So much changed before our eyes in less than a year, from education and entertainment to personal interactions and business. E-commerce had quite a positive run during this time, but has encountered challenges of its own, as well.
Here’s what e-commerce experts had to say about how their industry has changed during the pandemic, and what we can expect moving forward.
Play To Strengths
Every online brand has a set of products and services that are better suited to pandemic times, while some companies are just perfectly positioned to succeed in times such as these.
“Overall, it depends on what product is being sold,” said Ming Zhao, CEO and co-founder of Proven Skincare. “Since we create customized skin care products, we have been able to sustain our business by catering to those whose skin may have been affected in certain ways by the pandemic, whether it be from staying indoors from long periods of time or extra stress. This combined with the fact that more people have been shopping online in general over the past year has allowed for our business to remain stable.”
While not every brand has a smart angle for a pandemic, there are still opportunities to get creative with your offerings.
Quick Pivots
The last thing you want to do as a company during a global event like this is to say nothing. It’s the one topic on everyone’s mind, and the least you can do is acknowledge the elephant in the room.
“As a company that focuses on the health and well-being of our consumers, we have made a lot of changes to move with the times,” said William Schumacher, CEO of Uprising Food. “We’ve taken to our blog to post plenty of quarantine-friendly health tips. Everyone is aware of the ‘Quarantine 15’, and we’ve put a focus on maintaining your healthy diet amid a pandemic. I think our biggest take-away from this whole experience is to try to make the best of a horrible situation. We work hard to be encouraging to our buyers and uplift them during this time, and it has gone a long way with the success of our company, as well as the satisfaction of our customers.”
No need to totally transform your business, just be open and honest about what’s happening and how you plan to help your customers get through the rough patch.
Maintain Identity
Pivoting is important, as we mentioned, but you don’t want to make so many rapid changes that the core of your brand identity slips away between your fingers.
“The key is to keep the DNA of the business intact so that when we come back out of this incredible, unique situation, we have all the building blocks we started with before to spring right back into business,” said entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary of Shark Tank.
Remember that things will return to normal very soon, and that’s when it’s time to put the pedal to the metal.
Renewed Trust
In a time of crisis, trust is needed more than ever. Unfortunately, it’s even tougher to find. That’s why many brands are doubling down on building trust with customers to establish strong connections for the future.
“The focus is all about trust now, especially in our industry with health and medicine products,” said Kelli Lane, chief marketing officer at Genexa. “Everyone is looking for guidance and reassurance in a time when there is little to be found. Many folks are skeptical of larger brands and rightfully so. Small companies have a chance to establish themselves, build trust, and develop a legitimate customer base in the coming years.”
Generating trust is easier said than done, of course — what’s your strategy?
Filling A Gap
A handful of companies simply have a “pandemic-proof” business model that benefited them greatly during this time. They rightfully capitalized on the scenario and gave people what they wanted, whether it was household necessities, medical services, or just a cold drink.
“A lot has shifted for us during the pandemic,” said Chris Vaughn, CEO of Saucey. “We have seen a huge increase in sales since the beginning, along with nearly every other delivery service. We have also seen a shift around the laws regarding alcohol delivery. Since bars have been closed, the alcohol industry in general has struggled quite a bit. However, a lot of work has been implemented to keep these small businesses afloat. With this change, we have done a lot more hiring and have shifted focus to completely optimizing our user experience.”
It will be interesting to watch how companies like this adjust and adapt to the post-pandemic era, when people will be eager to get out and about.
Focus On Fundamentals
If you’re a company that already operated mainly online prior to 2020, you were in luck. The pandemic simply meant that the pressure was on to perform more than ever, and there was no other option in the playbook.
“We have always been an online retailer, so throughout the entire experience of running our business which dates to before the pandemic, we have been able to focus completely on how to optimize our e-commerce sales,” Mike Pasley, founder of Famous IRL. “As quarantine has not affected the ability for people to shop online, this has not been a significant obstacle for us. Also we’ve found that people really appreciate the humor and lightheartedness in our T-shirt designs, especially during such challenging times over the past year.”
E-commerce is certainly not the only game in town, but it’s more prevalent than ever before.
A Fresh Start
Think about ways to frame your products as a symbol of a new beginning or a way to start fresh in a new chapter of life. This is the type of energy people are seeking right now, especially as it relates to health and personal growth.
“In general, people turn to our health supplements for a variety of reasons, but during this pandemic many have experienced a great deal of stress and anxiety which can lead to other health problems,” said Ben Teicher, president and CEO of Healthy Directions. “We care about people’s well-being and only wish to help those with any ailments, especially during these difficult times. We’ve maintained our e-commerce presence as we did in the past, yet we feel that our products can help people with any stress derived from the pandemic. We’ve also included more content concerning how to cope health-wise during the pandemic.”
You don’t need to sell health supplements to work this angle — it just takes some creative marketing.
