In consumer tech, the popularity of internet and networking technologies, the availability of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the benefits of cloud and analytics are becoming essential drivers for the industry’s survival, revival and subsequent growth. In a post-pandemic world, consumer technology companies will face significant challenges in reaching out to new-age consumers with hyper-personalised services across a multitude of media.

Tips for Survival and Revival of Consumer Tech Businesses in a Post-pandemic World 

In the ‘new normal’ of the post-COVID era, consumer goods and technology companies must revive and secure their future by turning competition into an opportunity as well as introducing new business models.

Adapt to Changing Customer Preferences

As consumers globally respond differently to emergencies like the ongoing pandemic, their consumption patterns change significantly. Today, consumers are looking for safer, more reliable and more sustainable value products for environmentally friendly experiences, including the communities they live and work in. Your consumer tech business must cater to this emerging trend in a post-COVID world for revival.

Transform Your Supply Chain

Current events have drawn customers’ attention to constantly evolving products and their strategically added value. This potentially creates a significant competitive gap in the consumer goods market. To adapt to this change and fill the gap, widen your consumer tech resource bank and rely on more technology-driven sources rather than offline producers. This will incentivise the digitisation of the entire supply chain.

Rapidly Shift to E-Commerce

To do this, set up your e-commerce website or enter into a purchase agreement with an online marketplace to ensure that your products are available 24×7. The current crisis is forcing consumers to explore different sharing and consuming options. Accelerated changes in e-commerce and the transition to local commerce are the future of consumer tech. 

It is also believed that e-commerce will bring many benefits to small and medium businesses. As the market expands, overcoming regional barriers will offer a playing field for SMEs to compete with more prominent players. Consumers generally benefit from healthy competition between MSMEs and corporate entities. The pandemic has opened the gates for e-commerce in the consumer goods segment, and striking a balance between demand and availability is fundamental for consumer tech businesses’ survival and revival. 

What are the next steps?

Despite the staggering current prices of the vaccines, all is not lost. Several states and union territories have announced that their citizens will be vaccinated free of cost. The list includes Karnataka, Delhi, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Ladakh, Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Sikkim. Experts have suggested that the central government procuring directly from the manufacturers will be the most beneficial route to ensure equitable pricing. As the sole purchaser, it will have greater bargaining power. Moreover, there are additional legislative options of regulating the price of the vaccine to ensure universal availability like The Patents Act, 1970 and The Epidemic Diseases Act 1897.

Why is Government waving off the GST on Vaccine?

Under the third phase of India’s Vaccination drive, the vaccine will no longer be free of cost, manufacturers will be required to supply 50% of their monthly production to the government and rest they can sell it to the state government or the open market. Amidst all these, the government has asked the manufacturing companies to lower down the rates. As mentioned by the Serum Institute that reducing the cost of vaccines will ensure more vaccinations and will save countless lives. A waiver in GST, if approved, will decrease costs for governments, as well as boost more private players to purchase and distribute vaccines. This move will support inoculations and will give some respite from the current crisis. It will also provide relief to people in all states and beside all this it will not have any significant revenue implication.

How will it affect the State?

Earlier, Serum Institute has declared that it will value its Covishield at Rs. 400 and Rs. 600 for state and private clinics respectively. Whereas Bharat Biotech will be charging their Covaxin for Rs. 600 and Rs. 1200 for the same sectors for each portion. The two manufacturing companies have been supplying the doses at Rs. 150 to the central government which is being distributed free of cost to the government employees and frontline workers. This creates a situation where the state will have to purchase vaccines from Serum Institute at over double the value it is charging central government and from Bharat Biotech, four times the value it is charging the center. While the center has undertaken to inoculate 30 crore individuals, states will bear double of that burden but will have to spread across all of them.

Pricing Policy on Shaky Grounds

The two prominent vaccine manufacturers had earlier raised prices because they were struggling to make ends meet and struggling to meet demands. The pricing policy of these manufacturers is on shaky grounds due to the discrepancy and they are not sure whether they need to defend their pricing, stick with it, or change it. It’s a very vulnerable time for them. 

Price cuts are not justified

The price slashing being announced with much pomp and show on the media is not justified since the price of Covishield in India is markedly higher than in other countries like South Africa and Sri Lanka where it is priced at INR 300 per dose. In the European Union, Covishield is priced at INR 160 per dose and in the UN initiative, it is INR 225 per dose.

So the price cuts don’t make sense. But in India, production is hampered due to lack of initiatives by the Government. There are calls for vaccine price moderations under an act by the Government. The public is at unrest regarding the Central Government’s decision to allow manufacturers to fix the price of vaccines, a move which is unjustified to the common man. 

Covid vaccines come under ‘essential commodities’ under the Essential Commodities Act 1955 and the Disaster Management Act 2005. There are calls for these acts to be invoked. 

The Health Minister has asked the age group of 18 to 44 to be patient. Also, the Co-WIN app needs to be compulsorily installed by citizens. Only by registering on the app, one can take an appointment for the vaccine. This will ensure that the vaccination centres are not crowded and end up spreading COVID-19.

Currently, only citizens who are above 45 years are being vaccinated. The government has also declared that for citizens between 18 to 44 years, separate vaccination centers will be established. The Minister has also reassured by confirming that the state jab wastage rate is 1%, way less than the national average of over 6%.

The ray of hope

The Serum Institute of India has promised to supply up to 10 million doses of vaccination every month to the state. While there is a shortage, Bharat Biotech has assured the Maharashtra government that it will accelerate its supply soon.

In the month of June and July, the company assured that they will be sending a supply of 2 million doses per month. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra is also in talks with the manufacturers of Sputnik V, a Russian vaccine. The government is tapping on all resorts to get the vaccine available for the state.

