3 Business Lessons From Companies That Successfully Pivoted During Covid-19

COVID-19 has meant sweeping changes for all brands that rely on physical proximity to deliver their services, from cafes to accountancy firms. But while this “new normal” is disruptive, it is also showing us what can be done when companies think outside of the box and successfully pivot to different business models.

Here are some inspiring stories to get you fired up.

Death Wish Coffee Switched From Coffee To Merch

What do you do if you’re an edgy coffee brand in the midst of a once-in-a-century pandemic? One thing you certainly don’t want to do is sit around, waiting for things to get better. If your customers can’t come to you, you have to figure out how to get products to them.

Death Wish Coffee, a coffee shop chain out of Sarasota Springs, NY, decided it had had enough of waiting for the situation to improve. Bosses chose to use the company’s brand capital to pivot from solely selling coffee in-store to distributing merch to fans online.

The company already had some pretty viral content on its website and social media. It didn’t take much of an intellectual leap to see that it would also make great merchandise.

Some of the company’s memes are downright hilarious. One says, “When this is all over, please continue to stay at least 6 feet away from me.” Making t-shirts out of them was a total no-brainer.

But behind the giggles, there’s a serious point to what the company is doing. The brand isn’t just looking to make a quick buck while it waits for its coffee houses to reopen. Instead, proceeds from tee sales will help support laid-off service workers until they can find new employment.

The lesson here, therefore, is that you can turn viral content into merchandise that supports a good cause. Before Death Wish Coffee started making t-shirts, they were just memes.

BrewDog Pivoted From Craft Beer To Hand Gel

Founders James and Martin set up BrewDog in 2007 with the hope of selling weird and wonderful craft beers to the masses. When the crisis hit, though, the company was in a bit of a bind. Sure, it could carry on dedicating all its resources to the production of beer, but it also saw that the community desperately needed hand sanitizer. Remember, in March 2020, there was a shortage.

Brewdog taught the business community an important business lesson: that crises are PR opportunities. It’s not just about containment. The brand saw that COVID-19 was a chance to do the right thing and get the media interested in its products, and so it did both.

Within a week, the company began ramping up production at its Aberdeen distillery, producing the alcohol needed to create a formulation that could kill coronavirus. Before long, the company had packed and donated more than 50,000 units of gel to local charities and health service workers, helping to alleviate the shortage.

BrewDog’s aim here wasn’t to make money. It wasn’t even to build a brand. Instead, it saw that its fellow countrymen were in crisis and decided to do the right thing. The company’s actions resulted in a media firestorm, spreading the news far and wide. After all, what could be more newsworthy than a beer outfit switching to producing sanitary products? If people hadn’t heard about the company before, they certainly have now. It was a PR stunt that worked!

Punchpass Transitioned From In-Person Fitness Instruction To Online Classes

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the fitness industry hard. Gyms closed from around the middle of March, and many of them are still shut, owing to concern about their effect on the so-called “R0” – the rate of spread of infection. The company’s primary product is an app that allows fitness pros to organize their clients and time. With the advent of the crisis, though, the developers realized that gyms would unsubscribe unless they provided some way of connecting them with customers digitally.

The lesson from Punchpass’s experience is this: you can adapt products to continue delivering value. Incredibly, within a week, they integrated the video-conferencing tool Zoom into their systems, allowing fitness coaches to connect with their clients seamlessly. Personal trainers could continue offering training encouragement over the web to earn money. And clients could keep moving towards their goals instead of taking a multi-month hiatus.

So in March, gyms couldn’t deliver a comprehensive, all-in-one remote service to their customers using the platform. But by the end of April, they could. Trainers and clients can connect with the service with a single click.

Lessons Learned From Businesses That Pivoted

The coronavirus has taught even seasoned business professionals a lot about how the business world works. They’ve discovered that their companies are much more robust than they imagined. And they’ve found that they’re able to pivot much more easily than they anticipated.

So what can you actually do in your business to pivot, based on these examples? What lessons can you learn from those who already switched up their business models?

Directly produce goods that cater to COVID-19. Distilleries that once made alcoholic beverages are now making hand sanitizer. Clothes makers are making personal protective equipment. And engine manufacturers are making ventilator pumps for COVID patients. You can jump on the bandwagon too by creating COVID-related products if you have the facilities to do so.

Make your services virtual. As we’ve seen over the last few months, very few services require direct, in-person contact. There are some exceptions but for the most part, companies can adjust their business models to facilitate service delivery online. Many accountants, legal professionals, and gyms now provide their clients with some level of service over the internet.

Create delivery options. The hospitality and retail industries have suffered in the present crisis. But that doesn’t mean pivoting is impossible. Switching to a delivery model (even if that means using third-party fulfillment) is a good stop-gap measure until regular trading resumes. With modern tools, it’s quick, simple and something that practically every business can do.