The COVID Epidemic has impacted our world in many ways; economic and psychological. The changing CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR can be managed by enhanced CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
The COVID-19 Pandemic has changed much about our world, from the way we live to the way we function. And this impact has been comprehensive and far-spread; from the smallest businesses to the biggest MNCs, none have escaped unscathed. Yet, as the economy opens up again, companies are formulating strategies to make up for the lost business. With the number of COVID-19 cases on the rise, this has proved to be an uphill task as consumers are still worried to venture out in the open as they did before. Dubbed as the "new normal," businesses have to live with the new realities of customer engagement and management. To deliberate upon what could be the way to "Winning with customer experience in the Post COVID world" Forbes India and SAP India organized an exclusive series of interaction with top industry honchos in India. Conducted over the Web, these engagements were meant to be a window to the corporate boardroom, where a strategy to deal with the aftermath of the epidemic is being formulated.
The objective of these interactions was to look at different aspects of coping up with the crisis, and how engaging the customer can be a critical differentiator between success and failure. To get a holistic view, companies across the spectrum participated in these deliberations, from manufacturing to reality, from health and hygiene to airlines. Spread across two sessions, these deliberations touched upon various aspects of business, and what could be the right approach to conducting business in the 'new normal'.
Sectoral variance of impact
One of the first things that became apparent and was acknowledged by the participants was the sectoral variation in the economic impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. While some segments suffered severely due to the crisis like auto and airlines, others might even see an uptick because of the outbreak, like healthcare and online marketplace. This variation was highlighted by Krishnan Chatterjee, CMO & CCO, SAP India, as he listed out the underlying implications for the corporate sector. Rajesh Ramakrishnan, MD, Perfetti Van Melle India, concurred with the sectoral variance sharing the example of how the lockdown had impacted an impulse-buy category of products like candies and chewing gum.
One of the sectors that have been severely impacted by the lockdown has been the auto sector. Through April, there were no new cars sold in India, which has never happened before, according to Rajeev Chaba, President & Managing Director, MG Motor India. There were 36, 860 cars sold in May 2020 which is a pittance when compared to 2,39,117 sold in May 2019. This gives a picture of how some sectors of the economy have been unaffected, while the rest have been crippled.
The best way to figure out this puzzle is to conscious repositioning and branding. As Narasimhan Eswar, Senior VP, RB India, shares a thumb-rule for corporate relevance; one needs to assess the customer category in which a particular company operates. If the goods and services produced by the company are not unique and not missed in their absence, it means that their relevance is low and hence they need to redesign or create a new category of product or service.