In a bid to strengthen its omnichannel presence, Tata Consumer Products Ltd (TCPL) is looking at a phased expansion of its flagship online store Tata Nutrikorner, positioned as the one-stop D2C platform for its entire product range.
As part of the broader digital transformation strategy, the company has been focusing on embedding digital across the value chain with steps such as onboarding distributors on a single digital platform and leveraging on AI for commodities procurement, among others.
Besides Nutrikorner, the packaged food and beverage major has multiple D2C platforms for brands including Tata Tea 1868, Tata Coffee Sonnets and Tata Soulfull.
TV Swaminathan, Global Chief Digital Officer (CDO), Tata Consumer Products Ltd told BusinessLine, “The biggest advantage of the D2C channel is that it helps us understand the pulse of consumers and gain insights. We are witnessing positive responses across the platforms. It is helping us gain direct consumer feedback for new launches before we decide to scale them to other channels. So our D2C platforms are a goldmine of data and insights. We will continue to do experiments in this space.”
Overall, the e-commerce channel’s contribution to the company’s India sales in FY21-22 was pegged at 7.3 per cent.
Expanding to more cities
Responding to a query on Nutrikorner, he said, “Our intention is to scale it up across multiple cities. We want it to be a key D2C platform where all of our products are available. It’s in an early phase and we are experimenting with it in different parts of the country.”
As per the Nutrikorner website, it is currently delivering in Maharashtra, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad.
Talking about the implementation of the digital transformation strategy, Swaminathan said, “Digital transformation is one of our key strategic pillars. We have been weaving this digital fabric across each and every function in the organisation’s value chain. Starting from innovations and marketing to sales, supply chains, manufacturing, planning and procurement, among others. Our company’s augmented analytics platform ‘Clearview, for instance, leverages on insights to shape our sales and marketing initiatives.”
With the company aiming to expand its direct reach to 1.5 million outlets, it has stepped up its focus on digitalising the sales and distribution network. “Digital is playing a key role in expansion of our distribution network. All our distributors are now on our next-gen selling engine which is critical from a data and insights perspective,” he added.
Even in terms of commodity purchases, TCPL has set up an AI-driven platform. “The focus is to leverage AI and machine learning to optimise and improve commodity procurement. It is a product platform with more than 20 components solving for various parts of our commodity procurement business. It is helping in driving smart purchase and sourcing decisions,” he added.