CREATING OPPORTUNITIES AMIDST COVID-19
Re-working his supply chain strategy led to stronger consumer offerings, shares Abhay Sharma, director of Sonnamera Pte Ltd. By Esther Faith Lew
Opportunities beckon for those who look beyond the crisis, and current turbulent times have forced Abhay Sharma, director of Sonnamera Pte Ltd to quickly find a solution when a 60-day lock-down closed off his key import source in India. As the COVID-19 situation escalated and started to cause world-wide alarm, Sharma changed gears.
“We actively reached out and formed relationships with brand owners from Holland, Belgium, the United States and Australia. This expansion of our geographic reach has helped reduce our dependency on any single source of supply,” he says. He significantly increased imports from Italy and Holland by over 800 percent.
From a business perspective, that was a move that stabilised his company, and eventually led to the launch of new brands during the circuit breaker in Singapore. But as an importer and distributor of FMCG to the retail trade in Singapore, he faced the more pernicious issue of growing awareness and concern over food sources, and the risk of viral contamination in food products and packaging. It was an escalating concern in the community that he had to address.
“To tackle the worries that people have now over food safety, Sonnamera works with established brands that are leaders in their home markets, and have an existing robust export business. In addition, we are stringent in ensuring that these companies have all the necessary certification and quality control processes in place, which are typically required by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other food certification agencies across Europe and Asia,” says Sharma.
He adds: “The consumer in most developed economies is already aligning their food habits towards products that are sustainably sourced and do not create a long-lasting negative impact on the environment. That is why we have increased our buying of organic products whereby food is grown in a natural environment and without the use of earth unfriendly chemicals, such as pesticides and fertilisers. This keeps the farm land free from toxic chemicals and creates a sustainable acreage where crops can be grown year after year without the destruction and deterioration in the soil or water.”
One of them is POMI, which produces tomato products that are made of 100 percent natural ingredients, and are packed in more environmentally friendly packaging, such as Tetra Pak, as opposed to metal. Working with companies that have in place – or are actively working towards one – a strong sustainability programme is a key criteria for Sonnamera.
Sharma also shared that his latest partnership is with Alpro, Europe’s largest producer of plant-based beverages. “Over the past 40 years, Alpro has developed and taken the leadership role in manufacturing, distribution, communication and growth of plant-based beverages in Europe. They are a subsidiary of the French food and beverage giant Danone. Alpro fits perfectly with our vison for a better world and a better future through better food,” he says. It is a most timely partnership as strong demand for plant-based products attests to their popularity.
Sharma also saw the opportunity to provide consumers with ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat frozen foods as communities faced lock-downs and are forced to cook more at home. For this reason, he struck a partnership with Mccain Foods in Canada, the world’s largest manufacturer of frozen potato products; as well as a new range of frozen vegetables from Australia.
STREAMLINING SUPPLIES TO CONSUMERS “The biggest change we have seen is the rapid movement of online purchases for grocery items, and with this, we foresee specialty foods to have a much larger opportunity in the post-pandemic environment. E-commerce opens up the opportunity to list an almost unlimited catalog of products. With the emergence of healthier food options that can be quickly listed online, the route to the market for speciality food becomes faster. Without limitation imposed by physical shelf spaces, vendors can offer a wider choices to consumers,” shares Abhay Sharma.
Sharma added that online search brings wider choices to consumers quickly. “As such, we worked on a DTC (directto-consumer) project, which we launched on our own online platform last July.”
With movement restricted during the lockdown, Sharma noted that consumers discovered the joys of cooking. “Although ready-to-eat food will continue to grow, we strongly feel that consumer will want to experience the cooking food at home after the pandemic. We are launching a range of cooking kits in line with what we feel will be an emerging trend,” he says.
In the coming 12 months, Sonnamera will introduce at least 10 new brands. “Healthy, sustainable, environmentally friendly and fun elements will be the key driving factors in the selection of these brands. In fact, we will discontinue products that do not fit in the general direction of the portfolio we are building.”