Growing business during Covid19

09 April 2020

Practical activities to grow business during and post-Covid19 envisioned by Netcomm Suisse members

The Coronavirus situation is leading to an evolution in consumer behavior, which means that its journey is changing. Sales have slowed down for a lot of industries, but there remain a few that are seeing increases. e-Commerce is clearly the winning sector int his period, but in order to drive growth an agile approach has to be adopted, leveraging smartly-analysed data and developing trust through purpose-led communication.

 

 

On Thursday April 9th, Netcomm Suisse members joined a Members Exchange virtual meeting to share their insights and best practices: this is how some of our members envision the new normal post Covid19.

 

The participants included:

  • Digital Services, consulting, transformation companies
  • Branding and PR agencies
  • eBusiness Institute
  • POS Specialists
  • Customer care through AI specialist
  • Insurance companies
  • Smart data companies

 

 

Practical reactions to leading the crisis

Dealing with the impact of Coronavirus and the #stayhome reality on our everyday life has become a necessity. 

What did CEOs do when it came to their business and employees? How did they communicate their actions internally and externally?

 

Health comes first

Health was the most important factor for our members, with all companies sending their employees home and establishing remote work procedures. For most of our members it was a relatively easy transition, digital being what they are best at. Some turned this into an opportunity and offered to help their clients adopt the new tools and technologies needed for smart working. Other activities our members undertook were:

  • Keeping clients and partners informed through “virtual coffee breaks” through Basecamp, on a daily basis or even twice a day on different platforms
  • Setting up virtual rooms for teams so that they can see each other during work time and feel more connected in order to collaborate as they would IRL
  • Offering services and access to platforms for free during the period of crisis

 

Determining the state of the market

Understanding the market is naturally key to survival for any company.

Which sectors or industries do you think will prove most resilient to the Covid19 crisis, and which, if any, will be unlocking digital budgets?

 

While many businesses are struggling, there are opportunities for others to flourish.

Some brands, despite being big players on the market, have postponed their advertising budgets for the next year. Conversely, others are looking to invest even more because they have seen larger revenues than they did during Christmas or Black Friday.

 

eCommerce helps economies stay afloat.

The lifestyle changes being forced on consumers will boost online shopping.

Our members felt that, when it comes to the long-term, this crisis will not only provide a boost for online retailers, but also for those who never considered selling online.

Turning toward digital can turn a struggling business into a flourishing one. For example, in the case of home delivery, which has seen one of the largest adoption rates, little shops are reinventing themselves and hopping on existing platforms or creating their own website stores for the first time. These are also the ones that will need online advertising to reach those customers who need online shopping now more than ever.

Toys for kids, coffee, pasta, kitchen appliances and office supplies are among those products mentioned by most of our participants in the e-meet-up for having notably increased demand.

“There will be a switch from budgets invested in traditional media or even sales campaigns into digital, into more targeted advertising.” - Matteo Schuerch, CEO Converso, digital advertising agency

To the specific question “which sectors do you expect will be investing more”, our members said the following. (See chart for breakdown)

The sectors expected to invest more in the future are the ones that are suffering the most now during this crisis, travel and fashion. Luxury, as we’ve seen, has largely reinvented itself and transformed its focus by offering products facing shortages. But in the fashion industry, there are still huge gaps to fill when it comes to supply change and production which could be massively improved by adopting the newest technologies, such as AI, 3D and focus more on inserting the virtual into their processes, which could also bring them closer to being more sustainable.

In any of these industries, forging the new normal is only feasible by adopting an agile approach. This crisis has forced everyone to realize that there’s a need to accelerate adoption, however solutions need to be locally-focused and adapted, not standardized, which translates into lots of trials and errors.

"When clients are facing a 70% increase on their websites visits and 40% weekly growth of their sales, they need to know about their platform's capacities, about cloud options, and they need to be able to hire and onboard new visual designers, developers, analysts that can both solve issues in real time and improve and optimize their digital communication and performances very quickly and effectively." - Carlo Speroni, Head of Business, S'nce Group 

Another point raised was the belief that smart data will play an important role in the evolution of discovering and adopting consumer changes as they happen / as well as enabling brands to prepare for and face their new challenges. Likewise, most members felt that investing in risk management and insurance might help with  the continuity of the businesses during crisis periods that can’t be predicted.

 

More content, but what and how should businesses communicate?

PR and branding agencies see an increased demand for content services. Consumers are tending to spend more time online and consume more content than ever. But, in order to avoid scenarios similar to the famous “green washing”, communication should be led by purpose.

The purpose needs to be part of the system, part of the daily business and it cannot be just a campaign during the crisis. In order to ensure that your business is ready for the long run there are a few ingredients to take into account: authenticity, transparency and showing the human side.

The best advice given by a branding agency to their clients when they ask how to react, how to communicate during the crisis is to Listen more and talk less!

By doing this, brands can actually identify new needs and come up with tailored solutions.

Perfect customer service goes hand in hand with this. Now, more than ever, first-time clients have to trust the safety of the websites and the services on display. Being 24/7 available, through the help of AI, and adopting honest communication principles will assure that clients come back or recommend the brand. Delays for orders must be communicated properly in advance.

 

Members who took part

IBC Insurance Broking and Consulting SA

brandbuch

Bisnode

PRfact AG

Zucchetti

Tinext

TransalpinaSA

eBusiness Institute

Keros Digital SA

Converto AG

s'nce group

masha.ai

Loomish SA

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