5 Strategic Actions for Post-Crisis Growth

A C o m p i l a t i o n o f I n s p i r e d ,
I n n o v a t i v e T h i n k i n g
Copyright (C) 2020 Renoir Consulting. All Rights Reserved.
OPPORTUNITIES

Harvard Business Review recently published key learnings of how
companies in China have responded to the Coronavirus crisis.
Using this comprehensive, global review of more than 200 brand
responses to the crisis, the Renoir team recommends
5 strategic actions to jumpstart your next season of growth
01
Reallocate
labour to
where the
demand is
02
Evolve your
sales
channel mix
03
Reignite
employees
and partners
around a new
challenge
04
Convert new
consumption
habits being
formed
05
Rapidly
innovate
around new
needs

In hard-hit businesses like restaurants, some companies got creative by
"loaning" their employees to other companies.
01 REALLOCATE LABOUR TO
WHERE THE DEMAND IS

IN CHINA
Over 40 restaurants, hotels, and cinema
chains shared employees with Hema, a “new
retail” supermarket chain by Alibaba, which
was in urgent need of labour for delivery
services.
O2O players like Ele, Meituan, and JD’s 7Fresh
followed this lead by also borrowing labour
from restaurants.
01 REALLOCATE LABOUR TO WHERE THE DEMAND IS

IN THE UK
John Lewis & Partners transferred 500 staff to
supermarket chain Waitrose.
Potential competitors - online grocery ﬁrms
and ride hailing companies - have also begun
working together by sharing workforces.

IN INDIA
Online grocery store Bigbasket partnered with
Uber India which was looking to redeploy
excess supply of drivers and riders as demand
for transportation drops. This helped address
the acute shortage of delivery personnel and a
surge in demand for daily, essential goods.

Person-to-person and brick-and-mortar retail were severely restricted in
affected regions and countries, requiring companies to redeploy sales
efforts to new channels both in B2C and B2B enterprises.
02 EVOLVE YOUR
SALES CHANNEL MIX

02 EVOLVE YOUR SALES CHANNEL MIX
Pivot Strategy
Cosmestic company Lin Qingxuan
redeployed 100+ beauty advisors from its
Wuhan stores to become online inﬂuencers
who leveraged on digital tools, such as
WeChat, to host live-streaming sessions to
recommend products on e-commerce
channels, and drive online sales.
Results
Sales in Wuhan achieved 200% growth
compared to the prior year’s sales.
Cosmetics company Lin Qingxuan was forced to close almost half
of its stores during the crisis, including all of its locations in Wuhan.

02 EVOLVE YOUR SALES CHANNEL MIX
Pivot Strategy
Supermarket chain Morrisons launched a call
center to enable customers who do not shop
online to make orders over the phone, on top
of introducing a new range of easy-to-order
food parcels.
Results
• Customers ﬁnd it more convenient to purchase
from Morrisons.
• Food parcels have shortened transaction times.
In the UK, many still do not know how to shop online and are facing
difficulties in purchasing groceries.

03 REIGNITE EMPLOYEES
& PARTNERS
AROUND A NEW CHALLENGE

03 REIGNITE EMPLOYEES AND PARTNERS AROUND A NEW CHALLENGE
IN CHINA
Cosmo Lady, China’s biggest underwear
manufacturer initiated a program to boost
sales via WeChat, enlisting employees to
promote products to their social circles.
The company then created a sales ranking
among all employees - including both the
chairman and CEO.
With the top ranking staff onboard, this
motivates the rest of the staff to participate
in the initiative.

IN CHINA
With the collapse of its short-term business,
a premium Chinese Travel Agency refocused
around longer-term preparations.
Keeping its headcount, it encouraged its
employees to use their time to upgrade
internal systems, improve skills, and design
new products and services.

BY AVOIDING DRASTIC CUTBACKS,
BUSINESSES WILL BE BETTER
POSITIONED TO CAPITALISE ON
THEIR POST-CRISIS RECOVERY.

New behaviours are emerging as a result of the current lockdown in
many countries. For instance, businesses are beginning to recognise
that many outdoor behaviours are shifting indoors.
04 CONVERT
NEW CONSUMPTION
HABITS BEING FORMED

04 CONVERT NEW CONSUMPTION HABITS BEING FORMED
IN MALAYSIA & THE UK
Restaurant chains like MyBurgerLab and VCR
in Malaysia are experimenting with the idea
of complementing their ready-to-eat
offerings with new restaurant-grade,
ready-to-cook dishes. Other restaurants in
the US and UK like The Robin Hood Inn and
Incubator have even started to offer online
cooking classes.

IN THE US
Some F&B businesses are also getting
people to plan ahead for their
post-lockdown food outings, whilst also
tapping into their deal-hunting psyche by
offering great savings a.k.a "dining bonds".
The bonds work similarly as savings bonds,
where diners can purchase at a discount (e.g.
buying a $100-value bond at only $75) and
redeem it for face value at participating
restaurants — once they are open for
business again.

