Sri Lankan marketers and challenges in turbulent time

 It is all about how you read your business, how you make decisions and convert some threats into opportunities 

Continuous changes can be seen in prices, tax rates and some important indicators in the economy. So we need to be vigilant 24/7. Marketers should always be alert to those changes. If the Government is expecting a price hike in gas by next week and if you are engaging with a bakery service, you should think and act in many ways, aligning with your pricing strategy. You need to change your promotion strategy, distribution strategy and sometimes even your segmentation and positioning strategy in case by looking at the sustainability of the business

As Sri Lankans, we are in a time in which precise decision-making is of utmost importance. This is the same for marketers as well. A few years back it was only common internal and external environmental factors we considered and adjusted our marketing strategies accordingly. But in year 2019 with the Easter attack, the equation has changed. This was triggered by COVID-19 in the year 2020. This situation has not changed even in the years 2021 and 2022. 

Furthermore due to a lack of long-term planning, efficiency, and corruption, Sri Lanka has been declared as a bankrupt country in the year 2022. It is all about how you read your business, how you make decisions and convert some threats into opportunities. We are in a turbulent time. We have more challenges in this dynamic environment. 

Challenges 

In marketing, we need to anticipate some challenges. But now it is all about making continuous changes in different models in very short time periods. Let’s see some challenges for marketers that we need to explore.

Challenge One – Continuously changing marketing strategies with adaptation 

Continuous changes can be seen in prices, tax rates and some important indicators in the economy. So we need to be vigilant 24/7. Marketers should always be alert to those changes. If the Government is expecting a price hike in gas by next week and if you are engaging with a bakery service, you should think and act in many ways, aligning with your pricing strategy. You need to change your promotion strategy, distribution strategy and sometimes even your segmentation and positioning strategy in case by looking at the sustainability of the business.

Challenge Two – Integrating marketing and supply chain 

This is high time for marketers in Sri Lanka to focus more on the supply chain. It can be seen that the concepts of marketing and supply chain management were elaborated in different forums separately. Nevertheless, these two concepts look like twin brothers. We can see many experts talking about the problem which farmers who cannot sell their products and distribute vegetables and fruits to the consumers in different areas. We can remember, one report said that more than 900,000 kilos of vegetables have been purchased by the Government. Some seasons you can see excess vegetables like pumpkin which farmers are really finding it difficult to sell their products. In one way you need to argue that we should have proper value additions as well as marketing strategies for the products.

Anyway, there is a problem with having an updated food balance sheet for Sri Lanka. And also, it is important to note that “550,000 metric tons of vegetables and fruits were being wasted a year due to the post-harvest damage and its loss to the nation amounted to over Rs. 67 billion” (Daily Mirror, 28 August 2019). So there is a requirement for a proper supply chain aligned with the national marketing plan.

Challenge Three – Need for Anthro-Marketer

It is important to understand that in the current business situation and post-modern business with different approaches, what we think as marketing professionals about customers and what customers want from a company (or product) can be totally different, as it should be read from the perspective of an anthropologist. And also you need to have different lenses to read your customers. If you read your customer only from the lens of a marketer you can satisfy the customer. Hence you should read the customer from the lens of an anthropologist to delight (exceeding the expectation of customers. In simple “WOW” factor) the customers. 

As marketers to achieve sustainable competitive advantage, we need to delight customers better than our competitors. The challenge for marketers in Sri Lanka is to convert the mode of “Marketer” to modern “Anthro-Marketer”. You may train your marketing staff or directly you can hire anthropologists. This is really vital at the moment. 

Challenge Four – Indigenous marketing 

As we know, the subject of marketing existed two or three decades ago as a “luxury product” used only by one “branded segment” of people and could not be accessed by the general public. Because of that, there is a need to disseminate the knowledge in “marketing” more with the best practices in our own context. Learn something from some best Sri Lankan indigenous practices and follow the marketing that suits the country in important, that is, “our own marketing method” which is similar to Romesh Kaluwitharana getting behind the stumps and exclaiming “Ohoma Yan” (we will together) in Sinhalese which is also one of the indicators for Sri Lankans winning the 1996 World Cup.

And also most of the time we have observed experts using ‘English” to teach the subject of marketing. That can be commendable. But for entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka, it proposed to teach and disseminate the subject of marketing in their native language (Sinhala or Tamil) because in the world research has proven that the native language is always important to inculcate imagination and creativity among all. We can train and teach own practices in our own language. So there is a need for experts and scholars in this subject domain of marketing to get together and investigate “Indigenous Marketing” in Sri Lanka which would be one way we have to learn the best practices of Sri Lankan culture as well.

Challenge Five – Reading the political development of the country 

Unlike in the past, it is essential to be updated on the latest political developments in the country and outside the country. Sri Lankan marketers should be politically sensitive and analyse the future to make decisions. As Aristotle believed, man is a “political animal” and we need to go beyond that “political animal” definition and see how certain political decisions may affect the business and our target marketing, segmentation, and customer profile. In this time period in Sri Lanka if you’re a good marketer but “politically blind and not sensitive” then again you may be having many challenges in the long run.

Challenge Six – Online customer segment and e-commerce 

Prior to COVID-19, it was really hard to sell a female skirt online. Now this situation has completely changed and online business is viable for any product in Sri Lanka. Anyway, you need to be creative to pitch your product to target segments. And also there is a need to be equipped with some tools of digital marketing as well. As per the latest reports “49.4 percent of Sri Lanka’s total internet user base (regardless of age) used at least one social media platform in January 2023”!

Challenge Seven – Business sense 

In Sri Lanka, we can witness many people talking about soft skills. We usually define “soft skills” as “Language competency and IT skills”. To be competitive and to become a “hit” in the market there is a need for “business sense”. This is really important in this situation. For that, you should have more imaginative power with creativity with emotional intelligence. A certain percentage of that you bring from your genes. Nevertheless, you should learn how “to sense the business environment”. Sri Lankan marketers should have “business sense” for better decision-making in this critical time. 

Conclusion

Marketing is all about value creation and giving solutions to customers. Now the scope of thinking and implementation should be expanded and adjusted by Sri Lankan marketers by considering the current turbulent situation in the country. The seven challenges mentioned can be the opportunity for better outcomes in the coming months and years. And also it is really important to think about the country and help needy people in this critical time. All professionals should get together and build up a better Sri Lanka for the next generation.

(The writer is a Professor in the Department of Marketing Management at the Open University of Sri Lanka and can be reached via [email protected].)