TRANSFORM OR DIE

The coronavirus pandemic is forcing companies to reimagine and reinvent

- AJITA SHASHIDHAR AND SONAL KHETARPAL

A typical lockdown day for Saugata Gupta, Managing Director of the ₹7,315 crore fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) major Marico, is a series of Zoom and Microsoft Teams meetings. Most of them are about dealing with the enormous challenge of supplying essentials like Saffola oil and Parachute hair oil to consumers across the country. As traditional distribution networks have ground to a halt, the FMCG major has been desperately inking deals with third-party distribution companies to quickly create bridges to reach consumers.

The quickest way, Marico realised, was to set up a tile ordering facility where call centre workers ring up retailers and take orders directly instead of going via distributors. Yet, in the midst of all the chaos, when Gupta looks at Marico’s Q4 results — with 7 per cent dip in sales and 3 per cent in volumes — he can’t help think what else he could have done to reinvent the business and reduce risks. His answer so far: think hard, think short, and do it quickly.

Across India, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown, businesses, big and small, are seriously rethinking about how to transform themselves to survive the crisis. While companies such as Hindustan Unilever (HUL), PVR and Pidilite are looking at conserving cash to save themselves, for retailers such as Arvind, Croma and Titan, it’s all about setting up a robust omnichannel business model. Mall owners such as DLF and Nexus Malls are preparing to go all out to reassure consumers that shopping with them is safe.