Connecting with consumers is both an art as well as science. Both go hand-in-hand according to Shalini Raghavan, Global Brand Director, Dove Master-brand, Unilever. If you look at the science, market research helps us know consumers through insights which can be used to design products and fulfil their needs. Today, consumers are ahead of marketing. Information and data available to both are different. The future holds really big opportunity. The art is the ability to respond creatively to consumers.

The opportunity to build brand connection through consumer research and digital medium is bigger now pointed out Ajay Kakar, Chief Marketing Officer – Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group. The three point matrix for success is: 1. Business of attracting consumers. 2. Retaining and growing relationship with consumer. 3. Consumer advocacy. Those retailers that are managing to get the right mix of art and science to connect with consumers are hitting the nail.

To Bobby Pawar, Managing Director, Chief Creative Officer Publicis Worldwide – South Asia, business is about people. And the best tool people have to connect with brand is technology. Retailers need to understand both technology and people. If they don’t understand the feelings, they won’t be able to connect with people. The business is about reaching people’s hearts. Lastly, creativity plays an important role. The harder you try to analyse, the faster it disappears.

Being authentic and consistent is the mantra. Stay relevant. It’s all about how you are available to consumers. It’s about being relevant at right place right time, only then will loyalty follow. Ajay Kakar emphasised that we cannot keep consumers at bay and if we tell consumers what’s in store, they will come to us.

The panellists felt that market research helps and it is about finding the balance between what one wants to achieve and what the product is. Research in the right hands is worth its weight in gold. And that research in itself is not important, what one does with it research is important. How the data is interpreted and used is what matters. It’s not about research, but about actionable research.

It’s important to have a marketing team that has a healthy mix of creativity and business some of art and science and some of business will rub off then art will be created. Brands need to put people first. How you really put brand as part of people’s life is important. Be in consumers shoes, and you will create amazing connections. When you create anything for people, it will definitely connect well. Consumer connectivity beats the art of science.

Best music happens when two people come together. Its great partnership between creativity and planning, creativity and marketing & creativity and client. Unless it becomes organisation’s art and science it becomes history. You need the right attitude rather than only aptitude

Gone are the days when you will do one commercial and wait to get reaction from consumers. The word entertainment has become big while connecting with consumers. Its absolute critical to be rewarding. The reward could be emotional, intellectual or material.

Having said that, engaging with every consumer is different.

Content plays a crucial role in engaging consumers. Content is and will always remain the king irrespective of category or medium. Content can win over consumer if you speak consumer’s language. Authentic and relevant content plays vital role. Branded content is the new buzzword.

Kamath concluded the session stating brand engagement, brand content is relevant in today’s world and everything from packaging to designing product is important. Not all insights are right, you have to take your gut and intuition decision to build brand and connect with consumers.

Monish Chandan, www.monishchandan.wordpress.com

The distinguished panellists deliberating on the subject were:

Ganesh Subramanian, Founder and CEO of Stylumia Intelligence Technology

Krishnakoli Sengupta Kumar, Head- Shopper Marketing, Smollan

Manoj Gupta, Founder, Craftsvilla

Dr. Nitin Sanghavi, Prof. Marketing & Strategy, Manchester Business School

Shantanu Rastogi, Principal, General Atlantic

Bharat Balachandran, Managing Director and Co Founder, Just Buy Life

Vinay Nadkarni, Managing Director & CEO, Globus Stores

This was an interactive session with the audience being part of the discussion as much as the panellists. In fact, the audience had been invited to share their views via questions posted on social media and through feedback forms at the venue. Abhishek Malhotra, Partner, A.T. Kearney, started off the session with asking the panellists to share a brief insight into what they see as the future of the importance of data in making business decisions.

Ganesh Subramanian, Founder and CEO of Stylumia Intelligence Technology observed that one of the most underrated assets for any business today was data. He felt that it is high time that data is also considered as a valuable asset and captured in the balance sheets of the company.

The future source of data according to Manoj Gupta, Founder, Craftsvilla would be Google and that would play a major role in taking business decisions in the next few years. All the nagging issues today would be resolved through innovations.

The vision for 2020 for Dr. Nitin Sanghavi, Prof. Marketing & Strategy, Manchester Business School, would be to remember that most of the retailers today would become multi-channel and the share of online operations would be anywhere between 5% to 25%. A key issue to be considered would be whether it would be necessary to continue with large format stores.

Shantanu Rastogi, Principal, General Atlantic felt that though the future of retail would certainly be multi-channel, each of these channels need to adopt technology to make their operations profitable at a ferocious pace or else they would be left behind.

The one thing Vinay Nadkarni, Managing Director & CEO, Globus Stores said he could predict was that retail will not change much as regards to buying and selling. What will change substantially, would be the customers. According to him, since the last 17 years that he has been with Globus dealing with the youth, the perception of the customers has undergone a rapid change. The customer today is impatient and needs to know everything before he goes on to buy and hence it is imperative for the brand to be available to the customer when he thinks of buying and not just when he is actually buying.

