While most of us may still not be willing to wind up the New Year festivities, it’s important to get back in action and prepare for what lies ahead in 2012. The year gone by will certainly not be remembered as a glorious year by Indian consumers. High inflation, consistent rise in interest rates and hence, ballooning EMIs, spikes in petrol prices, and the instability at the political front with never-ending scams and corruption cases, dampened the overall sentiment. The European debt crisis and the weariness in the US added to this gloom and even as we bid goodbye to 2011, there are no signs of the situation changing for the better anytime soon. The festivities notwithstanding, the new year, therefore, has begun on a somber note for both marketers and the consumers.
Speaking of consumers, market research company The Nielsen predicts that various income groups will behave differently in the inflationary environment that is likely to persist at least for the first few months of 2012. Lower income group will be price sensitive and value conscious while the middle income households will continue to balance it out between essentials and luxury. People from high income group, meanwhile, will figure ways to sustain their lifestyles. Fickleminded shoppers will be on the prowl for attractive bargains even as the economy will continue its journey towards achieving higher levels of organised retail. Experts across industry sectors say that 2012 will be an even more challenging year than the year gone by and consumer brands will need to adopt the right approach, especially in terms of their offerings, service and communication to be able to tide over challenging times and move on.
With metros reaching saturation point, rural consumers worth $100 billion will drive consumption in 2012. Says Prashant Singh, vice president, Nielsen, ?As we dissect the tremendous rural consumer opportunity,we find that consumption trends play a significant role.
With a growing confidence and a sense of certain tangible progress, the rural mindset is open to consumption of newer, more contemporary food categories and as a result, drive consistent growth.? Connected and tech-savvy Indians will increasinglyengage with social media and networks as a way to discuss products/ brands and to seek value through group promotional websites.
We, at Brandwagon, have made an effort to draw a road-map for consumers by getting marketers and experts across sectors to decipher some trends that are likely to unfold in 2012.
Read on what Neeraj Garg, Board Member & Director,Volkswagen Passenger Cars; Anisha Motwani, Chief Marketing Officer, Max New York Life Insurance; Deepak Gulati, Executive President, Mobility Business, Tata Teleservices; Krishnadeep Baruah, Director Marketing,Research In Motion, India; P Krishnakumar, Executive Director – Marketing, CSMB, Dell India and Mobility APJ; Elkana Ezekiel,CMO, Samsung India; Ravi Vora,VP, Marketing, Flipkart.com; Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director and CMO, Parle Agro; Pradeep Kashyap, President, Rural Marketing Association of India among others, have to say about the likely developments in their sectors.
One size fits all will not work in 2012
Nadia Chauhan
Joint MD and CMO, Parle Agro
2012 will be a promising year for the food and beverage industry. A burgeoning population, increasing disposable income, huge investments from corporates and the government, dynamic retail landscape, put together form a perfect platform for robust, challenging and competitive times. India being as large and diverse as it is, there are markets which are under-penetrated, at the same time there are markets with good penetration levels but low per capita consumption. Both scenarios provide marketers with a golden opportunity to creatively weave a consumer offering that is in sync with the consumer needs and geographical nuances.
To make the most of the India opportunity, companies that focus on building long term organisational capabilities will emerge successful to deliver to this unique audience. This would mean, driving efficiencies across the value chain from manufacturing to supply chain to sales and distribution and therefore redeploying the capital available to improve the final products and services. This will be the only way to sustain in an otherwise margin squeezed business. While the opportunity is immense in terms of coming up with the right products, the challenge is even greater given the diverse market construct of India. We need an array of consumer offerings that not just straddles the income pyramid but also creates a unique value proposition for each consumption occasion, for each consumption need, and for each geography. The ultimate challenge will lie in a delicate balance of being a national brand, and yet having the local connect. It solely depends on how well you read the consumer pulse.
No matter how price sensitive the markets might be, for marketers brand building efforts is what will give them returns in the long run. As customers spend more discreetly, brands that connect better with consumers will tend to gain against their relatively cheaper alternates. 50% of India is young, and this young India is willing to experiment. The market is thus very conducive to new brands. Today, we see shift in consumption patterns especially across urban India. Identifying these shifts and having an offering for this occasion becomes important. Something that works in the northern part of the country may or may not resonate so well in the southern region. Marketers will have to go deeper much beyond the surface level to understand the ?how and why? of the consumer behavior. For instance, while it is widely known that sachetisation is attributed largely to rural areas, the fact of the matter is, in the food & beverage industry, ?portion control packs? (small pack sizes) is the upcoming trend because of the increased weight consciousness in the urban areas. The ?one size fits all? philosophy will not work in 2012.
