Exclusive | eMart Solution's Srikanth Chunduri on loyalty, marketing & more

As large companies mark their forays into multiple sectors and young ones joining the bandwagon, marketing activities have evolved significantly over the years. As structured marketing efforts gain higher importance than just traditional strategies, loyalty programs are topping that list. While it may be not be as bigger a concept in India like the other countries, home-grown loyalty solutions companies have upped the ante.

Founded in 2009 by Aditya Bahmidipaty and Srikanth Chunduri, eMart Solutions is today, touted to be one of the top five loyalty services provides in India and is poised to grow and expand aggressively, both, domestically and Internationally.  Emart is changing the loyalty landscape in India by their unique and incisive approach towards loyalty. FirstHiveTM, Emart Solutions’ proprietary on demand SaaS based multi-channel technology platform delivers ROI to some of the world’s largest brands on their loyalty programs.

Speaking about the robustness of the loyalty service industry, Chunduri said, "We estimate that the current size of the loyalty industry in India is valued around 12000cr (~$2Bn) and poised to double in the next three years. India is currently the third largest economy in the world with a growing middle class of more than half a billion people with increasing disposable income and higher purchasing power. The economy has also witnessed sound growth in sectors like Retail, BFSI, Hospitality, Consumer Electronics, Automobiles, among others. The growth numbers as well as the number of players in these sectors is providing more choice to consumers. This increased choice makes it challenging for brands to stay relevant to consumers unless they invest in personalization. Thus, one can see where the loyalty service market is headed to in the coming years."

The loyalty market is maturing with more brands now looking to move beyond promotions, and moving into a space where they truly engage with their stakeholders at an emotional level. "Today, we see programmes spanning every industry, from soaps to cables. eMart Solutions is today amongst top five loyalty services providers in India and is poised to grow and expand aggressively, both, domestically and Internationally. eMart today impacts a business of over INR 10,000 crores in India," he added.

eMart Solutions is today considered as one of the very few India based technology product organisations that focus on maximizing the Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI).

Speaking about the strategies that made them reach the position that they are in, he said, "We always paid attention to the multitude of touch-points that customer generate with their interactions with brands across multiple channels. We also noticed how little was done to monitor these touchpoints to progressively improve customer experience. Most marketing organizations were spending valuable dollars to run multiple campaigns and, unfortunately, were not building intelligence and assets that could be use for better customer experience in future campaigns. We recognized the potential of empowering brands to get access to the multi-channel touch-points created by consumers and have made this central to our core product."

Being in the loyalty service industry, it is very important to build awareness and market the product right. Sharing insights on how eMart Solutions caters to that need, he said, "We have always focused on building emotional loyalty with our clients, by partnering with them on their marketing needs and goals. When an enterprise customer is emotionally loyal to us due to our partnership approach, they value the relationship and the care we provide. This approach of ours is core to how word of mouth has helped us reach where we are. And, this is apparent based on the number of referral leads and renewals we get from our existing client base."

The loyalty market is increasingly getting heated up with multitude of loyalty programs, but the long-term success of any loyalty program depends on how well the programme engages the finer sensibilities of the customer, and makes him or her feel part of an elevating experience. To deliver that, technology plays a crucial role as both a loyalty platform and communications channel.

"Our engagement model is another aspect that enables us to outpace competition. We engage with the clients on the basis of partaking their responsibility of success. This has helped build our credibility among several Fortune 500 clients of ours, and helped lay the platform for the exponential growth targets we have set for the organization," he adds.

As mentioned above technology today plays a vital role in enhancing the growth of the loyalty service industry. Elaborating on the same, Chunduri said, "We believe that multi-channel technology is the going to be the game changer in the loyalty industry. The ability to leverage technology across multiple channels in order to deliver hyper-personalized engagement programs is the key to brand loyalty. The use of data analytic tools to drive relevant programs to the relevant audience will play a critical role in the success of any program."

Loyalty is universal, but the engagement programs differ according to the geography, product or service itself. In consumer loyalty programs, it tends to be most relevant when either the frequency of purchase is high, or the value.

Theoretically, all industries across FMCG, tyres, auto lubricants, electrical wires and switches, retail, construction, travel, and hospitality can benefit by deploying some loyalty frameworks across their business. "However, certain industries have matured faster than others, with respect to acceptance of loyalty solutions, like travel, hospitality, and retail. There have also been interesting cases in some low involvement sectors wherein although the end user might be a consumer who would buy the product or service once or twice in his life time, his purchase decision is largely influenced by the seller or an intermediary. Loyalty will increasingly become a crucial differentiator in the era of intense competition," he concluded.