Retail Chronicles December Issue

Retail

Chronicles

Monthly Newsletter | Volume 5 | Issue 9 | December 2020Â

CONTENTS 03

GAME ON!

WRITERS

Tencent, Steadview Capital, Kalaari Capital, Think Investments and Multiples Equity which have all invested in the unicorn company Dream11.

Nithin B | Shikha | Prasoon Gupta| Shubham Bhandari |

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THE SCENES OF DELIVERY INDUSTRY Who could have imagined thirty years ago that you could sit at home and get everything you wanted to be delivered to you at your doorstep

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OPPORTUNITIES THAT THE PANDEMIC HAS BOUGHT FOR THE HEALTH AND WELLNESS INDUSTRY In the pandemic times, while the other companies were suffering, the health industry was reaching new heights.

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ONLINE EDUCATION E-learning helped participants nearly 5 times more material

learn

SENIOR DESIGN TEAM Ayush Goyal | Jeet Doshi | Pushpak Holani | Shikhar Gupta |

JUNIOR DESIGN TEAM Nilesh Agarwal | Prachi Sharma | Prashant Sihag | Abhishek Kulkarni | Shivani Kunkolienkar | Sneha Patel |

EDITING TEAM Abhishek Wakode

GAME ON!

NITHIN B Retail Chronicles | Page 3

December, 2020

Games are an integral part of human Culture.

From the ancient board games to Augmented/Virtual reality, the gaming experience has assumed newer meanings with the game and gamers changing and the battleground remaining the same. Its inception dates way back to the 1970s, but the landscape changed with technological innovations like Host-based networks, Time sharing and the Internet in the 1990s.

Multiplayer options, the highly detailed characters and the narratives bought in a new adrenaline rush to the gamers.

Experiences feel real The gaming industry saw a transition from the sprite-based full graphics to full-fledged 3D graphics which gave rise to several genres of video game including the first-person shooter, real time strategy, survival horror.

“Sonic Boom!”

Today, the online gaming world has exploded in popularity to become one of the most profitable industries in the world. Online games give the chance to learn to; collaborate with others, connect with friends around the world, learn new things and moreover, have fun.

The 1990s era marked a remarkable journey in the history of the gaming industry. The world witnessed some of the best-selling games of the decade – Super Mario World, Super Mario Bros, Mortal Combat, CounterStrike, Tomb Rider, Road Rash, Grand Theft Auto, etc., The Graphics, Multilevel and the Retail Chronicles | Page 4

Gaming studios are taking a giant leap by investing in Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality to enhance the gaming experience.

Also, experimenting with the newer possibilities – engaging with real gamers worldwide, attend in-game events, gamification in UX design has caused a surge in user engagement.

The cloud gaming and the Real time personalization are redefining the new-age entertainment where the users get to play high end games on low-end consoles or play remotely form a cloud.

December, 2020

"It’s time to earn our stories" Online gaming is gaining a strong foothold within the Indian entertainment industry.

India is the second largest potential market for online gaming in terms of volume, with 75% of the population under the age of 45.

More than 85% of the online gaming takes place on mobile. Time spent on gaming has also increased by 21% since the lockdown.

New revenue streams The online gaming has generated new streams of revenue which includes subscription-based models, chargeable expansion packs, exclusive customisable avatars, virtual coin packs, etc., In addition to these, the Xbox game pass, Play station Plus, Google Play access, EA access and EA play are gaining popularity among the users.

The urbanization, increase in the disposable income, increase in the number of active users and the affordability of the smartphones has increased the convenience and flexibility of online gaming. With the fantasy sports and esports like Teen Patti, Andar Bahar, Dream 11, there is an increased demand for the local content across small towns and rural areas.

“In war there is no price for runner-up” The global gaming market was valued at $151.55 billion in 2019, $159 billion in 2020 and expected to reach $256.97 billion by 2025. With the outbreak of COVID-19, people are relying on video games and the internet as a source of entertainment. The video game and e-Sports industry are witnessing exponential growth as a result of the crisis.

The time spent on video games has increased many folds. There are an expected of 200 million mobile gamers in the US alone. Asia Pacific is anticipated to hold the largest market share with South Korea leading the pack. The Chinese enterprises look forward to actualize the business opportunities brought by global digitization.

Japan’s market is estimated to have more than 70 million gaming players.

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Competitive landscape The gaming market is highly fragmented as the demand for online games is ever increasing with the increased penetration of the smartphones and the Internet catering to an intense rivalry in the market.

Sony has launched the first look of the Dual Sense wireless controller, which comes together with PlayStation and Microsoft is eyeing on the launch of ‘Scarlet Nexus’ in Xbox Series X, by the end of 2020.

While the pandemic has been a curse for most of the businesses, it has come as a blessing in disguise for the online gaming industry.

Games are merely an Entertainment factor today. Apart from the recreation, it helps building one’s cognitive ability, enhances multitasking skills and provides a great source of learning. As the audience continues to grow, the technological possibilities online gaming can bring are endless.