Today, it is not about conventional advertising or about forcing messages but about creatively engaging with the consumer. Social media today provides us with real time relevant and actionable intelligence, which allows us to listen, monitor and engage with our target audience.
AUTOMOBILE
Small town consumers will enter the fast lane
Neeraj Garg
Member of Board & Director,
Volkswagen Passenger Cars
While there were many setbacks for the international automobile industry last year, given the volatile nature of the western economy and the Euro zone crisis, the Indian automobile industry charted a moderate but buoyant path in 2011. This is borne out by the launches that took place throughout the year.
Even though the growth rate in 2011 was less than 2010, India?s passenger car industry outperformed many of its peers in the West who witnessed a sharp contraction in demand. According to the estimates of a leading economic research firm Indicus Analytics, sales are expected to touch 3.66 million units per annum by 2014-15 and 5.2 million units per annum by 2019-20.
The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) report for the first half of 2011 highlights the fact that India witnessed a 9.9 % growth in the passenger vehicles segment, which was second only to Germany.
In spite of high interest rates for car loans made worse by galloping inflation, rising commodity prices, increase in fuel prices, labour unrest as well as the depreciating rupee, the Indian automobile industry bucked the trend of contraction that was witnessed globally.
2012 provides many opportunities to the Indian car manufacturers, with the Indian economy expected to grow at least by 7.5 %. Development in rural areas, increasing disposable income and rapid strides in infrastructure should help the Indian automobile sector to grow consistently.
Macro-economic factors such as good rainfall, sustained rural development, some softening in commodity prices and relative stabilisation of oil prices are also encouraging and point toward a stable growth.
Car makers will now look to reach out to consumers in fast-growing tier 2 and 3 towns. The next wave of growth will come from such smaller towns, which have witnessed a surge in disposable incomes and are leading job producers. Delivering value is the key. Consumers are no longer content with ?hygiene? features; value-added elements and experience are becoming the deciding factors.
Consistent delivery of this value will have to be sustained throughout the process, from sales to after sales, through a combination of factors like proximity of dealerships to the training of staff. This is the new challenge automakers must address.
At this point in time it is difficult to predict how the year 2012 will pan out, but we expect about 7-8% growth.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Prudent buying and selling will take centrestage
Anisha Motwani
CMO, Max New York Life Insurance
The year 2012 is critical for the insurance industry. Economic instability globally, depreciating rupee, volatile stock markets, low industrial output, sluggish consumer demand, high interest rates, compounded with slew of regulatory changes are likely to keep consumers as well as insurance services providers on the edge.
This year the top three syndrome will start applying to Indian insurance brands as well. From buying the life insurance from friendly neighbourhood agent without fully understanding the available options, the consumer will now move to comparing products online and offline and buying one of the top three in their consideration set. The insurance regulator aims to make this comparison easier by launching its own mobile comparison tool. Internet search for information will assume greater importance and companies will have to focus on search engine optimisation and marketing to be top of the search.
It is difficult to build a reputation, but it is more difficult to defend a good reputation built. Unhappy customers are bad news for any marketer. Today, consumers have access to various internet sites for publicly voicing their grievances. Going forward, an increasing number of consumers will voice their views, good or bad, on social media sites and their peers will take cues from their outbursts. While positive reviews will help building a good will in the short term, negative comments will stay longer in the memory of prospective consumers. 2012, therefore, will be a year in which companies will have to move beyond the lip service and make constructive efforts to gain consumer confidence and provide the services they promise to deliver.
Life insurance is best sold through advice-based sales and insurance agents continue to remain the primary source for financial advice. In a syndicated research conducted for life insurance, it was found that 90% of Indians seek professional advice and assistance from agents before buying life insurance. It will become imperative for insurers to promote good agents and train them to move up from mere distributors of insurance products to well-qualified advisors who can provide comparison with other competing financial instruments.
After-sales service is of critical importance for any long-term product. More so in life insurance which does not offer any touch and feel experience and the delivery of promise is in a distant future. In a recent consumer research Max New York Life found that Indian consumers want their agent or advisors rather than other company executives to be the first source of post sales service.
In 2012, the insurance companies will have to train the agents to communicate to the customer regularly and focus on life time value of the customer and not just the single transaction value. Customers are likely to stick to the insurance company and give good referrals based on their service experience. Customer service will assume greater significance in a regulated regime where significant product differentiation has a limited possibility.
