Saigon eats with Savyu - The Super Rewards App

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How Covid-19 has affected the Vietnamese food and retail industry

Entering 2020 with joy, many people expected great things would happen this year. However, COVID-19 has turned everything upside down.

Vietnam's economy in general and its food industry have experienced drastic changes since the government decided to close down the country's borders and urge the citizens to practice social distancing in March.

More than ever before restaurants, cafes, spas and other retailers are facing extremely hard times. The weight on the shoulders of owners to keep their businesses running has become even heavier.

According to VnExpress: “Hoang Tien, founder and CEO of cafe chain Coffee Bike, said the resurgence in Covid-19 cases worries him since the nationwide social distancing campaign in April had badly affected his business. Coffee Bike, which operates a network of stores and vendor carts, has seen revenues at its cafes fall by 15-20 percent after the outbreak.”

All together, we can make an impact

Fortunately, the scenario is getting better thanks to Vietnam’s ability to adapt to changes. Restaurants and businesses are trying to recover after revenues plummeted in the first 6 months of 2020. People have quickly adapted to the new “normal” always wearing masks when going outside and washing their hands regularly. Brick and mortar businesses have been working feverishly to figure out how to get customers to come back through their doors. But the recovery is painfully slow for businesses.

How can an app help local businesses

Savyu created a super loyalty app that gives any of its users up to 50% rewards (Savyu Dollars) on their first transaction in each of their partner retailers. This helps to bring customers back to our beloved community shops while giving more bang for the bucks to the users.

Once a Savyu user earns rewards, he can use his rewards to pay any other merchants in the Savyu platform at a rate of 1 Savyu Dollars = 1 VND. This helps local retailers generate repeat visits, drive sales and revenue up while filling their shops in this much needed time.

When Savyu was started, the aim was to help brick and mortar businesses by bringing people back to their local businesses, back to enjoying a great time with their friends, and back to laughing while enjoying a delicious meal. In recent years, food delivery has done an amazing job creating convenience, but it felt like in some ways it was at a cost of diminished social interaction and increased pollution from single use plastic containers and packaging.