“Some trees flourish, others die. Some cattle grow strong, others are taken by wolves. Some men are born rich enough and dumb enough to enjoy their lives. Ain’t nothing fair.” – Read Dead Redemption

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Behind the Scenes of Delivery Industry -SHIKHA

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December, 2020

Who could have imagined thirty years ago that you could sit at home and get everything you wanted to be delivered to you at your doorstep without you having to step out even once? Home delivery made the imaginary come true! And Covid-19 proved to be, for the lack of better words, a “boon” for this industry. Delivering literally anything and everything at one’s doorsteps was a necessity at one point a few months ago. This did wreak havoc on many businesses that couldn’t survive and are still struggling to survive but home delivery did save the world a lot of unwanted hassle, to say the least.

Groceries, medicines, and other essential items were delivered without any human contact to everyone’s houses and this wasn’t easy because the personnel involved in the supply chain had to sacrifice their own safety and stay on the ground while the rest of the world was under severe lockdown and this system is here to stay for better or for worse.

Global medical experts warn that coronavirus could be a health threat for years. Delivery agents are exploring new ways to keep customers happy without Sacrificing safety.

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Apart from thermal monitoring and frequent use of sanitizers, it is crucial to avoid physical contact with customers. Contactless deliveries have become a new necessity in the delivery industry.

According to a Salesforce survey, contactless delivery is seeing a huge uptick, with 37% of U.S. consumers turning to it more than usual. Even brick-and-mortar businesses are resorting to selling online to stay afloat.

Today, last-mile logistics companies are partnering with retail outlets to enable hyperlocal deliveries. Many retailers have converted their unused facilities in stores to last-mile delivery warehouses. Customers who want the convenience of online shopping and quicker deliveries prefer the BOPIS (Buy online pick up in-store) option.

The accelerated conversion to online shopping has elevated pressure on logistics companies to improve their efficiency. With an increased volume of parcels, last-minute changes in deliveries can cause unnecessary December, 2020

the world. Globalization took a backseat because of the Covid-19 pandemic and supply chains were to be redesigned accordingly. Due to the lack of data and transparency in the global supply chain, this was a challenge that was made worse by the travel restrictions imposed.

delays and reduce on-time deliveries. Using a dynamic route optimization software helps companies integrate new orders into the system, and schedule deliveries accordingly.

It ensures that drivers get regular updates about the best possible routes even after the last-minute changes in deliveries. It enables on-time deliveries of the high volume of parcels and also saves other costs.

Disruptive technologies like the electrification of delivery vehicles, droids, and drones are shaking up entire delivery chains. Such innovations come at a cost like increased pollution, road accidents, congestion, etc. Covid-19 is also going to accelerate digitization and electrification in logistics. Many longer-term structural changes in the system are on their way.

Rising last-mile delivery demand will lead to congestion in cities and elevated pollution levels. Emissions are likely to increase by over 30% in the big cities globally.

Items that require cold storage because of high perishability are a bigger challenge for the delivery industry. Such things rot quickly and the consumers want them fresh which is a bigger challenge. Optimization and quick delivery are a necessity in this case.

Due to the dynamic buying behaviour of consumers as off lately, demand forecasting and inventory management have suffered a lot. Although there are warehouses for inventory and last-mile delivery, due to travel restrictions all of this had to be rethought about.

Electronic proof of delivery to ensure contactless operations at any stage of the supply chain to capture delivery confirmation has also proved to be helpful. The supply chain is highly globalized with exports and imports from and to all around Retail Chronicles | Page 9

December, 2020

“The pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of extended and complex value chains to production disruptions, particularly in the East Asia Pacific region.

As a reaction, many of these supply chains may shorten or diversify through reliance on alternative partners (for example, nearshoring) or intensified efforts to bring home (such as reshoring) strategic value chains. The shortening of supply chains may benefit countries with capable manufacturing sectors and beneficial exports policy (for example, Colombia, India, and Mexico) to partially substitute China over the medium term. There may also be a trend towards placing additional warehousing capacity or dry ports near demand centers to shorten the time to get goods to market.’’ Says the International Finance Corporation in its report on The Impact of COVID-19 on Logistics.

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It is hard to imagine getting through this pandemic without home delivery and robust logistics channels that were in place.

But the existing supply chains are still very much prone to disasters and inefficiencies.

Sustainable long-term changes are the way to go if this situation and the likes of it are to continue happening. We have to learn to adapt ourselves and the supply chain accordingly or things can turn out to be worse in a not very distant future than they are this time. Innovation with our natural habitat in mind is a necessity not to be thought about only during the good times.

December, 2020

Opportunities that the Pandemic has bought for the Health and Wellness Industry

PRASOON GUPTA MBA RM Retail Chronicles | Page 11

December, 2020

“In the midst of every Crisis, lies great opportunity” – ALBERT EINSTEIN In a time where most business is badly affected by the pandemic, Health and wellness industry which was already a booming Industry before the pandemic has shown some positive results, these results are brought by the change in the habits of the people, this pandemic has made people more conscious about their health and well-being resulting in bullish and new opportunities for Health and Wellness Industry.

Already a Booming Industry Health and wealth Industry is already a booming industry of about $4.5 trillion and with a yearly growth rate of 6.3% per year with about 2 times higher than World’s GDP growth rate which is about 3.6%.

