Marketing Pulse virtual event. Yim said the decision to build a diverse workforce was not about pursuing an agenda or hitting a demographic target, but rather having team members who can offer different perspectives in response to certain changes, such as the coronavirus outbreak of 2020. And they didn’t fail to deliver, according to Yim. To continue connecting with customers, Lululemon, like many other retailers, leveraged technology to live stream yoga, meditation and other daily exercise classes with the retailer’s in-store ambassadors on social media platforms like TikTok. “Who can teach yoga and educate our guests [Yim’s preferred term to consumers] better about our brand than our own people?” Yim said. “Before the pandemic, we used to promote wellness and health activities, and of course introduce our products, in a fun way, in-store or at certain locations,” he said. “But with the store closures, we had to look for a new way to market the brand.” Successful launch of a digital book club Another project that Lululemon came up with during the height of the pandemic was launching a monthly digital book club in partnership with Penguin Random House. The book club was introduced on Lululemon’s Instagram channel, which has 3.3 million followers, in the form of a live Q&A on IG Live. The inaugural interview in May last year with Elizabeth Gilbert and global Lululemon ambassador Ally Maz was the company’s most-viewed video at that time, receiving about 147,000 views. According to Yim, the book club was introduced to support people’s mental well-being during varying stages of lockdown. To promote physical fitness, Lululemon converted some of the stores it had been forced to close temporarily into studios to shoot content for a digital audience. In China, the company partnered with Alibaba’s Tmall to create livestream experiences to bring its products and experiences online. “These are just some of the things that we’ve done to maintain the business and maintain the connection with our guests during the height of the pandemic,” Yim said. “Over 2.5 million participated in our digital events in 2020.” Plans for a post-Covid environment Yim said the retailer plans to continue using technology, even as it opens more stores globally, especially in the Asia Pacific region. The company also plans to expand its e-commerce business. He added that technology has offered Lululemon more avenues to reach customers. “While nothing can really replace human connection, we were able to reach [a bigger] audience through our digital channels, we’ve reached more than two million viewers with just one livestream video,” he said. Neil Saunders, GlobalData managing director, said Lululemon’s online presence continues to make an outsized contribution to its growth, adding that the company is actually one of the few retailers in the apparel market that is currently growing. “Lululemon’s superior growth partly stems from the loyalty of its core customers, who continue to spend with the brand,” Saunders said. “A lot of these consumers are health conscious and have been very active at home and in small groups during the pandemic as they continue their yoga and exercise practices.” This means, according to Saunders, that demand for workout apparel has not really dissipated for Lululemon. Internal data shows the company has picked up plenty of new shoppers, especially in womenswear, many of whom switched into easy-to-wear apparel for everyday use during the lockdowns. “We are optimistic about Lululemon’s future,” Saunders said. “This is a company that, despite the turmoil of 2020, remains firmly on the front foot.”