Amway to ramp up home delivery network as online orders boom amid coronavirus

While only one-third of the company’s total sales were driven by online channels in February 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic ravished India, a majority of sales for Amway are now driven by e-commerce at around 70% today.

Direct selling FMCG company Amway is planning to ramp up its home delivery network as the company witnesses a major shift towards online ordering amid coronavirus pandemic. “Currently, we are doing over 2.8 lakh home deliveries, which is roughly 70%-80% of our total sales, from 1 lakh home deliveries before March, accounting to 40% of our total sales count,” Sanjeev Suri, Vice President — Global Omni Channel Logistics, Amway India, said in a statement on Thursday. The company will now focus on bolstering its home delivery and logistics network to support the surge in online orders. 

While only one-third of the company’s total sales were driven by online channels in February 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic ravished India, a majority of sales for Amway are now driven by e-commerce at around 70% today. “Amway expects the trend to continue and foresees the online orders to reach over 5-6 lakhs per month by the end of this year,” it said. Amway is not the only FMCG company which has reported the shift. In fact, many other players also sought to increase online presence as customers continue to avoid public sphere due to fear of virus contraction. 

“In the last few months, we have witnessed a rapid shift in consumer behavior, especially in retail, with people increasingly migrating to online platforms for shopping. Amway too has observed a similar trend,” Anshu Budhraja, CEO, Amway India, said. The company will push Rs 30 crore to ramp up its shopping experience and last-mile delivery network. Via the fund, Amway will add warehouse space, manpower, new logistics partners, automation in warehouses, and other back-end processes. However, the company is optimistic about the co-existence of offline and online channels and said that both will be key components of Amway India’s future strategy. E-commerce has meanwhile witnessed a major push and is expected to grow 27% to reach $99 billion by 2024, according to a report by Goldman Sachs.