The
outbreak of Covid-19 has led to major disruptions in all industries, with
travel, hospitality and automakers among the hardest hit sector in the country.
Supply chains are in turmoil & many offline businesses (no matter how big
in size) are getting crushed & closed. Millions of jobs are disappearing;
employees getting laid off from well known companies and on top of all this, a
looming public health crisis threaten to claim many lives due to this pandemic.
The
COVID-19 pandemic has also brought everyday human activity to a grinding halt,
with economies across the world taking a hit, India being no exception. This has
also severely impacted the startup ecosystem in our country but this
environment has also provided the avenue to re-engineer oneself to cater to the
new demand.
The
pandemic has also highlighted the glaring need to bridge the digital divide,
both within and across the country & states, given the central role; digital
economy has played during this crisis. Many traditional obstacles have been highlighted
and have enforced more importance and greater participation of e-commerce
activities in the retail segment.
The
Online B2B platforms across India
are now focusing on making sure they are able to target those areas which are
severely hit & onboard more partners on their platforms by offering
customizable services and aligning their core competency & service portfolio
with the ongoing trends & in demand materials. Many companies are helping
business to come onboard the online wagon and help them in operating their
business and reaching their end user/consumers across different geographies.
Effect on Online Listing & Other Services: After the first phase of Lockdown was initiated,
the offline businesses were severely hampered. This led to increase in listing
of businesses which were not using online services on online B2B platforms. The
increase in Listings were also facilitated by temporarily decrease in subscription
charges & expansion of serviceable area by players. The focus is on highly
practical challenges like transforming processes to allow for all-digital or
remote working to happen, which must be resolved quickly if business and
society are to remain functional despite the crisis. Another focus is on making
sure that the consumers are aware that the online marketplaces are open even if
the offline places are closed, hence the online marketplaces are trying to
market themselves in an efficient way even as they are struggling to match a good
level of enquiries. Other services such as Logistic/Procurement services are
also affected in many parts of the country, but the Online B2B platforms are
looking forward to get them on track with the help of reduced red-tapism &
permit requirements from the government and have focused on digitization
services and partnerships with logistics aggregators to improve their reach.
Efficient Strategies Applied by the Market Players:
The initial days of the
pandemic saw a huge number of people & business stock up on essential items
and various other products. The result has been a spike in online purchases of
some products, as well as an increased demand for a wide range of digital
services, as many consumers resorted to online shopping, either internet enabled
or by telephone. Several brick-and-mortar businesses have therefore shifted their
resources to e-commerce platforms. The increase in the number of consumers
flocking to digital services has spurred both suppliers of these services and
telecommunications operators to enhance their network capacity and to offer
advantageously priced or free data and service packages. Manufacturing in many
countries has come to a halt & only specific things are being produced.
Online Platforms such as Bizongo &
Moglix are trying to play their part in the process of shifting resources to e-commerce platform and are
helping businesses with customer acquisition and product branding. Many of
these players have also played an important role in distributing essential
goods during this pandemic in regions far from metropolitan cities.
For instance, Bizongo, the Mumbai-headquartered B2B startup focused on
the packaging industry, has just done that by turning its energy and attention
to the supply of the much needed personal protective equipment (PPE) during the
coronavirus crisis such as gloves, masks, sanitizing equipment etc.
Moglix has also tried to focus on providing equipments
which are specifically focused on preparing protective equipments & reducing
commissions on them as well.
IndiaMART on the other hand have enabled special directory
on their platform which provides information regarding Test Kits sellers or
other protective equipment distributor, in order to enable the vendor
discovery.
Other
platforms Like Udaan, Ninjacart &
Other platforms working in small regions across India have compiled a list
of their suppliers & have circulated the same in order to facilitate phone
call ordering to cater to the less tech savvy part of the population in the
country.
Platforms
such as Trade India & Industry Buying have further enhanced
their platform with third party Logistic & Distributors to facilitate the
deliveries in an efficient manner.
A
major focus is also being given on Marketing the products in a safe &
Sanitized manner across India in order to win over the confidence of the
consumers.
Shifts in the Business Practices: A changing trend in business practices during the
Covid crises came in the form of tie-ups with local players to effectively
widen the horizons of the various partners on the Online B2B platforms. This was
coupled with the movement of assets & production capabilities towards
medical & protective supplies which is the need of the hour. However, this
digital wave is supposed to have a cascading effect on the offline business of
the suppliers & many of them will now focus on leading a digital life with
ease of services & enhanced product portfolios and will realize the
importance of digital presence and tools in expanding their market reach and
revenue.
The
online B2B platforms are also focusing on implementing long terms changes which
would be focused towards fundamental changes in the platforms from selectively
dividing the on-boarded MSMEs to offer better services which are customised to
their requirements to inculcating new services which would become the part of a
broader business enablement services and less focus on just providing a vendor
discovery platforms. AI and Deep Learning Algorithms could be introduced in
platforms to better project market and consumer trends and to help in better
risk mitigation with respect to business fluctuations. Also government
initiatives such as Digital MSME ICT Initiative which supports SMEs to adopt
cloud computing which is a cost effective alternative to in-house IT
infrastructure encouraging them to optimize their processes and bring a large
part of their value chain including procurement and selling to online channel
which will further deepen the importance of online B2B platforms in the coming
years in India.
Also
as per the new government initiative called ‘Aatmanirbhar, government has
planned several initiatives such as INR 3 lakh crore collateral free automatic
loans for businesses including MSME’s, INR 20,000 crores as subordinate debt
provision for stressed MSME’s, INR 50,000 crore equity infusion through funds
of funds and more focus on local products. All these initiatives will boost the
growth of MSME sector in India and will positively impact the growth of online
B2B platforms in the country.
For
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Ken Research
Ankur Gupta, Head Marketing & Communications
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