'The need to serve customers in their own language is important'

Digitalisation and technology have changed the way we operate on a day-to-day basis. The e-commerce sector is one of the many sectors that have adapted technological advancements with both hands. From just online retail to mobile, social and even video commerce, the way we shop, has changed drastically and it is safe to say that there is no looking back!

At the Dentsu e4m Digital Advertising Report panel discussion, the evolution of e-commerce was discussed at length. The panelists included some noted names from the industry as Bharat Zende, Director, Strategic Accounts, VerSe Innovation; Juzer Tambawalla, Director - Products & Marketing, Franklin Templeton India; Resha Jain, Vice President, Content Marketing, SUGAR Cosmetics, and Roshni Das, Regional Marketing Director – Asia Pacific and Japan, Sales and Marketing Group, Intel Technology Private Limited. The session was chaired by Anita Kotwani, CEO, Carat.

Kotwani kick-started the session by delving into the e-commerce industry and observed that what has emerged is that the has really become the backbone of this retail sector. "With Rs 6,300 crore spent across the e-commerce platforms, the growth projected in our latest reports is about 38 percent. And this entire terminology of commerce everywhere, there is an increased possibility of shoppable experiences”, she said.

Roshni Das elaborated on the rapidly-evolving e-commerce space and said, “From a marketing perspective, there are a couple of things playing out and I would break that up into four to five areas. To begin with, I think that at the back of the pandemic, everybody has seen an acceleration and a behavioral change., in terms of how we are looking at this platform. In addition, we are seeing a huge amount of growth coming from lower towns [Tier II and Tier III cities]....and the last couple of things have been social commerce. In fact, 40 percent of online shoppers have, at some point, bought from social media channels. So, all in all, it is a very interactive economy to be a part of.”

Over the years, the way e-commerce operates has seen a bent towards conversational commerce. Speaking on the same, Juzer Tambawalla pointed out, “If I look at it from an asset management perspective, I think a decade ago. If a customer managed to transact online, he would be very happy. But in the last four-five years, we have seen customers say that transaction is passé but because financial services products do tend to be a little complex, they actually now want to do conversation while they are transacting. The other important change that we are seeing from an online commerce perspective is that people now want to transact in a language in which they actually talk.”

Deliberating on the shift from e-commerce moving to mobile and social commerce, and then the coming of video commerce and the subsequent change in marketing efforts Jain said, “How we look at it is that everything fits into each other; it's like wherever your customers are. The need to serve your customers in their own language is really important, and we do try to do that, especially when it's real people. I feel that a lot can be done in terms of technology and AI. Bur for B2C, the way I look at it – we want to ease the customer's journey wherever we can.”

On the relevance of the emerging platforms, Bharat Zende said that from a marketing and even a product standpoint, they are very relevant. "See, the apps that we have – Josh and Dailyhunt – largely act as a catalyst to the larger advertising partnership, where we provide users in a way where they can engage and sell their products and services. Also, like it was mentioned about talking to people in their own language – we have also been trying to do that in our own way. So, from that perspective, we are headed in the right direction", he noted.