Rural boutique Jumbled has grown its sales by over 250% during the pandemic utilising social media.
Based in Orange NSW, the fashion, homewares and art boutique ramped up its eCommerce offering while it was closed for three months.
Owner Pip Brett told Ragtrader that the results from heightened investment into the social strategy were instant.
“With customers unable to try garments in store, we took to Instagram and Facebook with photos and videos of our staff as a point of difference from the brand's imagery.
“Real bodies, real people and real sizes, our customers really responded and it was a great way to showcase the faces behind our business.
“As soon as we post an image on Facebook or Instagram we instantly see the sales come through our online store. I am still blown away by the power of one good photo.
“It went to show us that the potential for online growth is limitless and the more effort we put into our socials, the more we get out of it.
“Not only did it improve sales, but we also gained many new followers during this period,” she said.
Brett added that the heightened presence on socials allowed the business to improve the dialogue with customers.
“Boosting our Instagram and Facebook, allowed us to open a dialogue with our customers, which really helped us hear what our girls wanted.
“We worked quickly to keep up with demand on the items that were proving popular.
“It was really challenging to get our hands on stock - a lot of collections were cancelled or delayed.
“Opening pre-orders for goods that we did manage to get our hands on was a great way to capture sales while the buzz was happening.
“Pre-orders can be challenging but we believe in being completely honest and transparent with our customer about the delivery times,” she said.
Alongside this initiative, the business also launched a monthly art exhibition with a local artist during lockdown.
Brett said that this has also proven to be a successful strategy.
“Our first exhibition during lockdown was with Liam Murphy.
“We launched this entirely online and the exhibition sold out in two hours.
“We are continuing this and have already mapped out the year with lots of exciting art events,” she said.
Despite the challenges of COVID, Brett added that Jumbled has been able to make the most of its eCommerce and social channels during this period.
“COVID has really forced us to pivot and adapt - but also gave us time to have a good look at our business.
“For our business, the silver linings of COVID have been plentiful.
“We have found a really amazing and supportive online community, we've sourced amazing new brands and products for our customers and we've taken stock of what our core business values are,” she said.