Today, when all around the world people are practicing self-isolation and social distancing, some small businesses are doing their best to re-arrange their operations. Some do so successfully with tools made available with help from the EBRD and EU4Business.
The case in point is supermarket Georgita in Tbilisi, Georgia. The company started its operations in 2001. Over the years, it opened two shops and became a go-to place for Tbilisi residents, searching for goods imported from Europe and also high-quality local produce. The company now offers online shopping and delivery service to customers in Tbilisi and outside of the city, which is especially acute in the times of self-isolation caused by Covid-19 outbreak.
The EBRD’s Advice for Small Businesses team worked with the company with donor support from the European Union under its EU4Business initiative. Establishing a solid online presence was the aim of the project. Little did we know that soon digital tools would have entered every aspect of our daily lives.
Within our joint project, a local marketing consultancy team helped Georgita to diversify its sales’ strategy. All began with a concept of an e-commerce platform and mobile application followed by a design process and development of mock ups. Later, consultants and Georgita employees smoothly shifted to database development, followed by programming and testing.
Mobile version was prepared to benefit both IOS and android users. Both e-commerce and mobile application became fully operational in the autumn of 2018.
‘’When we started working on this project, we firmly believed in the importance of digital services in our industry. Strengthening our online presence was our priority enabling us to offer our customers around the clock service. Now we see that it is even more important in these challenging times,” says Nanuka Chanturia, director of Georgita.
“You stay at home, we’ll work for you” is the new slogan of the company offering its clients the option to purchase groceries online and get them delivered in Tbilisi and its surroundings. A new e-commerce website and user-friendly mobile application makes online shopping an easy experience for the clients.
EBRD Advice for Small Businesses team supports companies in their journeys of digital transformation: over the past several years, together with EU4Business, they worked with a wide range of companies from various industries: electronics, transportation, retail, apparel, hospitality business and many more.
