The new normals in a post Covid-19 world include one major shift in the way business will be conducted. There are a lot of new businesses have been created and the key to survival is classical segmentation. Seniority is an RPG Group Company that is India’s largest e-retail destination for seniors and senior citizens.
Businesses and brands are now are making their way back into the business; planning their communication plans for a new world post the covid-19 lockdown.
In this story of Medianews4u’s super successful brand series, Back to Business, we spoke to Ayush Agrawal & Tapan Mishra, Co-founders of Seniority
Read on.
How are you coping with the impact of Covid-19 on Seniority? How effectively have you used the lockdown period?
The nationwide lockdown has hit the economy across industries. E-commerce firms like ours have faced tremendous losses due to restrictions of delivery of non-essential commodities in several regions. However, we are delivering personal care and safety essentials such as masks, hand sanitizers, PPE kits, adult diapers, etc. in more than 16,000 pin codes throughout the country.
Even as the lockdown is expected to extend further, we utilized this period to engage with our stakeholders more than ever before. We launched a COVID risk monitoring tool called SafeSeniors to ensure the health and safety of senior citizens and their family members. A volunteering programme was also introduced to help independent seniors with their day-to-day needs such as grocery, medicines, personal care products, etc. We also collaborated with multiple service providers to launch helpline numbers for medical and emergency assistance.
At the organizational front, we are working on improving our tech and customer support owing to high demands for essential products. We’ve also been taking strides forward on our app that we intend to launch soon.
The quest for a solution to a particular crisis helps invent new business opportunities and sometimes leads to a revision of existing business model. What sort of innovation has, or will the Covid-19 pandemic bring to Seniority?
E-commerce had been a rapidly growing sector thanks to increased technological advancements, changing consumption patterns and evolving lifestyle requirements. We strongly believe that in a post-COVID world, e-commerce will become more important than ever before. People are getting used to buying essentials like grocery, masks, sanitizers and other personal care items through online platforms, and this will give a positive boost to e-commerce firms including ours.
Digital transactions have witnessed a major growth as most retailers & e-retailers are preferring contactless payment options, thus reducing the dependency on cash. Several organizations moved away from their core business proposition and took to manufacturing and delivering essential products at this time. It’s interesting to note how a major crisis like this is keeping us on our toes and encouraging us to think out of the box for new business opportunities.
While some parts of the country have become Covid-19 free, cities like Mumbai and Delhi are still in a lockdown situation. How are you planning to resume business across cities that are not in the Red?
In the current situation, our supply chain consisting of both big and small players has been affected but we are trying our best to ensure that our customers are able to buy essentials from our website. We are working diligently with our vendors, procuring essential goods from them and making it available for our customers far and wide. With the new guidelines on operational leeway in orange and green zones, we are gradually opening up business and processing orders through our third-party delivery partners.
What will be your communication strategy post the opening of the lockdown? What will be the objective of the communication/marketing strategy?
People are definitely looking forward to buying both essentials & non-essentials and are patiently waiting for the lockdown to come to an end so that they can resume shopping. There is enough pent-up demand in the market waiting to explode and this will be helpful for us in the long run. Keeping this in mind, we’ve realigned our product portfolio to meet the current requirements and will continue to build on this in future.
The communication strategy is to keep it simple and transparent, as these are the key pillars in building strong relationships with customers and other stakeholders. The idea is to assure them that Seniority is there for all their medical, wellness and lifestyle needs even in such challenging times.
How did you keep the morale of the employees during this lockdown period? On a personal note, what kept you positive?
Two-way communication is the key to maintain strong relationships with your employees. These are extremely tough times for us all and being honest and transparent has helped us keep our employees motivated while working from home. They have been understanding and cognizant of the macro issue surrounding the business and have taken it in a positive stride. In the post-COVID world, employees will play an instrumental role in helping the organization bounce back to its feet.
What are some of the post-lockdown business strategies that you will use to bring the business back on track or at least get it in the right direction and also create demand for yourself?
As a brand focussed on the wellness and lifestyle needs of the elderly, Seniority will focus on expanding its product portfolio towards healthcare, immunity-boosting and hygiene products going forward. We are also gearing up for the launch of our app to provide a seamless shopping experience for seniors and their caregivers.
Incase you want to check out their product portfolio please jump onto their website. https://www.seniority.in/
