Insight of In-Store Asia 2011

In-Store Asia 2011 kick started on Feb 1st 2011 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai. The exclusive show on marketing-at-retail was a series of presentation by eminent personalities in the industry and ended with a vitalizing panel discussion.

Harish Bijoor, Chairman ' Steering Committee, In-Store Asia 2011 opened his session by giving an address on "Insight is it!'. He stressed on the fact that today insight goes a long way in creating a better understanding of the consumer or shopper.

Shailesh Chaturvedi, CEO and Director, Tommy Hilfiger Apparels India then presented on "Insights on taking an international premium lifestyle icon to small towns ' The Tommy Hilfiger India Story'. His presentation was enlightening and interesting.

Stephen Remedios, Head, Trade & Customer Marketing, Personal Care & Modern Trade, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. spoke at length about "Partnering with modern trade to deliver shopper marketing programs based on customer and shopper insight'.

Andrew Cambell, Chief Brand Officer, Reliance Retail gave a preview to what modern trade retail may look like in ten year time. He said, "Location is going to be king. There will be a fundamental shift in education and employment. The role of international retailers will be growing more than ever. The retail partners in India will also see a change." By showing a few videos on futuristic trade, CAmbell gave the audience a good understanding of what the future may look like provided one concentrates on the present.

"Captivating Shoppers in New Ways using Shopper Insights' was the basis of Jim Lucas', EVP, Global Retail Insight and Strategy, DRAFTFCB, presentation. He discussed the innovative ways a marketer could capture the attention of the shopper to get his product or brand noticed in a store.

Simon Ong, Group MD & Co-Founder, Kingsmen Creatives Ltd. gave a detailed presentation on "Retail design trends in Asia'. He showed through pictures the various different trends that are in use across Asia. He spoke about the importance of having a beautiful and an attractive interior structure, so that a shopper feels like entering the store. It is important for a shopper to have a good experience while he is shopping. Through various examples that ranged from Theatre kitchen concept to food courts to bookstores, the audience was captivated by his presentation.

Sudhir Pai, VP & Head of Hamleys Business (India)-Reliance Industries LTd. (Retail Business), presented on "Delivering in-store engagement to the shopper as well as the end user in the toy category'. He discussed as to how various initiatives can be created to ensure this sort of engagement. Through videos of the Hamleys' store, he explained how Hamleys did it. He also said Hamleys wanted to get the formula right before they thought of expansion in this market.

The day ended with the panel discussion that summed up the day's thoughts and ideas. Moderated by Bijoor, the panel consisted of Rahul Saigal, VP, Retail-Ogilvy Action, Naveen Keswani, AVP, Customer Marketing, Kraft Foods, Gopi Krishnaswamy, CEO, Insight Instore and Jim Lucas, EVP, Global Retail Insight and Strategy.

The panel discussion began with Bijoor asking the importance of insight. Saigal said, "Insight is trying to understand what part of the shopper inhibits buying. After understanding this, one tries to solve it."

Keswani said on the chocolate segment, the biggest barrier is the relevance factor. "The consumer questions herself, why is she buying this bar of chocolate? Is it for herself or for sharing or gifting, she thinks to herself before she actually makes the purchase." Therefore, he goes on to say, verbal or subliminal messages are necessary at the store level.

The discussion then shifted to sensorial messaging. Krishnaswamy said, "Smell and sight are on the top of the chart in this area. For chocolates, leveraging smell makes a difference," he said.

Saigal was of the opinion that not enough advertisement was being done in this area, though it was an exciting space.

Bijoor then went on facilitate discussion on various other specific insights like money, superstitions, rationality and whether insights are global or local.

The panel discussion was precise and to the point and informative for the audience. | By Janees Antoo [janees(at)adgully.com]

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