IAMAI to promote new-age Indian brands

To promote new-age Indian brands across segments such as food, consumer durables, electronics, fashion, FMCG etc., IAMAI (Internet & Mobile Association of India) has set up a founders' community of direct-to-consumer Indian brands.

The unifying features of these brands are that they are digital-first, innovative, competitive and manufacture or produce in India.

At present, there are at least a 100 odd such brands in the market and more are emerging every day. These brands are innovative since they cater to a younger and often first-time shopper catering to a niche demand. They are competitive as they have to compete for mindshare and shelf space with large incumbents with deep pockets. They are digital-first, catering to internet using socio-economic segments and taking advantage of the digital infrastructure that has been created in India. Finally, they invariably manufacture or produce their goods in India.

The industry, at present running with the “founders’ fuel”, needs a collective identity to help it navigate through complicated government policies and regulations; get buy-in from stakeholders such as e-commerce platforms, logistics and the payments industry; and also earn lasting customer trust. IAMAI is best suited to execute this three-pronged strategy.

With the help of 35 such brands, it is a small beginning of organising this potentially powerful business segment by formalising a committee. The committee is chaired by Aman Gupta, co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of boAt audio and co-chaired by Manish Chowdhary, co-founder of WOW Skin Science. boAt audio and WOW Skin Science are multi-million dollar brands and have established themselves as category leaders by championing the internet-driven business model.

“To ensure a brand continues to do well, it is almost imperative for businesses to enhance their Direct to Customer (D2C) channel. The model enables a brand to listen to the unfiltered voice of their customer and is a natural progression from shifting online shoppers to buy from the brand's website and own the experience, data and lifetime value of the customer. The committee will bring the ecosystem together, indulge in knowledge creation and put forth the best practices in a mission to build internet-driven iconic brands” said Aman Gupta, Chairman of the IAMAI D2C committee.

Co-chairman Manish Chowdhary said that the committee will jointly look towards building consumers’ trust by engaging in better customer communication and other similar initiatives by D2C entities.

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