São Paulo – Cativa Natureza, a Brazilian company that produces natural, organic and vegan cosmetics, has found in a hand sanitizer lotion a way to get around the harmful impacts of the coronavirus crisis on its business. The company has produced the lotion for ten years, but it decided to invest on tests proving its antibacterial and antiseptic effectiveness to invest on its sales during the pandemic. The product is available for exports.
Cativa owner Rose Bezecry says that, due to cost issues, the company had postponed the effectiveness test but realized that this was the time to do it, as the evidence would help Cativa to stand out during the crisis. According to the businesswoman, the tests gives a 99.9% antiviral guarantee. “We were aware of its antibacterial qualities and boosted the effectiveness of the lotion,” she says.
The product cleans and sanitizes the hands without drying them out. It’s made of 70% organic alcohol and enriched with an active antifungal agent. “Regular hand sanitizers have a solution that dries the hands – our lotion doesn’t; in fact, it has a blend of plant and essential oils that doesn’t dry the hands,” Bezecry explains. In addition to protecting against virus and bacteria and moisturizing, the lotion has an aromatherapeutic effect. “It contains calming essential oils,” the entrepreneur says.
The testing was carried out in early March, then the product was made available with a fresh packaging and appeal. Sales of the lotion have grown by 110% since then, having the internet as its main sales channel. Cativa sells its products in points of sales of natural and organic products across Brazil, its stores in Fortaleza, Porto Alegre, Curitiba and Itajaí, and on its website. The stores of Fortaleza and Porto Alegre are closed, but sales have been directed to the online channel.
Cativa’s sales slid by 15% during the pandemic. “We understand that the market will shrink in very sector. For now, we slid by 15%,” Bezecry says. She believes that this will start to be overcome between the end of the year and the start of the next and there’s still much to work with during the crisis. “Our expectations are not optimistic nor negative but realistic,” she says.
The entrepreneur will keep some changes made in the business during the pandemic, including investing in online sales and minimalism. Minimalism is a concept of simplification and cutting out excesses. “We have 136 products and will reduce our portfolio,” Bezecry says. Cativa already worked with the concept, which provides for multifunction products, and will intensify that. “This pandemic will make people think more in a cost-benefit way,” she says.
Cativa Natureza exported its products to Poland, United States, and Spain, but foreign sales were discontinued in February due to the pandemic. So, the company is internally restructuring its foreign sales strategy. But if a demand for the hand sanitizing lotion arises, Cativa is open to exporting it.
Despite the pandemic, the company based in Campo Magro, Paraná, hasn’t laid off any employees. Its staff currently comprises 20 people, from industry to distribution and stores. “We’re doing whatever we can to keep all our employers. We believe that we must help each other during this moment,” the owner says. She says that she gets moved when she sees her employees working together to keep the business running.
“They are young people that are learning with this crisis. It has come to reframe everything, so that we can let the old ways go and bet on the new, even if we don’t know what it’s coming,” she says. According to Bezecry, although it’s small, the company has a large vision, registering every process. “We are children of SEBRAE”, she says about the support she has received from the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE) from the start.
Cativa has donate 25 liters of 70% alcohol, a base product for the sanitizing lotion, to the emergency unit in Campo Magro. According to the owner, the donation was made due to high probability of shortage of the product at the unit.
Contact:
Cativa Natureza
Website
Email: comercial@cativanatureza.com.br
Phone: +55 (41) 3088 0421
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