However, if the shortage has not been met by the institutions soon, the Rs 6500 Cr plan of the Maharashtra Government may go on the blink.

Adar Poonawalla: National Hero or Tough businessman?

Adar Poonawalla’s efforts to roll out Made in India vaccines led to him being viewed as a national hero. But the scrutiny around the vaccine’s pricing is leading people to believe that he is just another tough businessman profiteering off a pandemonium. 

The price disparity between sale of vaccines to states (INR 300) versus to the Central Government (INR 150) received heavy criticism amidst demands for ‘One Vaccine One Price’. But the Serum Institute is offering subsidised rates to the Government at their behest amidst a killer second wave that has already claimed unaccounted lives in under two weeks.

Serum Institute has priced their vaccines to ridiculously low levels so that the country’s impoverished can get access to their shots. [They were in fact expecting the Indian Government to step in and help ensure that profits were made. But the Government failed to make it.] Serum Institute and Adar Poonawalla have sacrificed profits and the global vaccination industry, including the one in India, has sacrificed billions to ensure that citizens sail through the pandemic. 

Covishield making big bucks or supplying at a loss?

Serum Institute’s Covishield Vaccines are being supplied, but there’s a problem. The discriminatory prices set against the centre and the states raises the question of the company’s profit or loss. 

The answer is that Serum is selling the vaccine at a loss to the centre and with the price disparity, huge profits are not being made. The company is making a loss of approximately Rupees 150 per dose. 

Start-ups Chip in for a Breather 

While start-ups founders mobilised the supply of oxygen cylinders through logistics and imports, others went on to initiate fundraisers to aid the process and other medical needs. 

One such initiative was ‘Mission Oxygen’ started by Gurugram-based start-up Designhill founders Rahul Aggarwal and Varun Aggarwal. According to a statement issued by them, the founders had raised Rs 4.60 crore through crowdfunding platform Ketto by April 24 evening, and are aiming to raise a total of Rs 5 crore to meet the demand of 3,000 concentrators.

Another such initiative has been undertaken by Action COVID-19 Team (ACT) grants, a foundation by India’s start-ups. The organisation is planning to raise Rs 75 crore for home health management, oxygen solutions and supplementing the medical workforce. Raise Financial Services CEO and founder Pravin Jadhav has pledged $50,000 while Ashish Singhal of CoinSwitch Kuber has pledged $1 million. 

The blockchain start-up community also came together to raise funds. Sandeep Nailwala, cofounder of blockchain scalability platform Polygon, started accepting payments in cryptocurrency Ethereum and raised $1 million and counting. 

Kunal Shah of CRED invited innovative ideas to solve the issue of oxygen supply shortage. He said the oxygen manufacturing in India seems to be solved, but cryogenic containers to move it to hospitals are limited. There are two ways to solve this. One, by enabling local plants at hospitals to be self-sufficient in oxygen. second, innovative tech to convert other containers to be able to move oxygen.

What’s in it for me? 

There are three ways to pitch in: 

1. Independent donations, crowdfunding (via Ketto, Milaap, Indiegogo etc).

2. Collaborate with respect to logistics. Delhivery is open to collaborations (Please reach out to Vikas Kapoor or Sahil Barua at ceo@delhivery.co). Zomato has also invited startups and companies to join hands in this initiative by writing to d@zomato.com or contact@feedingindia.org.

3. Pitch in with innovative tech ideas. A lot of companies and funds are looking for tech-based solutions (long term) to this problem. You can reach out to CRED (oxygen@cred.club) or ACT Grants (donations@actgrants.in) with serious leads.

How Covid Vaccine Marketing is Happening in India

The government has adopted various mediums for effective dissemination of information about the vaccines which in turn is marketing. Below are the strategies involved in its marketing of Covid vaccines.

Establishing a National Media Rapid Response Cell

By establishing a National Media Rapid Response Cell (NMRCC) at MoHFW (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) the government aims to provide rapid responses to the queries appearing in the traditional media and social media. NMRCC will enable real-time, round-the-clock monitoring of digital media and address all queries related to the vaccine and the disease. It will also keep a tab on any misleading or fake information about the vaccine on the discussions happening on social media platforms.

Health talk shows on Doordarshan

Doordarshan is the official broadcasting channel of the government of India. It is organising talk shows such as ‘Aarogya Bharat’ by inviting senior doctors and reputed medical practitioners to talk about vaccines being safe and effective. When a person of authority validates a product, it convinces people to accept the piece of information. The health talk shows about the vaccine are also being conducted on regional Doordarshan channels. Why do you think every ad commercial of Sensodyne has a dentist in it?

Health and fitness influencers, Standup comedians, and social media

Dr. Siddhanth Bhargava, founder of Food Darzee and a doctor created two Instagram reels under the title ‘Dr. Sid Says’ communicating to people about the vaccine being safe to be inoculated by anyone except pregnant and lactating mothers. Smartphones and the internet being ubiquitous, the marketing of Covid vaccine is taking place leveraging the huge followers of health and fitness influencers. Many stand-up comedians are posting their vaccination pictures as Instagram stories that act as a testimony and entrust belief amongst the masses. Similarly, many doctors and politicians are taking snapshots of themselves taking the vaccination and posting it on Twitter. Instagram has launched stickers that say ‘Let’s Get Vaccinated’ in a bid to normalise vaccination and get rid of fears.

Print media

Inviting senior journalists and national editors of print media houses to publish opinion pieces, organizing interviews and discussions with scientists, experts, and other credible voices in national and regional print media.

Vaccine Marketing in Rural India

To educate rural India about the safety of vaccines, the government is involving community groups such as local leaders, gram panchayats, Scouts and Guides, NSS (National Service Scheme), Gram Sabha school management, etc. to amplify about the vaccination drive.