Opinion: AS Watson Group COO Malina Ngai on putting people at the heart of Covid-19 strategy

Covid-19 escalated quickly across Europe and much faster than we had experienced in Asia. However, our experience there meant we were able to act quickly and implement a number of initiatives across our European operations.

When lockdown was announced in Italy, we immediately held a video briefing with business leaders from all our European operations.

“Our mission is clear – protect our colleagues, provide our customers with products and inspiration, and support our communities”

We created and shared operational toolkits, including employees’ work arrangements, protective measures, communications, ecommerce and supply chain adjustment, and advised businesses to focus on communication, unity and leadership.

Throughout everything we do, our mission is clear – protect our colleagues, especially those on the front line, provide our customers with products and inspiration, and support our communities.

The feeling of coming together for a common purpose helps to raise morale and instils a deeper and stronger connection between us, our colleagues and our customers.

Staying connected

Communication has been the most important part of our strategy for handling the pandemic – regular open and honest communication with your teams, your customers, suppliers and all stakeholders is paramount.

Times of uncertainty can be unsettling for everyone personally, and in business the human connection is critical in a time of crisis. Our internal communications e-platforms enable us to share updates and plans with more than 140,000 colleagues globally.

Customer research conducted in December revealed that, because of concerns around ‘fake news’ and false information online, consumers are now more than ever seeking health information from credible sources, so our approach for customer communications was to be first, be right and be credible.

Now is a great time to build and cement lasting relationships with your customers, whether they are buying products or looking for engaging and inspirational content – it’s about creating a sense of community.

Our international digital operation, eLab, created more than 200 digital assets per week in March, which are being used globally for customer communication, and we’re seeing increased engagement and positive feedback as a result.

“Now is a great time to build and cement lasting relationships with your customers – it’s about creating a sense of community”

We’ve introduced various initiatives to support our colleagues, including a UK support package worth £40m. This fund covers all employees under the UK retail businesses Superdrug, Savers and The Perfume Shop, and ensures they are supported through the pandemic.

Across all countries, a priority has been to help and give back to those in need. A couple of our initiatives include donating 150,000 masks to the elderly and vulnerable in Hong Kong and, in the UK, The Perfume Shop donating thousands of hand creams, hand washes and treats to the London Nightingale Hospital.

Superdrug also donated more than 5,000 products, including shampoo, conditioner, lip balm and more, to the London Nightingale Hospital, in addition to discounts for NHS workers and carers.

In these times, agile leadership is extremely important. While we are managing the daily changes across supply chain, regulations, demand and more, it is also our responsibility to keep our teams motivated.

To meet demand in Hong Kong and across Asia, we mobilised our overseas offices to leverage our global business network to continue sourcing products from around the world, and this tactic will be used across the group.

The crisis creates unpredictable fluctuations, so we have put in place rapid daily reporting that helps us to understand how our businesses are being affected, where change is required and, more positively, how quickly operations are recovering.

We’re beginning to see our business in China and Hong Kong bounce back, but footfall remains low as we are in the phase of ‘caution’.

The majority of our customers are still shopping online and we’re prepared for this to continue. We started our digital transformation in 2012, attempting to integrate online and offline to offer customers a more seamless shopping experience.

“Uncertainty will continue in every economy in the early recovery phase, but we believe that companies that adapt faster to the initial upswing and new environment will emerge stronger”

Our next phase, due in late 2020, was to introduce cloud technology for ecommerce. However, this has already been implemented globally to help us meet demand. Just this week, implementation at Superdrug enabled the business to facilitate 50% more orders per day.

We are now mapping out scenario-based action plans and are determined to take a proactive approach. Uncertainty will continue in every economy in the early recovery phase, but we believe that companies that adapt faster to the initial upswing and new environment will emerge stronger in their industry.

What customers value will shift and we have to determine the best way to serve the needs of customers in the new and changed world.

We’ve asked all our operations to reimagine the business, using data analytics and insights to understand the new demand, customer relevance, expectations and shopping patterns.

While the end of the coronavirus pandemic may not be in sight, and the full extent of its impact remains unclear, we need to embrace this time as one that will help us prepare our brands to emerge stronger than before. We should expect that the Covid-19 crisis will change the way our businesses are run.

My sincere recommendation is don’t waste this crisis – learn, look for the positives and intensify how you care for your people, customers and society.