With economic independence comes individual financial decision making. Till recently, insurance products were bought by men for their wives. All that is changing and now women are buying life insurance for themselves and their families. Women are not just participating more in financial decision making for their households, they are taking decision and completing the purchase independently. Some of them are main bread winners as well. Max New York Life Insurance has witnessed a compounded annual growth rate of 22% among women customers over the last five years.
By 2016, about 113 million Indians will be over the age of 60 years. The gradual removal of defined benefit pension schemes by employers and the absence of state supported social schemes will push people to invest in pension related products. The 50+ segment that ignored their own post retirement needs in their efforts to fulfill the needs of their children will wake up to the new reality of providing themselves for their post retirement years. A favourable pension regulatory regime will significantly expand the demand for such products from all segments and especially from 50+ segment.
With changing global and Indian economic conditions, Indian consumer has started realising the value of a goal based disciplined approach to savings for planning their life stage needs. From an investment driven high returns mindset, consumers have now realised the importance of long-term savings and protection and started moving towards the same. They are now more aware of benefitting from the power of compounding and disciplined approach. A better informed, more demanding and financially literate consumer awaits life insurers in 2012. Insurance companies will have to invest in analytics and research to understand their customers and prospects better and provide products, service and communication as per their needs.
RURAL
Other India will thrive
Pradeep Kashyap
President, Rural Marketing Association of India (RMAI)
In 2012, the growth story of the Indian economy will gain new heights. We are still growing at 7.5% if not 9% which, in the global context is nothing less than extraordinary. The current slowdown in urban consumption will not affect rural markets in any way as it?s not an industrial but an agriculture driven economy. Though official numbers are yet to come for the last year but according to me, the agriculture sector had grown by 4% to 5% in 2011 which is higher than the average growth rate of 2% to 3% for the past few years. Going forward, rural will emerge as a services hub. This will be similar to what happened with sectors like IT after the economy was liberalised. Sectors such as private education, healthcare, retail and insurance will boom this year as literacy rates in rural have grown three times faster than urban centres in the past 10 years.
The hoopla about growing urbanisation is misplaced as the number of people migrating to urban areas has gone down drastically, especially in Delhi and Mumbai. In fact, there?s a higher migration from villages to tier II and III cities and towns as compared to metros where job opportunities are now lesser. Small towns will be the new engines of growth in the coming times. The fact is all tier IV towns across India have similar purchasing power as that of eight metros put together. The main objective behind migration is to complete higher education and vocational courses. So we will see a mushrooming of training institutes such as air hostess and flying academies, BPO training centres, etc,. in the small towns.
As far as the consumer products go, economy packs will be a big hit this year and there will be a rise in the sale of packaged products. Last year, Cadbury was surprised to see that Oreo, a packaged biscuits brand targeted at urban consumers, found enough buyers in rural markets as well even though the company had not planned any distribution for these markets. Similarly, over the years, Hindustan Unilever has seen rural consumers switch from Lifebuoy to Lux and Dove. Rural consumers will continue upgrading their brands as their aspirations have gone up by leaps and bounds. This is mainly because now literacy rate amongst people less than 25 years has improved remarkably in these areas. Apparently, this lot will drive demand for brands and marketers must stratify them for better understanding rather than pigeonholing them as ?mass?.
Information technology
Brands will become more ?social?
Neville Taraporewalla
Country Director, Advertising & Online, Microsoft India
It?s that part of the year, when prophecies are re-visited and re-revisited and re-visited and whilst I do not have a crystal ball to gaze into the next 12 months to dictate digital trends, the events of the past few months have pretty much indicated that the coming year will see the dramatic growth of digital as an industry. The current economic indicators across geographies will all in all see marketers moving towards more measurable media.
Social is one element of digital media that’s making waves. I believe this trend will continue, since the breed of tech savvy users has predominantly grown up in an extremely connected world and lifestyles that replicate and imitate their close groups or the communities that they are part of. Facebook has leveraged this ?Show? & ?Tell? element of users by building a platform which captures behavior patterns and has become a listening platform for brand marketers. Is this all brand marketers need to do? This trend to show and tell will continue and marketers will need to step back and get onto all the platforms that are delivering these experiences seamlessly.
As blurring of media takes place, delivery of digitised content is going to see a significant shift from traditional media forms to new media forms like through the web, mobile and various device form factors like PCs, phones, slates etc. at a much faster rate than ever before fuelling other related activities like e-commerce and gaming.
