What's Happening: How the Corona Crisis Affected Large Online Stores

The emphasis in advertising is on the 2020 bridal collection. After all, the quarantine can not stop life indefinitely and life goes on

We noticed a change in audience activity after the quarantine was announced - in the first 2 days, site traffic and the number of orders decreased. All categories have dropped because jewelry is not a necessity and customers priorities have shifted. They will look, choose and ask for prices but either put off buying until after the pandemic or buy less products. The crisis and quarantines have a psychological impact on consumers, but they do not cancel birthdays, anniversaries and other holidays. Demand resumed and even increased in the second week of quarantine when most stores closed.

I think all entrepreneurs understand that they need to look where their audience spends its time and shop. When stores are closed, offline channels are no longer effective and tracking people's offline shopping behavior is harder to track. The digital transformation has happened earlier than we expected. Shoppers who never chose online jewelry are now joining the ranks of online shoppers. In order to optimize marketing costs, the budget for offline promotion was not redistributed to online, but the strategy on the Internet was revised: the quality and quantity of content on social networks were strengthened, narrowly targeted advertising campaigns were reconfigured, and the quality of individual consultations. On average, the price of traffic has now increased by 18%, this is due to the fact that many brands are transferring advertising budgets from offline to online.

We've increased our outreach and engagement through social media campaigns and video ads. We are looking for non-standard solutions, low-competitive channels and negotiate with influencers. We focus on advertising communications for the 2020 wedding collection. After all, the quarantine can not stop life indefinitely and life goes on.

Like many companies, we quickly switched to completely remote work and adapted business processes to the new work format. I selectively serve several clients every day as a call center operator to improve the consultation process. In the near future, customers of the "Golden Age" will be able to pay by installments. There are plans for several co-branding programs with leading market players.

Today you need to change your attitude towards business, adapt to online communication and personal consultations for clients, learn how to work effectively in a remote format, make quick and convenient delivery, and launch only relevant and targeted advertising campaigns.

No matter what influencers and trainers tell us how to avoid a crisis and survive in quarantine, no one will do our job for us. The company "Golden Age" has a network of outlets in Ukraine that did not work during the quarantine, the entire load fell on online sales. It so happened that at the end of 2019, we launched a new website and rebuilt the server architecture to withstand the increased load and ensure the fast operation of the online store. Now we can say with confidence that this is our key advantage. The sooner you strengthen your position in the network, the more opportunities and growth points you will have.

We can say that we are achieving the necessary sales, but we are not making a profit.

2 days before the quarantine, we felt a significant drop in traffic and noticed an increase in the cost of conversion. We are engaged in the production of clothing, and the demand for all categories of goods has dropped. A few days later, we launched a promotion for all products, including new collections, and introduced free door-to-door shipping. Thus, we managed to partially recover the number of sales. Today the cost of conversion is acceptable, and the traffic is stable, but the income, of course, is 20 percent less than before. There is buying activity, but not the same as before. We can say that we are achieving the necessary sales, but we are not making a profit.

I think that actions to increase the average check are not effective right now. We only had full discounts. I advise you to unload balance sheets to the maximum, not to think about profit, but to think about the maximum accumulation of cash, so as not to lose assets and keep the business running. Also optimize costs and work out several options during the crisis. Those who pass this period will become stronger. The main thing is to have a margin of safety - material and moral.

Today you need to do everything the same way as before, only much better

Since the beginning of quarantine, the traffic of essential goods has increased, but in some categories the traffic has dropped. We haven't noticed any changes in the rate of conversions. Currently, purchasing activity is the same as in the early days of quarantine. But in general, we have observed a positive growth in sales for a long period of time.

During this period, we are trying to improve the service - we introduced an additional Express delivery service. Also, every Tuesday we hold "Clean Sale" promotions, organize "Goods of the Day" promotions, which include categories of in-demand items. Almost every week we make some innovations to the site. For example, we updated the menu structure, redesigned the title (focused on the search bar) and added a new assortment to the site (for example, Vichy, La Roche-Posay). Shortly before the start of quarantine in Ukraine, we installed MultiSearch. The first results are encouraging.

Today we must do everything the same way as before, only much better. Online competition is strong and has a lower bar of admission. It is necessary to improve internal processes, try to give the consumer a better experience, separate from competitors, study the current demand - both on Google and on the website. In the internal search, you can find many interesting and unexpected ideas for yourself, for example, products that are looking for on your site, but they are not in the assortment. Any crisis is a period of new opportunities. Therefore, it seems to me, now we need to work as efficiently as possible, we need to introduce new solutions and look for growth opportunities.

