The Covid-19 pandemic has hit every human being very hard. None of us expected that it would last for such a long time. As seen in China, from where this virus had initiated, it was there for six months, and now again we see resurgence. Although, virus still exists but vaccination has started too.
This catastrophe has forced the companies to rethink their supply chain strategy, and how they can fulfill the demand of the customer. Due to the change in supply pattern, the demand pattern has also got disturbed. However, when we talk in terms of categories, there are certain categories whose demand has risen significantly and there are also such categories whose demand has fallen significantly. In some categories, there slow recovery, whereas some categories have already recovered.
There has been a huge spike in the e-commerce industry across the globe. The E-com share of total business have also risen significantly. This tells us that customer’s preferences have changed, simultaneously with the pandemic. Earlier, only the tier 1 and tier 2 cities used to avail the e-commerce shopping availability, but it has also spread itself to the tier 3 cities as well.
The panel discussion was led by Jagdeesh Kunchey from ITC Limited who was the moderator of the session in 26th Inflection Last Mile Delivery Web Conference &Awards, and where he discussed with all the panelists on “The Logistics Battle where there is a surge of digital over physical”.
Umesh Madhyan from Coca-Cola also discussed the surge of digital, that how e-commerce industries have taken advantage of the current situation. He also added that how the companies have to be quick in terms of adapting themselves to the new change. Relating to the current scenario, he discussed how Coke has tied up with food delivery services like Zomato and Swiggy.
The biggest breakthrough which online food delivery services offered was time assurance, said Saurabh Tanwar from Chaayosas he discussed how they shifted from dine-in services to home delivery services. He also talked about how customers can track their order of food, and avail of the other services as well.
Neeraj Goel discussed upon what were the key challenges and barriers to digitization. Covid-19 has changed a lot of it and has proven that how digitization played a significant role in upholding the companies. He discussed upon the major key challenge which was the short-term cost and long-term key challenges. The other key challenge which Neeraj discussed was legacy which people are very vigilant about.
Saurabh Lal from Kellogg talked about how we can enhance our sales chain when we have access to data technology in such uncertain situations. Data technology can also help in changing the production plans based on what is being sold in the market.
Vinita Sethi from Nando’s India discussed how the restaurants have been hit hard due to the pandemic, and how they would get back at their original position. She emphasized on the trust factor that how trust plays an important role in a situation where a consumer orders food and he gets it delivered taking all the safety norms into consideration.
At last, the panelists also discussed that what has been there learning from this sudden shift from physical to digital mode.
The webinar ended with the India’s most prestigious marketing awards ceremony where the top Industry leaders of India got awarded.