Adoption of 3G technologies will spur the adoption rate of mobile usage which has a 35% year on year growth rate for 3G Mobile subscribers across the global spectrum. This will see increased Search on the mobile device and that would lend itself to mobile advertising.
Mobile advertising has disappointed most players unable to give the predictability and profitability of this form. However, this explosion will see mobile advertising in the forefront within the next 12 months. This adoption of 3G mobile services will simultaneously provide a great platform for building a sustainable market place for downloads of applications wrapped with advertising.
Information technology
IT to become consumer-centric
P Krishnakumar
ED ? Marketing, CSMB,
Dell India and Mobility APJ
As the US and European economics are facing turbulent times, the IT market in India could also experience tidal times ahead. The slowdown in demand comes on the back of robust growth in the July-September quarter of 2011. While we are seeing some softness in demand for PCs in India with the local currency’s sharp fall and a shortage of hard disk drives adding on to challenging times, we are also optimistic of the demand rebounding in the long run as total PC penetration in India is still in the low single digits. As more small businesses and households adopt technology and as labor prices increase, demand for PCs will also improve. Also, the retail segment with special reference to consumer electronics and IT products has evolved tremendously over the past few years. With convenience expected to play a big role in the growth of organised retail, this will also be a driving factor for the IT sector and adoption of technology by consumers.
While we face challenging times, there are specific regions in India that continue to boom and offer business opportunities for IT companies ? the Tier II and Tier III markets. Aspirations of mid-market customers are not very different from those in larger markets.
With increasing awareness levels, brand focus and tech consciousness among consumers, these markets are poised for steep growth and hence, we intend to focus our energies and marketing spends on these markets as well in the coming year ? be it for end consumers or small and medium businesses.
There is indeed no mantra for the perfect product and services offerings for consumers in a turbulent economy, the only factor that makes markets move is ?innovation?.
Consumers today are less inhibited by technology and the rate of adoption is much higher than what it used to be earlier. The most important thing is to stay close to your customers and never stop listening and adapting based on what you hear. Today?s consumers are constantly evolving and there is a consistent need to evolve the product portfolio to reflect these needs.
While we do expect shaky times ahead, however, with better suited products for the market, we do expect 2012 to be another exciting year as far as technology adoption is concerned. Few trends that will clearly dominate the IT market in 2012 include consumerisation of IT, mobility, convergence of PC and mobile, emergence of new devices, and cloud computing. Keeping these trends in mind, we will continue to target prosumers to enable them to pursue their passions through technology, thus enabling them to enjoy an ?always connected? lifestyle. We at Dell don?t just create products because we can; they are designed with our customers in mind to create great experiences and enable them to manage their lives more efficiently. Our customer services and solutions will be the key differentiator next year for both the home as well as the commercial segments.
Telecom
New technologies will continue to rule
Krishnadeep Baruah
Director Marketing,
Research In Motion, India
Its complexities notwithstanding, India is a booming market and a land of promises. Succeeding in Indian market requires a careful unraveling of the minds of consumers. India is the nation of ?aam admi?, or the common man and diversity is the very essence of
our nation.
The year 2011 has been an important year for mobility, as it radically transformed the way consumers interacted with their cell phones and enhanced options in the form of smart phones and tablets also redefined consumption trends in this space.
Have we ever wondered how the next generation of users might use technology? And by the next generation, I do not mean the current five year olds, but the current teens to 20 year olds. I believe that a new generation of technology users emerge every five to seven years, and their technology needs and how they leverage it in their everyday life is vastly different from the previous generation of users. Just in the past decade or so, we have had three huge technology shifts based on user preferences. The first-half of the previous decade was the generation of the savvy online user. The second half was the generation of the social users (the Facebook generation) and the current generation is one of ?everything mobile? and we are in the middle of it.
Trends indicate that increasingly more ?online users? are turning ?online buyers? and are more receptive to such marketing efforts. The demand for newer products and services and appetite for e-commerce from these segments will only increase with time.
There is a huge potential for online services in India, if done right. Already a new breed of online services websites has been launched recently and more start-ups are being conceived every day. In the last decade, we saw how quickly and widespread (with over 500 million users) the Indian market absorbed mobile technology. Though a decade late, this could be the time for online services in India to claim its rightful place. In the recent past, many brand have reaped huge benefits through the online campaigns as they create an instant connect with the audience and generate real time feedback.