The delivery service workers are provided with protective equipment, and we check their health twice a day

After the announcement of the quarantine, website traffic increased by 15% compared to the first weeks of March. There is also an increase in the number of transactions, primarily due to the following product categories:

1. Personal protective equipment (respirators, gloves, goggles, overalls);

2. Home first aid kit (medical masks, antiseptics);

3. Household chemicals (cleaning products, napkins, toilet paper).

In addition to these products, sales of laptops and air purifiers increased. The sales leaders remained the same: goods for construction work and repair, orchards and vegetable gardens. Today the consumer demand for goods in our segment is quite high. Our main task is to provide buyers with the necessary assortment and quantity of goods, as well as to ensure safe and timely delivery.

After the announcement of the quarantine, we innovated additional online checkouts in Epicenter stores because of the increase in self-pickup orders. This method helps to pay for the order without a queue. It also reduced waiting time and avoided crowds, which means increased safety for our customers. We've also tightened security measures during transportation. Delivery service workers are provided with protective equipment, and we monitor their health twice a day. Goods are delivered from distributional centers where contact with people is minimal. Many Epicenter stores have Benicassim restaurants, and we have provided our customers with an additional service - Ready Food. Delivery is carried out in lunch boxes in Kiev.

Despite the crisis and the conditions that force you to save, you need to remain faithful to your client and continue to provide a high level of service. Entrepreneurs must be flexible, be able to quickly restructure according to current circumstances, seize opportunities, create new products and services for their customers that will allow them to stay in the market, or look for new niches.

Clients who become your clients during this difficult period will remain loyal to the company for many years

Since the beginning of the quarantine on our site, there has been an increase in conversion due to the transition of sales from retail to online. Self-service shops are in an advantageous position. The greatest demand during this period is laptops and home equipment, bread makers and cooking equipment, games and televisions, body care products, air purifiers, humidifiers and home cleaning products.

The consumers are gradually adapting, and if they used to go shopping more, today they have switched to a “virtual” shelf. In general, we are witnessing a recession in the market of household appliances and electronics, and I think that the return of normal purchasing activity can be expected after the end of the pandemic.

Advertising on TV has become less effective, digital channels work better. To increase conversion, we analyze search queries, focus on fast service, delivery, product groups with the highest demand and loyalty programs. Users are less interested in price. Right time offer, service and speed of service are increasingly becoming factors in purchasing decisions.

I advise everyone to listen to their clients now, work on their comments and your platform. Also change internal business processes, analyze the assortment, "guess" the demand for goods and services that you need to sell tomorrow. Clients who become your clients during this difficult period will remain loyal to the company for many years.

Ukrainians began to buy less large household appliances and cameras, but the demand for laptops and bicycles increased

Since the beginning of the quarantine, we deliberately "cut" the lion share of the marketing budget, realizing that now the market will be heavily "pumped up". We felt a serious decline in branded traffic in Kiev due to the fact that offline advertising stopped working. In terms of advertising on Google, they noted that CPCs have gone up as new advertisers come in. Customer value has also increased.

In the first three days of quarantine we dropped in all categories of goods, after the demand for laptops, tablets and bicycles / electric vehicles increased. At the same time, we observe a trend that during the quarantine period, Ukrainians began to buy less large household appliances and cameras. Now there is a new purchasing power, we can clearly see how people are starting to invest in precious metals and jewelry, purchasing equipment for remote work, goods for repairs, bicycles.

We will spend the period of the pandemic to change the share of paid traffic to free, just now we are launching our main product for the b2b market in the field of "used and outlet", which will open the doors for small and medium-sized enterprises. This will significantly increase the number of offers, and then branded PR-campaigns, based on the advantages of our resource for an ordinary buyer, will come into play.

Today, I advise all online stores to pay attention to marketplaces. Maintenance of your online store becomes unprofitable due to the large market players. Now is the right time for new ideas and business models. I may be subjective, but, for example, the market for tour operators has been standing still for as long as I can remember. Why not come up with something new and revolutionary? I also advise you to invest in the automation of the operating system and routine processes, get rid of paper signatures and switch to cloud solutions. During the pandemic, it was difficult for our business to reorganize only the external workflow, since not all of our partners are digital, but we restructured and will not return.