New Worries for FMCG to Sell Online

When the gamble goes wrong, it’s learning. When it’s right, it becomes a quick hack for earning. 

That’s precisely what most businesses are doing today.
Indian FMCG has embraced the e-commerce tide to seize the opportunity to reach its future audiences on new platforms and increase its revenue streams. 

But what seemed like a good bet is now creating more havoc than harmony. 

India’s oldest FMCG leaders like Amul and Parle are now boycotting B2B online trading platform Udaan, upon realizing that their own distributors are losing out on revenue while competing with Udaan’s low prices for retailers.

These companies have stopped their direct supply to Udaan, claiming that Udaan is trying to monopolise distribution to retailers. Due to this, the distributor partnerships FMCG brands have spent years cultivating are being tarnished, causing major channel conflict.

So e-commerce, which was supposed to be a game-changer for sellers and consumers, has now become a reason for concern for FMCG sellers. Starting from the security of the platforms to their derived benefits, everything is coming under the light of questioning in this new decade.

Even, very recently, the world’s most used website builder’s e-commerce plugin – Woocommerce, drove sellers paranoid as a bug in the system allowed shoppers to change the designated price of the product to whatever they wanted. This meant, more than one million sellers were losing out on business – due to a bug.

In India, the government has recently launched a new trouble for online marketplaces called the Online Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).

When this initiative by the government comes into practice, it’s expected to create a common ground for online sellers to start selling digitally, making it easier for them to sell on multiple platforms and giving the end-users a smoother buying experience. In addition, this might be able to give more exposure to small Indian sellers and refrain e-commerce players from taking their designs and selling them under a new brand label. 

The Centre aims to make seller onboarding more transparent and systematic, by creating protocols for cataloguing, seller discovery and price discovery. Thus, to democratize digital commerce by connecting sellers and logistics providers with consumers, this platform will supposedly enable customers to log in to an open network and search for products. Depending on their location, a list of available sellers for that product will be displayed.

But while the Indian government is still in the process to structure and implement this platform to curb the monopolistic behaviour of e-commerce players and become an independent regulator for the e-commerce industry, at Bizom we have long since implemented this into our solutions to support open trade for FMCG sellers in India. 

Distiman – Bizom’s Retailer app makes it possible for retailers to buy directly from multiple brands using one single app. This multi-brand app is helping Indian kiranas run their stores effortlessly every day, without worrying about when the stocks will reach the store.

Thus, while small retailers are choosing to go online to gain market presence, increase sales and gain retail data to build their customer base, their worries with e-commerce are only stretching further. Like, the free return policy, which is inculcating the return culture, where consumers are returning things as easily as they are buying them online. The only increase visible there is the seller’s expenses and the world’s carbon footprint.

To sum up, Indian MSMEs contribute significantly to the country’s GDP by approximately 30%. So, while FMCG manufacturers taste the risk of riding this dangerous e-tailing tide, it’s time for them to strengthen their retail game, by building an advanced supply chain ecosystem that can withstand all market dynamics.

At Bizom, we build 360° route-to-market retail strategies to make it possible for FMCG brands to digitize, optimize and expand their supply chain, simultaneously. Our basket of solutions covers all aspects of the supply chain, ensuring that the brand is able to milk every opportunity towards growth.

Come explore our solutions and the remarkable outcomes they are driving for 500+ leading FMCG brands. Simply send us a mail at marketing@mobisy.com to schedule a free demo.