The future of Shopper Marketing in India - Part 2

In my previous post on the Future of Shopper Marketing in India, I started with asking some questions. Some are random questions which came to my mind, some were questions from the observations I had, few from all the time I spent visiting stores, some from all the travel I did in the recent months and more questions about how as marketers and communication strategist we're tackling the moment of truth - when a shopper is inside the store to buy you?

Shopper marketing is a huge mash-up of engagement, experience, convenience, intelligence, insights, design, architecture, aisle browsing, visualization, technology, mobile apps, QR codes, shopping coupons, vouchers, loyalty program, bargains, and plenty of other things in between. So it becomes difficult to describe in few words. But if I had to explain shopper marketing to my mom, I would say its "the energy spent in giving you an experience to engage with brands inside the store that makes you browse, choose or buy things that was not in your shopping list." Ha, am sure mom will give an unconvincing nod and get back doing her stuff. Anyways.

If it is all about the experience to attract, engage and make a shopper buy, then trust me, technology has to be your biggest ally. What I mean by that is, you need to understand, tinker, experiment and play with different kinds of technologies to achieve your objective. And here's what I mean by that:

"la bulle": bar éphémère Coca-Cola (/W&Cie) from W & CIE on Vimeo.

Hell, we're now talking about 3D holographic boxes to seriously tamper with your realities. Via (Bit Rebels)

Well, I'm not even half through my research and I kid you not, its a bloody huge subject. Your mind is completely fucked at the end of it but you do emerge enlightened. Watch out for more. Cheers.

Future of shopping in India

The whole concept of 'going shopping' has changed. 'Shopper Marketing' is fast changing too. Significant shifts has happens in shopping. Mall crawling with credit cards in wallet to home -delivery to e-commerce and internet shopping to m-commerce and mobile shopping. These days we're talking about Social Shopping which is a giant leap in itself. Google just released some interesting statistics. And here the Fast Company talks about the future of shopping. So what is the future of shopping?

In India, unfortunately we don't discuss or debate important issues like these anymore. We in India are still a developing nation and hanging around in malls is increasingly becoming a nation past-time. So obviously the question comes in my mind, how will shopping change in India? What consumer behaviors will drive shopper marketing and how will brands and retailers adapt technology? How will Indian consumers use technology for their benefits? How will shopping for daily usable items change compared to shopping for luxury items? Will smart apps replace the joys of leisurely mall crawling in the afternoon? Will we shop with our smart phones and get charged for the door delivery service? Will we see a Phoenix Mills Mall in Mumbai apps available on Smart Phones, where we pre-select and buy things and just visit the mall to pick-up those on the way back home? Or Big Bazaar Apps (They created FutureBazar, the online version of the store however, it ain't easy to navigate and the user experience is relatively poor) that still allows consumers get the cheapest deals without the crowd, chaos and long queues? Will we have to wait for international brands like Zara & Gap & Diesel to change things or can we write our own future? How will cashless shopping will become the accepted norm? When will we start flash our smart phones and walk out of the store?

SO THE QUESTION IS: HOW WILL TECHNOLOGY HELP EVOLVE SHOPPER MARKETING IN INDIA? HOW CAN WE REMAIN AHEAD OF THE CURVE?

No doubt the future of shopping and shopper marketing will be mobile apps trying to recreate the experience of shopping. Product catalogs for smart phones is already the new thing for big retailers and billions are being spent on providing a flawless user experience to shoppers. RFID technologies, Location based services, mobile payment gateways, social shopping will truly transform the way we look at shopping in India.

Now these are serious issues staring at the face of marketers and retailers in India. However, I do feel we lack the conviction and courage when it comes to experimenting or challenging the status quo of providing simplified solutions for the future where people are converging towards.

I'm doing some serious thinking and research in these subjects, so please feel free to share your views and comments and point to interesting articles, blogs, books that you might stumble upon. Cheers.