The start up Weward takes a radical turn during the crisis

Google

What effect did coronavirus, isolation and quarantine have on our weight, sleep and level of physical activity? According to a Ifop survey for Darwin, just over half of the French (57%) have seen weight gain since the start of confinement, estimated at around 2.5 kg on average.

It is clear that we have stopped walking. «The physical activity of the French has decreased by 75% in the space of two weeks and the walking time of the French has fallen by 30% on average» observes Yves Benchimol, CEO and co-founder of Weward, the application that until then rewarded the great walkers.

The start-up Weward takes a radical turn during the crisis.

Based on this observation, Weward completely revised his “nudge theory” to apply it to another reward system, Yves Benchimol told Zdnet. To the great evils the great remedies? The application had to reverse its business model during confinement, choosing from now on to reward its users no longer on the number of steps in the day, but on their ability to.... stay at home and respect the rules of confinement!

The advertising platform, launched in April 2019 by four engineers, is based on a model identical to that of Waze, the community car guidance application, describes Yves Benchimol. “If our sensor-based technology to count the number of steps and measure the distance a user travels lets you know if a person is moving, they also know when they are not moving.” After two weeks of confinement, the application was able to go further and also reward physical activities at home.

«Testing without losing credibility»

This change appears to have been quite well received by the user community, with a “very urban” profile and essentially between the ages of 18 and 45. Yves Benchimol assures that “the app has kept its audience,” with a million downloads and nearly 500,000 users per month to date.

A “snowball effect on social media” was even observed at the very beginning of containment. “While the app averaged nearly 1,000 downloads per day prior to containment, it went from the initial days of containment to an average of 5,000 daily downloads,” says the manager. Since then, this renewed interest has returned to its original level.

With the exception of retail retailers such as Carrefour City, Weward has had to integrate new sources of revenue, working in particular with brands in the area of well-being.and shops offering home delivery.



This period of confinement was also an opportunity to test new features, such as the sponsorship option developed in just two days. «We were able to test things without losing credibility» admits Yves Benchimol.

By pulling out of the game, the start-up saw its turnover rise by 30%. After the end of the confinement, the start-up wants to continue to encourage the dynamism of the city center while emphasizing «the promotion of brands focused on well-being, such as sports or love» announces Yves Benchimol.

Weward, which currently employs nine people, hopes to double its staff by the end of the year. The young company plans to test its application in another European market later this year.