The Hindu Business Line : The consumer as seller

The consumer-seller of the future could be a member of a self-help group who buys mostly to sell. (Above) A file picture of a member of Hindustan Lever’s Shakti project

As a trend-spotter of modern India, what would you point to as a direction of the future in Indian selling and marketing?

- Rajesh Sardana, Ahmedabad

Rajeshbhai, you have made me think more than I do normally.

Let me explain this. Marketing as we know it is about to change in the future. The savvy marketer of the future (if you want to be one) needs to demolish the concept of the ‘consumer as consumer’ and ‘marketer as marketer’.

The consumer has, for far too many decades, been just a consumer. The consumer is changing. There is a big opportunity out here to harvest and capitalise upon, particularly so in India.

In the old days, the consumer was a pure consumer. Take urban India, for instance. The user of a packet of tea is essentially a consumer, as is the buyer of a detergent. The urban consumer of today is a 100 per cent consumer. She buys to use everything she buys completely on herself or her family.

Take a peek at a new trend. The urban consumer is of two types today. One buys to consume herself. The 100 per cent consumer, and the other is quite like Bru coffee, 70 per cent consumer and 30 per cent re-seller! Take the examples we have in our modern urban life, from an Amway, a Tupperware and a Herbalife.

Peek deeper still into the rural markets that are just about waking up to consumerism in a big way, prompted by the medium of television that does not distinguish urban from rural in its reach, messaging and advertising creatives alike. Television creates hunger for products and services in urban and rural markets alike.

In these rural markets, we will have a new profile of the emerging consumer. A consumer who is possibly 50 per cent consumer (for self-use of product and service alike) and the balance 50 per cent re-seller. This is the guy who is the insurance agent, the intermediary for a financial product, and equally is the person who acts as an intermediary distributor of a detergent or a cake of soap alike. This channel, uniquely, is not restricted to the efforts of the multi-level channel marketer like an Amway, but is equally involved in selling products and services as a distributor on a direct mode of distribution.

Peek deeper still. You will see the emergence of the 10 per cent consumer and 90 per cent re-seller. This is the rural consumer who buys very little of the product for herself and the rest that she buys, she sells at a profit. She is part of an NGO at times, and at times part of a self-help group that is linked to the big marketers of the day. We see some signs of this emerging with the ‘Shakti-amma’ of HUL and certainly in the case of a whole host of SHGs (self-help groups) re-selling shampoo and shikakai alike.

Watch out then for the consumer as seller. Part-consumer and part-seller. Capitalise on this and open up those dormant markets.

Is India a success in the realm of branding? What are the major mistakes India has made in this realm?

- Suzanne Sauro, London

Suzanne, thus far, India has had a negative image in the world market as we have seen a distinct failure of our brands that have spoken the ‘Made in India’ language for 60 years. This did not work, as our manufactured products did not hold up to the quality image that we needed in international markets. In the past. Today is different. Mind it!

Today, our focus is on the ‘Served out of India’ image. We are good at service. We have a deep culture of serving people. It is ingrained into our ethos. We are, therefore, re-focusing on this. Our success in information technology is largely due to this. The next big one will be organised retail. I do believe we will offer a very unique retail experience to the world at large, sooner than later. Expect the Indian retail brand to reach foreign shores soon. Service is in our genes. We need to and will exploit this.

If you were to isolate true-blue cult brands in India, what would they be?

- Josy Sebastian P., Kochi

Josy, I would start with Cadbury Dairy Milk. The brand bridges generations of taste....except for a small scar with the nickel content in chocolates hurting it for a while. And then it is a Milkmaid: Again the favourite of generations that have used it in their tea, their mithai, their everything that desired the goodness of Milkmaid. And the young mother’s favourite. Woodward’s Gripe Water, which a whole generation of kids grew up on. Fought colic with consistency and caused the relief and blessings of millions of mothers. These are my top three for India.

(Harish Bijoor is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.)

More Stories on : Rural Marketing | Ask Harish Bijoor | Branding

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