Experts share insights on consumer trends, rise of e-commerce at HiveMinds e-com Conclave

The next phase of e-commerce growth will come through personalisation, demand from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and the intelligent use of 1st party data. At the recently concluded HiveMinds E-commerce Conclave 2023, industry leaders from the e-commerce ecosystem in India came together to discuss what the consumers are looking for and how brands can deliver. The title sponsor of the event was Rocketium while the media partner was exchange4media Group (e4m).

In the panel on the ‘Importance of Data AI and tools in marketplaces’, Sripath Hariharan of Nivea India insisted that consumer trends cannot be overlooked. “In India, we will soon see the trends that are already prevalent in the global markets. Marketers should use the tools and Data AI to build campaigns and products for what tomorrow’s consumers will need”, he said.

Rocketium’s Karan Rao expressed that the consumers are now overloaded with information, so messages don’t register. He said the only way to get the message across is to personalise it and make it relevant for that user. He further added that data gives you the gift of time to study the trends and predict what will happen in the future.

In the other highly engaging debate on ‘Getting into the Mind of the Consumer’, Pooja Sahgal of Raymond Consumer Care said online marketplaces are a big brand-building opportunity. She opined that an integrated marketing strategy that intends to educate and engage a customer will go a long way in creating demand and fandom for online brands.

Rajeev Kohli, an e-commerce & marketing expert, mentioned how e-commerce platforms are now so important for fashion and beauty brands that marketers plan exclusive product launches exclusively for these platforms. “E-commerce can no longer be considered merely a platform to sell discounted products but rather a platform for learning about the future consumer”, Kohli said.

Abhishek Agrawal of Plum Goodness said that while the access and scalability of e-commerce marketplaces offer extended reach for a brand’s needs, for any brand, whether new or legacy, access to first-party data is paramount. It gives an insight into consumer and product feedback. Therefore, in his view, all CPG brands should focus primarily on their D2C website and m-sites. Brands’ digital assets are not only for selling but also for connecting with their users.

While discussing the impact of mega sales on e-commerce platforms on the panel ‘How to Get the Best Mileage from Online Sales’, CMOs of the leading appliance brands discussed the merits of launching innovative products during sale events.

Wonderchef’s Amit Tilekar pointed out that the data consumption per user has increased from 1GB per month per user to 13GB per month per user. “Continually exploring marketplaces is now a standard part of the user journey in buying appliances, so for brands heavily dependent on inventory planning, it makes sense to launch new products at least 45-60 days before sale events and observe consumer acceptance of products and cost. This way, such brands can better plan their inventory, sales targets, and marketing spends to maximise the impact during sale events”, Tilekar added.

However, e-commerce sales are not the answer to all scaling problems. Anand Dubey of Indkal Technologies noted that traffic on online platforms is significant during the festive season, and consumer intent to buy is even higher. Hence, the discovery-to-purchase journey becomes very short. He recommends that brands should invest during festive sales on e-commerce to convert users and build brand salience. He also reiterated the importance of inventory management: if a brand launches a new product during sales, predicting the demand and planning inventory becomes challenging.

Startup founders, marketing heads, and platform ad sales teams attended the event en masse. All delegates felt that the discussions, though very useful, were just conversation starters. There is a need for the industry to hold such debates more frequently to bring all stakeholders together to discuss and define the future of e-commerce in India.