Salvos: How to transition a 140-year-old brand online during a pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about the closure, struggle or restructure for many businesses across Australia, however for The Salvation Army’s Salvos Stores, the pandemic brought the opportunity to expand its business strategy digitally. Mumbrella’s Calum Jaspan speaks to Salvos customer experience manager Aífe O’Loughlin and Lucas Ferrier, e-commerce manager to find out how the not-for-profit managed.
Salvos is one of the oldest second-hand retailers in Australia having first opened doors 140-years ago. But like most retailers, all of its stores had to shut when the pandemic hit.
For many, e-commerce has been part of the norm for the best part of the 21st Century. Transitioning online as a charitable organisation that sells reused goods however, is no easy task.
The first thought for those in charge at Salvos when the reality of the pandemic hit was how they could transition that support the stores provide, online.
“When Coronavirus actually hit, one of the first things we did was set up a closed Facebook group to support our customers in providing them with the sense of community that they would get in store, online,” says customer experience manager Aífe O’Loughlin.
