Face Masks & Ecommerce: The Most Valuable Product of 2020

Ecommerce is now the primary way to buy & sell cloth face masks…and the industry is perfectly suited to the challenge.

New Dragonproof Ecommerce Podcast available now.

While face masks are now widely understood to be the key personal defense against COVID-19, traditional retail sources dried up early. Coupled with local lockdowns and store closures in late February/early March of this year, the public turned immediately to online options, kicking off a new online “face mask economy” across every type of ecommerce platform.

Ecommerce was ready for this challenge–in fact it was built for it–data-driven, easily adaptable to changes in supply, demand, and shopping habits, and able to empower small teams to serve massive audiences.

When Amazon’s mask supply was besieged by fraud, DIY sellers took publicly available mask sewing patterns and transformed them into a 133-million-dollar/month business. As the upper limits of scale were reached by Etsy sellers, established brands like Adidas stepped in with spectacular results, with thousands of other brands following since.

For consumers, the overwhelming access, choice, and affordability of ecommerce face masks has made it easier to comply with public safety orders, and keep family safe.

On this week’s Dragonproof Podcast, Rick Wilson breaks down the journey of the online mask economy from the early shortages, to the shopping experience and technical innovations that have flowered since.

Listen now to learn some of the pitfalls facing online mask vendors, and find out how to bridge the gap between public service, satisfying customer needs, and running a healthy, sustainable business in all seasons.