It’s no surprise that businesses faced major drawbacks in 2020. Local mom & pop shops took a major plunge overnight; commercial real estate turned ghostly & unemployment rates rose rapidly – leaving millions of workers jobless as a result.
In a recent techcrunch article, Brick and Mortar retail sales experienced a 14% decrease due to Covid-19. In comparison, E-commerce and online businesses noticed an upward spike of nearly 18% during 2020.
Devan Hampton, founder of Srvive Athletics, noticed this shocking trend and decided to turn chaos into profits by building a thriving e-commerce store that he believes will unite humanity in the form of fashion.
“Srvive Athletics was born because I wanted people across the world to feel comfort in knowing that we’re all going to survive hard times. Let’s think back to 2008. When the market crashed, everybody thought life was over, and yet we bounced back as usual. Covid-19 is no different – I believe we’re all going to come out of this even stronger than before”, Devan shared.
Hampton’s clothing idea proved to be a success – his entire fabric collection sold-out within the first week, amassing several thousands of dollars in online sales. His mission statement was powerful enough to attract public figures with an audience span of over 200k+ followers to promote his clothing brand on their social media sites.
“I reached out to a few big names that I felt would align with our company vision. Many of them took a strong liking to what we built and shared it all over their social media, which I’m incredibly grateful for”, Hampton explained.
Instead of pocketing his earnings, Hampton reinvested all of his profits back into his business to scale his operations even further and give his clients a great customer experience.
“When I look at a successful business model, I usually think of people like Jeff Bezos. In every interview, he’s always driving home how important it is to give your customer an experience that they won’t forget. I took his words to heart and upgraded all of my equipment, partnered with top distribution companies to make sure my customers would receive shipments 20-30% faster, and made every attempt to create a personal connection with each of my customers. One day I might not be able to respond to everybody on an individual basis, but while I still can, I do”, Hampton said.
Hampton plans to scale his brand to become a household name. “I try not to place barriers in my mind for what I can achieve. Nike is only Nike because the owner believed you would wear a shoe with a checkmark on it. Now it’s the biggest shoe brand in the world,” stated Hampton.
While people might see the current political climate as devastating, Hampton sees a once in a life opportunity to build lasting relationships with potential clients. People need a human touch and someone to be there for them during these tough times and Hampton seems determined to deliver. But most importantly, our environment is ever changing and those who don’t prepare for the worst risk getting caught off guard. If Hampton can find success during these rocky times, perhaps he’ll do just fine in the sunnier days ahead.