![\"01\"](\"http:\/\/rai.net.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/0115.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPanelists – from Left to Right:<\/strong> Vikas Choudhary,<\/strong> COO & CFO, AIMIA; Duncan Grant,<\/strong> Multichannel Director, The Entertainer; Latif Nathani,<\/strong> MD, eBay; Manish Tiwary,<\/strong> Executive Director, HUL; Sundeep Malhotra,<\/strong> CEO, HomeShop 18<\/p>\n Opening Remarks by the Moderator<\/strong><\/p>\n Some of the questions to explore today<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 Is having cutting edge technology enough?<\/p>\n \u2022 How can channels create innovative ways to showcase the experience?<\/p>\n \u2022 How do retailers decide which channels to use. Or is it the customer deciding?<\/p>\n \u2022 What can we learn from other markets?<\/p>\n Moderator: Ajit Joshi,<\/strong> MD, Infiniti Retail Ltd (CROMA)<\/p>\n How do you use multiple channels to reach out to customers?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 Our mobile business started only six months ago \u2013 but, it already contributes 12% to sales. <\/span><\/p>\n \u2022 We noticed that people\u2019s lives are spent between three screens – Televisions, Laptop and Mobile screens.<\/p>\n \u2022 So we decided to build a business that converges these three screens to provide a singular transaction point.<\/p>\n Convenience, quality and value drive our multi-channel approach to retail.<\/p>\n \u2022 We have to be careful in the channels we select \u2013 because TV shopping has to contend with the legacy of \u201csauna belts\u201d and \u201cRudraksh\u201d \u2013 so called, \u201cmagic\u201d as sold on TV.<\/p>\n \u2022 Our innovation has been to focus on using technology within the basic TV shopping process \u2013 example \u2013 customers use the \u2018red\u2019 button to shop seamlessly including payment.<\/p>\n \u2022 Another example would be the Virtual T3 wall at Delhi Airport.<\/p>\n Innovative experiments don\u2019t always have to create sales. They deliver value in terms of brand impact as well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sundeep Malhotra,<\/strong> CEO, HomeShop 18<\/p>\n What is the role of an online platform in boosting retail?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 We reach out to 4306 towns in India.<\/p>\n \u2022 At any given time, we have 2 million live listings.<\/p>\n \u2022 The reason our customers deal with us: We don\u2019t compete with our sellers<\/p>\n \u2022 We provide a level playing field for large and small retailers.<\/p>\n Whether its a CROMA or its the leather merchant in Dharavi \u2013 our proposition does not change.<\/p>\n Are retailers in UK scared that the market places will take over?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 If you look back \u2013 traditional brick and mortar retailers initially saw Amazon as a price predator.<\/p>\n \u2022 Several of those who took the view, that \u201cthere is no money to be made online\u201d have since gone bankrupt.<\/p>\n \u2022 We don\u2019t consider online players to be a threat but a opportunity for us to reinforce our strengths.<\/p>\n \u2022 18% sales have been generated from our online presence.<\/p>\n \u2022 Although we have competition from online retailers, we are growing at 10%. (Which by UK standards is FAST)<\/p>\n \u2022 Most retailers in the UK (with the exception of very sharply focused value retailers like Primark) have adopted online.<\/p>\n \u2022 For the \u201cmass market retailers \u201cwho sell branded products – like us \u2013 we all accept that we will compete with; but cannot be the cheapest, the way Amazon can.<\/p>\n We need to ask \u201cWhat can I do that others can\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 That means innovating on our core value proposition \u2013 the in-store experience.<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cClick and Collect\u201d \u2013 Launched this service 2 years ago – allows customers to order online and collect in-store.<\/p>\n \u2022 Last year, introduced a 30 mt delivery service \u2013 using live inventory feeds.<\/p>\n \u2022 These services account for 40% of total online sales; but they are growing 100% on a Y-O-Y basis \u2013 this is very significant.<\/p>\n How do you cope with Show-rooming?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 By accepting it as a fact of life.<\/p>\n \u2022 We do see instances where customers come in for product knowledge and then buy online.<\/p>\n \u2022 But this is the case with all retailers.