Digital Hamburger Menu

Digital Hamburger Menu

I sat in on a virtual organization of the Harvard Business Review magazine about digital things past day. In this period of the pandemic, the e-commerce sector has become one of the most outstanding business lines. And the guests were Trendyol, one of the leading companies in this sector, and Vivense, who put a different complexion on the furniture industry.

It is stated on the digital platform of Trendyol that almost 100 thousand member undertaking has realized selling around 1 million products daily in 2020 with over one million hundred thousand individual suppliers. By comparison with the number of active customers of Trendyol, while it was 9.200.000 people in 2019, 19 million three hundred thousand people in 2020. Of course, the e-commerce sector and especially Trendyol have achieved growth over years, but the effect of the pandemic is a key fact in these highly increasing numbers. The progressive development of that kind of platforms, such as Amazon in the USA and Ali Baba in China is spectacular. However, it was “rocketed” during the pandemic! The sector companies in our country have provided the growth, which can achieve in 3-5 years, with the accelerating effect of this pandemic in the last 9 months 2020.

Trendyol, just like other e-commerce platforms takes firm steps forwards in its own way by focusing on ”digital secure intermediate trade”. In recent years, the steps from digital to physical being are taken: the organizations, who are own branded for the distribution of the products, have also begun to take operational responsibilities.

As to the other Company ‘Vivense’ who develops a disruptive application for the furniture industry, it produces under its own brand. It sells the products on e-commerce platforms and its own website. It gives also physical franchising and supports them in different ways. It presents its own products with their real digital images to potential customers’ taste through digital applications in the stores in order to ease the stock problem of dealers. It establishes regional logistics centers, and with this, it provides the opportunity for fast delivery to customers, who buy products from the store. It offers services, such as fabric changes that frustrate the customers. It also takes the responsibility of furniture installation and lastly provides interactive after-sales support.

Vivense-type business models will cause to revolutionize in some sectors, just as Getir Yemek is forcing now Yemek Sepeti to take more physical operational responsibility. In the future, this situation will put companies, who say ”nothing happens to us” and ” the digital era is not a big deal”, in the different competitive environment.

Turn back to the subject in our title, I think, meeting companies’ digital transformation needs are likened to a menu with an example of a hamburger’s chain. These menus are also commercialized to needy companies.

Trendyol, Vivense, Getir, and Yemek Sepeti are pure technology companies. Despite this, they renew their business models according to dynamic external developments and also have on their technological vaccines regularly by making use of their ecosystems.

For instance, banks can also develop technology and gain from the outside according to their size. What matters is here that banks, as a safe institution, must focus on risk management for steady profitability. Personally, they can perform all their activities, including branch offices except the risk management and credit processes, through Fintechler.

This is not that needy companies should buy digital menus. The programs to be applied should complement each other and embrace overall all the elements of the enterprise. Likewise, conscious use of the investment budget by following an effective strategy in the buying process, making changes in the preferences according to priorities, considering the human-resources factor, and utilizing professional independent consultants have a magic contribution on this.

Some basic and steady reasons why companies’ digital transformation projects generally fail:

• Not being a detailed Digital Transformation Strategy Document settled by the Board of Management
• Ignoring the fact of the uniqueness of every enterprise and not being open to working as a boutique
• Forgetting the fact of realizing the mission and vision of the company by grounding on the strategic business model
• Thinking ”the being made up of technology” of the digital transformation
• Discounting the collective culture and intelligence of the organization as a data
• The deficiency of focus and follow-up of the subject by the senior management
• Not being open to different expert opinions of planning and done in a hurry of it.
• Nonexecution of the phase and target applications in digital transformation processes
• Ineffective communication
• Not determining the priorities because of wrong investment budget and no budget for human resource-technology harmonization

Which one would satisfy you more and does create higher income opportunities for the enterprise? A delicious A La Carte Hamburger with potatoes and delicious daily sauces as you wish or a hamburger menu as fast food? If you prefer the first one to another, what should you do?

The following questions are for the senior management to learn the answers in the beginning steps:

What are we in?

What are our goals?

It is time to open large organization’s eyes, who uses resources of the company for inefficient and unnecessary technological infrastructure product, to see their mistakes while focusing more than anything else on growth and profitability.

Bulent Hasanefendioglu

Head of Consultancy, TDG Global

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