Everyone is talking about the coronavirus pandemic’s global economic impact… stores are closed, staff has been laid off, the stock market is at the lowest since 2007, brands are drawing on cash reserves and extending their overdraft facilities and tapping their credit lines. Is this the moment for online shopping to shine?

With e-commerce representing over one-third of US Apparel sales, is this going to be the only option for consumers if the pandemic keeps people quarantined at home for months?

Who knows? But what I do know is that we need to figure out how to keep afloat in these trying times. Here’s a list of some strategies that are pretty easy to implement and could possibly play a huge part in keeping you in business or not!

1. Online shopping

Websites are pretty easy to build in today’s age… you really don’t need to understand coding (phew!). There are now so many tools available to business owners! Literally anyone can do it. My suggestions are: shopify, wix, squarespace. We built ours in-house… check it out… www.kerrymwh.com

2. A picture is worth a million likes

I hope you are investing in some good-quality photos for Instagram — I mean… it’s free advertising… and you can also make your Instagram shoppable… pretty much a no-brainer! The downside is that although IG is shoppable in most parts of the world (some think that websites will eventually become obsolete), unfortunately Jamaica is not on the list of countries where IG is shoppable, but if you are a good content manager then you can communicate with your followers and sell via DMs.

3. Influencer marketing

Internationally, brands have been spending more on influencer marketing than ever before. Again, Instagram reigns supreme, with 36 per cent of respondents saying it was their favourite platform for influencer campaigns, with marketers drawn to features like Instagram Stories and the ability to shop directly from posts.

4. Facebook

I’ve found that the demographic for FB and IG differ… so why not utilise both platforms? FB has the option for you to set up a ‘shop’… another ‘free’ tool for you to capitalise on in these times.

5. Micro-influencers

These influencers tend to have upwards of 10k followers — these persons tend to be more cost-effective whilst still having a good engagement with their followers.

6. Back to basics

Remember pre-social media? People actually communicated more with each other… let’s do that… communicate with your customers and your staff… you would be surprised at how many persons are not on social media.

7. Personalised service

Who doesn’t like to feel special? Reach out to your A-list shoppers… make them feel special… personalise their services.

8. Now is not the time to ease up on Direct Marketing… Strategise… Plan.

Do not waste time stressing. Instead, get creative and start planning.

9. Offer discounts

It is a time to focus on cash flow as opposed to revenue.

10. Offer incentives

Delivery services, collaborations, do good (donate, upcycle, etc)

To state the obvious, retail as we know it has never gone through anything like this, not in scale or magnitude. We are operating in an environment with a high degree of uncertainty. We MUST act creatively if we are going to make it through! Tuesday Style Fashion continues the conversation next week

Kerry-Ann Clarke,

KERRYmanwomanhome principal

Follow @kerrymwh on IG/Twitter/FB

Visit www.kerrymwh.com