As the rapidly rising number of cases of Covid 19 lead to acute shortage of critical protective gear in India for Doctors and Patients alike, MedSamaan is one of the few startups that has been 'holding up'. Based on the first reports about the impact of the novel Coronavirus, we started using technology from December 2019 to forecast the likely demand of N95 Masks, 3 ply masks and other protective gear in the coming months, and managed our inventory accordingly.
1. Instead of rushing to fulfill bulk orders for export and trade, hoarding by profiteering agencies, we rationed our Masks to supply on a Risk-based priority system. As a result of this, MedSamaan today has been able to maintain a steady supply of these protective gears to those in the most need of it - doctors, hospitals and clinics. In fact, every pharmacy in our cluster was dependent on Medsamaan for the supply of Masks and Gloves, as most Wholesalers and Super Stockist have run out of stock or were closed.
2. Covid 19 also helped us to test our supply chain system, and emerge successful. With most logistics services severely affected by the lockdown, many Startups were left floundering for survival. Since MedSamaan's supply channels were not overly reliant on external resources, we were able to tide over the crisis almost immediately by simply augmenting our existing offline resources. Getting curfew passes under 'Essential Services', our sales force was able to undertake last mile delivery of critical material, whereas other Suppliers dependent on external logistics had no option but to wait for services to resume. This aspect has been particularly critical not just for JIT Delivery, but also ensuring that even non-Covid patients get their essential supplies like nebulisers, vaporisers, testing kits, etc. critical to their well -being.
3. While the ability to ensure a steady supply in these extremely challenging circumstances itself has helped in creating a brand identity, we have used this opportunity to further enhance our brand recall. By introducing simple measures like packaging 3 ply masks in customised MedSamaan packs of 10, when they are usually supplied in unmarked gunny bags of 1000, we have slowly created a lasting impression in the minds of our Customers who use our Products. This has been replicated across product categories, and since we are one of the few companies still supplying, if not the only one (in some cases), brand loyalty has been established without spending any money on expensive AVs, print advertisements or other marketing mechanisms.