The COVID-19 started to get the attention of the Vorwerk management team in January, when the numbers of infected cases from Wuhan continued to rise. The situation deteriorated much faster than anyone could imagine. By end of January, the city of Wuhan and the Hubei province were put under lockdown, while in other cities, strict social distancing measures were introduced and most commercial activities had to stop, including the Cooking Studios, where more than 90% of the Thermomix product demos took place.
“In the beginning, we were all shocked,” says Fredrik Lundqvist, Country Manager for Thermomix China, “With all of us isolated in our homes, all advisors suddenly had to stop their regular and we all didn’t know what the next step should be.” But very soon after that, the team started to adapt to the new situation and started to try out new approaches.