Promotions are Working Right Now. Data below from remarketing platform Criteo shows that consumers have made an extremely rapid shift from in-store to online shopping through the Coronavirus outbreak. OpenMoves has seen this shift across a number of clients, including the major impact and success of new ecommerce promotions. All ecommerce brands should consider an aggressive and contextually relevant promotional strategy to respond to Corona. As an example, our client Gurhan that sells high end jewelry had a 700% increase in April sales due to some creative daily promotions (read how)

Develop a Clear Corona Message. Ecommerce advertisers of all sizes and types must adjust messaging to match the current landscape gracefully. You don’t want to appear tonedeaf or profiteering. Language and promotional concepts that just a month ago seemed great may now seem inappropriate or irrelevant. Your brand can still have fun or playful messaging about new situations like working from home and social distancing, and many brands are finding success with messaging about how they’re giving back. AdAge is maintaining a regularly updated list of brand responses to Corona that marketers can reference for guidance on tone and creative.

Push for Cheaper Media Cost. Data from our own analysis and industry sources shows that as advertisers pull out of the market and reduce budget, the cost of media across platforms and industries is falling. Now is the time to push for more clicks and impressions at a cheaper cost. You and your team should be pushing to find efficiency in this new landscape through bid reductions and strategic bidding and audience strategy changes.

Real-Time Geotargeting Analysis. Many outlets are tracking Coronavirus cases across the country. For ecommerce advertisers, you may now start to see greatly variable performance in different locations based on the variable location impact. Now is the time to assess performance data across geography and consider bidding and messaging changes.

Optimize for More Overall Digital Usage. As reported by the New York Times, Facebook usage is soaring through the Coronavirus outbreak. A study from GlobalWebIndex shows that 45% of global consumers are spending more time on social media apps and messaging tools due to Corona. Our own internal data also suggests surging impressions across platforms. For advertisers buying media across broad demographics or groups, expect simply more impression volume and adjust accordingly.

Expect Changes to Buyer Journey + Attribution. The Financial Times reports that major out of home advertising vendors have been badly impacted by Corona – no surprise since everyone is staying indoors! For brands that have complex media strategies involving multiple channels, be aware of how the collapse of outdoor advertising will impact digital. For example, you may see that brand search volume declines if you were relying on OOH to drive brand awareness. You may have to bolser digital branding efforts to make up for this change in consumer media consumption.

Be Category-Aware and Realistic. In this new reality, some ecommerce categories are booming while others suffer. You need to develop a realistic assessment of your overall catalog and decide which products have scale opportunity and which are weak. Data from Stackline shows recent winners and losers: no surprises that products for indoor use and other staples are growing while products based on outdoor activities are suffering. You need to align product, promotion and messaging strategy to realistic market trends under Coronavirus.

Download the PDF: 7 Ecommerce Strategies to Survive + Scale During Coronavirus