Until the first half of this year, disruptive brands among categories want by the names of Oyo, Zomato, Eazydiner, Grofers and, Awfis are some of the few. But Corona-virus, the biggest disrupter of them all, made the topmost of disruptive brands to move back to the drawing board.
The coming of COVID-19 pandemic made basic or rather essential shifts in consumer behavior across several sectors. In travel, hospitality, eating out, working spaces, cab aggregators, among others, all brands had to find a new channel to navigate the new normal.
Rohit Kapoor, CEO, India, and South Asia, OYO, said that this is the 4th global business crisis he has seen in his working career so far. He adds that things may always look barren in the short run, but the human capability and patience ultimately wins often sooner than we expect. One important lesson he has learned during this crisis is how important it is for businesses to develop as well as perform their business continuity plans.
Several other players also exhibit signs of optimism. In the business of eating-out, the COVID-19 situation has made the F&B Industry re-examine at the safety and hygiene standards with a microscope. According to Rachit Gupta, the CMO, EazyDiner, “ The business has been greatly impacted, yet we believe that diners will be back at the restaurants with equal energy and excitement once they feel safe. Actually in a survey that was conducted recently about 69 percent of EazyDiner customers said that they would like to go for out for a meal to their favorite restaurants within a week of the opening.”
Others are using this Covid-19 crisis to make up the time tested values like brand trust. Prashant Verma, the Vice President, marketing, Grofers, said, “Flexibility to overcome improbable hurdles, cleverness to execute fast and creating transparency with our customers are amongst the most crucial learning from this situation. It was very important to build long term trust with the customers by innovating on our feet by solving real problems for them.”
There are certain steps that companies in such industries take to position themselves for long term success. That is, how can they prioritize efforts to get the maximum returns with the minimum risk. Many companies have formulated strategies to deal with such a situation, and few others have already started executing them.