<\/p>\n \u2022 There will be customers of the market places who come to us for the service experience.<\/p>\n \u2022 We cannot afford to be distracted by the phenomenon \u2013 and must continue to differentiate.<\/p>\n Duncan Grant,<\/strong> Multichannel Director, The Entertainer<\/p>\n Practices around Big Data and analytics which are unique?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 All senior people in HUL have to spend time online and in the call centre. We call it a \u201cPeople Licence\u201d.<\/p>\n \u2022 This is not a substitute for real-time interaction with our consumers.<\/p>\n \u2022 We are the largest digital advertisers in India. YouTube is an important channel to get our message across.<\/p>\n \u2022 We also have a \u201cdigital licence\u201d from Google \u2013 making sure that senior people are trained to understand what makes online \u201ctick\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 Work towards ring-fencing our investment in digital<\/p>\n \u2022 Use digital as a \u201cAdvance Release Medium\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 For example \u2013 we launched Tresemme online, exclusively, in advance of the store launch.<\/p>\n \u2022 Objective was to get customer feedback.<\/p>\n Will continue to invest in digital. Also purely social channels such as YouTube.<\/p>\n Manish Tiwary,<\/strong> Executive Director, HUL<\/p>\n How can customer footprint be effectively harnessed?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 We have to create inspired shoppers.<\/p>\n \u2022 The ROI from using technology is far greater when customers feel cared for.<\/p>\n What\u2019s big about big data?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 Allows personalization of the shopping experience as never before.<\/p>\n \u2022 Sainsbury\u2019s Nectar program introduced \u2013 Real Time Coupons.\u00a0 They spend USD 300 mio on a year \u2013 creating personalized offers for each visit of each shopper.<\/p>\n \u2022 For one of the segments of buyers \u2013 called \u201cconfident cooks\u201d \u2013 the retailer analyzed their online search behavior on Yahoo.co.uk, extrapolated the same to SKU\u2019s of Sainsbury’s\u2019 and then created visit<\/span> specific discounts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Vikas Choudhary,<\/strong> COO & CFO, AIMIA<\/p>\n How can technology be used to protect consumer data?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u201cTrust and confidence plays a major role in the online retail space.\u201d \u201cBetter data collection and warehousing in the need of the hour.\u201d Future channels of choice<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Red button shopping on the TV Remote<\/p>\n Sundeep Malhotra,<\/strong> CEO, HomeShop 18<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kiosks for repeat orders \/ monthly replenishment<\/p>\n Manish Tiwary,<\/strong> Executive Director, HUL<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Final worlds<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Sundeep Malhotra,<\/strong> CEO, HomeShop 18<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Manish Tiwary,<\/strong> Executive Director, HUL<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a>\u2022 Temples and mosques in India don\u2019t run a loyalty program, but millions believe. How many retailers are able to make loyalty a religion?<\/p>\n<\/a>\u2022 We started our flagship 24-hour retail channel about 7.5 years ago and our Internet business about 2.5 years ago.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u2022 We have been present in India since 9 years. We have 5 million registered users – 2 million active ones. Have been a market place for 19 years.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u2022 The entertainer does about USD 3 mio (Rs 19 cr) of business with Amazon.\u00a0 We\u2019ve launched in France and Germany without physical stores, through the marketplace tie up with Amazon.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u2022 We have 2.3 million FB users and we use these numbers to understand customer preferences.<\/p>\n<\/a>\u2022 It\u2019s how we create trust among customers and reciprocate that trust that results in loyalty.<\/p>\n
\nLatif Nathani,<\/strong> MD, eBay<\/p>\n
\nVikas Choudhary,<\/strong> COO & CFO, AIMIA<\/p>\n<\/a>Kiosk and mobile shopping.<\/p>\n<\/a>Retailer loyalty cards.<\/p>\n<\/a>Online and Offline are complementary.<\/p>\n<\/a>Data is no substitute for customer connect.<\/p>\n