A NEW ERA OF RETAIL

How retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers
are adapting their businesses to respond to
the coronavirus

The calm during the storm.

Retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers find creative
ways to adapt their businesses to challenges the
coronavirus has presented.

How two consumer goods startups pivoted as the coronavirus hit

Vybes, which had been selling its CBD-infused beverages
mainly through stores, cafes and gyms, quickly shifted
focus to ecommerce and saw immediate success. Meanwhile, the founder of Nera, a high-end brand of sneakers
made in Italy, put off its planned July launch, figuring that
few online shoppers would spend $260 and up on kicks as
the economy wobbled.

Online grocery shopping has become a mainstream part
of American life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Retailers
have had to act fast to keep up with the demand.

How Protolabs plays a crucial role in the COVID-19 battle

The ecommerce-based provider of digital manufacturing
services grew first-quarter revenue as it provided critical
parts for medical equipment used to fight the pandemic.
In turn, Protolabs is gaining exposure for its pandemic-
related work on social media and showing more
manufacturers how its digital model helps solve their
production challenges.

Crisis intervention: Retailers adapt supply chains and marketing efforts in the face of coronavirus

Retailers are getting creative in their approaches to deal
with unforeseen challenges from coronavirus. Luxury
retailer Olivela and Drinks.com, which provides wine
ecommerce technology platforms for retailers and is the
parent company for online retailers Wine Insider and
Martha Stewart Wine Co., are pivoting quickly to modify
sourcing and marketing during the crisis.

THE CALM DURING THE STORM

Retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers find creative ways to adapt their
businesses to challenges the coronavirus has presented.

Retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers are
finding creative and savvy ways to adapt their
businesses to challenges the coronavirus has
presented. Businesses like Anomalie and others
have shifted to survive and—sometimes even
thrive—during the crisis. Some like Anomalie are
modifying customer service approaches, while
others are making marketing, fulfillment and
website management tweaks to tackle the new
issues and complexities the virus presents.

Anomalie stylists who work with brides on
designs also reached out proactively to all brides
working with the retailer to reassure them their
dresses would not be delayed. Voorhees Means
also went on Instagram Live to answer brides’
concerns about the coronavirus. “We wanted
to make sure we were putting it out there that
we were feeling really confident their dresses
wouldn’t be impacted,” she says.

The changes due to the pandemic haven’t all
been bad. Because many bridal boutiques
shuttered during the outbreak, the custom web-
only retailer saw a surge in website traffic, and a
25% increase in signups to its website when the
COVID-19 outbreak began. Another positive way
the coronavirus has impacted customer service
at Anomalie is that brides are more open to
video conferencing. Stylists are conducting more
consultations via video using Zoom rather than
over the phone, Voorhees Means says.

How two consumer goods startups pivoted as the coronavirus hit

Eppers is the founder and CEO of Vybes,
which sells bottled beverages infused
with CBD, or cannabidiol, a derivative
of cannabis that some believe eases
stress. Since founding the business
three years ago, he’s mainly been
selling through bricks-and-mortar
businesses. However, he quickly shifted to
selling online.

While DiPietrantonio’s was pushing back the
introduction of his new online brand, Eppers
refocused Vybes on ecommerce in March as the
stores that accounted for most of his business
shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eppers had been operating an ecommerce site
at IDrinkVybes.com, but it was a small part of his
business. With most of his retail outlets shuttered,
he took three steps to boost online sales.

GROCERY RETAILERS ADAPT AS CORONAVIRUS UPENDS SHOPPING PATTERNS

Online grocery shopping has become a mainstream part of American life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Retailers have had to act fast to keep up with the demand.

U.S. online sales of consumer packaged
goods (CPG)—the kinds of items typically
sold in grocery stores—grew 30.2%, for the
week ended May 23, compared with the same
period a year earlier, according to data from
research and polling firm Nielsen and Rakuten
Intelligence, which tracks online sales via
consumers’ email receipts. For the 12 weeks
ended May 23, online CPG sales increased 53.9%,
reflecting a significant surge in online
CPG sales earlier in the COVID-19 crisis.

The most significant web sales increase among
CPG categories for the week ended May 23 was
food, up 44% year-over-year, Nielsen and Rakuten
found. That was followed by a 30.1% surge in
online sales of household care items. Online sales
in the health and beauty care category grew by
20.8%. Baby care web sales grew 9%.

HOW PROTOLABS PLAYS A CRUCIAL ROLE IN THE COVID-19 BATTLE

Protolabs, which routinely does about
29% of its sales in the medical device market,
experienced less demand during the quarter
in other manufacturing markets, including
automotive and industrial machinery.

CRISIS INTERVENTION: RETAILERS ADAPT SUPPLY CHAINS AND MARKETING EFFORTS IN THE FACE OF CORONAVIRUS

Retailers are getting creative in their approaches to deal with unforeseen challenges from the
coronavirus. Luxury retailer Olivela and Drinks.com, which provides wine ecommerce technology
platforms for retailers and is the parent company for online retailers Wine Insider and Martha Stewart
Wine Co., are pivoting quickly to modify
sourcing and marketing during the crisis.