On the other hand, UK-based art and craft
shop Create You have started to offer art kits
for children and adults to beat the boredom.
Internet cafes are opting to rent out their
consoles to enable people to game from
home.
Gyms are monetising their dormant assets by
renting out their equipments.

In a crisis, where new pain points emerge, therein lies a business need
to be innovated around.
05 RAPIDLY INNOVATE
AROUND NEW NEEDS

05 RAPIDLY INNOVATE AROUND NEW NEEDS
IN VIETNAM
Tons of dragon fruit in Vietnam were going
unsold because of the coronavirus outbreak.
To support Vietnam agricultural products
and use up supplies, local bakery ABC
Bakery invented the "pink bread" by
replacing the water used in its breads with a
dragon fruit smoothie, which drove so much
demand they eventually needed to limit
sales of the bread per customer.
Need To Drive Access Or Demand
PhotocredittoBusinessInsider

IN MALAYSIA
Supply chain disruptions has meant that
vegetable growers have had to resort to
dumping its harvest.
This led online marketplace Lazada to create
a special sales and delivery service, to take
on these fresh vegetables and make them
available on its platform.
Need To Drive Access Or Demand

IN MALAYSIA
Food delivery company FoodPanda's "Pink
Walkers" are food delivery persons on-foot,
servicing a ﬁxed neighborhood.
Whilst not a service response to COVID-19, it
came under the spotlight due to the job
opportunity it opens up for the growing
unemployed, as it offers easy access to
employment for those without a bike or a car.
Need For Employment

IN BRAZIL
Magazine Luiza, one of the largest Brazilian retail
companies launched their digital platform, Parceiro
Magalu - a program aimed at micro and small
companies as well as self-employed workers to sell over
the internet, without leaving their homes.
While avenues for companies to sell online have been
proliferating for some time, it's the option for
self-employed workers that’s worth noting. It works as an
affiliate program, allowing the creation of an individual
virtual store with the products offered in Magazine Luiza.
The advertising of the store and its items are the
responsibility of the partner – for example, to their
contacts on WhatsApp or social networks. Each sale
generated pays a commission. It even has plans for
partners to use the platform for door-to-door sales after
the end of the pandemic.
Need For Employment

Restaurants, in response to the lockdown, have also seen
themselves playing double duties. Besides catering to
takeaway and online deliveries, they have also pivoted to
selling food supplies as groceries.
Interestingly, this shift has been seen among both
neighbourhood eateries and also large chains. For
example, McDonald's in Australia now sells bread and
milk at restaurant drive-through’s as supermarket shelves
are left bare due to the coronavirus panic buying.
Shoppers are relieved with such efforts as these
restaurants help them avoid the crowds often seen at
supermarkets, and thus come across as being safer.
Need For Supplies

IN INDIA
The delivery infrastructure of Domino's Pizza
has been leveraged to help customers order
grocery essentials.
Domino’s Pizza tied up with packaged staple
brand ITC Foods to deliver everyday grocery
essentials to their customers' doorstep. Under
the partnership, a combo pack of wheat
ﬂour and spices including chilli, coriander and
turmeric powder will be made available on
the Domino's Pizza app.
Need For Supplies

IN MALAYSIA
StoreHub, a cloud POS service provider,
developed a new platform called Beep
Delivery.
This makes it easy for F&B merchants to list
their menu online, accommodate online
payment and have products delivered via
major logistics providers like Lalamove,
GoGet and ZeptoExpress, enabling F&B
businesses to run food delivery services on
their own.
Need To Shift Online (Quickly)

IN CHINA
Peer-to-peer English learning platform
BuzzKid upgraded its product for new needs.
Having talked to offline education and
training institutions and learning of their
struggles to quickly develop online platforms,
BuzzKid developed a solution that helps
them quickly move their content online.
Need To Shift Online (Quickly)

In Denmark
Supermarket chain, Meny puts clever pricing
to good use.
In its bid to control hoarding of sanitisers -
instead of specifying a per-customer-limit or
ignorable reminders - it instead prices the
ﬁrst bottle of sanitiser according to the
market (at approx. 40 kroner or less than $4)
and a second bottle at an exorbitant 1,000
kroner or about $97.
Need For Control

Did you spot any other responses from
companies that's worth learning from?
DO SHARE IN THE COMMENT SECTION.

5 Strategic Actions for Post-Crisis Growth

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (10)

Similar to 5 Strategic Actions for Post-Crisis Growth

Similar to 5 Strategic Actions for Post-Crisis Growth (20)

More from Renoir Consulting

More from Renoir Consulting (14)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

5 Strategic Actions for Post-Crisis Growth