‘Customers will delay discretionary spending’
| Date :27-May-2020 |
Business Bureau :
The Entrepreneurship Forum of Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA) recently conducted a webinar on the topic - ‘The New Normal: An Insight into Post COVID-19 Consumer Behaviour and Industrial Activities in the APAC Region’. The event was held on ZOOM App. Amit Waikar, who is a Nagpurian but currently residing in Shanghai, China, and Pradhyumna Ingle, Regional Business Head - APAC, Henkel KGaA, were the speakers. Ingle is also based in Shanghai, China. At the outset, Suhas Budhhe, Vice President of VIA, gave the opening remarks while Poonam Khandelwal, Chairperson of the Forum, welcomed and hosted the webinar. The webinar focused on understanding the situation in China and around the APAC region, the consumer goods and industrial landscape in APAC in 2020 and 2021.
It also focussed on learning from Chinese consumer companies that manage to survive the COVID crisis and how manufacturing units can start operating amongst the safety requirements in post-lockdown opening. Waikar shared that while the world was questioning the spread of COVID-19, China was in a complete lockdown and had gotten control on the spread of the virus. Waikar said that “we are currently projecting a U-shaped recovery in the majority of APAC market markets. The largest cities in India have been the worst hit when it comes to the COVID-19 cases. These are the centres where the more economic activities take place.
This shows that there are opportunities for e-commerce and the sector will get stronger in these places. Besides, in emerging hubs there will be a lot of economic activities through e-commerce players.” He further said that the Indian agricultural sector has not been hit due to the COVID crisis. “Due to uncertainty, customers are likely to delay discretionary spending. “Consumer spending is expected to decrease across categories as a result of the pandemic except for groceries and household supplies. We see that a lot of local businesses will go on-line,” he said. The speakers envisaged that in the near future there will be companies that will come up which will certify businesses whether they are COVID compliant or not similar to how we certify organisations like ISO certification. Talking about the business side of things, Pradyumnya shared that Asia is in the middle of the second wave. “Countries which are highly dependent on tourism or exports have been severely affected.
China saw a -6.5 per cent GDP growth in the Q1, while India will be lucky to even reach 0% GDP growth. However the scenario will change and slightly get better over the next few quarters,” he felt. The requirement for digital services is likely to accelerate, flexible payment terms and business models will be in high demand and the need for factory automation will rise significantly, he added. The demand for protective goods will be higher and will continue to stay on. The B2B e-commerce sector will see a growing demand where infrastructure exists and also see a consolidation in B2B customers which will result in higher consumer power. Abhijeet Khadnagale, the Convener for Entrepreneurship Forum, proposed the vote of thanks.