Opportunity in amidst the gloom
Coronavirus, COVID-19, is sweeping the globe and upsetting markets not seen since the GFC. Unlike the GFC though, supply chain issues and the perceived dangers of congregating in crowds are fuelling this panic. Can your online business take advantage of that?
What I learned
- The world has gone mad
- Why it’s a “supply chain virus”
- Is China coming back online?
- The benefits to local sellers
- Will it mean an online shopping boost for you?
Transcript
Hi, welcome back Rankers and Retailers. The world seems to have gone quite mad. Interesting times. So I’ve never seen an economic upheaval like COVID-19 is producing in my lifetime. But it’s very different in that the last GFC, there was a housing bubble. Before that, I can remember one in the eighties, which was the time of Christopher Skase and Alan Bond.
A supply chain recession
This one, it’s a bit different because it’s not like money’s dried up, it’s supplies that have dried up. One of the things that I’ve been watching, and I think it’s an excellent thread you can watch on LinkedIn, is this one, it’s “Supply chains hit by virus” and it’s by an editor at LinkedIn, Jordan Dahl. And what’s interesting about it is the amount of comments and interaction in that thread, because you begin to see what businesses are going through worldwide and in different industries as well.
So for instance, it became very, very clear there that there was one post that was saying that the screen that you’re watching this on right now is either produced in China or Korea. So that starts to put it into some real perspective for you as far as the supply chain goes. But what is also heartening and what we’re seeing in that thread is, we had some industries saying we’re seeing manufacturers start to come back online now in China. I’ve seen conversations around retailers online saying that if they are selling locally, if they’re local sellers, they’re sort of benefiting from people staying away from the drop shippers because they just can’t get stock. So there’s all these sorts of little things that are really different about this and one thing is really clear though is that people don’t want to hang around with others in large groups.
Have a better online presence
And we’re seeing certainly a lot of events being closed down because of that. And that also means that probably, maybe, people will be more likely to shop online. But what is clear is that you’ve got to do everything that you possibly can to be better than your competitor unless you’re selling, of course, toilet paper or, as I found out on the weekend, bidets in Australia, because we think outside the box. Well, at least they do in the Northern Territory anyway, because that was the number one search or the state that had the most searches for bidets over the week. And of course, the retailer that has them is Bunnings. But when we go and look at bidets, who’s got them for sale, last time I looked… no Bunnings ad there. So we’ve got Kogan who’s cleaning up with bidets. Yes, pun intended.
Now just a heads up that I’ll be hosting a workshop once more at this year’s Retail Global conference on the Gold Coast. It’s on from May 27-29. The workshop is based on my upcoming book, “Get Stuffed Google! – Increasing Sales before Traffic” and is a must for any eCommerce retailers looking to put sales growth before the whims of Google. We have a discount code available; so don’t forget to offer it to your clients and prospects! The code is: STEWART100
Hopefully that’s helpful. Please share, like, and subscribe. If you’ve got any comments or you’re seeing some things, I’ve already had some comments and thanks Quinton for that. I’m saying just double down on your stores, make sure your stores are all working. Get ready for maybe an uptick in certain areas depending on what industry you’re in. We’re already seeing that with some of our clients. See you next week. Bye.
Jim’s been here for a while, you know who he is.
