The pandemics forced companies to seek solutions: drivers become couriers, even gift vouchers at deliveries

Moved to the internet

Inga Juozapavičienė, director of the Entrepreneurship Department at Verslios Lietuvos, told Delfi that the joint ventures responded quickly to the first announced quarantine and tried to escape by changing the nature of their activities and discovering new opportunities. As one of them, he gave an example: the restaurant “2buo”.

“Before the quarantine, this restaurant was in debt, because the turnover was such that thousands of debts were contracted in half a year. When the quarantine came, the company wanted to close the restaurant, but then food became a priority product and they saw a niche in the business.

During the quarantine, an active social media campaign was launched with the help of opinion leaders. This strategy has been so successful that food orders have quadrupled. Entrepreneurs who have successfully overcome difficulties are already planning to open two more restaurants in Vilnius and promise a new restaurant in Kaunas, ”he said.

True, even during the first wave of the pandemic, companies actively moved to the Internet, where new pages were opened and e-mail was created. shops.

“As soon as the quarantine was announced, Versli Lietuva launched the business support initiative“ There is no quarantine on the Internet ”, which invited small and medium-sized businesses to register their emails. stores under a domain www.internetekarantinonera.lt, now gathered in one place e. there are more than 1200 stores, we can see from the questionnaires that about 20 percent. there are new e. stores that did not exist before the quarantine, “commented I. Juozapavičienė.

She argued that by analyzing e. Store registration after the first quarantine shows that there is no longer a big boom in their development, it is true, but there is an e. store registration.

“40 percent. The stores already registered after the quarantine have been established recently. This shows that businesses have not stopped moving into the electronic space,” he said.

Finally, according to the representative of Versli Lietuva, we will see the impact of the second wave on the economy only after its end, but the circumstances, as he added, have already changed.

“We believe that the impact on the economy and companies will depend on how we are able to manage the spread of new cases. Because, unlike the spring, there is a greater number of cases and a greater risk of inactivity in companies, not only due to the reduction in the demand for goods and services, but also due to the increase in infection or self-isolation, which prevents them from continuing with their work, ”he said. that the situation is somewhat different for the tourism and catering sectors, and the recession will be even bigger here.

Offered a new service

Also better known to the public as the home delivery app, Wolt is no longer just about food delivery. Both gift vouchers and flower delivery services are available.

It is true that the latter, the delivery of flowers, as Delfi’s boss for the Baltic countries, Liis Ristal, told Wolt, was one of the services offered during the first quarantine, in April.

According to her, this service was taken to contribute to the improvement of the emotional situation in the country and around the world during the quarantine, and the decision has really been worth it.

“Consumers have used and continue to use flower delivery with great readiness, and we are happy to offer a service that creates joy, and together we have the opportunity to help and support small merchants. We plan to expand the service in other cities Lithuanians where we operate ”, he said about the service that until now is only available in the capital.

According to Liis Ristal, flowers weren’t the only new product category added to the platform this year.

“Today, we deliver food or other goods around the world, such as toys, pharmaceuticals and electronics, from around 800 locations in 19 countries,” added the manager.

From carriers to couriers

With the introduction of quarantine, a new service and express delivery, Bolt Business Delivery, in the country, the Bolt transport company also started at the end of March.

Its director in Lithuania, Andrius Pacevičius, said that today drivers can not only take customers from point A to point B, but can also deliver their packages quickly.

“During the quarantine period, when people were forced to stay home, this service was very necessary; We create it by applying the accumulated experience in the field of transport, the available technologist and a wide network of drivers.

This service was initially focused only on businesses. We have created a simple and easy-to-use platform for businesses, where orders are processed by courier-driver services and goods are delivered door-to-door.

Products ordered online or otherwise are delivered to corporate customers within a day or even an hour. The service works in cooperation with various representatives of the business sector – from electronics, supermarkets to food – with various companies that need a moving service.

A few months later, the service was extended to people by creating a Special Delivery category in the Bolt mobile app. Currently, anyone can send an express package that fits in a car to a recipient in the same city for the same price as the Bolt trip. The package reaches the addressee at the same time as the Bolt carrier’s usual trip on that route, “said the company’s manager about the service.

He explained that for physical customers who want to use the service, all they have to do is enter the recipient’s address in the app and select a delivery category from the list of categories, and after a few minutes the driver arrives to deliver the item. package and inform the recipient when to pick it up.

A. Pacevičius also mentioned that the home delivery app “Bolt Food” became very popular during the quarantine. According to him, the development possibilities of food delivery are currently being analyzed and development is planned in at least 3-4 more cities.