Shombit Sengupta
Founder, Shining Emotional Surplus
Indian
consumers have stepped into the level of desire. Product choice
has increased, and alternatives with very local players are
evident. So in essence, 5 layers of price are now operative:
(1) super low price: the local player
(2) low price: regional player
(3) medium price: small size national player
(4) higher price: big size Indian or international player in
India
(5) highest price: the imported product at the top end
The general tendency of the Indian manufacturer
is not to connect pricing with quality. A low price category
local player or small size national players can easily make
a visually appealing product. They can then take advantage of
the consumer awareness created by big national or international
players on that category. The big players spend huge amounts
of money in media to advertise a category, without owning a
specific uplifted product benefit for which consumers will specifically
remember them. Distribution volatility is remarkably high in
the country. The retailer and distributor always get better
margins from local, regional and small national players who
introduce super low, low and medium price products. FMCG distributors
and retailers do not focus the quality of products on the shelf,
but they are interested about their margin. The big players
have not created enough emotional bonding with consumers. So
the consumers don’t find any difference between a low or
higher priced product. There has been no reason for high priced
products to reach their radar, and hence, their attention. The
big national and international companies have also not exuberantly
addressed the premiumness of quality, which creates high consumer
loyalty for their value of life.
OPPORTUNITY
CAN BE JUST A THEORY
Having read a quantitative research, an
international strategy consultant’s report, or taken the
advice of famous NRI management gurus, different Indian organisations
have tried to encash opportunity in different product markets.
Such opportunities have looked like spring water, flowing continuously
with the grace of God. The nightmare of the possibility of this
spring water drying up may need to be considered upfront. But
opportunity is always a theory, which may not be realistic unless
you accurately read the consumers’ subconscious mind. Triggering
opportunity does not mean you put a product in the market, create
some advertising, and encash the prospect. Achieving success
on theoretical data may not correspond to the socio-cultural,
psychological and historical insight of consumers, whom you’d
like to partner with to accomplish the opportunity. Indian marketers
should understand that a western marketing culture cannot be
replicated in India with its multi-cultural, multi-religion,
multi-race environment. Distribution is not organized here either;
it is multi-dimensional in a multi-price driven market. A unique
Indian marketing culture has to emerge from the origin of our
society and culture. Marketing is easy to conceive in the West,
which is extremely disciplined and has a culture of single focus.
They have undergone several crises in the 20th century. Nine
million people died in the first World War, Hitler exterminated
six million Jews, and 51 million died in the second World War,
leaving a scarred society. The scaring experience of these 20th
century wars has made western society, as well as the Japanese,
extremely focused on discipline. They have learnt the knack
of magnifying a small thing to make it look very big. The European
community has come together, but apart from the Euros that unify
them, each country has its independent socio-cultural environment.
Every country generally has one culture, one language, so obviously
their marketing culture is that much easier. But the major similarity
among European countries is in their consuming and production
process. Their marketing process follows this mono-dimensional
life. Indian companies, whether regional, national or international
players, need to add tangible value in their deliverables if
they are interested in making a long-lasting impact with FMCG
products. A multidimensional marketing culture needs to be applied,
followed by rigorous implementation.
AN
FMCG BRAND HAS TO BECOME TRUSTWORTHY
In general, it is
very difficult to establish differentiation in FMCG products.
The first criterion an FMCG brand has to go through is to become
trustworthy to the consumer. Trust cannot be built through entertaining
advertising, or by changing the advertising theme every six
months. When magnification of retail display is neglected, packaging
is a mediocre quality generic container, or the intrinsic quality
of the product is basic, trust is not elicited. Trustworthiness
of any brand is extremely rational. FMCG products, by character,
have low aspiration because its usage time is very limited.
That’s why the category is in fact called fast moving consumer
goods. When consumers enjoy changing brands, it means the nature
of the market is very vulnerable. The rational attribute of
the brand is most important in this kind of consumption. Consumer
attraction towards the brand must have its confidence level
rooted to the rational core so that they cannot change from
one product to another every 10 to 15 days. “What does
a brand do to me rationally?” is a big consumer subconscious
question. But by themselves consumers do not know how to ask
this question, or how to answer it. That’s why in India
they easily shift from one brand to another. Marketers need
to introspect on this question, and then respond to it by adding
value on the rational content.
“WHAT
THE BRAND DOES TO ME” IS A CONSUMER QUESTION.
Without harbouring a feel good factor,
if you can work on this consumer question, you will be able
to identify what you need to do, and how you need to do it.
The consumer’s rational requirement will come from your
product’s rational value, which is the non-visible part
of your deliverable. What you need to do: You earnestly need
to identify a few components of the product, and with total
openness, study it in your R&D lab with other competitive
products to verify whether you have any differentiation at all.
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