Coronavirus outbreak is now increasingly widespread, almost covering all countries in the world, including Indonesia. Declining economic growth has an unfavorable impact on the fashion industry. Not only affects international brands, but local brands in Indonesia also feel the same way. Sales dropped drastically, making them struggle to survive in this challenging time. In this blog, I have the opportunity to make a virtual conversation with the owner of a local Indonesian fashion brand called Artfy Label to discuss how this brand can overcome the problems that are happening now.
Before we started, Artfy Label is an ethnic Indonesian brand founded by a 22- years-old woman named Alifya Yunita in 2015. Since she was a child, she often accompanied her mother to hunt for traditional Indonesian fabrics in every place they visited. Therefore, she created an ethnic brand by combining modern design with the touch of traditional fabrics in each piece of clothing to attract young Indonesian interest in preserving culture.
(Picture source: Instagram.com/Artfylabel)
Although still relatively young, Alifya can handle her brand during this pandemic. According to her experience, there are several phases in this Covid-19 period. The first time the Indonesian government made a stay at a home policy that started at the beginning of March 2020, Artfy Label products' sales increased rapidly. At this time, Alifya feels that Indonesian people still have money saved, have a lot of free time to spend, and have no idea that this pandemic will run for quite a long time. That is why they spend so much on online shopping.
But over time, sales began to decline by up to 50% and more than the usual sales. This phase occurs because the Indonesian people have realized that the pandemic will run for a long time and the financial depletion so they prefer to buy products that are useful for survival such as food compared to clothing. Alifya feels that this situation must be solved immediately and find a method to continue running the brand. Moreover, she also has responsibility for the welfare of workers behind Artfy Label. The first step she took was to provide a discount for their products in order to increase sales again. Although it does not look significantly, this kind of strategy has re-ignited customers' enthusiasm to purchase their products.
In addition, Alifya also took advantage of opportunities in the market. Now the people need a mask to maintain health amid the corona outbreak. The Indonesian government suggests using fabric masks compared to surgical masks that are more required by medical personnel. Alifya innovates to make and sell fabric masks from the Artfy Label's leftovers fabric. The brand also allows and provides a customization system for the fabric masks where customers can choose what fabric pattern they are interested in. Surprisingly, the demand from the customers is very high and makes Artfy Label continue this project.
(Picture source: Instagram.com/Artfylabel)
From the conversation with Alifya, as a brand owner, we must be creative and see opportunities in the market that we are targeting to fulfill each customer's needs and desires. We must have a back up plan and strategy that need to be applied and adjusted in certain situation such as this Covid-19 pandemic in order to be able to maintain the sales of the product. And lastly, we need to establish good relationships with customers even though we are in difficult time.
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