Springfield Business Journal_2020-12-21

DEC. 21-27, 2020 VIEW FROM THE TOP by Mike Cullinan · mcullinan@sbj.net As industries prepare to turn the page on a long and challenging year, executives at local small and big businesses say they are counting on metrics to guide them into 2021.  Several company leaders participated in a pair of panel discussions as part of Springfield Business Journal’s Dec. 16 Economic Growth Survey Forum: View from the Top. The participants shared lessons learned and changes implemented amid the coro- navirus pandemic, and they provided an outlook on concerns and external factors heading into next year. Stacey Zengel, a vice president at Jack Henry & Associates Inc. (Nasdaq: JKHY), says the publicly traded Monett-based financial software firm al- ways studies monetary metrics. It reported $91.2 million in quarterly net income to start its fiscal 2021, a 2% year-over-year increase, according to an earnings report. However, Zengel says a significant consideration connected to the financials is the well-being of company staff. “Something we’re really monitoring very closely is employee mental health and how they’re doing through the pandemic,” he says. “Our pillars are always if you take care of your em- ployees, they’ll take care of your customers. You take care of those two things, they’ll take care of your financials.” Zengel, who also is president of Jack Henry Banking, the firm’s banking information processing division, says around 94% of the staff is working from home. What the work environment will look like moving forward and how many will return to the office have yet to be determined, he says.  “It has to be fluid with the status of the pandemic,” he says. “Hopefully, if things turn north like we think they are, we’ll be able to make those deci- sions pretty quickly.”   External factors Both Zengel and Jay Holden, global marketing manager with internation- al stainless steel manufacturer Paul Mueller Co. (OTC: MUEL), point to unemployment numbers as a key met- ric their companies watch to attract new talent. The Springfield metropoli- tan statistical area’s unemployment rate was 3% in October, while the Missouri jobless rate was 4.6%, according to the U.S. Bureau of La- bor Statistics.  “There’s so much change occurring right now, and you do have to maintain awareness of it,” Holden says, noting Mueller Co. fo- cuses much of its external dash- board time on industries it serves, such as food, beverage and pharmaceu- tical. “Watching what con- sumers are doing with those end products is something we really keep a close eye on.” For Brina Thomas, co-owner of clothing and home accessories retailer Five Pound Ap- parel, decisions on what products to carry remain tied to forecasting trends. However, a greater shift to e- commerce is in the plans, she says.  “We never plan to fully go online and (not) have a physical store. We feel the in-store expe- rience is so important for retail,” Thomas says. “It definitely will for us be shifting that balance, making sure we have the majority of our products online but still having unique items that you can’t find online.” That shift is largely tied to Five Pound’s e-com- merce sales this year, which Thomas says are up 350% year over year. She estimates it will comprise roughly 21% of total sales, well over its 4% average the past three years.  “During the shutdown, we had to get everything we possibly could online so people could still shop,” she says. It’s not just a local trend, as the National Re- tail Foundation forecasts holiday online sales in No- vember and December will exceed $200 billion, an estimated 20%-30% jump from $169 billion last year.  Curbside service, fami- ly-sized meals and taking outside orders on iPads are part of the pivots Mexi- can restaurant Tortilleria Perches made in the spring, says Manny Torres, catering man- ager. Still, co-owner Jesus Perches says sales are down about 60% since the pandemic started. “A large portion of that is because costs have risen to provide safety to our custom- ers and meet Health Department guidelines,” Perches says, noting the eatery’s investment included tamper-proof bags, sanitizing stations, 4 · SBJ.NET Brina Thomas : A greater shift to e-commerce is planned for Five Pound Apparel. Jesus Perches : Safety costs have risen at Tortilleria Perches. 58% Companies likely will continue to let employees work at home. 54% Internal face-to-face business meetings likely will continue via video conferencing when possible. New Expectations A majority of survey respondents expect business- related behaviors to continue post-pandemic. 53% Carryout and delivery at restaurants likely will continue to be strong at the expense of sit-down dining. Businesses Look to 2021 with Pandemic Lessons in Mind Source: SBJ 2020 Economic Growth Survey