Hello everyone,
As we all wait for the weekend, not that it’s going to be any different, e-commerce firms will be gearing up to resume full operations from Monday.
But before you place an order for a non-essential item, you might want to check whether your living in a containment zone.
Red, yellow & green
The government has colour-coded districts across the country into three zones, with red representing Covid-19 hotspots and yellow indicating places with fewer coronavirus cases. Over 350 districts are in the green category, which means no new cases were recorded there in last 28 days.
Walmart-owned Flipkart is expected to start accepting orders for all items, including non-essentials from April 20.
Urban Company said it would open its services in more cities starting next week, in addition to Gurgaon, Chennai and Kolkata where it has already begun its services with approvals from state authorities.
Paytm Mall, Snapdeal will also start services from Monday onwards. Rival Amazon, while welcoming the move, said it has sought additional clarifications from the authorities.
Shades of grey
Sellers on these online marketplaces have sought clarification on sale of non-essential goods. “All grey areas need to be removed, so that there are no problems to sellers at local level,” said an industry body. Read more.
To reopen or not
Handset and component manufacturers, which are allowed to restart production from under the new guidelines, are unsure if they will do so and at what capacity, given the labour supply issues and existing excess stock in the retail channels.
Chinee phone maker Xiaomi, which is also the top-selling smartphone brand in India, said it is evaluating all possibilities.
But, according to market watchers, handset companies may start with just around 15-20% of their capacity, if at all. Read more. Read more.
Celeb charm
Startups have found a new way to not just connect with existing users but also draw more people onto their platforms as the Covid-19 pandemic forces shutdown of schools, colleges, gyms and theatres.
Health and fitness platform Cure.fit, which owns Cult fitness centres, has roped in celebrities like Nora Fatehi, Mandira Bedi, Jonty Rhodes and Mary Kom for online workout sessions. Edtech startup Unacademy has started a new series with MP Shashi Tharoor and former top cop Kiran Bedi. Credit card payment startup Cred now allows its members to take part in masterclasses on creativity and productivity.
While these online sessions, usually varying from 30 minutes to an hour, are mainly to drive engagement, experts say that brands are also looking at such live sessions to create buzz and expand their customer base. Cure.fit has been able to attract users from smaller towns where it has no physical presence. Read more.
Six feet apart
While most of us may have gotten used to WFH, here’s how work from office will look like for India’s white-collar employees.
What’s new?
Offices that are allowed to open from Monday will have to ensure every employee wears a face mask, no employee is closer than 6 feet from another, that there are no meetings of 10 people or more, that lunch breaks are staggered so that all employees don’t gather at the same point at the same time, that employees work in shifts and that there is an hour’s gap between shifts. IT/ITES offices have been told to work at 50% staff capacity.
That’s not all. The guidelines say use of staircases should be encouraged, and in case of lifts, no more than 2-4 people (depending on the size) should be allowed at a time. Read more.
Lending halt
Fintech lenders have turned off their funding tap for new customers despite a surge in demand amid layoffs in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
As loan repayments get delayed and many customers opt for a moratorium, fintech lenders are cutting back on risky products, strengthening collection teams, looking closely at customer profiles for repeat lending, and delaying marketing spends.
“2020 is about survival.”
“2020 is about survival. Growth is for 2021. If I come out of this with all my people and capital, I’ll be in a strong position. Half the competition will be wiped out and the other half would have reduced in size,” said Akshay Mehrotra, co-founder and CEO of EarlySalary.
To survive the economic downturn, EarlySalary, KreditBee and LoanTap are focusing only on servicing their existing clients. Read more.
Global Picks
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos details the e-commerce giant’s Covid-19 testing plans in the company’s annual shareholder letter. Read more.
Hackers have some of the best ideas in war against coronavirus. Read more at Bloomberg.
How Medium became the best and worst place for coronavirus news. Read more at The Verge.
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