COVID-19: Operational resilience

Retail businesses have been particularly hard-hit by the covid-19 pandemic, as e-commerce demand grows and operational requirements shift due to contact restrictions and other confinement measures. Businesses with high-touch studio operations and contact labor are particularly vulnerable.

Fortunately, retailers have a variety of reliable and advanced options available to maintain operational efficiency — even when social distancing is a new social norm. Those who want to stay ahead of the curve are rethinking the setup of their studio departments and exploring technology innovation to drive real business results.

THE “NEW NORMAL” FOR STUDIO OPERATIONS

With studios shuttered and restrictions on human interactions in the early stages of the pandemic, retailers faced tremendous challenges beyond a disrupted supply chain. Operations became complicated, costly, took longer and retailers were given less choice.

KEY CHALLENGES:

• Social distancing restrictions don’t allow for large production teams
• Geographically distributed teams working from home
• Supporting ongoing operations with a skeleton staff and providing a safe environment for on-site workers
• Disruptions to supply chain and sample management

HOW LOOKLET CAN HELP

The pandemic has pushed e-com photo studios to explore and adopt new technologies, from digital styling to virtual models, in order to stay agile and respond to volatile production volumes. Looklet technology helps retailers scale and simplify studio operations, with our digital styling studio replacing the need for models, hair & makeup artists, photographers and digit techs. With just 1-2 studio operators, you can produce real apparel product photography on model, without compromising on a great customer experience.

• Maintain safe distance, with only 1-2 studio operators needed
• Shoot up to 100 items per day on model even with contact restrictions
• No need for real models, with 65+ pre-shot diverse models available in our library
• Cloud-based access to all your images, style looks from anywhere

OUR KEY ADVANTAGES

• SAFE RETURN TO WORK - No need for large production teams on set, only 1-2 operators needed and models provided virtually
• DISTRIBUTED STYLING - Work from anywhere with our cloud-based infrastructure that enables distributed work across multiple offices and homes
• SOME RESULTS ACHIEVED BY OUR PARTNERS

Using Looklet’s digital photo studio, retailers are able to maintain their studio operations while meeting social distancing requirements, with no need for large production teams of models, hair & makeup artists, photographers or digi techs. Our retailers have shot up to 100 items per day even with contact restrictions (with automated processing & image retouch included), while creating 800-1000 looks using our automated styling software Look Creator while working from home.

• Shot up to 100 items per day even during contact restrictions
• Maintained operations: faced no disruption of photo production during lockdowns
• Created 800-1000 looks per day while partially working from home

“We are proud to support retailers adapt their operations during these challenging times, helping them scale up production to meet shopper demand, speed up time to market and lower production costs, all while still ensuring a great customer experience.”

JANNIS KOEHN, CEO Looklet