Personal Care, Nutrition Supplement, and Wellness Tourism being their major contributor to the industry. These 3 alone constitute of Retail Chronicles | Page 12

more than 50% of the whole Health and Wellness industry with about $2.5 Trillion, while the spa industry (9.8 percent), wellness tourism (6.5 percent), wellness real estate (6.4 percent) being its fastest-growing markets. Out of the total global expenditure on tourism, 17% constitute Wellness Tourism.

Health and wellness Industry saw its growth from the year 2010 with the rise of the internet, people started becoming more aware of their health, which in turn led to the growing trend of Yoga, Ayurveda, Fitness Bands, and Nutritional Supplements. The rise in the number of Chronic Diseases also played a part in its growth as leading a healthy lifestyle reduces the risk of chronic diseases.

New Opportunities During Pandemic The positive thing that happened due to Covid 19 is that people became more aware of their health. Despite, putting a hold on one of its biggest contributing December, 2020

Future Prospects Wellness Industry

industries like Wellness Tourism and Spa, Health and Wellness Industry performed quite well, it tried new ways to come out of the challenges created by pandemic and it did succeed in that.

When the Lockdown happened, gyms and other health facilities also closed down, but soon after they decided to take their facilities online and reach a bigger audience which in turn also raised the sale of gym equipment for homes whose sales increased from 11% to 55%. Mental Illness was seen among the larger of masses during the lockdown which created an opportunity to provide online classes for Meditation and Yoga and Health and Wellness Industry has capitalized on it very well.

Suggestion by the doctors to increase immunity to fight the risk of Covid 19 led to higher demand for multivitamins plus immunity-boosting products like Chyawanprash whose sales rose by 283% and also many Ayurvedic products also saw the increase in the demand.

After the removal of lockdown and resuming of tourism services, we have started to see growth in Wellness Tourism as well.

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for

Health

and

No one can predict what will happen in the future, what we can do is only estimate, seeing Health and Wellness Industry is expected to grow at a much faster rate than before. After the resuming of Tourism services across the world, we’ll be seeing the rise in demand for Wellness Tourism and Spa. Due to the people becoming healthconscious demand for Fitness Bands and organic food which is currently growing at a rate of 9% and is expected to be of $272 Billion by 2027 will also add to the contributions towards Health and Wellness Industry. With the addition of many services online people, more people will be able to access the services and products leading to overall growth in the Health and Wellness Industry.

December, 2020

ONLINE EDUCATION

Shubham Bhandari - MBA RM Retail Chronicles | Page 14

December, 2020

All the Educational Organizations across the world have shut due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to UNESCO, since the outbreak of the pandemic, 1.3 billion students from 138 countries worldwide are now at their homes, nearly 60 Million teachers are not in their classrooms, in such conditions Online Education is the best bet. Education has changed drastically and this was only possible with the help of online platforms. Rise of Elearning where the teaching is done online, teacher and the students are learning at the comfort of their home.

How is the Education responding to the Pandemic?

sector

Universities and schools are setting up online video conference platforms like Zoom, Google meet, WebEx. Many online learning platforms are providing free classes, BYJU’s has seen a 200% increase in the number of students Retail Chronicles | Page 15

using their services.

Online course providers like Udemy, Coursera have started providing certification courses for a very low cost. Students are given the freedom to take these courses at any time as they are On-demand videos, this allows students to complete their coursework without sacrificing hours at their current job or precious time spent with family.

Challenges of Online Education: A major challenge of Online education is for the teachers to adapt to different teaching methods. In a physical classroom, the interaction is more dynamic, and gathering feedback from the students is much easier.

While in an Online setting, there are various issues like internet connectivity, device availability. Some teachers lack digital skills so teaching online is a huge challenge for them.

December, 2020

But this is only possible in pre-recorded videos, students who are learning through Live Online classes are facing difficulty in understanding the concepts and the doubts aren’t getting cleared as effectively as they would in a physical classroom.

Conclusion:

In a country like India where the internet connectivity and speed are comparatively low, teaching online is getting difficult as many students and sometimes teachers are not able to switch on their cameras due to poor internet, this makes learning even more difficult. Students belonging to rural households also have a problem with device availability.

Students who were supposed to graduate amongst the pandemic had to wait for more than 5-6 months to give their exams as the colleges/universities were lacking proper software to conduct exams.

While Online Learning and Education is probably here to stay, a lot of improvement is needed. Education is now a necessity so widening the range of online courses is of utmost importance as a student should be able to learn whatever he/she wants to.

Advancement in Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and robotics could help students get hands-on experience without leaving their houses. With this, students can also gain practical rather than just theoretical knowledge.

Investment in the Online education sector is higher than ever, new platforms, new courses are launched every day and students need to take advantage of this opportunity.

Is Online Learning effective?

Learning through pre-recorded videos is considered more effective. Research shows that on average students retain 25-50% more material while learning online compared to 8-10% in the classroom. The main reason could be learning at their own pace and time. Students can also refer to the videos or material again if they feel they haven’t understood something.

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December, 2020

/retaillabsimsr @Retail_Lab @Retail_Lab