• Earmarks INR 30 crore for strengthening the supply chain and automation as part of its HD strategy
Amway India, one of the country’s leading FMCG direct sellingcompanies, is focusing on bolstering it’s home delivery (HD)and logistics network to support the surge in online orders. Asa part of Amway’s10-yeargrowth vision, focused on unleashing the power of entrepreneurship coupled with the emerging trend of social commerce, the global direct selling giant had begun integrating offline-to-online (O2O), earlier this year, to drive targeted results. The company has witnessed a significant shift to online sales, from 33.6% in Feb 2020 to over 70% today. Amway expects the trend to continue andforeseesthe online orders to reach over 5-6 lakhs per month bythe end of this year.
Commenting on Amway’s home delivery strategy, Anshu Budhraja, CEO, Amway India, said,“In the last few months, we have witnessed a rapid shift in consumer behavior, especially in retail, with people increasingly migrating to online platforms for shopping. Amway too has observed a similar trend. As web sales doubled, there has been a significant upward shift in the home delivery orders, and we expect this trend to continue. To ensure seamless shopping experience and smooth last-mile delivery of orders, we are working towards strengthening our supply chain and logistics. We will be investing INR 30 crore to enhance the home delivery experience by adding warehouse space, manpower, new logistics partners, automation in warehouses, and other back-end processes. As we move forward, both offline and online platforms will form a key component of Amway India’s future strategy with a tremendous focus online, guided by consumer trends and behavior.”
Talkingabout the growing online orders and its significance, Sanjeev Suri, Vice President – Global Omni Channel Logistics, Amway India,said, “Currently, we are doing over 2.8 lakh home deliveries, which is roughly 70%-80% of our total sales, from 1 lakh home deliveries before March, accounting to 40% of our total sales count. This reflects a new world order where consumers demand everything at the click of a button. The trend is especially relevant with the Indian consumers’ embracing e-commerce, which is expected to grow 27% to reach $99 billion by 2024, as per the latest report ‘Global Internet: e-commerce’s steepening curve’ by Goldman Sachs. To address this evolving trend, we are also planning to launch same-day delivery and online return services by the early next year, in Q1, to enhance the post-purchase experience.”
To accommodate the evolving supply chain scenario, Amway India is working towards a robust supply chain and home delivery strategy. In line with this, Amway is building an independent last-mile delivery model under clearly structured multi-vendor national alliances. Currently, Amway is working with a combination of 18 local and national delivery partners and plans to strengthen this network by adding some leading national logistic partners by the end of 2020. The company is now servicing 8,000 pin codes and aims to scale up to reach 15,000 pin codes by adding more national players and leveraging their network. Amway is also looking to add 40% additional third-party manpower across India to support and fulfill the online demand.
The increasing dependence on technology has paved the way for continued digital transformation at every level of Amway India’s operation. With the recent launch of multiple digital and social tools, Amway India aims to make it 10 times easier for the Amway direct sellers to seamlessly embrace online to buy and sell products and build their business.