COVID-19’s impact on China’s consumer products & retail industries

China’s Retail Industry: The Impact of COVID-19 and a path forward

This joint report from Deloitte China and the China Chain Store & Franchise Association provides a view on the impact of COVID-19 on the finance and operations of China's retail industry, how businesses have responded and insights on a path forward through:

• Short term measures, such as undertaking strict cash flow oversight, identifying new financing channels and additional strategic investors, and restructuring the business
• Longer-term measures that explore new possibilities and achieve faster business transformation in such areas as online sales channels development, accelerated O2O integration and omni-channel strategies, and social media/social commerce connections

Situational Thinking + Phased Preparation + Motivated Rally: How consumer products & retail enterprises can win the battle against COVID-19

This report from Deloitte China reminds us that despite the COVID-19 outbreak, life continues for each of us as ordinary consumers. As a result, consumer products and retail companies have an opportunity to use situational thinking and phased preparation to rally from this crisis stronger than before. Questions that businesses should ask:

• Do we have a full, accurate understanding of the changes to consumer end demand and scenarios?
• Have we started making term plans for our resources and capabilities in different situations?
• Are we prepared to grasp potential growth opportunities and even achieve transcendent development or overtake peers after the epidemic reaches its turning point?

Omnichannel Transformation Begins by Grasping the Key to Consumer Mentalities

The COVID-19 crisis has put new retail and omnichannel transformations very high on the agendas of China’s consumer products and retail companies. In this report, Deloitte China helps companies think about answering such questions as: How can we balance offline channels with our online strategic focus to best embrace the return to normalcy? How can we determine the impact the COVID-19 has had on consumer psychology to refine our products and adjust our channels? How can businesses wanting to build on new trends with a strong online focus go about establishing and supplementing these capabilities? How can businesses optimise online and offline channels, marketing and other resources?

The Fresh Food Business: Spurring the ‘Local Community’ Trend Forward

This report examines the Impact of COVID-19 on the fresh food business in China and highlights models that have emerged during the crisis that present opportunities for businesses as they recover, including distributed warehousing, online/offline e-commerce + supermarket and neighbourhood purchasing. The challenge for these new models is to resolve logistics, supply chain and cost issues while mastering customer retention and order conversion.

Impact of COVID-19 on Finance and Operations in the Chinese Catering Industry

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the majority of Chinese catering companies, particularly small and medium enterprises, are contending with significant challenges brought on by sharp declines in customer numbers and disrupted supply chains. To better grasp the difficulties facing the industry, the China Cuisine Association and Deloitte China surveyed Chinese catering businesses from mid-February to early March of this year on the impact of COVID-19. This report explores survey results, focusing on:

• Companies’ predicaments during the pandemic and countermeasures taken
• How much and what form of support is needed from government and financial institutions
• Critical operational issues such as reopening of businesses, cashflow pressures, staffing challenges and financing needs 
• Opportunities for catering businesses post-crisis