Bogramo CEO says COVID-19 tests demand surges 80%

146
2
Bogramo CEO says COVID-19 tests demand surges 80%

As companies prepare for a winter surge, bulk orders for COVID- 19 tests are on the rise, said iPromo CEO Leo Friedman.

He told Yahoo Finance that sales for the two types of tests his company sells have gone up 80% since the end of August compared to the summer months.

The Chicago-based company sells corporate gifts but added COVID- 19 tests to its product lineup during the Pandemic. Friedman said the recent surge in orders is mainly for indoor event venues such as theaters or charity organizations. Live Nation, for example, just ordered 100,000 tests. The tests aren't for the audience, they're for performers and crew.

Friedman said the top-sellers are Abbott's ABT BinaxNOW, FlowFlex and iHealth. Abbott doesn't want to comment on if it is seeing a surge in sales.

Friedman has at least three to five workers out of COVID 19 every month - and some are getting it every few months, as a result of the surge in purchase.

He said that it was up to independent businesses to take on the burden of keeping their employees safe with more mitigation measures being relaxed at the federal and state levels.

Friedman anticipates that bulk orders will increase, and he knows that his company — which has purchased the tests at risk to sell — is able to offer a better price than what is on the shelves in stores.

Based on what has happened in the past few years, and what we know about the variants, I think it's going to fly up aggressively, he said.

He keeps the tests in a climate-controlled warehouse, explaining that he's taking a substantial risk for the number of tests he has in stock.

There was a point where we had a lot of tests and they were expired and we had to throw them away. Friedman explained that we wrote it off.

A minimum order is 25 tests, with the least expensive selling for around $5 -- $6, whereas the same test on retail shelves is $8 or above, Friedman said.

These tests cost from 50 cents to $1 to manufacture - they cost nothing, he said.

Friedman said that there could be a shortage of supply if the new variant causes a surge, but prices are unlikely to move.

Does he have enough supply for a winter surge?

I want to say yes, but I thought last January as well, and I was super wrong, Friedman said.

Individual purchases of tests are not following a similar surge. CVS and Walgreens WBA both said their sales of COVID 19 tests are steady.