Discourse Analysis of External Crisis Communication in Vinted: Lithuanian and Germany Case

Abstract

Summary Quite many companies or organisations experience smaller or larger crises for an abundance of various reasons and yet a situation is not immediately named a crisis as such, even though the signs are rather clear. That was the case with the crisis communication of Vinted. The research aimed to analyse the external crisis communication in Vinted (as mother company in Lithuania) and Kleiderkreisel (as daughter company in Germany) for the topic is hardly analysed, especially linguistically. The material for crisis communication in Vinted was gathered from the articles in business news portal Verslo žinios (www.vz.lt) and the material for the analysis of crisis communication in Kleiderkreisel was gathered from the official Kleiderkreisel internet forum. It was noticed that the types of crises are different and because of that companies choose different ways for communication, meaning that where and how the company communicates with its community was influenced by the type of crisis itself. Communication of Vinted (statements in Lithuanian language) and Kleiderkreisel (statements in German language) was analysed and compared using the discourse analysis method which later led to recognition of different types of crises and the different crisis communication models that were applied. Due to the reason, that the data of Vinted covers 2016–2017 and the data of Kleiderkreisel covers 2014–2016, it allows to see the outcomes of both cases of crisis and further communication. In 2019 Vinted has received a new investment and became the first Unicorn in Baltic countries. Because the company grows further in the year 2020, it can be presumed that communication and managements strategies applied in the years of crisis were correct.