Beyond Surviving and Thriving: Serving the Community
In recent weeks, there has been an unprecedented amount of coverage over the spread of the novel Coronavirus, and the overwhelming majority of that coverage has been negative. Economically, many stock market indices here in the United States have responded by taking downturns. On the business front, national and local lockdowns have forced many businesses, small and large, to shutter their doors.
It’s always far too easy to give in to despair. Despite what seems like an unstoppable tide of bad news, there’s always good news waiting to be discovered. Take, for example, how KM Herbals, one of our eCommerce website design clients, stood up to the task of helping a community in need. KM Herbals, who partnered with 1DigitalⓇ Agency for a BigCommerce custom design, is a plant-based skincare company that produces wellness products such as soaps, moisturizers, lotions, toners and much more.
KM Herbals came to 1DigitalⓇ with an online store on a platform of limited scalability. They needed to be able to manage larger quantities of important customer data, but they also wanted to create a design that more closely reflected their brand and invited customer participation. In addition, they wanted to develop a segmented design to offer different customers a customized experience. For example, they wanted to offer a different interface to their individual online shopper from the one that wholesale customers would see. We helped them with a BigCommerce custom design project to address all of these concerns. Our collaboration with KM Herbals’ offered them the scalability on a BigCommerce platform they would need when their customers called on them to deliver.
Through their migration and redesign of their professional website, their mission remained the same: to provide products that enhance the overall well-being and health of their clients. When the Coronavirus began to spread in the United States, they knew there was work to be done.
While most nonessential businesses have been forced to close, KM Herbals may very well have been free to continue business as usual since their eCommerce model would enable them to carry on.
While that may have been so considering their unique situation, when the crisis began to mount, KM Herbals’ founder developed a line of hand sanitizer, purifying spray, and hand soap to help afflicted individuals and communities across the country cope with the threat of the spread of the virus. In keeping with their vision of wellness, each of these products uses a mix of ethyl alcohol produced from organic grapes as well as blends of different essential oils.
Many areas of the country are experiencing shortages of critical supplies like toilet paper, soap, and hand sanitizer, which only underscores the valiance of KM Herbals’ efforts all the more. Not only have they taken the initiative to make a wise business decision, but doing so has resulted in providing relief to a country sorely in need of the essentials they have been able to supply.
Their sales have boomed and they have received an outpouring of support and appreciation from customers across the country, ranging from an appreciation for their support to praise for the quality of their products.
At first, KM Herbals was inundated with requests for help in the face of the shortages, asking if they could supply their customers with the essentials they lacked. That has since turned into a surge in gratitude for the people that have been doing their part, and working tirelessly, to help make their country and their community a better place.
Their customers have been satisfied both with their products and with the company’s initiatives to meet the demands of the shortage. KM Herbals’ creative response is a model for other businesses on how to adapt to shifting market conditions. Customers of theirs have widely extolled them.
One customer of theirs praised their products, stating ‘This hand sanitizer is so much better than any I have tried. It smells so good and leaves my skin soft and hydrated.’
Others were quick to praise the company for its adaptiveness to customer needs during these hard times with pithy adoration, noting that KM Herbals has offered its customers ‘a bit of balm in a difficult time.’ It’s clear that KM Herbals is meeting its customers’ needs for much more than just products, but relief from worry.
In times like these, when companies like KM Herbals take similar initiatives, everyone wins. The communities they serve see their needs met, especially in times of crisis that cause shortages and leave the market unequipped to provide. At the same time, KM Herbals saw to its own needs as a business and adapted its model to fill the void left by other sellers in the supply chain. By staying keenly attuned to the needs of their customers, thinking outside of the box and keeping to their company philosophy, they developed a strategy that was not only profitable but the very definition of corporate responsibility.
In response to the spike in their development, output, and sales, Bonnie Campbell, the Director of Marketing and Outreach at KM Herbals, said that their team has experienced a range of positive feedback. “We have felt immense need and support from our clients. First, a genuine expression of the need for our hand sanitizer and also gratitude for us staying open as long as we can,” she stated.
In all of this, there is still opportunity for success and to help your customers, despite the challenges that are present. Challenges are present at all times, even though they might seem insurmountable now. Ms. Campbell also stated that it’s important for business owners to “be brave enough to constantly reassess and be honest with their clients about shifting expectations and services.” There’s always some opportunity to help your business – and your customers.