'There is enough supply to cater to all orders': Bigbasket’s K Ganesh to TNM

K Ganesh says that while people are buying for two months now instead of two weeks, it’s not like they are consuming more grocery.
'There is enough supply to cater to all orders': Bigbasket’s K Ganesh to TNM
'There is enough supply to cater to all orders': Bigbasket’s K Ganesh to TNM

BigBasket is seeing its busiest time yet. From servicing around 1.4 lakh orders a day before the pandemic, it is now having to cancel lakhs of orders, thanks to an unprecedented surge in demand. The lockdown, subsequent curbs on inter-state and intra-city movements and thousands of workers returning home have only made matters worse. Same is the case with several online platforms that are offering essential services.

These online platforms are now working overtime to cater to orders, while dealing with authorities to ensure supply of essential goods is not disrupted.

K Ganesh, Serial Entrepreneur, Partner GrowthStory and Promoter - BigBasket, Portea Medical, FreshMenu and others, spoke to TNM on how these platforms are catering to people amid the lockdown and challenges they are facing due to massive surge in demand.

Here are excerpts from the interview. 

The COVID pandemic has thrown companies into an unprecedented situation. How are things for Bigbasket right now in terms of dealing with the massive surge in demand?

Even before the lockdown, because of social distancing and people's general reluctance to visit crowded places, Bigbasket saw a huge surge in orders. Not just Bigbasket, but most online platforms. People were expecting a lockdown kind of a situation and hence were panic-buying and hoarding for the next 1-2 months. So, this meant a sudden surge in capacity.

But there is a limitation on the number of vans and delivery slots available and warehouse space. Certain things are non-perishable, those are easy to manage. But with perishable goods, cold storage and supply chain issues get tougher because those are not linearly scalable.

Once lockdown was announced, the whole country was trying to come to grips with the new system and understanding what is essential what is not. For the past one week, we have been working with the government and police and except for Kochi and Indore, we are fully operational in the other 24 cities. That means warehouses are open and supplies are coming.

But there is also a huge backlog of orders. If you want to order today, the slots available are limited, while demand is infinite. So, that is creating challenges. It will take some time before the backlog is cleared.

Sourcing and supply has been a major challenge in the lockdown. Have these issues eased out or are you still facing blockages? What more needs to be done in your opinion?

Once the backlog is cleared, I don't see any problem because the rest of the issues like last mile delivery, curfew passes, interstate movement of goods, supply chain to fill the warehouses - all those are getting sorted out.

Structurally and fundamentally, there is enough supply because there is no famine as such. Other than hoarding and panic-buying, there is no extra demand.

Yes, people are buying for two months now instead of two weeks, but it’s not like they are consuming more grocery. They are still only eating three meals. These people will not buy again for at least a month, their shelves are full. So therefore, there is no supply gap.

But for a while there will be temporary pain for the people in terms of not being able to get the slot they want.

What about Portea Medical? It involves staff serving at home and delivering essential equipment. Are you facing logistical issues?

The Prime Minister’s message while announcing the lockdown was very clear that essential services, online delivery of essentials, food and healthcare services, including equipment and medicine is exempt. But it took at least 2-3 days to communicate this to the last mile police, which is implementing it. How do you explain what is essential and what is non-essential to them? How does the constable on the road apply discretion? He only asks for a pass, which also took time to get. So, all these are genuine implementation challenges which created a lot of problems for us.

Next issue was how do you get medical equipment across the state borders? There is no interstate courier and state borders were sealed. We had a situation on the third day of lockdown when a patient was supposed to get chemotherapy, which had to come from an MNC pharma in Mumbai and there was no way we could get it across. So those were challenges in the initial days of lockdown that are getting addressed. There was also the challenge of training our 4000 employees across 16 cities the new procedures to be observed because of COVID-19, for them to stay safe and for the patients to stay safe.  

What about supply chain issues for medicines and medical equipment?

 Not yet as of now. Supply for some of the medical equipment comes from China and some of the cargo movement for imported things will get into trouble, but there is enough stock in the pipeline to be able to handle. We know that China’s manufacturing and supply chain has started easing out, so that’s a positive. If the blockage had continued for another three months, you would have seen a huge impact.

Also, some of the elective requirements, like elective surgeries, discretionary things have been postponed and so the demand has gone down. Obviously, some of the things like masks or personal protective equipment (PPE), etc, which the government has to buy, the procedures have to move faster to be able to get there.

What does this now mean for companies in terms of preparedness for disasters or any unexpected situations such as this? How can they be prepared?

Firstly, this is a Black Swan event, a worldwide pandemic and once in a century event. You literally cannot be prepared for it and you should not be prepared. Because if you're going to prepare for the entire hundred years for a once in a century event, you will be inefficient and waste lots of resources. But yes, some precautions can still be taken.

And given some time to prepare, online platforms are a lot more efficient. It will be difficult for a brick and mortar retailer to double the capacity of orders. It is typically an 8 to 9-month process from identifying your location to signing a lease to opening shop. But on the other hand, for all the online players, it's relatively much easier to double capacity. Now you cannot double it in a day’s notice, but given two-three months, it's not a problem.

Many sick patients fear going to the hospital because they’re worried about their immunity or are unable to go due to the lockdown. Is Portea Medical able to cater to this lot?

Yeah, absolutely. One, people are not able to go because of the lockdown. Two, because the hospitals are filled with emergency cases, they don't have the ability. And most importantly, there is the fear of going to a public place. And at the same time, you need to be treated, especially people who are elderly and chronic are more vulnerable. So, we see a surge in those patients, which we are servicing. We are also doing home quarantine, which is not for people who are affected by COVID-19 but if you want to take precautionary measures.

One very interesting category is expectant mothers: Again, most vulnerable from COVID-19 and they definitely have to be in isolation. They obviously can't have a domestic help or a cook, but they want to be taken care of, which normally would not have been an issue. So, we have a lot of nursing attendants catering to them and staying at home with them. These are very specific to the current situation which was not there to the same extent earlier.

And therefore, structurally, the concept of home healthcare will change and will be a big boost for the home care industry.

The negative bit, however, is that many of the elective surgeries and issues will get postponed – right from even physiotherapy to cosmetic surgery, plastic surgery, Botox, etc.

There is a lot of manpower shortage with people going back home. How is the industry managing that? Are you seeing a lot of collaboration happening?

Because of all these changes, a lot of workers have taken off or gone back home. So, we have to add more manpower for the higher demand and also replace the people who are gone. This is the case with the entire industry right now, be it Bigbasket, Swiggy or Zomato.

Fortunately, the general mood of the whole industry has been to appreciate the call of the government and work constructively without worrying about competition. Those who normally compete cut-throat are collaborating very strongly to come together.

But the current challenge is implementation under the lockdown. Everybody is facing their own major challenges. The intention to help is very strongly there and the spirit of cooperation, of working together and figuring it out is laudable. And it is very much needed. But we'll have to wait for the lockdown to end. Right now, everyone needs to survive and be safe.

The interview has been edited for clarity. 

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