Krishnakoli Sengupta Kumar, Head- Shopper Marketing, Smollan, was of the opinion that whatever formats we have today will exist and grow. However, increasing the productivity and profitability at the shop floor level will be important for a brand to survive.

Bharat Balachandran, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Just Buy Life felt technology integration wasn’t an option because technology has become an integral part of business today. What is to be seen is how well and to what extent would retailers be willing to embrace technology and that would depend solely on how they see themselves 4 – 5 years from now.

The moderator felt that it would be only those companies which adopt technology that are going to survive and those who are a bit late in catching the technology bus would be shutting shop.

Rounding up the discussion, facilitator of the session and CEO of RAI Kumar Rajagopalan said that consumers expect what they want, where they want, and when they want from a brand. And whether retailers adopt technology or not, it is imperative that companies adopt to these expectations of the customer to be able to survive in business and make a mark for themselves as a brand.

Representing offline stores, Nadkarni admitted that most offline retailers come to know the customer only post buying in which sphere online stores have a great advantage as they know the preferences and tastes of the customer before the actual buy. Any technological advancement on this front would help a lot in enhancing business volumes and values of brick-and-mortar stores to be able to compete with e-retailers.

All panellists agreed that even in future, there is a place for everyone and though the major players will be omni-channel, a few pure-play channels will remain as they are today. The brands will need to figure out how they would make money in the channel in which they operate.

Sanjay Thampy, http://sanjaythampy.blogspot.in

The distinguished panellists discussing on the subject were

Damodar Mall, CEO – Grocery Retail, Reliance Retail Limited

Hari Menon, Co – Founder & CEO, BigBasket.com

Riyaaz Amlani, CEO , Impresario –Hand Made Restaurants – Social, Smoke House

Deli, Salt Water Café , Mocha

Sadashiv Nayak , CEO, Big Bazaar

Sagar Jagdish Daryani, Founder,Wow! MoMo

Vijay Rajagopal, National Head- Business Development and Alliances, Zeta

“Farm to fork is a charming business where I get to meet farm producers,” said Damodar Mall, CEO – Grocery Retail, Reliance Retail Limited during the session From Farm to Fork – The Future Focus (FFFFF) at Retail Leadership Summit. Retailers are creators of demand, which allows them to succeed.

Hari Menon, Co – Founder & CEO, BigBasket.com informed that his company is very focused on fruits and vegetables. Since the consumption is three times higher, it makes a lot of sense for retailers of fruits and vegetables to go deeper into the supply chain. Things are slowly changing with consumers getting comfortable ordering for fresh produce online. Supply side isn’t a problem but demand is definitely a problem.

Sadashiv Nayak , CEO, Big Bazaar shared his experience of trying both the models. We need to figure out the valuations and ask whether can we create next Diwali. Developing the vendor relationship is core to success.

With regards to getting the best ingredients, Sagar Jagdish Daryani, Founder,Wow! MoMo said that at his company they keep things simple. He said we need to keep tapping down the chain for raw material when it comes to fresh food. In the food business it’s important to maintain three things: the right intermediary, right price and standard. Consumer wants something new every time, one should experiment with different models.

Representing the hoteliers Riyaaz Amlani, CEO, Impresario –Hand Made Restaurants – Social, Smoke House Deli, Salt Water Café, Mocha, hoteliers want to serve great good. The margin is much larger perhaps than the retail. Once you fix up contract there is no variation. You know you will get it at X price.

Coming to the digital segment in food, how far can one go in supply chain? “Whether you look at Farm to Fork or Fork to Farm looking at farmers, retails outlet and till the end point which is customer, it is fundamental to know what we can offer him better. Digital retail can bridge the gap. At the end of the day it’s all about customers,” Vijay Rajagopal, National Head- Business Development and Alliances, Zeta.

The difference between retailers and restaurateurs sourcing directly from farmers is that retailers are particular about how the produce looks on the shelf, for restaurateurs it should have great taste.

Monish Chandan, www.monishchandan.wordpress.com

Moderated by Jeffrey Tull of Deloitte, the panel included the following distinguished speakers:

Pushkaraj Shenai, CEO, Lakme Lever

Mahesh Murthy, Founder, Pinstorm. Co-founder, Seedfund

Nissan Joseph, Managing Director, Crocs India Pvt Ltd.

Rajesh Jain, Managing Director and CEO, Lacoste India

Rajiv Nair, Chief Executive Officer, Celio* Future Fashion Limited

Richa Kar, Founder and CEO, Zivame.com

Taru Dahiya, Head of Sales – India, Google for Work

Jeffrey Tull of Deloitte observed that strength, challenges and opportunities are different for every brand. We rely on individuals to bring that brand alive in consumer’s mind.

Speaking about the immensely popular brand Lakme Lever, CEO Pushakaraj Shenai said sustaining the brand was the biggest challenge. However, to him it was as much an opportunity as a challenge. Out of the various factors of brand building, purpose and passion were the most important as also personalisation. Not just consumers, employees to have feel positive towards the brand. “We are in the service business. If our associates or consumers are not feeling good, then we need to re-think on our strategy,” he said.

