G&B, which is headed by Jamshyd Godrej, is setting up a
centralised digital corporate team, which will work along with individual
companies, explore synergies and enable a common platform for consumer insights
and data that can be harnessed across the group. Coronavirus-triggered trends,
such as the emergence of the omni-channel consumer, has hastened the plan.
G&B executive director Nyrika Holkar, who leads digital
strategy for the group, told TOI that from the perspective of the 124-year old
group, which has experienced several transformations over the decades, the
current change brought about by digital acceleration and changes in consumer
behaviour have unearthed several opportunities.
Holkar said G&B wants to continue exploring synergies
from a design thinking perspective so that it can provide a superior customer
experience across its multiple consumer businesses like appliances, furniture
& interiors and security which directly serve 100 million consumers. These
businesses are leveraging digital to enhance reach by complementing their
physical retail presence with a strong online presence through owned e-commerce
as well as aggregator sites. Holkar believes that digital commerce will be a
critical driver for future growth and not just another channel.
“We want to be an insights-driven organisation and for that
we need to deeply understand the customer journey and how we can leverage
insights across our diverse businesses. We want these data-led insights to
guide our business decisions,” said Holkar, a qualified solicitor, who is the
fourth-generation member of the Godrej family.At the manufacturing end, Godrej
Interio has deployed systems that study seasonality and trends to forecast
demand and help production planning. Efficiency has increased significantly
across multiple stages of the product journey, and in some cases, reaching up
to 50% higher efficiency from what it was before the upgrades to systems and
processes. “Even though sales on the Godrej Interio e-commerce portals increased
by 40% during the pandemic, we want to set an even bolder revenue target for
direct-to-customer. We believe this target can be achieved by curating
personalised experiences and offering differentiated services. The furniture
business has an ambitious target of growing its digital commerce 5x over the
next 3 years,” said Holkar.
Both B2C and B2B businesses, which contribute equally to the
group’s turnover, adopted their own paths on how they want to transform
digitally. G&B Group chief digital officer Poorav Sheth said: “It is
essential to draw synergies to manage customer experiences and their
expectations, which is the essence of having a common platform. Take for
example, at our storage solutions business, if a customer says they want to
build a warehouse, can we not share that lead with our forklift division,
because ultimately, these are all in the same industry. A common platform can
help you to cross-sell rather than work in silos. Godrej Material Handling
business has recently introduced a fleet management system that provides
customers with live data and preliminary analysis of operations to efficiently
manage their assets, ensure their security and also monitor equipment health.
So, you have a common platform that solves multiple challenges for the customer
leading to more efficiency.”
In its locks business, given that 30% of the sales come from
the carpenter and contractor community, to manage these grassroots-level
interactions, more than 20,000 carpenters and contractors across the country are
now part of an app that offers them loyalty benefits and accidental covers.
The digital transformation interventions are
expected to bring about a behavioral change in people. While the Group would
look at bringing in niche, skilled talent for its central digital team, from
consulting/technology backgrounds, there is also a goal to create digital
champions through upskilling initiatives who will act as change agents for the
digital transformation within the Group. Courtesy: www.retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com
