Expecting shopper behaviour of shifting to on-line buying because of the COVID-19 pandemic to stay in the long run, Future Consumer Ltd (FCL) is specializing in altering orientation of all enterprise and model actions to make them Digital First, based on the corporate”s annual report for 2020-21.
The yr 2020-21 has been an unprecedented yr with COVID-19 bringing the complete world to a standstill…and the second wave of COVID-19 in March 2021 made the yr finish with important disruptions but once more, FCL famous within the report.
“During these times, while footfalls at offline retail slowed down, a new way of consumption was adopted by Indian masses with e-commerce becoming an integral part of frequent daily basket shopping,” it mentioned.
The firm mentioned it believes that “habits formed in current times will tend to remain in the long term as well”.
It has been “agile to adapt itself to ensure your company”s portfolio commands leading shares in the online basket”, the corporate added.
“Your company is focusing on changing the orientation of all business and brand activities to make them ”Digital First”.
“This can be phased out in a collection of short-term penetration, market share development targets, long-term model and loyalty constructing targets,” FCL Chairman G N Bajpai wrote to shareholders on behalf of the company”s directors in the report.
FCL said it will continue to grow its portfolio of food and home and personal care products. Key brands including ”Golden Harvest”, ”Tasty Treat”, ”Karmiq”, ”Desi Atta Company”, ”Mother Earth”, ”Voom”, ”Cleanmate” and ”Caremate” will continue to drive volume and value growth.
“Decision making can be pushed by knowledge analytics together with buyer shopping for habits, model stickiness, class penetration, amongst others,” the report said adding that the company would aim at increasing its penetration in the consumer”s shopping basket across categories.
While the company will explore opportunities in new generation categories, the prime focus will be on expanding and enhancing the existing portfolio with strong focus on increasing gross margins across food, home and personal care categories, it added.
FCL said it will use Future Retail Ltd”s (FRL) “retail muscle to increase its distribution attain” though additionally it is steadily increasing its attain exterior of the group agency”s shops.
The firm mentioned it would undertake a cluster-wise launch strategy to enter normal commerce shops, with dwelling and private care manufacturers main the way in which.
This can be carried out by leveraging the present distributor community of the corporate”s magnificence model ”Kara” and constructing a brand new base of distributors for greater attain, it mentioned including that FCL would additionally additionally deal with taking JV manufacturers like ”Terra”, ”Dreamery” and ”Oateo” throughout kirana shops.
Sharing its plans for a targeted drive to achieve out to an increasing number of households utilizing e-commerce platform, the corporate mentioned it plans to scale up presence on present e-retailers like Amazon and Nykaa, the place the manufacturers are already current, together with including new channels like Tata Cliq, Purpelle and extra.
Noting that FY22 had begun with the second wave of COVID-19 main to a different spherical of disruptions throughout the worth chain, the corporate, nonetheless, mentioned that with a targeted vaccination drive, the medium-to-long time period alternative appears promising.
The firm strongly believes in India”s development potential, and the way in which ahead for FCL is to be on high of adapting to altering shopper preferences by making the manufacturers Digital First, it mentioned.
Besides, the corporate may even construct a robust distribution community exterior of FRL on the front-end together with optimising prices at back-end, driving synergies and judiciously allocating assets, conserving money and bettering liquidity thereby enhancing stakeholder worth, the report added.
(PTI)