In recent years, the business landscape has undergone dramatic shifts, presenting entrepreneurs with unprecedented challenges and opportunities. To gain valuable insights into how successful ecommerce brands are navigating these changes, we've reconnected with three previous guests from the Shopify Masters podcast. Their stories of resilience, innovation, and growth offer invaluable lessons for any business owner looking to thrive in uncertain times.
Pivoting to Virtual Workshops: Katherine Gaskin of The Content Planner
Katherine Gaskin, founder of The Content Planner, has built a thriving business around helping entrepreneurs and marketers plan their online content. Her flagship product is a physical planner designed specifically for mapping out social media and content strategies.
From In-Person to Online Events
Before the pandemic, Katherine supplemented product sales with in-person workshops and retreats. These high-ticket offerings, priced between $400-$1600, were a major revenue driver. When travel restrictions hit, Katherine had to quickly pivot:
"Within a 48-hour period, I launched the sales page. I taught myself Zoom. I've never actually done a virtual webinar that was paid for. So I taught myself everything in terms of creating a sales page, registration, the workflow of what emails would get triggered."
This rapid transition to virtual workshops proved incredibly successful. Katherine notes that her online events are "insanely easier than doing an in-person event" with profit margins over 90%. She's now able to reach a global audience rather than being limited to specific cities.
Pricing and Positioning Virtual Offerings
Katherine adjusted her pricing strategy for the online format:
"The current price for it is $134 for early birds. And then $180 for if you want to attend the workshop as a regular ticket. So the price is discounted obviously, and I took into account, okay, what kind of value am I bringing to the table?"
To address potential hesitation around spending during uncertain times, Katherine emphasizes the investment aspect:
"Instead of talking from a price standpoint, you can say, 'This is how you're going to benefit. You're going to show up with your online content and be really confident. You're going to create conversions because you're serving your community.'"
Expanding the Virtual Product Line
The success of her live online workshops has opened up new opportunities. Katherine is now working on:
- On-demand course versions of her workshops
- Group coaching and accountability programs
By listening closely to her community's needs, she's been able to develop additional offerings that provide even more value to her customers.
Leveraging Capital and Adapting Production: Jimmy Findlay Hickey of Findlay Hats
Jimmy Findlay Hickey's hat company, Findlay Hats, has seen remarkable growth during challenging times. Their story illustrates the importance of financial preparedness and the ability to quickly adapt production capabilities.
Securing Financial Stability
When the pandemic first hit, Findlay Hats saw an initial drop in sales. Jimmy acted quickly to shore up their finances:
"We actually secured a loan through PayPal to kind of help float us through the next couple months in case we did see a major drop in sales or that trend continued."
This proactive approach to securing capital gave them a cushion to weather potential downturns. Jimmy recommends exploring options like PayPal Capital or Shopify Capital, which can be easier to obtain than traditional bank loans for ecommerce businesses.
Unexpected Growth and Advertising Success
Contrary to expectations, Findlay Hats saw a significant upturn in sales after the initial slump. Jimmy attributes this partly to changes in the advertising landscape:
"Basically fewer people competing out there, fewer businesses trying to get in front of people, made it your CPMs, your cost to reach people go significantly down. And our advertising was just giving us a huge return that we just haven't seen in a long time."
They capitalized on this opportunity by scaling up their ad spend, resulting in a major influx of new customers.
Pivoting Production Capabilities
In addition to their core hat business, Findlay Hats utilized their manufacturing capacity to produce face shields for medical workers:
"We pretty much told the team we were going to stop doing our hat production for the next couple of weeks and just focus on medical stuff."
This pivot not only allowed them to contribute to pandemic relief efforts but also opened up new revenue streams. They received orders for thousands of face shields from hospitals and medical groups.
Balancing Growth and Community Support
As their hat sales continued to grow, Findlay Hats found ways to balance their core business with their medical supply efforts:
"We just had to hire on additional help to just do the shield projects."
They also focused on communicating their community support efforts through social media, which resonated strongly with their customer base.
Innovative Promotions and Value-Add Strategies: Patrick Coddou of Supply
Patrick Coddou's company, Supply, which sells premium men's shaving products, demonstrates how innovative promotional strategies can turn a challenging situation into an opportunity for growth.
Responding to the Initial Sales Drop
When the pandemic first hit, Supply saw daily sales drop by 50-70%. Rather than immediately resorting to discounts, Patrick and his team brainstormed promotional ideas that would resonate with the current climate.
Testing and Iterating Promotional Ideas
Their first attempt, a promotion tied to stock market fluctuations, fell flat. But they quickly pivoted to a more successful approach:
"We offered if you bought our razor, which is $75 you'll get a free one-year supply of blades. And you can obviously off the bat, see why that would be such an enticing offer kind of in the moment. Because people were hoarding products."
This promotion was so successful that it took them from their lowest sales day of the year to their biggest weekend since Black Friday/Cyber Monday in just two weeks.
