COVID-19 has been a global issue that has impacted many households across the world. It’s important that everyone tries to be safe during this testing time and does their bit to prevent the spread of the virus. In particular, businesses have been heavily knocked by the virus and have had to adapt to new ways of servicing their customers, applying strict measures to protect their staff and customers.
The fashion industry is no different and needs to respond efficiently in order to continue their operations. To ensure you can fend off the potential threat of liquidation to your business, here are some important steps to consider and keep in mind.
What are your current stock levels?
Stock levels should be a prime concern as you may have priority for some stores compared to others. Does it need to be distributed to cover other areas for their demand? What areas are affected and which aren’t as much?
These are all questions concerned with the virus itself, but what about other factors including online and seasonal factors? If you’re focusing on one season compared to others, gain an understanding of how you can best distribute this. Will you need to sell your mens spray on jeans for the Summer, or could this now be held back for the Winter? Also, it’s likely there will be a larger demand online than in-store now that consumers are restricted to entering stores, so consider whether you can dedicate more to your online store instead.
Will there be new stock arriving?
You may have had orders in the pipeline for new releases or new seasons for the year but with the Coronavirus, delivery times for this stock is going to change. There will be delays with receiving the stock so you need to make sure that you can deal with the demand. See if you can postpone your orders in order to meet the needs of your customers or manage their expectation of when it’ll arrive.
Modify your strategy around distribution
Inventory levels will need to be corrected and potentially revisited since COVID has changed your plans for the rest of the year. Look back at your business plan and gain a better idea of what forecasts you’re potentially working with. Elements such as store capacity, sale thresholds and delivery have likely changed significantly.
Final thoughts
All of these elements are extremely important to consider to ensure you can mitigate risk in your business and keep your business model intact for the foreseeable future. It’s important that businesses can do their bit to keep afloat before normality comes back. Review the current situation with your business at the moment and adapt your models to cope with the times we’re in.
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