10 Ways Ecommerce Brands Are Fostering Community During The Coronavirus Pandemic
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
Fred Rogers
In the midst of any great hardship, it’s always important to look for the healers and the innovators. Between the closure of most brick and mortar stores to the danger factory workers have to face daily, the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected the ecommerce industry. Check out these examples of brands who have taken this time to remind their community and fellow humans what it means to be a community.
Beer Hawk declares they will donate a portion of each of their sales to an organization that helps out of work restaurant workers during the pandemic.
As an online alcohol retailer, Beer Hawk is fortunate to see healthy sales during the COVID-19 pandemic. The retailer has announced they are donating a portion of their sales to an organization that is helping out-of-work restaurant workers. Since the pandemic has hit the service industry just as hard as any, Beer Hawk knew they needed to support their community as a more fortunate member. By offering a portion of their healthy sales to an organization that is helping individuals who typically share their struggles the brand is show solidarity and helping lift their community overall in whatever way they can.
LVMH, Brew Dog, and INEOS get into the hand sanitizer making and selling business to meet demand.
Multiple brands, who have the capability, have halted production and distribution of some of their regular products to instead focus on hand sanitizer. The hand sanitizer supply chain has become overwhelmed by the sudden explosion in demand for the product with people being told to wash their hands more meticulously. Everything from luxury good companies to chemical companies to craft breweries have jumped on the train of pitching in on producing antibacterial. By completely pivoting into a new type of product these brands are proving they are willing to adapt and help their community when needed.
Dyson pledges to contribute 10,000 ventilators to the UK government in order to do their part in fighting the virus.
Sir James Dyson, the founder of technology company Dyson, immediately jumped into action when he realized what was going on. The brand committed to 10,000 ventilators that they would donate to the UK government since their factories have the ability to create them without much change. The engineer created a completely new build that he found would be the most efficient and effective for his teams to create; proving that Dyson is here for it’s community when needed.
Squareshot, an ecommerce product photography service, is offering $100 of their services to help suffering small ecommerce businesses.
Squareshot, an ecommerce product photography service in New York City, is offering $100 off all new customers’ orders. The company is a small business itself and has said that they understand the economic pains that the pandemic has created, so they want to do what they can by supporting small businesses in the ecommerce industry.
Donald Russell optimizes their online stores performance to keep up with increase in traffic and demand.
Donald Russell, online meat retailer, has seen an exponential increase in their orders and sales during the coronavirus outbreak. In order to maintain a seamless and valuable customer experience, the brand has implemented new tactics and measures in order to meet the newfound demand for their product. The online meat retailer has implemented informative pop-ups, up-to-date shipping information via banners, and much more into their onsite experience in order to ensure customers are having as easy of an experience as possible.
Slack and Adore Beauty join together to create an ecommerce “war room” where brands and online retailers can share insights.
Slack has joined forces with Australian cosmetics brand Adore Beauty to facilitate an “ecommerce war room” where hundreds of ecommerce brands have come together to share insights and discuss challenges during the COVID-19 outbreak. Adore Beauty founder Kate Morris has gone out of her way to thank Slack for their participation and has publicly discussed the success and helpfulness of the community. This is a pure example of ecommerce brands coming together as a community with the help of a software company.
Pure Waste begins to manufacture stylish face masks in order to help with demand and keep people safe.
Similar to how brands have begun to produce hand sanitizer, fashion retailer Pure Waste has begun manufacturing stylish face masks to help meet demand. Health organizations across the globe are telling regular citizens to cover their faces when out in public, which has led to a shortage of all kinds of face masks. Pure Waste has gone out of their way to pivot into manufacturing face masks in order to help with demand and do their part in keeping the global community safe.
Shopware, a German ecommerce platform, has banded together with ecommerce companies to create a LinkedIn support group for sharing helpful information.
Marcus Diekmann, Tim Böker, and Sebastian Bomm of ROSE Bikes came together with Anna Weber and Jan Weischer of BabyOne, Vera Vaubel of changelog.blog, and Shopware, to discuss their troubles in these difficult times. The community has since grown tremendously and they now share information about aid programs and funds from the state, federal government, EU, banks, KFW and other institutions. They also discuss exchange liquidity programs and tax breaks. Finally, they discuss creative ways to strategize and navigate through the economic turmoil in order to ensure they have a future as companies.
Heinz takes it’s canned goods direct-to-consumer for the first time with free delivery to frontline workers.
Heinz, one of the most famous food processing companies in the world, has announced they are selling their canned products direct-to-consumer for the first time in the UK. The brand also said they will be delivering canned goods to frontline workers in the UK for free through this new initiative. This is a perfect example of a brand doing their part and quickly pivoting their strategy to help meet the needs of the community.
Shopify is offering an extended 90 day free trial and their email offering for free to merchants.
Finally, Shopify is offering an extended 90 day free trial to new customers and is also offering their email service for free through October. The software company helps many small to large ecommerce businesses achieve their goals and they’re stepping up to show that they are still here for that same community even during the tough times. This example shows the genuine bridge between ecommerce company and ecommerce technology, which in the end is all part of a single community.
