A bird’s eye view on the FMCG market, PRACTICES &Trends in India
Mrs. K. Rajeshwari is a person who quite efficiently and fearlessly dons many hats at the same time. She’s currently Professor and Head of Department- Marketing and Retail Varsity at Chennai Business School. She’s one of the few persons who have dabbled in both marketing and teaching rather successfully, an experience that helps her effortlessly blend academics with mar-keting in the real world for her students.
Prior to taking up teaching as a full-time profession she has led corporate sales and marketing divisions at Unilever, Cavinkare and Nippon Paint in her 14 years in the cor-porate world. Well-known both in the corporate and teaching circles, Rajeshwari has her hands full juggling her various responsibilities with pa-nache – she is also a wife, mother, author, film-maker, visiting faculty at IITs and IIMs, blogger, Executive committee member of the Chennai IIM Ahmedabad chapter, columnist, speaker at vari-ous forums and, a marathon runner.
She has been recipient of the Women Achiev-er awards 2011, 2012- ACCEL Frontline, EWIT Organisations - 2011. She holds a degree in en-gineering from College Of Engineering, Guindy and an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. Her book “MY LIFE MY CHOICE” on mid-life career choices was well-received.
She lives in Chennai with her entrepreneur husband and son.
From the interview
How do rate the Indian FMCG market vis-a-vis that of the western world?
Depending on the nature of categories, levels of penetra-tion and competition clutter, varies. For example, soaps, tea, etc. are highly mature and hence have high competition. Hair colours, face masks, etc. have low penetration. Hence there is more opportunity for new players in these kinds of categories. The kind of mar-keting efforts within categories of similar penetration are not very different between West and here.
Do you see a new trend in the market? What is the trend-ing marketing technique in the FMCG sector?
More use of social media as a promotional tool. Also newer products are being launched in almost every category indi-cating higher levels of experi-mentation by consumers.
Can FMCG sector make it happen in the social network-ing sphere India?
Of course - there is al-ready evidence of this through brands like Walls ice cream, Sunsilk, etc. They can be used for awareness creation and loyalty programs.
Is the economy with respect to South India in a receptive space for ultra-luxury prod-ucts?
The South Indian consumer is generally more rational in decision making. Hence ultra-luxury products will appeal only if combined with strong functional benefits.
Which would you describe as your dream launch markets for FMCG brands?
Tamilnadu – with its high consumer literacy and media reach. Kerala for its distribu-tion/ accessibility.
What are the 2 rules you stand by in the FMCG market-ing?
Always focus on product benefit delivery. Always make unique products.
Can you tell us about one incident where launching a certain brand proved to be a challenge bigger than expect-ed?
In rural Karnataka, when we tried to launch Brooke Bond A1 Vitaminised tea, we had to do village mapping for distribution as well as come up with innovative rural promo-tional plans since media reach >was very low. We did film fes-tivals, local folk lore, etc.
In your opinion, how has the rules in the market place changed from say, 10 years ago?
Media penetration has en-abled brand awareness lev-els to go up significantly.
Data availability and hence feedback and analysis have become faster.
In your observation, what is the leading cause of changes/modifications being made to a brand?
Consumer or competition?
It should be consumer, ide-ally. In actuality, it is competi-tion. Most brands are still reac-tive not proactive.
Your take on brands with a social proposition. Is there a difference in their growth compared to brands that don’t involve in CSR claims? Does the product lose out in the face of social proposition?
CSR Claims work only for those brands that have estab-lished equity already. The so-cial proposition enhances the brand value.
How do you think the role of marketing and marketers has changed over the years in FMCG marketing?
Marketeers have to be very digital savvy for analysis and using social media. They have to be able to handle complex decision making at higher speeds than before.
While the whole FMCG business is supposed to be con-sumer centric, how devoted are companies and brands to ‘serv-ing’ the customer?
Good brands do ‘serve’ the consumer through their quality, consistency, availabil-ity and VFM proposition. No brand that doesn’t perceive to serve the consumer can suc-ceed in the long run.
BUDDING MANAGERS
MARCH 2014 ISSUE
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Posted On: Wednesday, 9 April, 2014 - 15:24