Retailers Stay Nimble At Early Stages Of Pandemic

“We need this right now”, said Jeni Britton Bauer founder and chief brand officer of Jeni’s Splended Ice Creams. “We need to be asking each other questions”.  Britton Bauer is asking her followers on Instagram to come up with new flavors for her company’s 2021 range that will be available in grocery stores, online and in her 44 scoop shops nationwide. She has moved her R&D lab to her home kitchen and is posting videos as she is working through new flavor combinations, recipes and techniques.

In an email interview Jeni (once you have had her ice creams or watched her videos, you can’t help but refer to her in the familiar) explains, “Especially in times like this, it’s the thread of community we’re searching for.”

Retailers and brands around the world are stopping, thinking, pivoting and changing course. 

Immediate responses have ranged from store closings, furloughing work forces and limiting the number of people allowed in stores at a time.

Home Depot stopped sale of N95 masks to redirect inventory to hospital systems. Brooks Bros. is converting American factories to make medical supplies; Under Armour is re-tooling factories to make protective gear for Maryland hospital systems; LL Bean is making masks for Maine Health. 

Beyond redirecting resources for immediate medical needs, retailers are considering a variety of ways to keep conversations going with their customers. It is a fine line between recognition of front-line workers and self-serving promotional messages. 

Uniqlo is promoting cozy styles, showing models relaxing with a book or working on a laptop. Nordstrom is shifting focus to subscription services, leaning into their customers’ purging / cleaning out of closets behavior.

Small, local coffee shops and restaurants are shutting down dining rooms and revamping menus and operations. Ordering online or from a distance, contactless payments and thoughtful packaging are all coming into play as consumers cautiously procure their daily essentials.

Online transactions are up, but inventory and production remain a question mark. “We are very much up and running in e-comm”, said Britton Bauer. 

“We’ve increased our fulfillment team and ramped up production on our top flavors.” she said.  “If we can do this safely (and we believe we can), then we’ll be a community that needs less help on the other side. It’s not about profit, it’s about jobs. But we would never sacrifice safety for anything. So we are monitoring and following the strictest guidelines from our governor and their team.”, referring to Ohio Governor Mike Dewine and Dr. Amy Acton, director of health for the Ohio Department of Health.

When asked about plans for re-opening stores and how her business might look post-pandemic, Jeni expresses the reality of retail at the moment, “We are just trying to survive as a community right now—our own team, our customers, our makers, growers, and producers. We know that we’ll shift to that thinking soon (hopefully), but it’s taking everything we’ve got to stay together, stay afloat, and stay safe right now and that is our singular focus.”, noting the far-reaching impact on supply chain and the people who rely on their jobs.