As marketers, catering to the current and next generation of technology users, our long term strategies will revolve around the next wave of technologies such as near field communication, augmented reality and content in form of high definition video, integrated social gaming etc. that would instantly catch the consumers? attention.
With 4G expectantly being pushed to the environment, 2012 would be the year of next generation technologies, combined with the creation of robust mobile infrastructure and ecosystem leading to increase in consumption of richer content.
Telecom
Change will be the only constant
Deepak Gulati
Executive President, Mobility Business, Tata Teleservices
The telecom space has turned into a resounding success story for the Indian economy. Going forward, we strongly feel that it will be the telecom sector that will usher in the next revolution in the lifestyle space. With constant innovation and unique products and services offerings, we will continue to create a never-before telecom experience and this will fuel the revolution. The full potential of the mobile phone has not been exploited by Indian consumers yet. We have progressively seen the mobile phone evolve from being merely a communications device to one that offers instant access to information services that bring in lot of convenience and impact the day-to-day life. The next evolution in mobile telephony will come with the mobile phone becoming a tool for lifestyle enhancement . This will happen with services like video gaming, video-conferencing, filtering, push-to-talk, comics and deco-mail, parental monitoring and home management.
Over time, the mobile phone will transcend from being a mere communications device to one that that provides behavioral assistance, with a slew of personalised services to suit individual requirements. This will give birth to a new era of telephony where an individual will be the owner of the content on the mobile phone, rather than just a carrier.
We will see the development of services such as e-wallet, live-TV, search engines and more becoming available on phones, leading to the mobile handset becoming a true extension of the owner?s personality.
The only constant in the telecom sector is change. With surging subscriber numbers, growing tele-density, increased penetration and competitive tariffs, the real game is about ideas that break away from set notions and chart out a new dimension, one where services and applications are customised to suit the needs of individuals, with telephony surpassing demographics and geographies.
Innovation will be the only answer to bring in this change.
Consumer Electronics
The four Ps of marketing will be more relevant than ever
Anirudh Dhoot
Director, Videocon & President, Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA)
The Indian consumer durables industry has witnessed a considerable change in the past couple of years owing to the changing lifestyle, higher disposable income, better affordability and a surge in advertising.
All these factors have brought in a sea change in the purchase patterns of consumers as far
as the durables industry is concerned. Apart from the
steady income growth, consumer finance and hire-purchase schemes have become a major growth drivers in the industry.
In the case of consumer goods, such as refrigerators, washing machines, colour televisions and personal computers, retailers are joining forces with banks and finance companies to make their goods affordable for consumers across income groups. In addition, change in some policies such as zero customs duty on imports of all telecom equipment have also boosted affordability and hence, the demand for imported goods.
Given the crowding in of the market, companies and brands will have to focus on differentiating their product and value propositions through promotions, effective and targeted marketing communication and better financing options besides expanding their distribution network. Customisation of offerings for consumers across the value chain will also determine the levels of success for consumer durables companies.
Technology will be yet another driver for the sector. Companies will continue to employ consumer friendly technologies that either help in reducing the prices of products or make them more effective and bring in extra benefits and if they are able to communicate their efforts well to the consumer, they will be able to win over their confidence and hence, get them to buy their products.
Besides ability to afford, attitude, values and beliefs, innovation will be another factor that will define and drive purchase decisions.
Consumer Electronics
Consumer engagement with gadgets will increase
Elkana Ezekiel
CMO, Samsung India
The year 2011 was a defining year for the consumer electronics and mobile industry with the dream of convergence being realised in many different ways.
While on the one hand, we saw televisions becoming ?smart?, on the other hand, we saw a plethora of devices being launched in the mobile space, such as smart phones and tablets, all providing consumers new ways to connect and do more while being on
the move.
The introduction of Smart TV in India has changed flat panel television from an entertainment product to an interactive medium. Consumers can now interact with their televisions in a totally new way by browsing the net, chatting, downloading applications and content while sitting in the privacy of their living rooms. Companies are now focusing on developing content that is relevant to Indian consumers akin to what we are seeing in the mobile space. The need of consumers to stay connected with their friends, family and work coupled with their desire to personalise devices as per their needs is contributing to the rapid growth in demand for mobile devices.
A slew of new models across different brands and platforms like Android, Bada, Windows
and at different price points is further fuelling this growth.
I can safely say that this momentum will be sustained
this year as well.
Tablets gained traction in 2011, as consumers took to the larger portable form factor to download data , movies and more multimedia content. So one saw different screen sizes being introduced in the market.
