The Hindu Business Line : ‘Innovation, experimenting critical to fulfil needs of the new age consumer’

Organisations have to make an effort to integrate customer data, given that customers are drawn through a variety of channels that include the store, the Net and the telephone.

Our Bureau

Chennai, Aug. 28 The new age consumer of today is one who expects the sky — he/she is spoilt for choice, has access to a wealth of information, decreasingly brand-loyal and wants an international experience at Indian prices!

At a conference on Managing the New Age Consumer, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry-Tamil Nadu chapter, professionals from various fields including consulting, technology, retail and industry said that it was critical to innovate and experiment with products and services to fulfil the needs and wants of the ever-demanding consumer.

Mr Samik Nandi, Director, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, said organisations had to make an effort to integrate customer data, given that customers are drawn through a variety of channels that include the store, the Net and the telephone.

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a state of mind and managing orders will be the new CRM battleground, he said. “I’m not so sure customer’s God,” said Mr Anirudh Kamani, Joint General Manager, ICICI Bank, making the point that some customers could actually be eroding value for the company. For instance, the lack of integrated customer data could see a financial services company lending a defaulter on credit card payments a personal loan. Companies have to move to customer value management from CRM, but the shift is just beginning, though evident in the banking and telecommunication industries, he said.

Mr Sujeeth Ravindran, Director, Teradata India, said it was important for companies to identify the moment the customer went into decision mode and catch his attention then.

Centred on consumer

If product and service design is centred on the consumer, chances of success are a lot more, said Mr Vijay Tadepalli, Assistant Vice-President, Satyam Computer Services. In a study in the US, 69 per cent of the respondents said they did research online before buying, 68 per cent said they compare prices and 43 per cent felt online information was a powerful influencer.

Companies would do well to leverage the power of the Internet (blogs, video sharing) to understand their consumers, gather trends, customise the experience and spot damaging issues quickly.

Mr Balagopal, Senior Vice-President, Viveks Ltd, said that in the retail field, innovation was a way of life.

Viveks’ own achievements in this area are, among other things, its New Year sales. Despite the rapid rise of organised retail dominated by mega players with deep pockets, small and medium retailers can still stand their ground, but it needs imagination, he said.

The challenge for today’s marketer is to be in the customer’s consideration set and convert the consideration into a purchase, said Mr N. Prabhu, Senior Manager – Technical Services, Ford India. For its part, Ford seeks to surround its customers and prospects with attention, be it sales and after-sales service or round-the-clock breakdown repair service, he explained.

Consumer groups

Ms Lalitha Banerjee, Principal Consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers, said marketers would do well to cater to five distinct groups of consumers: youth, who would be the largest group of consumers in the years to come and who are already influencing family purchase decisions due to greater earning capacity; the middle class, which is the major portion of the consumer population, driving sales in the consumer electronics, credit card, mobile phone, mortgage and personal products categories; the rural consumers, increasingly exposed to media, the Internet and higher incomes; tweens, children between eight and twelve years of age who influence purchase, and the rich, for whom price is no object but are conscious of the value.

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