The coronavirus makes its own adjustments - one after another, countries around the world are quarantining. In Russia, too, everything goes to this, but so far it has not gone beyond self-isolation and remote working. All these measures have a detrimental effect on the well-being and mood of those who are accustomed to an active lifestyle. How do you cope with the ubiquitous virus, self-isolation, remote work and the coming quarantine? Here are seven companies that help to survive in the new world.
Viktor Chekanov, CEO of MEGOGO Russia
We give people a lot of entertainment and the opportunity to spend time, especially during quarantine.
So, we introduced a subscription for 1 month for 1 ruble and maximized the library of our free content. From March 19 to April 21, more than 30 channels will be available for free, including the Theatre channel. The library of free films has also been expanded.
It is important that most of the content has sign language translation and audio description for users with hearing or vision impairments. In total, we have more than 10 thousand units of free content, of which more than 4.5 thousand are movies and 1.5 thousand are cartoons.
We note an increase in the duration of use of the service by 22% compared to last week. On weekdays, traffic almost equalled weekend traffic. People stay at home, their main entertainment is cinema, TV, books.
We noticed an interesting fact – a surge of interest in movies about viruses and the apocalypse. Throughout February, and especially March, we’ve seen a 32 percent increase in interest in virus films.
So, in early March, when the media began to report on the situation with the coronavirus in Italy, viewings of the films “28 Days Later” and “Epidemic” increased. And now in the first place the film “Infection”.
The technical base of MEGOGO is ready for even greater loads. At the same time, during the quarantine period, we strengthened the work of technical support. There's no interruption.
Ilya Krasilshchik, head of Yandex.Shops
I have spoken to people who have survived the Chinese quarantine (which is slowly ending there). It was relatively easy to move there because of its highly developed delivery services.
“This is a very important moment for us – we need to provide a huge number of people with everything they need over time and brighten up their home isolation.”
It seems to me that this does not require any special promotions, you just need to keep the level, do not pick up prices, and the need for services such as “Shop” is obvious. And you also need to be attentive to the details - so, we launched contactless order transfer. The courier puts a package of groceries on his bag, rings the doorbell and walks two meters away.
Now we see a huge increase in demand – both in the number of orders and in their size. In general, we are not a service about buying - our task is to make sure that the products are always there. Now our shelves are a little empty, but this is not a disaster - in a couple of days we will fill, just need to rebuild. We have increased our purchases, compiled a list of critical products and are following it closely. We can promise everyone that if you isolate yourself, we will help you, don’t worry.
Ivan Shtanko, CEO of Puzzle English
During the period of forced self-isolation, people can devote personal time to self-education and with our help learn or improve their English from scratch to the level of Upper-Intermediate - games, gamified exercises and fascinating video content are available anywhere where there is an Internet.
From March 17 to May 1, we provide all registered users of the online platform with the opportunity to use two courses of the Teacher Method completely free of charge - a children's course (for children from 5 to 12 years old) and a Beginner course (for beginners to learn English).
“This is a great opportunity for parents to take their children in a useful and exciting business during the forced holidays, as well as to remember the basics of English on the eve of the summer tourist season, in which we, as optimists, believe!”
We operate in the ru-eng segment around the world and have seen an abnormal increase in demand for our learning tools since the beginning of March. The daily number of registrations on the platform and in applications has increased by an average of 30%, but the support department, regardless of the increase in the number of registrations, copes with its task, answering all user questions on time.
Victoria Alemanova, Director of Marketing and Sales at Domino’s
We feed people delicious pizza and even now, in the face of an impending epidemic, increased risks and enhanced security measures, we are not leaving our customers hungry. These days, when many people are in self-isolation mode and do not go outside, food delivery services are especially relevant.
“To reduce risks and give our customers a sense of security, we are introducing contactless delivery. It will be available to all customers who have paid for the order online or prepared the amount in cash with exact change.”
