MAYASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK19appeared to be a safe and comfortable option, resulting in a gradual shift of this segment of customers from offline to online. During the lockdown, e-shopping saw a boom like never before. Shoppers are content with online shopping as purchase, trials and returns were now made easy and quick with various technologies and 3D design solutions.Businesses that recognized this at the right time and invested time, energy benefitted largely. Simultaneously, brands or businesses that did not have an online presence, but worked to develop and grow also saw upward shift. The e-Commerce sector found new unicorns in India and across the globe. On the other hand, D2C is now quite a recent approach, wherein brands deal with the customers directly, eliminating the intermediaries. While many new brands are adopting this strategy, some established brands are switching from traditional business models to D2C models.To increase visibility and accountability in the supply chain, manufacturers are now using advanced technologies such as block chain and data analytics. Through cloud-based communication systems, digitization has changed the sustainability and resource efficiency in production to such an extent that supply chains and production processes have become more transparent and thus more sustainable. It is now possible to trace the origin, ingredients, and production routes of a product in a transparent manner, i.e. the entire journey of a product. And as a result, the perception and processes of the entire industry is now changing.While the technology and digitalization has taken away all the attention, the insignificant rise of raw material and logistics prices has impacted desperate manufacturers with premium cost. Manufacturers thus need to recoup their costs. In some industries, companies can pass-on cost increases to their customers. However, in many cases, manufacturers' profit margins are being squeezed. Garment manufacturers are hit hard with such unprecedented situation. Businesses have had to adapt rapidly to the challenges of Covid-19 to protect their employees, deepen their relationships with vendors & customers, and redefine what success looks like for them. In Summary, Covid has brought three major transformative challenges for manufacturers ­ improving the workplace & employee experience, strengthening operational & supply-chain resilience through digitalization, and creating agile & adaptable businesses keeping sustainability as centre focus. Sandeep Raut,COO
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