When it comes to trying a new brand, as many as 60 per cent of customers believe that social media plays an important role, while 75 per cent try a new brand because they think it is ‘better-for-them’ (free from harmful ingredients), according to an EY report.

The report titled Incumbents to disruptors: Adopting the start-up culture for innovation stated that start-ups are increasingly using digital technologies, analytics and social media to identify and address consumer needs. It added that 80 per cent of the consumers are willing to pay up to 25 per cent more for value.

“Today, start-ups are giving tough competition to the large consumer product companies. Thus, it becomes important for the incumbents to set an agenda for identifying evolving customer needs with speed and providing products and solutions to meet them,” said Pinakiranjan Mishra, Partner and National leader, Consumer Products and Retail, EY India.

Spotting customer needs

With the advent of emerging technologies, which are disrupting the consumer products marketplace, large companies must make fundamental changes to their company’s operating model and inculcate the agile start-up culture, he added.

The start-ups are adept at spotting the unhappy consumer through digital means and then leveraging the latest digital technologies, such as data analytics, to address their needs. Individually, these start-ups may not pose a significant threat to the large consumer product companies, but together, they are forming a formidable challenge, the report added.

Around 100 consumers across cities, age-groups and income brackets were covered in the survey. Interviews were conducted with select consumer start-ups and large consumer product companies.

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