“Now is the Time”: Customer Loyalty in India
Mr. Akash Sahai, Country Manager, AIMIA.
Findings
- 85% of smartphone and social network users are below the age of 35
- 45% of online consumers access the internet only through their mobile devices
- 40% of India’s urban internet users report that their online activities influence what they buy, whether online or offline
- Up to 8% of India’s retail market expected to be online by 2020
- In India, Kirana and traditional retailing still continues to be the single largest outlet for sale of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG
- 60% of urban internet users surf the net for entertainment, networking, business, education and shopping
The foundations of customer loyalty are created by the core drivers of:
- Quality
- Cleanliness
- Trust
- Service
- Value
- Information
Nature of young, urban, Indian consumer; his and her attitude to life and their relationship with technology
- Self-investment
- Cleanliness
- Trust
- Born better connected
- Value
- Information
Reasons for discrepancy between awareness and customer participation
Keeping in contact: The lagging internet infrastructure makes it challenging for Indians to access
Tangible value: Millenials believe that they should be able to earn rewards in less than three months. This is a long way from the current reality.
Meaningful rewards: Loyalty programs need to better answer the “What’s in it for me?” Question. Thirty-five percent of our Millenials and 40 percent of our Non-Millennials reported that relevant rewards would encourage them to join a loyalty program.
Multiple opportunities to earn: A robust loyalty program proposition includes the ability to earn across multiple purchase points with multiple types of payment.
Working together: One way of closing the gap, is through the introduction of coalitions and partnerships — where multiple complementary businesses work together so the sum of the parts offer greater benefits than individual businesses can deliver in isolation.
Loyalty programs: for registration or account checking purposes to see adequate value from them.
Based on the findings of study, the following is an advisory on program development:
- Keep it simple
- Facilitate early redemption
- Optimize for mobile
- Be sensitive to privacy
- Be open to partnership
About the Study
- Aimia partnered with IMRB International to conduct quantitative consumer research in India.
- Both online and face-to-face methodologies to provide a more robust set of data
- In total 1,516 quantitative interviews were conducted by IMRB — 706 online and 810 face-to-face.
- Fieldwork took place in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Guwahati.
- The surveys were randomly administered to individuals aged 19 years and above, SEC A, B & C across urban India.
- There were no specific quotas set for various age bands within the Millennials (19-29 years) and Non‑Millennials (30-55 years).
- Online participants were drawn from IMRB International’s online panel of 150,000+ verified panelists.
- The face-to-face also used the same questionnaire, converted into a Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) format.
“Now is the Time”: Customer Loyalty in India, Mr. Akash Sahai, Country Manager, AIMIA.