E-shop in 5 days – how to really quickly act upon the crisis?

The COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the global economic crisis, is forcing companies from various industries to implement new sales techniques to maintain customer relationships. Today, based on the experience that we gained during the lockdown, we can observe that it was also an opportunity to broaden and change the approach to business. And although somewhat forced, it has brought many chances for new brand development. The biggest problem had to be faced by the companies that had not yet implemented online sales or those for which e-commerce was not the main sales channel, for example, because their businesses are focused on providing services rather than selling products. So how did hairdressers, beauty parlors, cafes, restaurants, and small bookstores do in the lockdown era? Some of them moved from offline to online!

Online hair salon

Online hair salon services? Impossible. Of course – online service is impossible in this case, but we have the chance to think creatively and look at the situation more broadly. This opportunity was used by the CEO of Fast White Cat and the CEO of Jean Louis David Poland. – We have created an online store in 5 days for the Jean Louis David hairdresser network, where you can buy, among others, hair cosmetics – says Cezary Kożon, CEO of Fast White Cat – we know that it is not feasible to transfer the entire business to online for such companies, but ensuring at least a partial income – yes. The question is – does it work? Will a new online store, built and implemented in 5 days, convert? According to CEO Jean Louis David Poland – yes, and very! – The store implemented for Jean Louis David by Fast White Cat generated in the first month of operation higher turnover than the prosperous stationary salon of our brand – says Tomasz Bączyk.

This is an opportunity to look at the current circumstances as an interesting case that will confirm the growing role of e-commerce – especially in the new normal after a pandemic. The proof of this thesis can be Amazon, which during the crisis in 2009 increased by 26% thanks to shifting budgets towards investments in new products, channels and their promotion.

But how is this possible – a store in 5 days?

Fast White Cat builds e-stores in 5 days on the PrestaShop platform, because it’s the most convenient option for fast and effective implementations. The shop is created in a simplified model, with the goal of starting sales as soon as possible – this was the most important thing during lockdown because maintaining the liquidity of clients couldn’t wait. Any systems supporting e-commerce were added by Fast White Cat experts at the next stage of work when that most important goal was met – the support of the client’s business.

So what effect did the 5-day store launch and moving sales from offline to online have on businesses? We managed to secure part of the revenue and maintain a profitable business, brands entered a new, previously unknown area, which is online, and this distribution and communication channel will definitely be useful also after the pandemic. What else? Increasing the loyalty of existing customers, through professionally designed ways of communication, depending on customer interaction both on the website and in brick-and-mortar stores.

Conclusions? The crisis can be an inspiration for action – at least in this way it is worth thinking about it, especially because we are already talking about the expected return of the pandemic in autumn. Expanding your business online may, therefore, be necessary because e-commerce is definitely growing in strength.

Karolina Obszyńska, Marketing Manager with Fast White Cat, an unusual organization supporting businesses in building online sales. Why is it unusual? Because Fast White Cat works like an e-commerce software house! It builds e-stores, provides modern, efficient solutions and has specialized developers who know everything about the Magento platform. They do it as a software house – but as an e-commerce company they know that stores still have to sell great! Therefore, in a bundle with a ready-made platform that converts, they add marketing facilities, quality control, analyses and reports. That is how they bring together these two worlds.