Online medical consultation, free e-books – how companies are fostering bonds with customers amid coronavirus outbreak
- Baby milk formula makers China Feihe and French food giant Danone offer free deliveries and online medical consultation services
- Publisher Citic Press Group has made available 4,000 e-books and audiobooks for free
Consumer companies in China have come up with creative ways to serve customers and improve their brand image amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak, which has brought the country to a near standstill for nearly three weeks.
With hospitals swamped because of the rising number of infections, companies such as French food giant Danone and domestic baby milk formula maker China Feihe have launched free online medical consultation services so that patients can access medical services without leaving their homes.
Citic Press Group, a publisher owned by the state-owned conglomerate Citic Group, has made more than 4,000 e-books and audiobooks available for free for bored workers who have been told to stay home, as companies have extended the Lunar New Year holiday to help authorities contain the spread of the virus.
Popular restaurant chains such as Sichuan-style Meizhou Dongpo, hit hard by the crisis, have been live streaming shows from its empty kitchens, where chefs recreate items from the menu for audiences to make at home.
Partial lockdown measures are already in place in over 80 cities in nearly 20 provinces and municipalities since the central government imposed a lockdown in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, and its neighbouring cities on January 23. These measures have led to temporary suspension of cinemas and restaurants among other services.
Coronavirus outbreak drives demand for China’s online grocers
“Overall, it’s an opportunity for us,” said Chen Hui, spokeswoman of China Feihe, the country’s top seller of infant milk formula. “Consumers in many places are unable to go out … so we try to provide thoughtful services and help to them, which has helped to foster a closer bond between us and the customers.”
So far, over 28,000 doctors have provided more than 1 million consultations through Feihe’s medical advisory service launched in partnership with online health care platform We Doctor Holdings.
The company has also donated 100 million yuan to the official charity, China Red Cross Foundation, to help alleviate shortages related to the outbreak. It has also been providing free home delivery services for families who are unable to go out to buy its products.
Hengan International, a major producer of sanitary towels and baby diapers, has donated 32,000 units of sanitary period pants to female medical workers on the frontline combating coronavirus in Hubei province.
Danone, which also sells baby milk formula in China, too has been delivering products to families in Hubei province – where the disease originated – and other affected regions for free. Staff at the company have ensured supplies to distributors in Hubei was stable, even when roads were blocked and logistics were disrupted, a spokeswoman said.
More than 2,000 people have used the free online paediatric consultation service it launched in conjunction with health care platform DXY.cn, she added.
When severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) hit China in 2003, the country’s retail sales growth plunged to 4.3 per cent in May from above 8 per cent in March, while economic growth slowed to 9.2 per cent year on year in the second quarter from 11.1 per cent in the first quarter.
The coronavirus epidemic too has sent shock waves through China’s economy. Analysts and economists have lowered their first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) forecasts.
“Our base-case scenario … is that Chinese GDP growth in the first quarter may slow to 4.0 to 4.5 per cent compared to our previous forecast of 6.0 per cent,” Dong Chen, senior Asia economist at Pictet Wealth Management wrote in a note last week.
