Business spending: Trends and takeaways from the new normal

The second edition of Pleo Talks is here and it's jam-packed with some illuminating data and insights.

Our CEO and co-founder Jeppe Rindom was joined by Andreas Bernström, who leads Nordic investments for Kinnevik.

Together with our Director of Brand and Comms, Luke Richardson, they dove into our data on how companies are spending in this current crisis.

How does your business compare? What industries are coping best? And what differences can we see between different countries?

What the numbers show us

"We are four or five weeks into it and there's a pretty clear picture," says Jeppe (7.45).

"Businesses have obviously transformed into working in a different mode – working from home, being a lot more cost conscious."

"Across the board, our transaction activity – the number of purchases being done by our 8000 [customers] – has dipped more than 50%.

"There have been weeks, in the beginning, when certain markets were hit by as much as 70-80% reduced purchasing activity."

Jeppe looked in detail at where companies are still spending – check out the video above for the full update.

What our viewers told us

There's a lot of different issues occupying the thoughts of business decision-makers right now.

During this episode of Pleo Talks, we asked them to identify what their biggest concern was at the moment.

Here's what you told us:

The (even) bigger picture

Andreas Bernström, who leads Nordic investments for Kinnevik, joined Luke and Jeppe next (23.00).

He might not have a crystal ball to foresee how all this plays out, but Andreas did have some encouraging optimism about the future.

"There will always be opportunities when things change dramatically," said Andreas, pointing to booming sales for working from home accessories.

"Eventually things will get back to normal and the main difference will be that in certain categories [of industry] you'll see a step change in behaviour.

"Things will have moved forward quicker than they would have done otherwise."

One company that Andreas identified as taking advantage of this step change? Our friends at Budbee.

On the next Pleo Talks

Up next, we're talking about what the future of work looks like after this crisis ends.

On 13 May at 3pm BST, join us for the next Pleo Talks, titled The Future Of Work: Five positive changes to look out for.

What will have changed for business after lockdown ends. What will companies have learned? And what positives can we take from these hard times?

Join us to find out.