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em>As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread in the country, consumer goods giant PT Unilever Indonesia remains focused on the availability of its products, especially those related to hygiene and health, during the health crisis.

At the same time, the publicly listed company also continues its effort to adapt to the rapidly changing consumer behavior that calls for the safety of the products they consume. Such a change is also expected to last post-pandemic as society will later live in a new normal.

The Jakarta Post’s Prima Wirayani and Riska Rahman interviewed Unilever Indonesia president director Hemant Bakshi via email to find out more about how the company was adjusting its business to the new way of living, fulfilling demand and keeping its workers and products safe from the coronavirus. Here is the edited excerpt of the interview.

Question: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected Unilever Indonesia’s business so far?

Answer: We believe that now, more than ever, we must focus on our core business. We will first focus on making sure that the top 400 products are always in supply and accessible to all our consumers. Consumers are now calling for hygiene products in greater quantities than ever before. We used to produce about 300 cases of Lifebuoy hand sanitizer before the pandemic. Now, the demand has multiplied 100 times and made us increase our production to 30,000 cases in less than two months’ time. This is, of course, out of the ordinary.

How does the pandemic change the company’s business plan and targets in the short and long term?

The plans that we had laid out for 2020 and beyond have become less relevant. Everything about our lives and our business has changed and we cannot help but rethink the entire context of our operations and strategies.

As this crisis continues to present new types of challenges, we remain focused on achieving three important objectives: look after our employees and focus on their health and safety, secure business continuity, and take charge in terms of helping our partners and the communities.

We are also committed to distributing products and funding with a total value of Rp 50 billion [US$3.49 million] through various partnerships, as well as donating before we sell, especially for hand sanitizers and home cleaning products.

If there is a shortage of supplies, then we must make sure that the product is available to people who need it the most like health workers, hospitals, and also underprivileged members of our society.

How much capital expenditure [capex] are you allocating this year and what are your plans for it?

We spent close to Rp 200 billion on capex in the first quarter of 2020. Moving forward, we will still be spending capex, especially to increase the capacity of products that are needed by our consumers. In times of crisis like this, agility is key. One of the ways to do this is by shortening the planning cycle and this means that capex is something that we review from time to time.  

How did the launch of hygiene brand Sahaja test your ability to adapt? Do you plan to launch more products or brands this year?

With Sahaja, we saw an increasing demand among our Muslim consumers to have options of products that are in line with their values. As we were getting ready to launch Sahaja, our ability to be agile was tested with the pandemic.

It would’ve taken us up to six months to launch such an innovation but we were able to accomplish it in six weeks. This is proof that the way we work has indeed changed dramatically: while we continue strengthening our commitment to innovation and leveraging our decades of experience, we must also be adaptable, agile, be very attentive and sharp in recognizing demand patterns, and then work with these circumstances to produce the desired results.

In the future, we look forward to launching more innovations that represent our understanding and compassion for our consumers’ most current needs.

What are your strategies to survive and grow the business amid the rapidly changing consumer behavior?

I believe that in about 12 to 18 months everyone will be experiencing a new normal. Our consumers’ behavior will probably be different as well. I expect that, in the future, we will be less complacent — especially about our health and hygiene.

Profound changes will emerge, and we believe that if we are committed to tapping into these changes, we will see a positive result.

Several businesses have laid off or furloughed workers to survive the slowing economic activity. Do you face the same situation in Unilever Indonesia?

We realize that these current conditions may be prolonged and take a heavy toll on our employees. We are grateful that by mid-March this year we were able to announce our commitment to protect our employees from sudden drops in pay as a result of market disruptions or being unable to perform their roles for up to three months. This goes beyond direct employees and also cover contractors and others whom we manage or who work on our premises on a full-time or part-time basis.

What kind of government policy or incentives are needed by the manufacturing industry, especially consumer goods companies, to survive the pandemic?

The government has been supportive in this aspect, and we are sure that the strong support will continue. In relation to government stimulus, it is important that the plan is executed with speed and right on target, especially targeting the most impacted parts of society, including those with an income below minimum wage and small and medium enterprises.  

It is indeed a difficult time and it’s challenging to predict the future. That’s why strong collaborations between industry players and the government are more important than ever. In our case, it is important that we can continue operations because our products are needed by the consumers during this crisis, therefore we must ensure that our products are available.