Returning to Blogging During Lockdown
I'm back. It's been a long time since posting on my site and it's time to get back into it. I plan to write frequently-ish on here at least for the remainder of the lockdown (another 2 weeks minimum) as of today's date.
A Fresh Start with New Content
Business, marketing, personal finance, not being wasteful and other things that interest me. In the past, I've gotten into the habit of starting to write an article but either overthinking it and not finishing it or just having too high an expectation of what I think in my mind "it should be like". So I end up leaving it and never wanting to come back to it. My "notes" folder/app is littered with half-written, quarter-written articles - BUT no more!
Observations from Lockdown Life
Today's quick note can be an intro with a little bit of what's been going on and what I've been thinking about over the last two weeks since the lockdown began.
A couple of things have stuck out to me recently; I'm not sure why, as I do see myself as a bit of a weirdo with some things. The first is the supermarket scene at the moment. Just yesterday I ventured out to pick up a pre-ordered "click to collect" order from Countdown. I kid you not, the queue was at least 100 metres long! How fast it was moving, who knows. But I just couldn't believe it. I thought maybe it was an isolated event but driving back home going past another supermarket, the same thing - there was another equally long queue. I just don't get it. Why would you waste your time like that? Why not pre-plan and order online, why not go during a non-peak time, either first thing in the morning or late at night?
The Digital Shopping Experience
The other thing is the ease (or difficulty) of buying stuff and spending money at the moment. The order online and pick up at the front counter at Countdown is a brilliant idea of making it easy to buy. Their website is extremely functional, it's easy to search for items, and the way it can suggest items based on actual historic purchases (not just items they're trying to sell) is really impressive and I'm a big fan of the system.
Small Business Challenges
On the flip side of this, I'm noticing smaller vendors struggling to make things easy for customers to buy. Now I know this is a challenging time, I know everyone is doing the best they can and maybe this is where we (ALT. marketing) should be a bit more proactive with our direct sales. One example I just saw was a local bakery offering delivery once a week, which is brilliant, but then looking at it you've got to manually order via email. Now I know it's not that hard and it is something that I'm totally capable of doing. However, how much easier would it be if I could just go to their website and buy online? I could potentially save my details on there which would increase the chances of reordering, and they'd also be able to email market to me.
I'm not trying to be critical; I'm just writing about this to point out the fact that people want easy, and if it's easy they'll spend money, simple. Look at the success of Uber Eats. The fascinating thing is that sites like Shopify and Squarespace make it possible to compete with billion-dollar brands by using their subscription model software.
Looking Forward
That about does it for one day but I'll be back. If there are any suggestions on what to write about, feel free to comment or drop me a line. I'll likely do an update on what's happening with ALT. next up.
Enjoy lockdown!