Richa Kar, Founder and CEO, Zivame.com spoke about the challenge of creating a good consumer experience in the digital space. She said that since online retail does not have certain elements of offline retail such as high engagement, high face value business, product and experience play vital role. We need to constantly communicate with consumers to know their needs and build on it. In both channels the level of experience are totally different. There are emotional and logical factors too involved.

Mahesh Murthy, Founder, Pinstorm. Co-founder, Seedfund said it was always fun to watch people love products. Rajesh Jain, Managing Director and CEO, Lacoste India to inspire positive feelings towards the brand, it’s important to believe in brand environment and continue to do lot of things. Especially in offline four factor especially matter: Product and quality, Innovation, Freshness and Consumer services. If the consumer feels pampered, it really makes a big difference to brand perception.

Taru Dahiya, Head of Sales – India, Google for Work felt that finding the perfect brand was like finding the perfect partner. What are the things people look for their perfect partner? Nature, character, personality and compatibility. She advised that brand custodians should listen to the consumers, show them they are there out see the difference. “Once you are connected with consumers you create a magical spark,” she said.

Rajiv Nair, Chief Executive Officer, Celio* Future Fashion Limited feels that how passionate you are about a brand is where the difference lies. Great assortments and great products and consistently reinventing the brand and high focus on staff and services is very important.

Nissan Joseph, Managing Director, Crocs India Pvt Ltd, it is important to focus on insights of sustaining brand and the brand grows eventually. He added that we need to create an experience without walking to the store. Extraordinary brands are built by going out of way to connect with consumers.

The retail environment is changing, competition is increasing and market share is fragmenting. The consumer believes in “Now”. They want immediate product at their home.

In such a scenario for a brand to be liked, there are two important aspects according to Taru Dahiya 1) Immediacy and loyalty 2) Intend and Identity. The intent to purchase and identity of company matters a lot.

According to Mahesh Murthy it’s not just consumers but even partners of the brand need to stay loyal. We as brand have to protect consumers and create an amazing experience. The key to loyal is getting people loyal before you get loyal.

Monish Chandan, www.monishchandan.wordpress.com

Gopalakrishnan Sankar, CEO, Reliance Footprint

Nikhil Chaturvedi, Managing Director, Prozone Intu

Rajneesh Mahajan, Executive Director, Inorbit Malls India Pvt. Ltd.

Siddharth Bindra, MD, BIBA

Anuj Puri, Chairman & Country Head, JLL India, said online retail is fully integrated. The digital platforms can be used to create unforgettable experiences. It does not depend on disruptive technology but also on other functions such as HR and marketing.

Speaking about Prozone Intu, Nikhil Chaturvedi, Managing Director said that from a mall a year in 2007 to mall a week in 2014 is a big swing for retail. Many of the vacancy at malls is designed in a way to fill in new brands. Most malls are running on optimal. India is the 5^th worst country in the world for ease of construction. Before a mall is built, it gives IRR of 20% and after it is built, IRR drops to 14% and later stabilises at 10%. There is Development risk and stabilise risk is 100%. Till it remains, same people are going to risk their money.

Giving the retailer’s perspective, Siddarth Bindra, MD, BIBA, said that getting the right space is still a big challenge. If you go to a successful mall, rental doesn’t make sense and if you got those that are not successful like some of them in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, then renting there doesn’t make sense.

Panellists agreed that until the rules and regulations governing both retail and shopping centres are not sorted out, it will take time for things to improve.

Retailers also have the option of going to high streets. However, Gopalakrishnan Sankar, CEO, Reliance Footprint admitted that at least for his company a good mall is definitely the first choice for expansion. High streets are the 2nd best option.

Currently the supply of good malls space is still limited. The reason that mall developers are going slow on new developments, according to Rajneesh Mahajan, Executive Director, Inorbit Malls India, is that the size of assets has gone up 10 times. If you add real estate land, interest, construction costs go three times higher. Unfortunately, India is not China, where you can make a mall in 18 months. “We are growing at rate of 1-1.5 %. Asset value has become very high. Risk demand is high,” he said.

The current concern is for a population of 1.2 billion, there are not more than a dozen developers.

Deliberating on where did we go wrong or why did we not do it right the first time, Nikhil Chaturvedi, Managing Director, Prozone Intu felt that there was a hurry to do more than to do it right.

The panellists agreed that foreign capital is essential to grow. There is need of right environment in which capital creation happens.

Siddarth Bindra pointed out that retail is a very capital intensive business. And that there are cycles in business and there are periods when business grows. We need to infuse capital when business is growing. The story of retail will take some time to capitalise.

Addressing, the question that was on everyone’s mind about online being a threat to mall and physical stores, Gopalakrishnan Sankar admitted that online is serious business and that no one can get away from it. The online threat is close to 35% and online is going to scale up.

Online retail tracks at an individual level. Each customer is a single entity to online players. They can track preference, sales and volume. Traditional retailers have got to find a way to compete with online retail. Convenience is going to be important. We are not only struggling with infrastructure, roads, transport but also lack of structure in social activities.

But an evolution in retail is underway. People are looking for convenience, price and experience. And for experience they have to go to a mall.

Monish Chandan, http://monishchandan.wordpress.com