LOCKDOWN BUSINESS
Before I start my long overdue blog post I hope you and your family are doing as well as can be and are in good spirits. My heartfelt condolence goes out to everyone that has lost a loved one during this extremely testing pandemic.
I sat down to write this post with one motive … to give an honest and upfront account of Xarrago’s survival story.
Covid-19 has not been a friend to health nor wealth, however, the one thing it has done is give us the strength to look deep within and truly dissect what we stand for and look to build from the ground up again.
When the lockdown went from being a distant outbreak, in a Chinese city none of us heard of before, and country after country announced stringent measures restricting gatherings of all types, our customer base went from healthy and growing to zero very quickly.
Our factories in India shutdown overnight and are still not open. The order notifications on my phone instantly seized and the doors for walk in trade were bolted. We quickly went back to the drawing board.
Realising that we would take a big hit with expenses still needing to be paid we quickly pivoted from a business model focusing on bridal diracs to one focusing more on everyday/occasion wear. We went from spending a fraction of time on telling our story and showcasing our products to spending 100% on engaging with our customers and aiming to push quality content.
This gamble has so far paid off with new customer acquisition rates skyrocketing and customer retention rates doing the same. We no longer seek to be a luxury brand for a single occasion. Instead, we have built on our founding vision, seeking to truly make Somali culture accessible to the world in its purest fashion.
If you don’t want to take my word for it, take a look at our new testimonials page. With customers from across all corners of the globe and all walks of life, we are proud to be championing Somali culture. One of those customers we work so hard to serve told us how happy she was to find us during the pandemic as it helped her reconnect with her Somali grandfather who emigrated to the United States in the early 1900s.