There are those who accept things as they are and those who Rise to change – Any entrepreneur would relate to this tag line of Mahindra Rise campaign. Specifically one who has risen from rags to riches is certain to flashback into his memory lanes. Ironically, RC Agarwal who took 24 laborious years to build Vishal Retail from a small shop in Kolkata to a 170 store chain across the country would not be so happy about it. The company once valued at `2,200Cr is now sold for merely `70Cr in a slump sale transaction.
Vishal Retail was not the only company effected during economic meltdown of 2008. Indian retail industry was adversely impacted in 2008-09 and goliaths including Reliance Retail and Future Group were forced to halt their expansion plans and shut several shops. Subhiksha had to close its nationwide network of 1,600 supermarkets. But then there were those who thrived during the uncertain struggling times and now are gliding the waves smoothly. Recently Shoppers Stop successfully experimented with a well thought of strategy by launching non-metro outlets with full fledged counters of cosmopolitan premium cosmetic brands that were unseen in the region.
I am not here to debate on the management mantras of these companies varying extremely in their numbers. But for sure the businesses want to see their numbers growing in the positive sides. For any industry such as Retail, FMCG, Banking, Insurance, Telecom, Aviation or Railways for that matter that has millions or billions of customer records, it is imperative to have actionable insights into customer behavior. One size does not fit all and customers look forward to individualized experience. It is vital to identify key customer segments, understand deeper into the most profitable customers and then take small but strategic steps to attract them through focused campaigns or specific merchandising moves. Although you cannot follow your customer within your shop, you can track your customer in this technologically advanced social world. Furthermore you can even get into the head of your customer to understand his buying behavior in case you have relevant data available.
Gone are the days when Information Technology was merely a support system. With cutting edge analytical solutions available, Information Technology is playing a key role in formulating business strategies and driving major decisions over pricing and promotions. If one segments and promotes top 10 percent of the products that are attractive to its most profitable customers and simultaneously attempts to reduce 10 percent of least attractive products, it’s more likely that revenues and profits will have positive impact. Such an attempt with proactive personalized campaigns build more loyal customer and strongly position the brand in a specific target segment. No wonder that analytical approach and fact based decisions are greatly influencing the changing face of marketing.
With emergence of Facebook and Twitter, social media has evolved as a platform that no marketer can afford to ignore. Leave apart the business houses or celebrities, it’s now the political parties leveraging the power of social media to target netizens. Can anyone afford to neglect the impact of Facebook which provoked the uprising in Egypt? Customers are increasingly getting prone to evaluate product features and customer feedback over the web. Any positive or negative media sentiment not only significantly impacts the brand positioning but can also impact the stock performance. Fortunately there are powerful tools available to listen to the masses and respond accordingly.
Actionable insights, targeted personalized campaigns and the power of social media are the surest tickets for marketers to reap economic value out of customer information and prevent a business moving from boom to doom.
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