For large corporates, understanding the pulse of one’s stakeholders assures longevity and relevance. From serving a few to serving many, Cargills has undergone numerous changes as a corporate entity throughout its rich history of over 175 years. Reflecting on its journey thus far, Cargills transformed from a primarily wholesale and retail business to a pivotal player across multiple sectors within the food and beverage industry in Sri Lanka.

From introducing the first bona fide supermarket, Cargills Food City which revolutionised modern retailing in the country, to acquiring long-standing food brands and elevating them to new heights, Cargills has never shied away from diving into new ventures.

At its core is a deep intrinsic understanding of its stakeholders, from farmers to customers across all 25 districts. Even during the pandemic in March which sought to disrupt normal routines, this same understanding, a pulse if you will, directed the company towards a new norm.

Like many other businesses, Cargills was compelled to adapt. While it has a wide network of supermarkets across the island which were in fact operational during this time, there were no customers to be served due to the imposed lockdown.

Almost overnight, the Cargills Rewards website was transformed to a new system for customers to order their groceries. It was a simple solution that leveraged its supply chain to help facilitate hyper-local delivery for customers within a 5km radius of its outlets.

Furthermore, container trucks carrying well displayed groceries were dispatched to neighbourhoods; pioneering Asia’s first mobile supermarket, ‘Cargills 2 Home’. This ingenuity was driven by the top brass, who too feel the pulse of their stakeholders, and so brought the supermarket experience to the customer’s home.

At the height of the lockdown, customers were desperate for the daily essentials their families relied on. While frustrations mounted, many questions were asked pertaining to where their order was and why all ordered items weren’t delivered.

Nevertheless, until today, these same questions are raised by customers who continue to shop for their groceries online. Through overwhelming feedback and criticism across social media and other channels, Cargills faced a simple, albeit difficult question to answer: how can online grocery shopping be convenient and hassle free?

Cargills Online was conceptualised to be not just an e-commerce platform, but a complete overhaul of the grocery supply chain, ensuring convenience and guaranteeing customers get what they order. Cargills envisioned a more advanced online platform than those that existed in the niche e-grocery segment.

A platform that will ensure consumers have an alternative to its own Food City; with the lowest prices in the market, would now be online too.

In theory, the task of delivering each item a customer ordered sounds simple, but is difficult to achieve from an inventory management perspective. To ensure receipt of the ordered good, Cargills constructed a purpose-built, e-commerce fulfilment centre during the height of curfew.

This centre, or what the industry refers to as a “dark store”, helps Cargills Online guarantee the fulfilment of a customer’s order.

To ensure the highest level of hygiene standards are met when every order goes to the customer’s homes, sanitisation chambers, footbaths and disinfecting wash basins were included into the construction of the centre.

Moreover, regular health screens in the form of temperature checks, are rigorously carried out to further ensure that those that engage with customers are of good health. Upon delivery, each of these agents are masked and perform a final hand sanitisation before the handover to the customer.

Significant investment was allocated into the last mile, to warrant each product ordered by the customer is as good as if it were taken off the production line in which it was manufactured or from the farm in which it was grown.

From the delivery vehicles to the boxes in which the order is delivered, Cargills Online will ensure that your products will be delivered under the right conditions; be it ice cream at -10 degrees Celsius, or even fresh fruits and vegetables.

Given the detailed FAQ section on the platform and the consistent notifications to track an order across each stage are insufficient, a dedicated team of customer service agents are available on call; should a customer have any concerns regarding their order. In fact, early customer feedback described the Cargills Online customer service as “next level”.

Cargills Online is not just a platform which has images of products for sale. It is a comprehensive end-to-end solution for customers to continue ordering groceries online, building on the trust and legacy of Cargills, and establishing e-grocery as a viable alternative to the conventional brick and mortar store.

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