Future of small enterprises

Highlights

Focussed on micro and small enterprises with a 60:40 mix of services and manufacturing sectors.

MSEs have moved towards digital channels such as online aggregators/marketplaces and social media since the pandemic brought the nation to a halt.

The uptick in the adoption of digital channels seen even among micro-enterprises, despite their resource limitations.

Among manufacturing sectors, gems and jewellery and textiles aggressively adopted digital channels for better business prospects. 

Among services sectors, real estate and human resources were ahead of peers in adopting digital platforms for generating leads. 

Around 60% of the respondents that transitioned to selling via digital platforms said it helped them survive, while the remaining said it provided growth.

Small enterprises have shown greater inclination to adopt digital platforms for revenue generation, at 53%, with a further 10 percentage points indicating interest in adoption in near future. Micro enterprises are not far behind in adopting digital selling, despite their limitations of financial resources and technological capability. 

Gems and jewellery players, primarily comprising manufacturers of non-precious stone-studded jewellery, imitation jewellery, and luxury fashion jewellery, adopted online marketing platforms to tap the demand-driven market. Increasing the price of traditional jewellery is giving imitation jewellery manufacturers more opportunities to grow. The textiles industry has also been among the top performers, which is reflected in a substantial 38% increase in players transitioning to digital selling post-pandemic 

Revenue contribution via digital platforms for unbranded food product players – including agro-produce processing units such as rice, wheat, flour millers and unbranded packaged food manufactures – has remained largely unchanged owing to more localised sales. The pharmaceuticals industry has reported a similar trend owing to rising B2B share in revenues.

Real estate players have employed digital marketing for lead generation. Also, most players have adopted digital sales channels and partnered with online aggregators, as well as introduced virtual tours ? Tier II real estate players’ adoption of digital channels jumped significantly to 70% from 20% pre-pandemic. Human resource enterprises have relied heavily on online channels for lead generation with social distancing leading to lower physical meetings with candidates.

However, media, which includes event management companies, outdoor shootings, and hoarding advertisers, etc, have preferred to cater to localised demand instead of aggressively pursuing digital sales due to the travel restrictions.