By Ankit Agrawal
Business community in general is very curious about how the market is faring for other businesses, whether the market is up or down or how a certain business will cope up in the financial year, etc. India is an evolving consumer market, with the consumption of FMCG goods increasing daily and we have seen that especially after COVID consumers want to buy reliable products from popular brands.
E-Comm, Modern Trade, and Quick commerce are gaining popularity with the newer generation of consumers as all the products from Agarbatti to Sneakers to electronics are available at click of a button. Physical retail shops have not lost their luster as well as Indian consumers still need to touch, feel, and smell the product before buying. With these 2 sets of consumers, consumption of goods is increasing but there is a flipside to this. We keep hearing stories that manufacturers are not happy with the business shaping up, goods are not being sold, etc. From a point of view of a company who are growing in double digits, I feel competition has increased at a higher rate than consumption and consumers have more options of the same product.
To stand out in the festive season marketing, a brand or company has to be innovative and flexible. By being flexible what it means is to come out of your comfort zone and try something new like new product range, new offers and more. Being flexible in today’s market actually adds to the aura of a brand and opens up a new consumer base for them. Flexibility for a brand includes understanding the consumer requirements and amending the product, understanding the competition and ensure the brand is equipped to take on the competition.
Secondly innovation will definitely help the brand and company to stand out. Especially during festive season, introduction of new products catering to festivals like Diwali help in giving the consumers more options for gifting or to create the perfect festive ambiance at home or office. Festive packaging plays an important role in creating brand recollection. For e.g – With Zed Black, we introduce some unique product like Bambooless Incense Sticks, Orva Reed Diffusers, Manthan sambrani Dhoop cups, Samarpan Puja Samagri Series or packaging to coincide with major festival. This has helped us in reaching out to our target audience with an offering specially for them. Specific product packaging for festivals like Diwali, Holi, and Christmas are a major part for a brand to attract consumers and to sell the products. Competitive pricing plays an all important role in enticing the consumers during the festive season. Innovation has to be affordable. The products should be priced in such a way that it gives value to customer apart from something new.
Brand must learn from previous festive seasons through consumer feedback and market survey to come up with products, offers, and more to suit the consumer and which will bring the consumer back to the brand.
A brand has to adapt and be alert to what the competition is working on. If a competitor is launching a new product or service, it is imperative that you add changes to a product or service which give more than the competition. Visualizing and anticipating what the competition is doing and countering it with a proper marketing strategy will help with the sale and create awareness for the brand.
In conclusion, you can always navigate through competition and festive season is by being flexible and by being innovative, which ultimately has to be has to be meaningful to customer in both in terms of value of the product, price of the product, affordability and usage of the product.
The author is director, Mysore Deep Perfumery House (MDPH) and Zed Black