Some businesses thriving during pandemic

The disruption caused by Covid-19 is crippling much of the business world, leading the International Monetary Fund  to predict that the pandemic will cause the worst slump since the Great Depression, more than 90 years ago.

But not all businesses are victims, said Greg Chen,  CEO and co-founder of mobile phone marketing business Mobiz.

Some are doing better than just surviving during the lockdown.

These include companies in the retail and food sector, SA tech-based start-ups, firms using cutting-edge, effective marketing tools, chemical businesses and a few companies selling personal protection equipment at cost.

“Our clients are concentrating on SMS marketing because it is more cost-effective and time-efficient than e-mail and print,”  Chen said.

Mobiz’s numbers prove that Chen is on to a good thing.

His Cape Town-based company has recorded a 300% growth in turnover, riding what he terms a Covid-19 tailwind.

Chen said the pandemic had forced companies into slashing their advertising and marketing budgets, concentrating on the media that gets the message through in the most cost-effective way.

“Reduced marketing budgets must offer maximum value. Our SMS programme is free to the client’s potential customer. The company pays for the advert.”

SMS messaging is relatively cheap so some companies are sending out between 10 and 20 messages in a morning, and it is a marketing strategy that works for them.

Johan Sadie’s family has been in the household chemical and cleaning industry for many years, with 14 shops throughout Western Cape and a factory in Cape Town.

Sadie, who is the sales director and who has other businesses in his hometown, East London, said extending the Shine Everyday Products range throughout Eastern Cape had often been discussed but never implemented  before the pandemic.

“Covid-19 changed our strategy. I noticed that in several shops the prices of sanitiser, masks and hygiene products soared when the virus took hold,” he said.

“Suppliers were ripping off their customers. We immediately extended our supply line into Eastern Cape, dropped some prices where we could.

“We sell in areas where price is most peoples’ buying decision. Sales soared. We will open a dozen or so Eastern Cape stores before the end of the year.” 

Covid-19 has changed many companies’ marketing strategies, Allied Business Solutions manager Orrin Leighton said.

“Allied has been in IT for 30 years. Although based in East London, we service a nationwide client base.

“We acquired a range of personal protection equipment and offered it to customers with very little markup, basically covering costs.

“We did it as a community service, more than a profit line. That said, it is great marketing for our brand.”

Chen, whose family immigrated to SA from Taiwan when he was nine, said: “Our clients will go through pivotal changes in the immediate future.

“We must be at the hub of this change. We are not the marketing boffins, but our clients are.

“They include the likes of Old Mutual, Momentum, Foschini, Lewis, Home Choice and several other national leaders.

“Our success is based on taking their messages to the buyers cost-effectively. Today it’s SMS, tomorrow we don’t know yet. But we will soon.”