Many firms in the North East found that innovation was the key to surviving Covid-19. More than six in ten North East businesses told Lloyds Bank the pandemic forced them to be more creative and innovative in finding new areas of growth.

Almost two-thirds have made changes to their business since the start of the pandemic, such as expanding their online offering (26%) or making changes to their operations (22%).

Crucially, a significant number of businesses are benefiting from the pivots, with seven in ten saying that they will keep their changes in the long term. And it is already paying dividends with more than two-fifths of firms saying that their operational changes have boosted revenues and profits.

Stockton-based printing company AlphaGraphics was one example of a company which pivoted. Previously, AlphaGraphics was solely focused on B2B clients and provided various marketing services as well as printing, display and mailing services. The success of this business model resulted in an average annual turnover of £8.5million. When the pandemic struck, the business saw its operations stall as demand dropped.

To secure the future of the business, AlphaGraphics launched a new e-commerce business on the Shopify platform, targeting commercial and corporate clients looking for tailored social distancing signs.

Managing director Andrew Dalton said: “With our traditional B2B offering on hold, we knew we had to diversify and so we launched our e-commerce offering within two weeks of lockdown being announced.

Pivoting in this way allowed us to keep operating and enabled us to emerge from the pandemic in good shape and ready to start preparing for our future. “The support from Lloyds Bank was invaluable. It meant our overheads were paid and allowed us to quickly pick-up operations again once restrictions allowed.”

Steve Harris, Regional Director for the North East at Lloyds Bank said: “To overcome the challenges of the past 18 months, businesses across the North East have had to show tremendous resilience. With normal trading grinding to a halt for many, some firms had to make permanent changes to stay afloat.

  “The innovation shown by businesses across the region has been incredible to see, but we know this period has been exceptionally difficult for many. We will continue to support firms across the North East and help them prosper as normal trading resumes.”

Across the UK half of businesses said that the pandemic had forced them to be more innovative and 56% made changes to their operations as a result. The most common changes included selling more online and adapting shift patterns.