“During the lockdown, marketers’ focus has shifted from growth to showing purpose”

OLX is India’s leading consumer-to-consumer marketplace for pre-owned cars and motorbikes, mobile phones, household items and also for jobs and real estate. In India, it already has 85% market share of the C2C online trade, 80% of the omni channel pre-owned cars market share via OLX Autos, while OLX People and Waah Jobs has emerged as the leading blue & grey collar jobs recruitment marketplace in India. According to Google Play Store, OLX is the #1 buying + selling mobile App in India and is currently trending at 7 billion page-views a month.

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The pandemic has brought in a considerable shift in the behaviour of the customers as everything has moved towards digital. Digital has become the new way of transacting business as many people continue to work from home. Even the not-so-tech-savvy population has also started figuring out their way around apps to adopt better digital experiences, so the fear factor associated with online transactions has reduced considerably. People have started spending online very consciously and there has been a surge in traffic, especially for pre-owned goods.

Speaking to Adgully for the marketing column – MARKETING MINDSSapna Arora, CMO, OLX India, speaks at length about the company’s strategy during the pandemic times, how brands need to remain relevant to users at all times, adapting to the rapidly changing consumer behaviours and much more.

How is the role of the CMO undergoing a transformation amid the pandemic and an increasingly digital-first focus?

Times are changing fast. As consumers accelerate their digital journey, brands are honing the phygital experience, offering hybrid routes of engagement to people, and moving to digitised work operations. There has been a shift in consumer behaviour. People are consuming consciously now. New customer touch points are being added even as we move ahead with sensitivity and caution.

We are making changes to align with consumer needs. For instance, in February 2021, OLX Autos launched a web and mobile platform, designed to bring a new level of innovation and convenience to pre-owned car trading, for dealers and for consumers. The interface provides buyers entire information related to a pre-owned car, as well as direct access to financing for the same within the app. Thus, buyers may purchase pre-owned cars from the OLX app directly, in a contact-less, cybersafe environment, with no need to visit the OLX Autos stores.

However, ever since India became the epicentre of the epidemic, with a positivity rate among the highest in the world, we have rolled out a slew of supportive measures. CMOs are pitching in with support, holding out assurances to customers and to in-house staff. At OLX, we have modified our plans and opened up our social media handles to people seeking help, allowing users to leverage our reach and ensure wider sharing of messages. We have started donation drives and have partnered with GiveIndia to provide food to COVID-affected families. Our brand messages offer hope, address vaccine hesitancy, match plasma donors with seekers and warn about fraudsters defrauding specifically on COVID-19 related essentials.

What do CMOs need to do to ensure clarity of their brand message in a cluttered market in these challenging times?

Brands that connect with customers deeply, perform better, even if the market is oversupplied. It helps to think, why does this business matter in your customer’s life? Find the technical, functional and emotional touch-points of your business, and work to hone those. A customised approach sends positive signals. Also, a brand has to remain relevant to users at all times, and show evidence of trustworthiness. Responsible brands pitch in during moments of crisis. So, the focus is to stick to the core values of offering quality products, while also aligning with causes that matter, showing purpose in brand messaging.

In the COVID-induced pause, people have been spending time on social media, either bonding, or catching up with friends and family, or just scrolling through Twitter or news platforms, to figure out what shape the virus is taking next. Brands should stay connected on the social media universe of their customers. Given the scale and ferocity of the second wave, it makes no sense to get into brand launches. It will simply annoy customers.

The lockdown has taught marketers too many lessons that can’t be unlearnt. The focus has shifted from “growth” to that of showing purpose.

What kind of categories or verticals have shown more engagement and traction? Did you revisit your marketing strategy to leverage the opportunity due to the pandemic?

As people have been confined to homes, either working from home or taking online classes, the need for laptops and smartphones has gone up. With time in hand, people have utilised the same to sell their products on OLX. We have seen a surge in traffic on our platforms. People are spending consciously, and there’s a lot of potential for pre-owned goods.

Right now, we are battling the world’s highest number of cases and mortality rate. We cannot look at figures plainly. We have changed the axis of our engagement. Brand messaging now shows our side of care. It’s no more just a transactional relationship. We have to be real, and share the purpose to ensure lasting engagement.

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There are a lot of trust elements that one has to factor in the online buying and selling business. As a brand, how have you built the trust part with your customers, so both buyers and sellers are assured when they transact on your platform?

We believe in complete transparency and have a culture of strong ethics across all our verticals on OLX. Our new user interface for the classifieds marketplace provides customers with a simple way to to buy millions of products at a tap with the requisite information available to them for their consideration. For example, in the automobile category, consumers can view the entire history of the car’s usage and filter out if a particular model or brand is best suited for them even before they decide to purchase it. Buyers and sellers are both assured of quality of service and our principles of fairness, so that both sides strike a good deal.

With more transactions moving online, we are aware of frauds and take cyber frauds seriously. Our role in connection with cyber-crimes is three-fold. One, we prevent fraudsters from entering the platform through technology filters and site auditors. Second, we educate users on how to transact safely on the platform. We do this through chat boxes, offline workshops and through social media channels. And finally, OLX reacts swiftly to frauds that take place. Our Trust and Safety Helpline provides users with an effective means to report fraud, and our network partners expedite and solve cases on a priority.

Over the years, how have you embraced technology and how has that influenced your approach to marketing?

We have digitised our operations, and buying and selling is more seamless and hassle-free now. With the onslaught of COVID-19, we have offered remote work options to our staff, as well as contactless access points to our customers.

The universal move to digital operations has led to a different paradigm of work, and there has been a reassessment of our workflows. Omni-channel retailing, answering queries in real-time and addressing consumer pain points is at the heart of the new change. We continue to delight, engage and connect with customers on social media platforms. Technology has made the entire process more customised. Surveying the range that’s on offer digitally, people can directly visit the verticals they want to.

Given the constant flux in consumer behaviour, especially in pandemic times, what is your go-to strategy to understand your customers’ unique wants and needs?

One of the main changes in consumer expectations is the desire to have a contactless experience. For example, in the auto industry, almost 90% of buying decisions are being taken online as per a study by Kantar TNS. Consumers are relying on trustworthy digital platforms to drive their purchase decisions.

To control the spread of the disease, various measures were taken, including localised lockdowns. Since all elements of the economy are related to the public health emergency, this has resulted in economic instabilities. Our social media is full of helpful suggestions to people, advocating COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and encouraging people to vaccinate. We are reaching out to people to show our support.

In order to provide enhanced customer experience, we recently announced the launch of our franchise-led pre-owned car retail stores, called OLX Autos. Marketing is evolving with the times. It has to be more people-centric, and right now that’s what we are focussing on.

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