24. March 2021

Digital Solutions to the Crisis, Close to Home

The COVID-19 pandemic is hitting local retailers particularly hard. Bergheim, just outside Cologne and home to our managing director Stefan Grund, is no exception. So we’re pleased that the town is laying the groundwork for a lasting digital solution, with advice from Hypercode.

At the end of last year, the CDU group on Bergheim town council brought us an idea from councillor Hermann-Josef Falterbaum: a digital platform where local businesses could offer their products and services. It would help them respond to the pandemic while building a lasting local alternative to major online retailers.

Together with Hermann-Josef Falterbaum and CDU council group leader Christian Karaschinski, we defined the requirements and assessed the platform’s technical feasibility and likely development and running costs. The idea is to combine a digital shop window with local information: a place to browse, discover and shop with Bergheim’s service providers, retailers, restaurants, tradespeople, artists and farm shops, and to take part in town life.

Media coverage of the planned digital platform for Bergheim’s local businesses
Coverage of the digital platform for Bergheim’s local businesses, from top to bottom: Niklas Pinner’s article in the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, 18 March; WDR Lokalzeit aus Köln, 22 March; Niklas Pinner’s article on ksta.de, 20 March 2021.

The media coverage shown above and linked below, along with positive feedback from local businesses and residents, shows an appetite for new digital approaches on both sides of the counter. Platforms like this can help businesses reduce their long-term dependence on major e-commerce and social media platforms such as Amazon and Facebook, and build digital business models of their own.

Stefan Grund, managing director of Hypercode GmbH, who advised on the project with his team, welcomes the initiative in his hometown:

The platform initiated by the CDU group on Bergheim town council will support local retail and could become a model for digital transformation. It can help businesses through the restrictions imposed by COVID-19 now, and become a popular, lively digital hub for Bergheim’s 60,000 residents in the future. As a local resident and digital entrepreneur, I’ll be following the project with great interest.

Hypercode GmbH is also supporting other digital projects that respond to the effects of the pandemic. In February, #SHAREYOURSHOW, a video platform for performing artists, launched under our technical direction. We’re currently planning a mobile app for a Cologne start-up tackling the pandemic’s impact on a particular industry.

Further reading and viewing: