The challenge
Following the transformational acquisition of Shire plc by Takeda in January 2019, the onset of COVID-19 at the beginning of 2020 took everyone by surprise and caused economic pain across the globe.
Carlsberg Singapore was not spared. Like many businesses, Carlsberg was severely hit, with half of its sales channels shut down when Singapore announced a national lockdown. The impact of the viral outbreak was immediately felt as revenue streams wound down. Carlsberg, supported by its banking partner Citi, identified that a digital strategy to spark sales was needed. Hence its objective was to develop a digital sales strategy within a short period of time to adapt to COVID-19 and beyond.
The solution
In the second week of lockdown, Carlsberg connected with the bank’s relationship manager and the company stated that it was determined to jumpstart a digital route to market. The objective was to perform sales direct to consumer (D2C) for the first time, coupled with activation of its wholesale logistical resources to perform last mile delivery to consumers. Carlsberg Singapore then developed a digital sales portal while leveraging social media like Facebook and Instagram for marketing outreach. Carlsberg’s plan was to go live at the end of week two but the company could not solve the main issue of activating a secure collections channel. Commercial cards and alternative payment wallets were not available.
The bank worked in partnership with Carlsberg’s treasury and marketing teams, sharing ideas and within a short four-day window, activated a secure and effective instant collection channel with real-time notifications and detailed post transaction reports for reconciliation.
The solution achieved several objectives:
- An omni channel user-friendly mode of collection from end-customers involving the use of QR codes which could be presented on any handheld devices, online portal or app.
- A secured and encrypted collection process.
- Instant crediting to Carlsberg’s bank accounts, accelerating Carlsberg’s liquidity.
- An efficient payment verification, reconciliation, and order fulfilment process.
The solution was delivered within just four days from start to finish.
Best practice and innovation
The success can be attributed to the strong Carlsberg-Citi partnership, from idea creation to planning to execution, the close coordination between the Carlsberg treasury team and the sales, logistics and marketing teams which allowed Citi to launch a static QR D2C payment collections channel for Carlsberg.
Key benefits
- The innovative solution developed has allowed Carlsberg to achieve close to 1,000 transactions in the first few days from going live.
- In the first three months alone, the solution helped Carlsberg raise close to 1,000 invoices, generating sales of almost six figures.
“The innovative QR D2C collections solution continues to see traction and gain in popularity amongst our customers. As Singapore emerges from phase two of Circuit Breaker and the eventual passing of the COVID-19 situation, this QR D2C collections solution will definitely evolve as we further develop our digital sales strategy,” explains Dawn Hoe, Singapore, Head of Finance & IT.
