Shoppers, dont stop; keep reading. Big retailers arefinding new and interesting ideas to woo you and they go beyond pricediscounts, free parking and Facebook presence. So, look forward to attendingsome workshop on cookery or interior design workshop right inside your colony,conducted by Spencers Retail. Or, to getting your new pair of Bata shoes,which was not available at the neighbourhood showroom, delivered home bycourier.
Retailers such as Spencers Retail, Shoppers Stop, FutureGroup, ITCs Wills Lifestyle and Bata India are trying new tricks to connectwith customers and build a relation that will give them an edge in the rapidlygrowing but increasingly competitive retail market in the country. And theyoffer a whole lot of services, from home delivery across the country and styleadvices to workshops in residential localities and free yoga classes.
Such initiatives, retailers say, will help them stayconnected with consumers and get crucial insights into what people want. Throughsuch initiatives, we can get a fix on what customers want and come up withservice initiatives accordingly, says Sanjay Gupta, marketing head atSpencers Retail.
Within a couple of months, the RPG group firm will start apilot project in Kolkata, dubbed At Home with Spencers, where it willconduct workshops on cookery, art-of-life, health & hygiene, interiordesigning, fashion and beauty for women at residential colonies. The programmewill be rolled out nationally within months, says Mr. Gupta.
Shoppers Stop is already running its Start Something NewToday campaign in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore to push a different fashionproduct every week through local advertisements and social media. And it hitthe bulls eye.
The results have been fantastic, nearly tripling the salesof some fashion items, says Vinay Bhatia, customer care associate and VP,marketing & loyalty, at Shoppers Stop.
Shoppers Stop also runs other relationship-buildingprogrammes in local catchment areas such as holding yoga classes every day fora group of 15-20 people at its Chembur outlet before the store opens. Itscome to a stage when retailers have to think how to be different, says KumarRajagopalan, CEO of Retailers Association of India (RAI).
At a strategic level, retailers want to define their abovecustomer expectations (ACE) model, he says. Its all about exceeding customerexpectations.
Such initiatives range from retailers providing free parkingat malls and using social networks to increase customer engagement to offerssuch as Big Bazaars promise to pay double the price difference if any productis found to be cheaper at a rival shop, says Mr. Rajagopalan.
Bata India, which has the largest network of stores in thecountry, recently introduced a home delivery service in metros. The service,now available in metros, will soon be available across all Bata stores,according to Bata India MD and CEO Marcelo Villagran.
ITC Wills Lifestyle has gone a step further. If a customeris unable to find any particular size/style that is available in any of itsstore in the country, it will be made available to him/her without anyobligation to buy. Alternations are done within an hour or home delivered.
If you can meet and exceed customer expectations, it makesa deeper contact and has a more lasting impression, says Atul Chand, CEO,retail business, ITC Lifestyle.
Originallypublished in The Economic Times on 6 Aug 2010, writtenby Sreeradha D Basu, ET Bureau, Kolkata
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