The blog

People are slowly getting used to a new way of living where walking from the kitchen to the living room has become the new commute to work and a-walk-in-the-park has become the #1 city trip destination. In the meantime, some are already daring to think ahead and asking the question ‘Will this self-isolation change our consumer behavior in the long term?’

Content strategy, marketing automation, inbound channels – these topics aren’t new anymore. In fact, more and more companies are getting their hands dirty in content production, as they understand the power of developing a new, future-proof and strong sales engine. Having had the chance to work in different sectors on the development of content strategies myself, I’d like to take a moment to discuss the evolution of content strategy with some examples, but also actionable advice for you to act upon today.

Diegem, 5 juin 2020 – L’e-commerce se révèle un pilier important de la lutte mondiale contre le COVID-19. La pandémie a fondamentalement changé le comportement d’achat des consommateurs, et de nombreux défis en découlent, comme l’explosion des livraisons à domicile, les déficits en personnel, les nouvelles attentes des consommateurs, etc. Comment les entreprises gèrent-elles cette nouvelle réalité ?

Diegem, 5 juni 2020 – E-commerce toont zich een belangrijke pijler in de wereldwijde strijd tegen COVID-19. De pandemie heeft het koopgedrag van consumenten fundamenteel veranderd, wat uitdagingen met zich meebrengt. Denk maar aan de boom van leveringen aan huis, personeelstekorten, aangepaste consumentenverwachtingen, ... Hoe gaan bedrijven om met die nieuwe realiteit? Tijdens een interactief digitaal evenement brengt The House of Marketing e-commerce experten samen om een duidelijk beeld te schetsen van de huidige uitdagingen en oplossingen, alsook voorspellingen te delen voor bedrijven en hun consumenten in een wereld post-COVID-19. Op donderdag 11 juni organiseert The House of Marketing een live webinar over e-commerce en COVID-19. Tijdens dat digitale evenement worden verschillende topics aangehaald, waaronder de impact van de COVID-19-crisis op het e-commerce landschap. Verder komen de reacties van e-commercebedrijven op nieuwe uitdagingen aan bod, net als verwachtingen van en voorbereidingen voor de periode na COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has affected all of us out of the blue. It has had an unprecedented impact on our health and daily life. As the world is slowly waking up again, experts predict that we are facing a long period of “fighting back”.

These last few Corona-dominated months have taught us some valuable lessons. Lesson one: times are even more unpredictable than we had ever imagined. We need to prepare for constant change, with a more profound impact than ever before. But speed of change in itself will not make the difference in the long run. Agility, the willingness and ability to reinvent oneself, will become hygiene factors (in the sense of always-on), but by no means a guarantee of success. To create a sustainable business model, marketers will have to combine agility with real added value for the customer.

Over these past few days, our society has started to open up again – step by step – after weeks of strict COVID-19 measures. The weeks that have just gone by have seen the emergence of new habits in terms of the way we eat, shop, work, exercise, take care of our health, meet with friends, etc. Many of these behavioral changes will stick, at least until a vaccine is discovered, tested & approved, or herd immunity is attained.

Christel de Boer, platform consultant at bol.com, shares key insights into how to grow your business by selling your products through an online marketplace. bol.com is one of the most successful marketplaces, selling over 23 million articles in more than 50 different categories, across Belgium and The Netherlands. Given the huge increase in e-commerce volume over the past couple of weeks, she also discusses how bol.com is supporting partners (brands, retailers or entrepreneurs who sell on the platform) and customers (consumers who shop on the platform) during the corona crisis.

Noukie’s is a Belgian brand specializing in products for newborn babies and children up to 8 years old. Their collection ranges from soft toys and baby clothing to blankets and sleeping bags. Noukie’s is a successful cross-border omni-channel player, selling in over 30 countries. They own physical stores in Belgium and France, run their own webshop and collaborate with marketplaces and e-tailers. We sat down with Amaury Gilliot, E-commerce & Marketing Manager at Noukie’s to discuss their experience of working with marketplaces, and of course, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on their business.

COVID-19 has literally turned our world upside down over the past few weeks and is calling on us to change – a lot! From staying home and having video calls with your children interrupting to online yoga classes and… adapting your communication strategy. Here are our four key takeaways of things you should definitely look out for nowadays.