priority, fixtures like doorknobs, mailboxes,
elevators, hallways, and parking lobbies will
need regular disinfecting of which residents will
be notified through smart-apps. Update
residents about “safe zones” through lighting
and environmental displays to show which
areas have been recently disinfected will be
another emerging practice.
The hard lessons we learn from the pandemic
will have lasting effects on communal living.
Using a human-centered approach to spatial,
service, and technological innovation should
design for the current dubious moment and
prepare for the next normal. Taking novel
designs and services forward will create
opportunities for more human-to-human and
human-to-nature interactions. Such
advancements will make domestic living even
better on the other side of the pandemic.
The purpose of the local markets has also
reinvented itself during this crisis. Consumers
have regained interest in supporting their local
economy due to mobility restrictions.
People are now making fewer trips to grocery,
drug and convenience stores but are spending
more per visit- a trend that can be observed as
‘larger shopping baskets but fewer trips’.
Shoppers are choosing to have products
shipped to them through click-and-collect
options. This was evident in Big Basket’s
revenue in March being 20% higher than
normal days. Grofers saw an 80% surge in the
orders and the amount spent by shoppers rose
by 48%.
However, despite the growing popularity of the
online stores, consumers still want the
guarantee and immediate fulfilment that come
with the brick-and-mortar stores. A whopping
90% of India’s $700 billion retail market is made
up of neighbourhood kiranas, and families
depend on open-air/wet markets for their basic
food needs. In India, despite the expansion of
big FMCG brands and plush supermarkets, the
vast majority still buys 65% of their essentials
from kirana stores as they are more likely to
trust someone in their immediate vicinity. A
model that has emerged from the pandemic is
tapping into the potential of a localised
ecosystem i.e going hyperlocal. It’s a business
model that connects local offline markets to
customers through a digital platform. It enables
a customer to immediately purchase products or
request for services at the click of a
button. Hyper-localisation is a great model for
Indian households as there is a tendency to
develop deep, familial ties with vendors,
shopkeepers and service providers within one’s
locality.
Millions of people living in gated communities
depend on the Resident Welfare Associations
(RWAs) to combat the crisis locally. India’s
RWAs and residential housing societies have a
strong foothold over community’s safety, spread
of information and operations. Hyperlocal
startups could capitalise on this opportunity by
exercising a framework to bring together
hyperlocal data and storytelling on one platform.
This is rightly being exemplified by apps like
MyGate. Over 1.6 million homes in India use the
MyGate app to perform day to day functions like
authorising entry of delivery officials, paying
maintenance bills, raising a ticket to the facility
manager, scheduling health checkups. The app
has partnered with several companies for
express delivery of groceries and medicines,
collecting digital payments, prompt delivery of e-
papers. This in turn has also created
opportunities for local vendors who may set up
their stalls inside the society to sell for a couple
of hours everyday while the RWA officers
monitor the flow of buyers from different houses.
In real life, large and small companies have
been delivering directly to customers through
third-party eCommerce touchpoints (as being
practiced by Swiggy Grocery). They are using
social networking platforms to expand their
customer base, thereby leveraging smaller
secondary sales points or selling through thirdparty
generalists, and working with packaging
suppliers that employ safer methods of
delivery. Farmers have wide scale opportunities
to connect directly with consumers now, as
aided by the Kisan Sabha App, thereby
removing the middleman.
In an attempt to restrict physical contact
between people, major public spaces and social
centres may have shut down but the purchase
of food and essentials has remained inevitable.
Open markets and grocers will remain a vital
foundation of food consumption and distribution
across the globe. Closing them would only
impose financial constraints on the more
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