In late March, Croma’s digital-marketing team was informed that it was their last day at the company. Layoffs? No. Just a two-day notice to work directly out of Tata Digital. 

Croma, the consumer goods and electronics retail chain, is just the first port of call. The bigger plan is to streamline digital marketing across all of Tata Digital’s brands, including the likes of 1mg, Cliq, Bigbasket, and Neu. 

Tata Digital itself was born in 2019, with the goal of unifying the group’s digital-first consumer businesses under one umbrella.

On paper, the idea is sound: bring all domain experts under one roof, so that instead of spending weeks planning, say, the latest iPhone launch via a Croma-Bigbasket collaboration, it can be done in days with their teams working together. 

Tata Digital boasted over 20 millionEconomic TimesTata Digital logs Rs 37,355 crore aggregate GMV in FY24, as turnover rises, loss narrows  transacting customers in FY24, so the real opportunity lies in tapping this wider customer base. 

The catch? It seems that no one knows how to make it happen, even as the transition is supposed to wrap up next month.

This isn’t the first time Croma employees have faced abrupt pivots. Ever since Tata Digital brought Croma underThe Times of IndiaTata's to transfer Croma's owner to digital business arm its fold in 2021, it’s been a race to grow as fast as possible. To make it happen, the management keeps throwing darts at the board, blindfolded. 

The strategy skips from one thing to the next: we have to compete with Amazon—actually, let’s premiumise—build brand presence by sponsoring events—hold on, we have to reduce budgets. 

“If you ask me what Croma stands for, I couldn’t tell you,” said a marketing professional at the company. Two others had the same opinion. Ironic, coming from the people tasked with championing the brand.  

None of the Croma employees The Ken spoke with wanted to be named to avoid professional repercussions.