What COVID-19 Means for Ecommerce Startups. A firsthand account of how supply chain disruptions are just the beginning.

A lot of small businesses have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its global spread. I wanted to give a firsthand account of how this situation has personally impacted my company and those I work with, as well as offer some perspective to help businesses move forward.

I am the cofounder of Darkroom, a digital-marketing agency that helps ecommerce companies build their brands and drive revenue through online channels. We also work extensively with sourcing networks and are in the process of launching a luxury sneaker brand called NERA.

I was one of the early alarmists among my co-workers and friends when COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan. I was aware of how lucky we were to have avoided a total SARS outbreak back in 2002.

The writing was on the wall….

However, this didn’t keep me from traveling to Ukraine and Italy in February, as COVID-19 still seemed to be isolated to China. I shot an ad campaign at our shoe factory in Italy and finalized our production run. After that trip, however, the virus quickly escalated. Italy saw a tremendous spike in cases just four days after we had departed.

Now Italy has been under total lockdown for weeks, our factory has shut down and the United States is racking up cases at an alarming rate — particularly in my home state of New York. I have seen businesses I work with go from doing well to rethinking their entire operation, while others have gone from good to great.

Consumer sentiments have changed drastically. Luxury-goods clients have slashed creative budgets. Layoffs have begun. A lot of people have asked me how bad this is going to get. There are a couple things we must remember moving forward.

Nice-to-have products must adapt to survive

In economic downturns, consumer demand for “nice-to-have” products goes down as buyers focus on their more basic needs. Health, wellness and safety — products that fit into the lower parts of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs — become the top priority.

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