The Future Of Brands in India: Part - D

In Part A,B & C of this article, we looked at the trend of niche regional players queering the pitch for established companies and brands, and examined how they could have tackled this threat. In this concluding part, we look at the second key trend which is impacting Indian businesses today.

Trend Two: Conflicting Retailing Trends

While the media is heralding the arrival of the Modern Trade format in all its glory, an insidious but growing trend will help define the retailing environment of tomorrow – Home Delivery. Home delivery has been around in our cities and towns for decades with grocery dominating the format. Severe competition as well as the launch of the ‘pizza’ culture has made available everything from medicines to fruits and vegetables, at the push of a telephone button. The indelible impression of a footpath based ‘fruitwallah’ taking an order from a nearby apartment dweller is the definitive image of an India which lives in several centuries at the same time.

Implications for brands are an outcome of a nuanced understanding of the differences between these two seemingly conflicting trends. Seemingly conflicting, because while these appear to be antipodal, the fundamental cause is the ever increasing desire of consumers to have a more experiential life and 'fund' the time required for this by minimizing the routine. Hence home delivery can be largely seen in categories where the shopping experience holds no real joy - mass FMCG products like staples and categories where purchase evaluation or the experience is either not necessary or downright avoidable.

The demands of modern trade, on the other hand, are very different. The increased physical and sensory interaction of consumers with brands demands an experiential nirvana if it is to be love at first sight (or bite, for a food brand!).The role of packaging, the sampling strategy, the look, feel and placement of the brand in the modern trade retail space, all become critical, competitively, given the multiplicity of brands. Categories which dominate are largely experiential - fashion, music, branded (non staple) food and consumer durables.

Traditional marketing with its disproportionate focus on advertising would indeed be the mainstay of brands in the Home Delivery space. Here the primary role of advertising is to create strong bonds with consumers, through a unique, relevant, yet differentiated brand positioning. In the case of brands in the Modern Trade format, advertising needs to do more - it has to create strong bonds and invite consumers for a closer look. Brands in the Home Delivery format could expect to retain dominant share over longer periods of time as dislodging them would be that much more difficult in the absence of a first hand 'consumer evaluation' experience.

With this we conclude our series on "The future of brands in India."