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According to the experts, as far as retail and marketing are concerned, omnichannel is the way to go. They give consumers more than just bringing the supply and demand together
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In recent times, the retail sector has witnessed a revolution. With the digital revolution in the entire country especially after the COVID-19, every innovative and established outlet has shifted to online space in order to survive.
Presently, as e-commerce businesses expand, retailers are rethinking the usefulness of stores and taking advantage of digital instruments to keep those stores relevant amid the ongoing shift.
"The very interesting thing I have seen is that the world has moved from retail to online to omnichannel and it is the only way to go. One can see different patterns like consumers walking to the store, picking up and liking the product, then checking the rates online to make a decision whether they want to make a purchase from the retail store or they want to make it online. This has made things at the backend very different for everybody else," said Malika Sadani, Founder and CEO, Moms Co.
Sadani added that the distributors, shopkeepers and retailers are all having conversations about keeping the online world relevant before making any decision.
"The changes have been quite accelerating. It feels like every five years there is a new generation in India. From the consumer's standpoint, it is really just the adoption of technology. Retail is one of the industries that have been very heavily impacted by that. Ten years ago, most of marketing and access to information and content would come through broadcast mediums. So marketing is being done in an extremely hyper-personalised atmosphere at scale," said Vice Chairperson, Nalli Sarees, Lavanya Nalli.
While talking from a business owner standpoint, Nalli said that it is prohibitively expensive to set up the business and to start it and even technology-wise. However, presently everything has become democratic where people have options to choose from.
"When we started in India in 2011, the digital penetration was virtually negligible. In the country, even today, organised retail is less than 20 per cent. However, the entire journey has been phenomenal, because when we started the thought process was that there is no platform which has both the supplier and demand together," said Radhika Ghai, Founder and CEO, kindlife.in and Co-founder, ShopClues.
Ghai mentioned that omnichannel is providing more than just putting together supplier and demand. There is a certain value attached to it.
The eminent speakers were sharing their views on 'Retail: Store of the Future - Check-out the Retail Stores of 2030' at 'Unstoppable India: TiEcon Delhi 2022'.