—By Hitesh Shah
New Delhi, Dec 11: 2015 will be about being connected in more ways than one and it will be interesting for brands to work with the channel community to begin to make it a reality.
The channel community in India has come of age. Having experienced tremendous growth over the last decade with a significant shift towards organised or modern retailing formats and development taking place not just in major cities and metros, but also in Tier II and Tier III cities.
Driving this growth has been the keen interest of global brands and home grown successful retail ventures. Now with the online medium of retail witnessing buoyant uptake, there is a tremendous growth opportunity for retail companies, both domestic and international.
Favourable demographics, increasing urbanisation, nuclear families, rising affluence amid consumers, growing aspirations for branded products and increased internet user base are some of the other factors which are driving retail consumption in India. Both organised and unorganised retail are bound not only to coexist but also achieve rapid and sustained growth in the coming years.
Let me shed light on a few things that are in store for the channel community for the year 2015.
Omni channel marketing
Over the past few years, the traditional definition of customers has undergone a drastic change. The new age customers are ‘omni-present’ consumers. Whether they are traveling to work, playing at the park with their kids or simply relaxing at home, people around are immersed in their smartphones.
Someone’s making a last minute flight reservation while at home or just quick grocery shopping from their workplace. Others might be shopping for gifts that they could give their loved ones on New Year’s Eve, while traveling in a train via a mobile app.
New generation of consumers rely on purchases originating from retail stores, online orders and mobile apps due to paucity of time.Brands have started to realize the same and will start deploying Omni-channel strategies to delight customers with enhanced service.
Mobile strategy
While brands start moving to an Omni-channel marketing model, the channel community that includes both the offline and online retailers will realize the need for adoption of new tools, processes and technologies to bolster future growth.
Core to this new technology adoption will be mobility solutions. As more and more customers start using their smartphones devices to compare their favorite brands, book cab rides, research before their purchases, the only way to keep them engaged is with real-time brand information and personalized brand interface through newer new forms of distribution.
Retailers will therefore have to look at new forms of mobile strategies and targeted collaboration that will involve engaging mobile apps experience, location-based promotions, alerts and mobile advertising.
Analytics
Analytics will emerge as a crucial marketing practice, a tool when applied will enhance consumer footfalls and brand loyalty. Brands and retailers alike will mine volumes of data from various brand channels including retail stores, apps, social media, etc. to deep dive into insights about consumer attitudes and purchase behaviour, preferences and weave them into their marketing strategies.
Internet of Things
The pitch has changed significantly in the smartphone industry. ‘Internet of Things’ touted as the next frontier in technology will be instrumental in the evolution of advanced connectivity of devices, systems, and services.
Prototypes of autonomous vehicles, advanced robots/ robotics, remote controlled environments, smart homes and smarter consumers will bring in the most disruptive smart-machine era in the history of IT. This will also see the rise of new technologies assuming mainstream like NFC. Mobile retail payments through apps and NFC will slowly dominate over cash payments and thereby making the dream of a cashless economy.
Data Security and Privacy
Information sharing will reach new levels in the industry. As the retail industry moves to implement an “intelligent” value chain based on the exchange of data across the entire supply chain—resulting in greater efficiency and just-in-time inventory management—the need for retailers to protect and provide security around customer information will be paramount. Security breaches leading to leaks of personal and financial data on products purchases, preferences and styles will eventually lead to consumers shifting their preference to vendors that offer enhanced security features ensuring peace of mind.
With the accelerating pace of change and transformation expected for the retail industry through 2015, the channel community will have a lot of action to watch out for. Perhaps, more than in past years, the convergence of a number of anticipated drivers will fashion a new channel community environment that will build upon the strengths of the existing players, yet encompass new approaches, models, processes and technologies.