COVID-19 is Driving Digital Strategies with Remote Work

Welcome back from the busyness of the trade show season! Thankfully we all made it back in time before the coronavirus outbreak. Even though the outbreak was barely dodged, we continue to see how it’s impacting the overall industry and workplace environment. 

From travel bans to employees now being encouraged to work from home, we are seeing multiple efforts taken on all levels to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Big companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon, have made the decision for employees to work from home.

So how do you adapt to this rapid change and pace of normal workflow in your business? 

If you have the right digital tools in place, travel bans and remote work shouldn’t affect your sales. In fact, these changes should barely affect your numbers. We live in a world surrounded by digital and this is the time you MUST fully dive in to avoid a downturn in your business.

At RepSpark, we provide custom digital solutions you need to sell your products in a way that aligns with your sales goals. We never offer a one-size-fits-all solution because we believe every brand is unique. 

With our system, your remote working team will be able to align on:

• Selling more products easily
• Communicating effectively
• Designing and reviewing custom Digital Catalogs

Let’s take a closer look at how your team being remote will make things easier for your business and remove the chaos when using RepSpark’s digital solutions.

1. You can collaborate without being face-to-face.
Now that you have your Pre-book Orders from the trade show, it’s time to complete the buy. Working from home, sales reps can create mock-up Digital Catalogs based on Customer Favorites that were left unpurchased. As an added collaborative feature, we’ve recently updated our software with Permission Settings for internal teams to edit and review before pressing send. This can allow buyers to purchase products and all employees to align on strategy from the safety of home.

2. Even remotely, you should all be reading the same reports.
We know that the phrase “what report are you reading?” can occur even when sitting in the same room and there could be panic of mixed analytics when not working side-by-side. However, with everyone having access to the same software and overall database, there is no confusion at which tool or reporting software different team members are pulling numbers from.

3. E-commerce isn’t only for B2C.
Have you ever thought of the reality that your retailers shop physically but their buyers are shopping online? It only makes sense to now create the same shopping experience for B2C as B2B and be able to troubleshoot any issues well in advance. Just recently, this type of retailer shopping experience was rolled out during the Paris Fashion Week for luxury brands. The push of digital selling proved to be effective with the use of live-stream of fashion shows, zoom-in capabilities, and seeing photography assets for the retailers’ eCommerce pages. Now you can think of this process as a seamless transition for your retailer!

4. It’s another sustainable solution.
There are many upsides to more brands pushing digital strategies and not traveling. For one, it creates another sustainable solution for our planet. According to WWD, the emissions caused by travel for fashion shows to New York, Paris, and Milan, is estimated to emit 241,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually. In addition, smaller venues may be on the horizon for fashion shows to showcase main and pre-collections at once and cutting down the cost of productions both financially and ecologically. To learn more about sustainable efforts with our digital selling tools, click here.

5. Benefits of working from home - uninterrupted.
If you are unfamiliar with working from home, it’s actually a great opportunity to shut the door and focus on your work. A study from Harvard Business School actually found that employees are more effective when working from home since they are not at the mercy of ongoing office interruptions. With the surge of more people working from home, Inc.com recently shared 7 great tips on how to increase your productivity if you work from home and we can’t recommend it enough!

6. We are accelerating the launch of our app release.
At RepSpark, we know how vital it is during this time to get your selling tools digitalized. This is why we are pushing up the launch of the RepSpark app so you can easily sell more products on the go. Stay tuned as we get ready to launch!

Don’t keep pushing off this decision. Your competition is going digital and so should you! Schedule a demo today and we can empower your brand to continue hitting their numbers.