Mr. Krishnan Ganesh, Serial Entrepreneur, GrowthStory.in and Promoter – BigBasket, Portea Medical, HomeLane delivered a talk on “Emerging Business Models & Opportunities for Existing Businesses in Post-pandemic World” at the 11th WiseViews Interactive webinar series conducted by the ICFAI for the benefit of working professionals, Research Scholars and Students across the country.
In his talk Mr Ganesh compared the traditional and new age business models in the Post-pandamic world. Earlier there was only one traditional approach to the business model while there are many new age business models. The traditional business model effectiveness was measured by terms like EBITA (Earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization), Gross Profit Margin etc. while the new age business models focus on rapid scaling to acquire more customers without focusing on the return ratios.
In the Post-pandamic era Mr Ganesh outlined three types of companies that are visible:
1. Firstly, those badly affected by Covid such as the cruise industry and Entertainment. The entertainment industry has witnessed bad impact. The dependency on inhouse entertainment has increased the viewership of Televsion and a surge in consumption of streamline video on demand services such as Netflex, Amazon Prime etc, The hospitality sector has also faced a significant negative impact because it has forced customers to stay away from restaurants and cafes. Hotels and homestays are not considered as essentials as food and health care industry considered as essentials services. Most startups have also been badly affected.
2. Secondly, companies which have benefited hugely by the tailwinds of change with increased adoption such as Zoom and Big Basket.
3. The third is those who are temporarily affected but can survive such as restaurants and fashion goods.
Mr Ganesh further said Covid 19 crisis has accelerated the shift to digital. The best companies are going further, by enhancing and expanding their digital channels. They are successfully using advanced analytics to combine new sources of data to make better and faster decisions to strengthen their customer services.
E-commerce which is currently single-digit in percentage of the total retail sales is going to improve world over. Parallel retail models will continue in spite of the shift. E-commerce experience, enabling customers to complete everything they need to do online. E-commerce firms which sold essentials were experiencing significant rise in online shopping. Banking sector also have seen significant increase in the use of online banking services and digital payments.
While mentioning about the Agricultural sector in India Mr Ganesh opined that use of data in helping the farmers increase their yield per acre, based on current demand how to forecast the prices six months down the line will help a great deal. Future is electric. Electric Vehicles are going to evolve and the governments will step in to subsidise and reap the multiple benefits touching environment, cost and sustainability. Frozen foods might take a backseat given the perception of its processing.
In India customers will pay for “must-haves” and not for “good-to-haves” in times of crisis like this. Businesses should keep this in mind.
“In totality, once-in-a-century disruption like this calls for capitalising the opportunities by clearly focusing on changed priorities. Companies need to look at what has changed in consumer behavior, what are the new consumer priorities, where does their time and money go in the new circumstances etc. “ Mr Ganesh said.
The webinar was moderated by Prof. R Prasad, Director, Academic wing, ICFAI Group and Prof Sudhkar Rao, Director, Branding ICFAI Group
About 250 participants including entrepreneurs, Research Scholars, prospective students from various parts of the country registered in advance and participated in the event.
