Literally, the world stopped when governments worldwide ordained lockdowns to stop the spread of Coronavirus. With flights cancelled all over the globe, people instructed to stay at home, and businesses forced to close down indefinitely, essentially everything was put to a standstill; hence, bringing down economies around the world into a recession. The gravity of the situation was not anything one would have anticipated.

But at a critical time like this, a DTC brand based in Hong Kong was still able to keep their business operations running amid the Coronavirus. First, they survived the political upturn; then, they were faced with a global pandemic that no one had ever imagined before.

Learn what UNDONE is doing to weather this economic meltdown by tuning in to this episode of 2X eCommerce. Dive into Kunle and Michael’s conversation on how UNDONE is improvising new strategies and tapping into consumers’ mindset to keep their products relevant and valuable amidst Hong Kong’s political strife and the Coronavirus pandemic.

Covered Topics:

• The Impact of COVID-19 and Hong Kong’s Political Strife on Businesses
• Challenges in Supply Chain
• Marketing Strategies in the time of Coronavirus
• Tips for Surviving the COVID-19 Economic Crisis

Podcast Show Notes:

• 01:48 – Figure out how the eCommerce industry is affected by the COVID-19 pandemic through Klaviyo’s COVID-19 Daily Pulse Update.  Check out Klaviyo
• 04:07 – How UNDONE handles the Coronavirus situation
  • Not impacted on the inventory side although there were delays
  • Shipping delays because of lockdowns
  • Cancellations due to delays in deliveries
• 05:51 – Top 5 Markets of UNDONE
  • US
  • UK
  • Japan
  • Singapore
  • Hong Kong
• 06:40 – Where have been the most troublesome areas for orders in the US?
  • New York
  • California
  • Numerous flight cancellations
  • Shift to FedEx for express deliveries
  • Delivery times took an additional 2-3 days than normal
• 08:53 – Challenges in the Supply Chain
  • Initial delays in manufacturing
  • Set up contingency plans and improvise new strategies–from selling stock to switching to pre-orders.
• 10:29 – Get the easiest way to backup your Shopify or BigCommerce store and undo unwanted changes with Rewind.io… Mention you heard about them at 2x eCommerce Podcast and get a ONE MONTH FREE TRIAL
• 12:07 – Marketing Strategies amid the Coronavirus
  • UNDONE’s Strategy: Send a little surprise gift to someone you love or to the frontliners to show that you appreciate them and to emotionally help people to get through this.
• 15:20 – Advertising Channels
  • Facebook Advertising
  • Shifting from focusing on product quality to personalisation
  • Our messaging will be about “people”.
  • Less product launches and more focus on the emotions
• 17:00 – Tip for businesses struggling with the crisis
  • Avoid doing discounts.
  • Preserve your cash.
  • It’s about reaching back down to the emotions of your customers.
  • Try to picture yourself in your customer’s shoes and ask yourself, “Would you buy this?”
• 18:58 – Join the 2xEcommerce Facebook Group

Topic Takeaways:

• During times of crisis, it’s important for businesses and entrepreneurs to be flexible in adapting to new situations and employing new strategies.
• What’s important now is to be able to reach out to people’s emotions and to be able to genuinely deliver a message to your consumers that you care.
• Focus your marketing and advertising strategies to building an authentic emotional connection with your customers.

Tweetable Quotes:

“Now what’s important in life is no longer money, no longer all the commodities stuff. It’s about people.”

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