What I Sent: Team Email on March 12, 2021
Every Friday I email the entire Batch team with a series of updates about the company, including what I’m learning and how I’m applying that to leading. Here is the email for Friday, March 12, 2021.
One year ago today, in a store leadership meeting, we broached the topic: What if we have to close our store because of this coronavirus thing?
We talked about it for a few minutes, decided it wasn't something that needed an immediate action plan, and moved on to other agenda items.
Just 48 hours later I would be calling Zach telling him to put the entire store at half price. We - and all retailers in the city - would be forced to close until further notice.
The following weeks would be filled with phone calls, inventory moves, online sales, and a lot of stress (so much stress).
But, we're still standing. We look different (no storefront, dozens of new vendors and hundreds of new products) but we're still at the party.
In fact, here’s how February 2021 shaped up compared to February a year ago:
Retail sales 2021: down 100%
Parcels shipped 2021: up 1100%
Online sales 2021: up 289%
Corporate sales 2021: up 1100%
Please note that March will provide up with a much different comparative set than we've had yet. In all honesty, the last 11 months have all had fairly low targets to beat year-over-year. But March 2020 was when our company changed and with it, the amount of sales and volume we expect. But hey - low hanging fruit is rarely worth eating.
A big and sincere thanks to all of you. This past year has been full of more work and stress than any in my professional life, but one reason I continue to power through is knowing how strong this team is. And, the hard work we've done is laying foundations we'll be building on for the next exciting decade.