I expect a lot more action on this front in 2012. This year will also see convergence devices and technology-led categories becoming more popular with consumers wanting multiple functionalities in their devices.
The devices themselves are becoming more compact, sleeker and feature rich. And consumers are at the centre of this change, both driving it as well as experiencing it.
E-commerce
Ondine buying will proliferate
Ravi Vora
Vice-President, Marketing, Flipkart.com
The year gone was the landmark year in the evolution of e-commerce in the country. 2011 saw Indian consumers embracing ondine shopping like never before. The industry grew by 47% to reach
Rs 47,000 crore by the year-end. Travel continued to dominate with an 80% share. However what really caught everyone?s attention and imagination was the way e-commerce for physical goods took off in the country. In fact, ondine shopping seems to have finally come of age and there were multiple factors that contributed to this growth story.
Infrastructure components like broadband and wireless connectivity finally came together while increased credit card penetration and smart phones becoming more accessible added more customers. Further, presence of serious players who have invested in technology and supply chain helped deliver a positive experience to those who shopped ondine and the resulting word of mouth generated a wave that brought in many more new shoppers.
The value proposition of ondine shopping (selection, price and convenience) is strong and this trend will definitely pick up more steam in 2012. However, there have been a few macro-economic developments that one will have to watch out for. The weakening rupee, rampant inflation, the European debt crisis and the weakening stock market will all have a dampening effect on the consumer?s discretionary spends.
This may throw up some uncertainties but may also turn into opportunity for companies who can control costs without compromising on the overall value proposition. E-commerce companies should actually be able to rise up to this challenge with their lean cost structures
and low overheads and thus may stand to gain.
The focus in the sector, going forward, will be to get those still shopping only offline to test the ondine medium. Companies will try to win them over with better services, pricing and aggressive marketing plans.
Brands that can build engaging communication with relevant messaging will stand out and win the consumers? confidence. The traditional 360 model of developing a creative and stretching it across all media vehicles will bear closer scrutiny. Marketers will have to be sharper in their choices and select vehicles that deliver best in their target group without spreading their bets. Though the media vehicles may not see a big change, there will be an evolution of internet as a viable medium for advertising. Currently, in nascent stages, as the Indian internet users evolve and start consuming diverse content, the medium will become more attractive for a wider set of marketers.
Brands will also evolve their communication strategies in the space. While the current focus seems to be on pricing and discounts, going forward, we will see the shift towards more value added propositions. Indians are not just price conscious, they are value conscious as well.
Path-breaking features like cash-on-delivery, 24X7 customer support and 30-day replacement policy will drive traffic. As brands evolve, they will need to epitomize the values that their evolved consumers hold close to their hearts and become the means through which they can see
those values expressed and brought to life.
E-commerce
Travel will remain in vogue
Mohit Gupta
CMO, MakeMyTrip
The thought of ?India going into recession? is the height of pessimism in my view. Surely one cannot overlook the possibility of an economic slowdown; in fact, we are already experiencing it. Having said that, India as an economy has continued to experience growth through the last global economic slowdown and the same is likely to happen this time around as well.
And to drive growth, both the corporate sector and the SME sector will continue to invest into necessities such as travel. Besides, we have seen that as things get tighter, the need to take a break and de-stress continues to be strong, thus we do not expect a major slowdown in the leisure travel segment either.
Also internet as a segment is known for its transparency in deals and transactions, thereby attracting more users to this medium; we are expecting to draw more consumers and continue to grow robustly.
However, we certainly expect a shift in consumer choice of destinations, mode of transportation etc. For instance, there could be a preference for domestic travel and international destinations closer by like South East Asia, Mauritius etc that offer better value to Indian travelers. The current global economic uncertainty does throw up a lot of challenges, but it will also throw up a lot of opportunities for those who are willing to innovate and deliver value.
In terms of a communication strategy, we do not foresee any alteration in our media plans at the onset of a new year. Understanding the changing preferences of our target audience, a large part of media plan is dedicated towards digital media channels; may it be search, social, display or affiliate networks.
This will continue into 2012. But interestingly, as the internet population in India continues to grow at a rapid pace, television as a medium is increasingly becoming more effective in building brands & driving ondine businesses. Going forward in 2012, we shall continue to invest in television campaigns along with strong ondine investments.
Another interesting observation of consumer habits in 2012 is that price sensitivity will become an important aspect of travel purchases
and travel portals must pay heed to this.
We look forward to making 2012, a good trip for our consumers and therefore for us.