Distribution Fusion: How The Customer Persona Evolved During the Pandemic

The pandemic opened up many people’s minds to what they weren’t capable of doing before. With remote working and spending more time inside, the digital spaces we used in our downtime became our existing windows to the outside world. More people bought online than ever in that digital space and changed how brands were selling to loyal consumers. 2022, Covid 19 is still around but with more freedom and less fear, and now companies are seeing those same customers out and about in stores to visit in person. While all of that is good and gives everything a sense of normalcy, our phones, tablets, and laptops have the advantage that stores can’t offer, and that’s buying whatever we want from the comfort of our couch at ANY time. 

Companies will focus on the personas they have built and researched for years for the right target audience. Now it’s changed so drastically, making it difficult to decide who is the customer for companies’ brands anymore. 

The Faux Demand Before jumping into who and what exactly are these personas and how they affect the new supply chain demands, “it’s good to housekeep first. First, what exactly is a distribution channel and supply in china, and why should you care? A distribution channel is “A distribution channel is a path that a product or service could take on its way to market.” A supply chain is “a network between a company and its suppliers to produce and distribute a specific product to the final buyer.” and just to have a better understanding, a customer persona is an archetype that is built based upon research and analytics for a brand or company. 

Now that we all understand the still lingering question, “what does that have to do with me?”. 

Because of the pandemic, you changed. We all did. How we buy goods, research our social media footprint, etc. These small actions changed how we learned more about products and trends and how the supply chain and distribution channels should function toward their consumers. Before, companies had an easier time knowing who and how to target their audiences to make their profits worthwhile. Because the pandemic kept us at home, our phones were not only used for playing games and facetime but also for opening a new door for people to explore. This made companies work fast to make up for the losses from the pandemic and have to brainstorm quickly on how to bring these audiences back. If you want a refresh on what is at play here, revisit my article on how Blue Ocean Strategies work. Considering that now all companies are looking for influencers and ambassadors online to help push their content and product. This creates a red ocean because now EVERYONE wants to do it. Every company is pushing their marketers to do whatever they can to research these social media platform users to target them for their following product. 

The only problem with that is that these personas don’t exist OR is harder to pinpoint due to these channels being convoluted and just a path with many trails. Also, it’s hard to follow audiences because trends change faster online, thanks to TikTok and Instagram. It pollutes the platforms by searching for the top influencers to promote their product, which can be a hit or miss because if you make an influencer just promote repeatedly, audiences start tuning out. They don’t want to be sold things on purpose but are relatively low-key. Another facto is also the morals found in a company. One faulty wheel and the internet can seek and destroy and negatively make companies trend. 

Conclusion Companies need to research more strategically. The consumer does not like to be shoved by ads and products. It tricks the supply chain because it is no longer easier to create specific products for the buyer unless it’s unique, valuable, and have good morals at a company level rather than at the consumer level. The supply chain suffers because the market is unpredictable and making companies go under because those products are not being served and used due to the back and forth on interacting and selling to the consumer without causing a stir between them and social media. Perhaps focusing on the people rather than the product is a new wave, or perhaps, the companies will stay in the red ocean until they figure out a way to trail off back into the blue and create something different for consumers to follow and share. 

Did your favorite brand change how they promote on social media? What are some ads that have stood out to you or disliked? What has changed as a shopper?  Start the conversation below! If you’re interested in other marketing topics, check out my blog for tips, tricks, and blurbs on marketing basics.