main body
In my opinion, the first reason for Furniture & Mattress Discount King to close its store in Wilkes-Barre when the pandemic started was that it had limited financial resources. They probably decided to limit the supply chain because many people lost their employment at that time, resulting in a drop in sales of non-essential items (Humphries et al., 2020). Since the demand decreased, the firm likely decided to diminish the supply to be able to retain its shares in this market. The press release only announced that one branch was closed, and there were no specific reasons mentioned; however, the drop in sales and revenue is the possible cause.
The second reason that I think resulted in the store closure was that its website did not have online purchasing. Indeed, during the lockdown, people tried to limit social interactions and offline shopping. Therefore, businesses that implemented electronic commerce in their enterprises were less affected by the pandemic than those that did not include it earlier. This firm has accounts on such social media platforms as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest (FMDK, n.d.). Still, I could not find the online payment and delivery option on their website because products can only be viewed and ordered there.
The first thing that could have been done for this store to survive was the introduction of delivery service when the pandemic started. Since people spent most of their time indoors during the lockdown, many of them continued working remotely; thus, they might want to create a more comfortable working environment at home. However, individuals would be more likely to choose a provider that had an online store and delivery service. Moreover, if I were the owner of this business, I would relocate some of my resources to build a better website that would offer online payment, take-out, courier, and transportation options. In fact, I would immediately apply for financial support from the government according to the CARES Act, passed on March 27, 2020 (Humphries et al., 2020). In that case, this money could be used to strengthen the digital services of the company.
Summary
In summary, Furniture & Mattress Discount King’s store in the East End Center had to be closed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The two possible reasons are the revenue drop due to the demand decrease and the lack of proper web-based shopping. On the one hand, the firm remained in business by closing one of its branches. On the other hand, even this department could be saved if the company’s website offered online purchasing and delivery.
References
Furniture & Mattress Discount King. (n.d.). About us. Web.
Humphries, J. E., Neilson, C., & Ulyssea, G. (2020). The evolving impacts of COVID-19 on small businesses since the CARES Act. SSRN, 1-26. Web.
Reinhard, J. (2020). Wilkes-Barre Twp. Furniture store closes doors. Fox56. Web.