You can order such delivery when placing an order, and it will not cost any additional money. In addition, in several regions, we are testing the possibility of ordering with a minimum check of 300 rubles: we understand that the needs have changed, and now more people who want to dine alone with a small pizza and drink, while usually the bulk of orders for two people or more, need our services. Also, all our promotions that started as part of the brand relaunch a month ago continue.
We expect a significant increase in demand after March 21, when the children’s quarantine will begin, and we are preparing for an increase in the workload – we conduct special trainings for employees, we are considering the possibility of increasing the courier staff.
One of Domino’s top priorities around the world has always been to deliver within 30 minutes, and even in this difficult time, we are not reneging on our promises.
Olga Akatyeva, CEO of Global Group
Our company is engaged in private flights. Now it is almost the only air service for a number of countries that have closed their borders, which led to the cancellation of regular flights. We take passengers from any city in the world home, as the time and date of departure are chosen directly by the customer.
We have introduced increased security measures: the processing of aircraft after each flight has become more thorough, masks for crew and passengers are provided, the security system has been strengthened, and medical examination and testing have become mandatory.
Until recently, we were working as usual. In March, some customers traditionally flew to destinations such as San Moritz and Courchevel. Even though the virus was already raging in Italy, no one at that time thought much of it. Some even prefer regular flights. However, they had to return by private flights.
“The peak happened last Thursday: on this day, almost all customers asked us to pick up a jet from different countries in Europe to return home or take their families out of the quarantine zone,” he said.
Despite the increased demand, we were able to cope with the situation quite quickly. I cannot say that there is a shortage of private jets on the market. Plus, the fact that some flights were canceled due to a general quarantine – some customers had to postpone pre-planned travel.
Many airlines have already stopped flying, with planes parked at the base and crew and staff sent home for quarantine.
The border is expected to be completely closed, but we are prepared for a slight drop in demand in the coming month, which is normal for this period. It is important that people do not cancel travel at all, just change the direction. And, apparently, this situation will have a positive impact on domestic resorts. So, for the May holidays, we are developing trips to Sochi and Crimea, to Kamchatka. Become popular Elbrus, Karelia and Altai.
Igor Bezgalov, Head of Marketing at US Dental Care
Our project DENTABUS is a mobile dental clinic equipped with high-tech equipment for modern diagnostics and dental treatment. We accept patients in the parking lot of business centers and cooperate with organizations, embassies and schools for dental treatment and prevention.
In addition, we come to our patients for treatment directly to their homes. This can be both the format of “Family Health Day”, and a call for an individual order, in the format of a dental ambulance.
“The number of pre-orders has doubled, and people (primarily townhouse residents) are calling us more often to avoid going to the city.”
We did not introduce new promotions for the epidemic period, but to cope with the increased demand, we improved route planning, as well as maximizing the number of shifts and staff of doctors. So, even the head doctor can now make home visits for complex treatments.
Anastasia Postrigai, founder of the online school of popular art in Russia and CIS Op Pop Art
The study of art history gives a person more than just the opportunity to analyze and understand painting. Knowledge forms awareness and freedom to share their discoveries with friends, make trips to museums and walks around the city more interesting and informative. In addition, such positive qualities as creativity, creative thinking, the ability to solve issues in a non-standard manner develop.
“During this volatile situation, we have relaunched our most popular direction: a basic online course in art history. This programme is designed for three months and provides an opportunity to acquire fundamental knowledge in this area.”
So far, we haven’t seen any exceptional growth – demand has remained the same. Every month we draw up a demand plan, so everything is stable now, as we predicted.
However, we’ve noticed an interesting feature: some clients say they finally have time for online education. Others, on the contrary, complain that they are now sitting at home with their children, and they have no time to study.
The epidemic has not become a force majeure situation for us – the business has existed since 2014, it is completely online. All employees work remotely from different parts of the world, and all processes have long been established. Therefore, we are ready to accept any number of students.
Source: https://rb.ru/story/perezhit-karantin/
