CREATING OPPORTUNITIES

Both Nono and Catherien are seeing an uptick in their businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. “I’ve started to make hand sanitiser and within two days of making 100 units we were sold out. It’s great but I’ve also run out of plastic packaging!” says Nono. Catherien’s line of vitamins and cleaning products has been a huge success. She's doubled her turnover as a result and has been able to continue operating throughout the lockdown. In any crisis there's opportunity. The lockdown created new demand, with customers switching from retail products at stores to trying new brands through e-commerce. “My customers love my cleaning products and I don’t believe they’ll switch back to what they used to use,” says Catherien. Research conducted by consulting firm McKinsey has already identified that post lockdown customers are less likely to return to major shopping centres, preferring to stick to their smaller local shops and online suppliers. This is likely to spawn a new sector of small business e-commerce that can flourish without the overheads of rental space and a large stock holding.