Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

Retail operators charged to embrace post-COVID-19 changes

By Benjamin Alade
28 September 2022   |   4:13 am
Operators in the Nigerian modern retail sector have been charged to adapt to the rapidly-evolving dynamics in the ecosystem to remain viable.

Foodco

Operators in the Nigerian modern retail sector have been charged to adapt to the rapidly-evolving dynamics in the ecosystem to remain viable.

Chief Executive Officer, FoodCo Nigeria, Ade Sun-Basorun, who made the call, noted that even though the industry recovered from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has had to contend with a world shaped by a global economic contraction, significant supply chain disruptions and digitalisation, which has transformed the nature of consumer behaviour forever.

According to Sun-Basorun, the transformations have led to several trends within the industry, which include the commoditisation of products, democratisation of technology and the explosion of brands.

“All across the globe, retail has been going through fundamental changes. Depending on the category and country, the pace, severity and impact of the changes have varied and we foresee that they will continue to accelerate into the future.

“For instance, there has been a dramatic increase in manufacturing efficiency across a vast majority of the consumer goods space. This has led to a surplus in some categories which is exceeding the consumers’ ability to consume. Think for a moment how many T-shirts, water and bread brands are available today in contrast to what was prevalent 10 years ago. The minimum efficient factory scale, cost of production, access to capital and access to expertise have significantly increased global and local manufacturing capacity,” he said.

Sun-Basorun called on operators within the sector to consistently innovate their processes around technology to serve customers faster, cheaper with higher quality and less friction.

0 Comments