MUMBAI: As businesses increasingly navigate a volatile world, access to data and information backed by technology has become key to protecting their turf and winning customers. For legacy organisations, the stakes are higher – they need to pitch their brands to young, tech-savvy consumers alongside fending off competition in a market where a spate of digital native brands are reaching customers at the tap of their smartphones.
Godrej Enterprises Group (GEG), which is raising the bets on its consumer-facing businesses – the segment already contributes 60% to the group’s revenues and the pie could get bigger given the market opportunity, is spending on digital and AI to strategise better. Following the Godrej family’s split last year, GEG is sort of going through an internal overhaul – the group refreshed its brand identity and is now undergoing a digital transformation steered by executive director Nyrika Holkar.
“Volatility is a part of life. Having enough information and being cognisant of early warning signs is I think the best that we can do to stay abreast. There’s a huge market opportunity in India and of course a lot more competition and that’s where the idea of being equipped with enough information to be able to design effectively for the customer (comes in),” Holkar told TOI in an exclusive interview.
The way consumers transact is changing in a digital world and user insights cannot be derived by means of a survey or a set of questions, methods that have been used traditionally.
“We have four consumer-facing businesses, all of which might interact with the same customer but the information was very siloed which didn’t allows us to holistically understand the customer. The main rationale (of the digital transformation) would be access to information and being able to sift through that to get the right insights to act on,” Holkar said, adding that the group would be open to making acquisitions to bolster its tech capabilities and gain access to a new market.
The group has allotted Rs 1,200 crore (will be spread across three years) towards digital transformation. GEG houses the unlisted Godrej & Boyce and its affiliates spread across sectors ranging from consumer to aerospace. The other faction Godrej Industries Group controls the listed entities. The family split was just a realignment of personal shareholding and the companies which were always independently managed weren’t impacted, Holkar said.
GEG has been reshuffling its consumer portfolio to focus more on premium offerings, a bet which paid off and helped cushion the impact of inflation which has hurt consumer spending. “Inflation is impacting the mass segment more. On the commodity front, it’s about containing our costs,” Holkar said.
