 |
HKUST MBA SUNDIAL |
FEATURE STORY
5 Lessons from HKTVmall in Crisis Management
5 Lessons from HKTVmall in Crisis Management
While most businesses are living a nightmare these days, HKTVmall—a Hong Kong-based e-commerce platform—is flourishing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alice Wong (MBA Class of 2007) has been working with HKTVmall for over 15 years, where she currently holds the role of CFO. We invited her to share with our students how her company reacted to the pandemic, and here are the key takeaways:
Alice Wong (MBA Class of 2007) has been working with HKTVmall for over 15 years, where she currently holds the role of CFO. We invited her to share with our students how her company reacted to the pandemic, and here are the key takeaways:
1. Have the Courage to Change
Many people were skeptical of this new business model and whether Hong Kong needed online shopping, but HKTV persevered and rose to the challenges of the COVID-19 outbreak a few years later.
2. Stay Ahead of the Herd
In early January 2020, when most people were oblivious to how their world would be turned upside down in the coming months, HKTV was already ordering medical masks and disinfectants from their suppliers, both locally and from overseas.
“Based on Hong Kong’s SARS experience in 2003, we knew early on that masks and disinfectants would become a necessity and must be provided in advance, particularly as over half of our Talents are frontline and we need to protect their lives and also to avoid disturbances to our operations,” said Alice.
Later that month, the management of HKTV was working together on the COVID-19 Project even though they were spread across the world due to the Chinese New Year holiday. “We knew this was going to be a war with the coronavirus, so this would not simply be a project for business, but a project for life,” Alice shared.
“Based on Hong Kong’s SARS experience in 2003, we knew early on that masks and disinfectants would become a necessity and must be provided in advance, particularly as over half of our Talents are frontline and we need to protect their lives and also to avoid disturbances to our operations,” said Alice.
Later that month, the management of HKTV was working together on the COVID-19 Project even though they were spread across the world due to the Chinese New Year holiday. “We knew this was going to be a war with the coronavirus, so this would not simply be a project for business, but a project for life,” Alice shared.
3. Set the Tone and Act Swiftly
The direct involvement of senior management at the operational level has allowed much faster decision making: “Things change all the time during the outbreak. For example, an Indian factory stopped working on our orders suddenly to focus on government production. With everyone in the same context, we can better prepare for different situations and alter our course of action in a timely manner.”
4. Focus on What Matters and Get Creative
As a B2C business, HKTV knows it cannot risk having a coronavirus outbreak among its Talents. “We have been taking very stringent measures to ensure Talent hygiene and minimize unnecessary personal contact,” said Alice.
Indeed, they have some of the most stringent policies around coronavirus. The staff canteen at their headquarters is among the riskiest areas. The admin team used cardboards from their delivery boxes, which there was an abundance of, to build table dividers overnight. They were later replaced by transparent plastic versions. No Talent is allowed to talk, and not a single voice could be heard in the canteen when eating.
The company also provides personal protective equipment to all frontline Talents and uses thermal scanners in all its premises to ensure everyone, from office workers and couriers to drivers, store assistants and even the visitors, is healthy. Those particularly at risk are even required to disinfect their hands dozens of times a day.
The staff force was also divided into team A and team B, which rotated for office duty. HKTV uses various technologies such as Zoom and VPNs to support remote working and also switched to “touchless” QR code scanning for acknowledgement of order received instead of physical signing. A rule is in place to force Talents working from home to remain at home for the whole day so as to keep them away from the external environment and potential risks.
Indeed, they have some of the most stringent policies around coronavirus. The staff canteen at their headquarters is among the riskiest areas. The admin team used cardboards from their delivery boxes, which there was an abundance of, to build table dividers overnight. They were later replaced by transparent plastic versions. No Talent is allowed to talk, and not a single voice could be heard in the canteen when eating.
The company also provides personal protective equipment to all frontline Talents and uses thermal scanners in all its premises to ensure everyone, from office workers and couriers to drivers, store assistants and even the visitors, is healthy. Those particularly at risk are even required to disinfect their hands dozens of times a day.
The staff force was also divided into team A and team B, which rotated for office duty. HKTV uses various technologies such as Zoom and VPNs to support remote working and also switched to “touchless” QR code scanning for acknowledgement of order received instead of physical signing. A rule is in place to force Talents working from home to remain at home for the whole day so as to keep them away from the external environment and potential risks.
5. Prepare for a New Wave of Challenges
Because of the pandemic, the orders on HKTV surged by one-third in two weeks. The abrupt growth of transactions also created a problem as the e-commerce company found it difficult to fulfill customer expectations overnight.
“We had to ramp up our manpower and pickup points with the help of external logistics partners and retail merchants in a week or two to meet our orders,” said Alice. The daily number of delivery truck capacity increased from 250 to 350 in March and even to 400 in April. The number of order pickup points also expanded from 75 to 120. “Opportunities also bring crisis. You need to act quickly or it may backfire on your business.”
The next challenge for HKTV is whether they can maintain sales after the pandemic is over. “We believe that customers’ behaviors will change after experiencing the merits of online shopping. Retailers have also seen how dangerous it is to rely only on physical stores. It has created a window of opportunity for us and also the local retailers to accelerate the offline to online conversion for them,” said Alice.
HKTV has come up with new initiatives to encourage retailers to become “real” online stores, such as offering rebates for retailers' backend operations to work over weekends and long holidays so as to fulfill online orders more quickly. On the consumer end, they are offering special incentives, such as a pack of HKTVmall masks and a 5% discount to attract them to online stores with extended operations over weekends or during long holidays. “We are running different ways to push for a win-win-win situation to consumers, retailers and HKTVmall in the eCommerce space.” said Alice.
“We had to ramp up our manpower and pickup points with the help of external logistics partners and retail merchants in a week or two to meet our orders,” said Alice. The daily number of delivery truck capacity increased from 250 to 350 in March and even to 400 in April. The number of order pickup points also expanded from 75 to 120. “Opportunities also bring crisis. You need to act quickly or it may backfire on your business.”
The next challenge for HKTV is whether they can maintain sales after the pandemic is over. “We believe that customers’ behaviors will change after experiencing the merits of online shopping. Retailers have also seen how dangerous it is to rely only on physical stores. It has created a window of opportunity for us and also the local retailers to accelerate the offline to online conversion for them,” said Alice.
HKTV has come up with new initiatives to encourage retailers to become “real” online stores, such as offering rebates for retailers' backend operations to work over weekends and long holidays so as to fulfill online orders more quickly. On the consumer end, they are offering special incentives, such as a pack of HKTVmall masks and a 5% discount to attract them to online stores with extended operations over weekends or during long holidays. “We are running different ways to push for a win-win-win situation to consumers, retailers and HKTVmall in the eCommerce space.” said Alice.
Towni Lao, MBA Office
|
