The Hop-on, Hop-off Consumer
SPJIMR’s Dr Renuka
Kamath believes brands must seamlessly integrate their online and offline
channels because today’s channel hopping consumer wants the best of both
worlds.
As the year was
slipping by, queer yet expected things were happening! Just like us, brands
were living a life of their own. Some in slumber, some in denial, yet a few
energetically doing somersaults, but all trying to differentiate. But right
through, there was a strange movement– brands were following the consumer who
had begun her explorative shopping journey. This journey took her hopping
across devices and platforms, and soon she became better at it. She walked
across to her favourite store, navigated on her mobile or tab to order her
favourite book. She did this while sitting in a restaurant, during a bus ride
and even while she waited to pick up her kids from school. The past year saw a
hybrid way of shopping that was here to stay. There were estimates of more than
100 million online shoppers (ASSOCHAM-Resurgent India) and the Indian Institute
of ecommerce stated that by 2020, India was expected to generate $100 billion
online retail sales. The mobile device (proxy for online) was probably the only
channel through which a brand could reach every consumer it wanted. The
fluidity, with which consumers had begun alternating between platforms and
channels for making a choice was remarkable and at the same time also very
challenging to marketers. Flexibility in time, ready access to everything at
one place, ability to compare prices with greater variety and amazing discounts
were the main reasons for shopping online.
With these changes, brand owners were forced to
acknowledge the demands of retaining differentiation in the consumer’s mind and
ensuring brand loyalty. While these principles were age old and applied to
traditional branding, the evolution of channel hopping gave brand building the
complexity none had seen before.
In these times of change, this competition between
offline and online channels is more of a marathon than a sprint. At times, the
transition to online channels was ‘brand-led’. Here brands were ahead of the
consumers, pulling them along, while at other times, the transition was
‘consumer-led’, where consumers were ahead in their adoption of online
purchases and brands had no option but to follow them. The consumers for brands
like Zivame, Roadster, Xiaomi were ‘brand-led’ as these brands were tempting
consumers to explore online purchasing. On the other hand, many traditionally
rooted brands, masters in the offline world, were ‘consumer-led’ and tried to
keep pace with the consumers’ excited discovery of the online world of
shopping. These brands elbowed their way into the virtual shopping carts and tried
to endear themselves to consumers, while building equity on-ground.
Intriguingly, the year also saw ‘brand-led’
categories comprising purely ecommerce brands, step out of the virtual world,
into the real one of brick-and-mortar.
For instance, Myntra and Nykaa both used a mix of
setting up shop-in-shops at retail outlets and their own stores since consumers
were demanding a sensorial feel of the brands. Moreover cost of customer
acquisition, high discounts and logistic costs were hurting online channel profitability
and these brands were losing out on the high volumes and profitability of the
offline channel. Meanwhile, there was a reverse pressure on brick and mortar
brands and an urgency for a well-integrated brand strategy. Brands aspired to
give consumers an experience of seamless consistency while dealing with their
shorter attention spans and social sharing of content that they either ‘loved’
or ‘disliked’.
Where was all this heading? Clearly towards a need
for a plethora of new skills in managing channel conflict and data analysis.
Going ahead, a user-centric view will have to be taken for the consumer’s brand
experience journey along the cross-channel shopping path. There is no question
that online shopping is here to stay and consumers are going to hop across
channels. The way forward is probably towards an omnichannel marketing
approach. A brand’s physical and online channels can be integrated better to
provide a seamless shopping experience for consumer. This will capture the best
of both worlds.
In the intervening period, online companies will have
to ensure that their brands drive them towards pursuing profits and not GMV.
While traditional brick-and-mortar brands will have to embrace the omni-channel
way of life.
BE10JAN18
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