Project Description
These words have almost become clichés but the COVID-19 pandemic has forced forward-thinking businesses to innovate in the way they operate or pivot the goods and services they provide. We have seen many of our clients, old and new, digitise their services, such as delivering training online via a learning management system or digitise their product delivery from over-the-counter to online.
We have also seen businesses use their strengths and capabilities to retool in order to meet new demand. Businesses have produced essential health and safety solutions while establishing a much needed new income stream for their business. This has been the case with our friends at Rundle Tailoring.
Rundle Tailoring has been producing made-to-measure and ready-to-wear suits, jackets, and other menswear for over 100 years. Their traditional wedding and corporate attire trade had taken a hit with the new Government restrictions on gatherings. They saw an opportunity to use their clothing industry experience and manufacturing capabilities to produce reusable, machine washable, face masks. They predicted a rise in demand due to health officials, corporations, and state leaders recommending the wearing of face masks in public places.
As word spread that the face masks were made from breathable fabric with stylish designs and comfortable ties, the enquiries off the street, on the phone, and through their social media started flooding in. Andrew and Bronwyn wanted their face masks to be affordable and did not want to profiteer from the situation. The huge demand became a resourcing issue and there was the need to maintain a COVID safe working environment in-store. They needed a contactless means of selling and distributing their face masks to their eager customers, so they called HyperWeb.
We developed the Rundle Tailoring website back in 2017 with the knowledge that an online store with integration to Point of Sale and inventory was in their pipeline for the future. Because of this and our own COVID policy of acting quickly to help our clients through the COVID crisis, we set up their online store for facemasks within two days. We worked with the team on the most cost-effective and timely way to deal with shipping and online payments and to manage customer expectations through content.
Such was the demand and timing we were surprised to find purchases occurring almost instantly with the face mask product landing page being indexed by Google before we were 100% ready! Backed with their own social media marketing, some coverage by the local media, and positive word of mouth, the sales came through thick and fast. The Rundle team used their phone messaging to direct people to their website. Eventually, pressure in-store via phone and instore enquiries was eased allowing the team to focus on production and fulfilment.
It is important to understand your own capacity in business. It was very smart of the Rundle team to wait until fulfilment caught up with orders, and access to materials became more secure, before taking the next step. We have engaged again, this time via our digital marketing service, to set up some targeted Facebook Ad campaigns to increase demand a second time. By now there was a significant amount of competition, but felt that the Rundle name, quality of product and reputation would offer a point of difference. There was also the fact that their face masks were Australian made, locally made by their talented team of tailors and seamstresses, and well priced. HyperWeb ran a short campaign targeting users who had previously visited the Rundle website and therefore were familiar with the business. This proved successful, so we tried a broader campaign targeting the wider demographic of fashion-aware consumers. They were very successful campaigns in terms of cost per conversion.
With their supplier, manufacture, sale, and fulfilment infrastructure in place, we had the confidence to invest in quality photography of individual fabric patterns. Martin Sully, from Snapper Studio, very generously helped out at short notice to shoot the individual products to allow us to set up a more visually appealing layout and improved user experience for the customer journey.
Click here to view for yourself and consider the benefits an online store can deliver for your business, particularly during times of restrictions of movement, and while you are there, why not purchase your own tailor-made, Australian made, reusable face mask from Rundle Tailoring.
