How IMS can help with Overcoming Inflation

2022 has certainly presented business owners with a whole new set of challenges. In the wake of current events; the ongoing pandemic and the unrest in Russia and Europe, consumers and small business owners alike are scrambling to figure out how to thrive in spite of soaring inflation rates.

Larger companies across all industries are pouncing on this opportunity to justify increasing prices and keeping Americans spending cash “with a vengeance,” writes The New York Times. In the article, food businesses like Shake Shack and Krispy Kreme are so confident that people will keep spending during this inflation that they are planning another price hike in the coming months.

So why are these large companies so confident to continue raising their prices? They may feel that the public will pay their inflated big-box prices instead of favoring local owned and operated businesses, like yours, who involve local payment systems, like IMS Barter, as part of your panic-proofing within your business plan.

Inflation, in terms of the 2022 outlook, is a combination of two factors, quirks and demand. Quirks in recent years such as the pandemic that caused factories to shut down, shipping lanes to become clogged, shortages of goods. These quirks cause demand to soar and supplies were short. Businesses can’t afford labor, which shuts down sales, causing a roller-coaster for the unprepared.

As tensions ease, inflation may or may not ease. As long as labor costs soar, energy costs stay high, and shortages of goods happen, we may see long-term effects.

Businesses that use alternative payment systems, such as IMS Barter, have some padding from the day-to-day fluctuation of the US dollar. IMS Dollars reinvested back into building your cash business has always had a cost value lower than the standard $1 dollar bill affected by inflation. Meaning you never spend an actual $1 US Dollar for every $1 IMS Trade Dollar spent, no matter what the US economy is doing.

Whether you spend your IMS Trade Dollars on advertising, curb-appeal, maintenance & repairs, supplies, signage, or employee incentives, your trade dollar spent to encourage new cash sales is inflation-proofed by your cost of goods.

Trade has proven time and time again that it keeps companies, clients, and families afloat during periods like this where recession is looming and inflation is soaring.

Members can use their trade for home renovations, physicians, dentists, optometrists, child care, hair salons, therapy, financial counseling, tax help, event planning and coordination, catering, travel accommodations, and so much more.

By not spending CASH in areas like this, members of the IMS network will then be able to use that saved cash in order to combat the inflation at the markets and at the gas pump.

Now, as a business owner, what can you do to combat rising costs both bringing in inventory and not hiking up your prices like Krispy Kreme and Shake Shack?

1. Optimize your buying power by cutting costs where you can and absorbing other costs
2. Make sure you are a member of the IMS Barter network

IMS helps businesses flourish in hard times for the same reasons mentioned above. You are saving CASH by spending TRADE in other areas. But as a business, the IMS network is more vital and has more opportunities to spend trade.

In this article, it’s discussed how companies are able or unable to raise their prices due to inflation. It stated that 54% of smaller businesses were able to keep their prices the same after finding ways to reduce and absorb cash costs. What would be that percentage if they utilized the power of trade?

The article ends with a bright note that we agree on. Finding areas of opportunity to build a better business model creates a positive resiliency whenever profit margins are under pressure.

Now is the time to join and utilize the IMS network in order to combat inflation and help others around you do the same. Spending CASH is not the best method when TRADE is readily available, reliable, and secure.

To know more about what your company can do with the power of IMS in your corner, let’s have a conversation. Contact us today.