Leveraging Learnings for Long-Term Strategy
The success of the blade promotion led Supply to launch a permanent membership program:
"Our membership program is if you buy our razor, you're automatically a member of the club and you will get a free shipment of our razor blades every quarter for the rest of your life, as long as you want them."
This shift in strategy has redefined their brand and customer relationships moving forward.
Focus on Value Over Discounts
Patrick emphasizes their preference for adding value rather than discounting:
"We always prefer to give more product than take money off when we're offering more value to our customers. So we love doing a gift with purchase, buy X, get Y or buy this bundle, separately it would be 200 bucks, but together it's 150."
This approach aligns better with their brand identity and can be more appealing to customers, especially during uncertain times.
Key Takeaways for Ecommerce Entrepreneurs
From these Shopify Masters' experiences, several valuable lessons emerge for ecommerce business owners:
Be prepared to pivot quickly: Whether it's transitioning to virtual events, adapting production capabilities, or testing new promotional strategies, agility is crucial.
Listen to your community: Regularly seek feedback from your customers to inform new product development and marketing strategies.
Explore alternative funding options: Familiarize yourself with ecommerce-friendly capital sources like PayPal Capital or Shopify Capital to ensure financial stability.
Capitalize on advertising opportunities: Be ready to scale up marketing efforts if you see increased returns on ad spend.
Focus on adding value: Instead of relying on discounts, look for ways to offer more value to your customers through bundles, memberships, or complementary products.
Communicate your values and community efforts: Authentically sharing how your business is supporting communities can resonate strongly with customers.
Test and iterate rapidly: Don't be afraid to try new ideas, but be prepared to pivot quickly if they're not working.
Consider longer-term subscription models: Quarterly or annual subscriptions may be more appealing to customers than monthly commitments.
The Power of Adaptability in Ecommerce
The experiences of Katherine Gaskin, Jimmy Findlay Hickey, and Patrick Coddou underscore the critical importance of adaptability in the face of rapid change. Their success stories demonstrate that with the right mindset and strategies, ecommerce businesses can not only survive but thrive in uncertain times.
Embracing Digital Transformation
Katherine Gaskin's pivot to virtual workshops is a prime example of embracing digital transformation. According to a McKinsey Global Survey, companies have accelerated the digitization of their customer and supply-chain interactions and of their internal operations by three to four years due to the pandemic. This shift has opened up new opportunities for businesses to reach global audiences and streamline operations.
Leveraging Financial Tools for Stability
Jimmy Findlay Hickey's proactive approach to securing capital highlights the importance of financial preparedness. A study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that 43% of small businesses had less than six months of cash reserves to weather a crisis. By exploring alternative funding options like PayPal Capital or Shopify Capital, ecommerce businesses can build a financial cushion to navigate uncertain times.
Innovating Customer Relationships
Patrick Coddou's shift to a membership model aligns with broader trends in ecommerce. According to Subscribed Institute, subscription business models have grown by more than 300% over the past seven years. By focusing on long-term customer relationships rather than one-time transactions, businesses can create more predictable revenue streams and foster customer loyalty.
The Future of Ecommerce: Trends and Predictions
As we look to the future, several trends are likely to shape the ecommerce landscape:
Personalization at Scale: With advances in AI and machine learning, businesses will be able to offer increasingly personalized shopping experiences. A study by Epsilon found that 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalized experiences.
Sustainability and Ethical Consumerism: Consumers are increasingly prioritizing sustainability in their purchasing decisions. A Nielsen report shows that 73% of global consumers say they would definitely or probably change their consumption habits to reduce their impact on the environment.
Omnichannel Experiences: The line between online and offline shopping will continue to blur. Research by Harvard Business Review found that omnichannel customers spend 4% more in-store and 10% more online than single-channel customers.
Social Commerce: Platforms like Instagram and TikTok are becoming increasingly important sales channels. According to eMarketer, US social commerce sales are expected to rise by 34.8% to $36.09 billion in 2021.
Voice Commerce: As smart speakers and voice assistants become more prevalent, voice shopping is set to grow. Juniper Research predicts that voice commerce will reach $80 billion per year by 2023.
Conclusion: Embracing Change and Building Resilience
The stories of these Shopify Masters demonstrate that challenging times can also bring opportunities for innovation and growth. By staying flexible, listening to customers, and focusing on delivering value, ecommerce businesses can not only survive but thrive in uncertain environments.
As the ecommerce world continues to evolve, the lessons learned from Katherine Gaskin, Jimmy Findlay Hickey, and Patrick Coddou will remain valuable for entrepreneurs looking to build resilient and successful online businesses. Their experiences highlight the importance of quick decision-making, creative problem-solving, and a willingness to experiment with new approaches.
In the ever-changing landscape of ecommerce, adaptability is not just an advantage—it's a necessity. By embracing change, leveraging technology, and staying attuned to customer needs, businesses can position themselves for long-term success, no matter what challenges the future may bring.
