Business hours are the time during which a business is open for operations. Every country has standard business hours that most organisations take advantage of. It is sealed in the mind of people that any official business exchange at all can happen during this period. And while nine to five (9 to 5) has become known as the traditional standard business hours, every business is at liberty to determine when it opens and when it does not.
The crucial question about 9 to 5 is, do all human needs start and end between 9 to 5?
No, Of course. And there is no law to close by 5 pm. As a business, one of your chief tasks is for your products and services to be accessible to your customers where and when they need them.
Trust me, if you know about every sale you missed out on because you were closed at the time of the customer’s need, you won’t exactly spend the rest of your day dancing. And the answer might seem to stay open for as many hours as possible. But depending on your type of business, this might be impossible.
Contrary to popular opinion, the subject/challenges of Business hours are not exclusive to physical stores or offline businesses only. E-businesses also need to have operating hours. You cannot keep your workers behind the monitor all day.
When should you open?
Deciding on your business hours is one of the essential business decisions you will have to make. And its impact on sales is why it should not be a whim of the moment decision or simply fitted to what is considered the regular business time. Your business hours should be tailored to your customers’ needs and your service type.
Choosing the best time for you
The first thing to note is that your business is unique, and your time should reflect that uniqueness. Here are a few other things you should consider when choosing.
Sales data - what time of the day do you record more sales?
Competitors' time -if you are open when the others are closed, that means more traffic.
Seasonal differences/sales season -there are times of the year people need your products and services more.
The operational cost of opening hours -calculate how much it cost you to open per hour and use your sales data to determine profitable hours to adopt.
Industry-standard - you should be open when people expect you to be open, based on what is obtainable in your industry.
Business all hours
While business hours are great, it is even better that you set up your business to serve your customers at all hours. And again, this is unique for every business.
Business all hours will require putting your business on auto-pilot which largely includes setting up your business online. Another thing is implementing customer self-service and having a reliable payment partner.
Redbiller checkout has multiple payment methods for your customers to choose with they are most comfortable with. Our multi-version system allows you to switch from one version to another in the event of downtime. The best part of it is that this switch is automatic. At Redbiller, we are not just security-conscious, but we are security centred. Our commitment is to make the internet a safer place for businesses. Click below to read more on how we are solving the challenges of electronic payments.
Challenges of Electronic Payments -and what Redbiller is doing about it
The world now runs 24hrs, and more people are learning to make the most of their time and break out the standard timing. Your role is to position your business to address their needs when they need them. If you are not there already, make that big leap to Business all hours today. And you know the best part? Redbiller's got you all the way!
P.S. The biggest irony of business hours is that everyone wants the shortest working hours possible but want to be able to access any service at any time.
