Reinvention in the time of coronavirus
With their livelihoods affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have had to transform their business models in recent months, Xing Yi in Shanghai finds out how some of them have been coping.
There is an English proverb which goes: “Necessity is the mother of invention”, meaning that a problem is often the driving force behind innovations.
In the context of the COVID-19 epidemic, this saying has proved to be particularly relevant for many people who have had to switch careers or transform how they do business.
The epidemic has disrupted the income streams for many people, especially those in the food-andbeverage and hospitality circles. For 25-year-old Chen Guibin, the crisis has compelled him to leave his career in the culinary sector.
Before the outbreak, Chen was working as a chef in a Sichuan restaurant called Wa Zhi Dao in Rugao, Jiangsu province. Even though the restaurant resumed its takeout service after it closed on Jan 26, Chen was not called back for work.
“I don’t earn anything if I don’t go to work,” says Chen, who did not receive a fixed salary as a chef.
“Although I have some savings, I was anxious because I needed to pay 2,000 yuan ($284) for my car loan every month. I couldn’t afford to just wait at home. I needed to find work quickly.”
On Feb 25, Chen found a job packaging toys in a factory, but the work turned out to be too intense for him. He then tried to open his own fooddelivery service, only to be shut down because he did not possess the required permit.
On March 16, he took a customerservice job with the delivery company, SF Express, answering online customer inquiries from 8 am to 5:30 pm.
“I feel relieved,” he says, adding that he has a one-hour lunch break and is earning a monthly wage of 3,000 yuan during his probation.
“The restaurant called me back in mid-March but offered only half of my previous wage. That was when I decided to stick with this career change. Besides, SF Express is a leader in the industry. I see more room to improve myself here.”
Chen isn’t the only person to have made the switch from the catering industry to courier services. According to a survey published by Beijingbased food-delivery app Meituan, 75,000 new employees joined the company’s army of couriers from Jan 20 to Feb 23.
The survey, which was published by Meituan on Feb 24, shows that 37.6 percent of these new couriers had previously worked in catering and other service sectors, 27.2 percent had worked in manufacturing and 13.8 percent owned small businesses.
The company also says that it will open up 200,000 new jobs, such as couriers, drivers and warehouse staff, in the coming months.
Over in the tourism sector, Huang Yu, the owner of a small travel agency in Beijing, has had to revamp his business model in the wake of the outbreak.
“Having worked in the tourism sector for 26 years, I knew this problem would be serious once I learned the news,” Huang says. “I know because I experienced the SARS outbreak in 2003.”
Huang’s takings were more than halved when the Ministry of Culture and Tourism suspended all domestic tours on Jan 24 and stopped all outbound travel groups on Jan 27. Only 170 of his 500 clients had managed to complete their trips.
His last tour for the quarter was a trip to Iran which started on Jan 26. After returning to China on Feb 2, Huang spent more of his time handling cancellations and refunds.
“I initially expected business to rebound in May, but the situation has worsened. I think it’s game over for outbound travel this year.”
Having already built an extensive network of customers in his years as a travel agent, Huang took to selling various products, including agricultural products and tourist souvenirs, via WeChat in March. He also signed up for an online course to become an insurance agent with one of the country’s leading insurance companies.
During his spare time, Xu produces new podcasts on Ximalaya where he has been sharing his knowledge about the culture and history of countries in the Middle East since 2018.
“This is my way of retaining customer loyalty,” he says. “Sooner or later, this pandemic will pass. I just have to hold on to my customers until then.”
While outbound travel has come to a standstill, domestic tourism is on the verge of a rebound, seeing how the outbreak has come under control in China. Ctrip, one of China’s largest online travel agencies, says in a report published on March 5 that the domestic-travel segment will begin its recovery starting from the May Day holiday on May 1.
This prediction was based on data showing what people have been searching on the internet, says Sun Bo, the company’s chief marketing officer. Sun notes that the five most-searched destinations were Sanya, Chengdu, Guizhou, Shanghai and Xi’an.
Pan Rongda, the owner of a bedand-breakfast establishment in Shanghai, agrees with this sentiment, noting that business should improve by June at the latest.
In the meantime, Pan has halved the number of rooms for rent on listing platform Airbnb and started to offer a traditional guesthouse, for photo shoots.
Pan, who is a cocktail enthusiastturned-professional bartender, has also doubled the number of her twohour cocktail courses.
“Although I don’t have as many guests booking rooms as before, my cocktail classes for May are nearly fully booked,” she says.
Offline retailers have also been hit hard by the epidemic. For Xu Ni, who runs a business selling baby products in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, sales for the Spring Festival holiday period were only a third of last year’s.
Even after the store reopened on Feb 17, few customers were walking in to buy products. In fact, Xu closed the store that day after just three hours, seeing how there was only one customer. Having made less than 1,000 yuan over the next few days, Xu decided to take her business online.
In preparation for her online debut, Xu wrote scripts to introduce her products, watched popular livestreams, including those of stars such as Li Jiaqi and Viya, and held several rehearsals at home.
On Feb 23, she hosted her first livestream sale on e-commerce site Taobao for two hours, selling 3,200 yuan worth of products. Three days later, she hosted a second livestream.
“It’s not easy for me,” says the 49-year-old, who admits that she made mistakes during the livestream. “There were times when I quoted the wrong price. Some of the customers even joked about my hairstyle. But I have gotten used to it.”
Other shops in the same shopping mall have started livestreaming as well.
“The young saleswoman from the clothing store downstairs has been very active. She even has an assistant to help her fix her makeup and hold the clothes while she tries on the dresses,” says Xu.
Although the number of people visiting the mall has been growing, Xu says that she will continue with her livestreaming promotions.
“I would sometimes share cooking tips with my viewers during my livestream,” she says. “This was what I used to do when interacting with customers in the shop.”