HiveMinds-e4m ecommerce conclave hosts D2C leaders
Industry leaders and heads of D2C brands engaged in conversations about the diversity of channels and their role in the growth of the business and path to profitability
HiveMinds in partnership with e4m organised an e-commerce conclave on June 6 in Gurgaon.
Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison World, opened the floor for speakers from across D2C brands in India.
Shireesh Joshi, Chief Business Officer, ONDC, gave a new spin on the upcoming future of e-commerce in India, by calling ONDC, a 3.5-year-old toddler, in foretelling about the future, that will have “unimaginable sophistication” in digital transactions.
In the discussion on D2C Brands & The Secret Sauce for Success in India, Adarsh Sharma, Chief Business Officer, FS Life (FableStreet), Prejit Narayan, Chief Business Officer, boAt Lifestyle, Om Naulakha, Senior Vice President, ChrysCapital and Vikram Sakhuja, Group CEO, Madison Media & OOH, spoke about diversity of channels and their role in the growth of the business and path to profitability. The panel explored the criticality of the differentiation needed on pricing, offering and experience to make D2C successful whether it is web or offline store.
Customers always surprise the brand owners, this theme was explored in a fireside chat “what I learned from my customers”, between Shreedha Singh,Co-Founder & CEO, The Ayurveda Co.® - T.A.C, and Nawal Ahuja, Co-founder, Exchange4media Group. The session was chaired by Aparna Thakur, Senior Vice President, HiveMinds.
D2C discussions can’t be complete without exploring the Growing need for Omnichannel Strategy for D2C brands. This topic was discussed in detail in a panel chaired by Jyothirmayee JT, CEO, of HiveMinds, with speakers Chella Pandyan, Chief Growth & Marketing Officer, Jubilant Foodworks (Domino's), Pooja Baid, Chief Marketing Officer, Philips Domestic Appliances, Sagar Boke, Country Head, Vectura Fertin Pharma (Ryze). They debated the challenges traditional brands face in opening up online channels and those that new age digital-first brands face when going to brick-and-mortar formats. The panel ended with a unanimous agreement that we are marketing to smarter and more demanding customers. Hence it is critical to get product, pricing, and communication right.
With the rising overall affluence of our country, the brands need to reach and service the affluent customer base. In the panel, Advertising on eCommerce channels: a Gateway to Affluent India, Speakers, Vaibhav Kumar, Head-Product & E-commerce, Max Life Insurance, Pragya Bijalwan, Chief Marketing Officer, Crompton, Manu Kumar, Head Of Marketing & Corporate Communication, Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt Ltd discussed how they are using ecommerce to reach their affluent customers across metros and tier2 & Tier 3 cities as well.
D2C conversations can’t conclude without discussing the challenges of selling to non-metros. In a fireside chat “Selling to many Indias”, Pankaj Vermani, Founder & CEO, Clovia shared his experiences with Sohini Ganguly, Senior Correspondent, Exchange4media. Pankaj pointed out that the customers are transactions in even their relationships these days, so the brands have to be very honest to, even have a chance to build a relationship with the customers.
The last topic explored by the experts was Building a House of Brands in the D2C Context Karan Chowdhary, Co-Founder, of Wow Skin Science, Kapil Narnaware, Chief of E-Commerce, Pidilite, Varun Gupta, Chief Growth Officer, Bombay Shaving Company, Sidhant Keshwani, Founder and CEO, Libas debated on need of House of brands and its impact on pricing, cost structure etc. Vivek Sharma summarised the discussion stating “Cost of acquisition for new brands is high, so D2C brands should stay with a single master brand as much as possible. However, when the positioning needs to be different due to product type, customer cohort, or category diversity, then building sub-brands makes sense.”
HiveMinds Chief Strategy Officer, Deepti Bhadauria, also launched HiveMinds D2C playbook and D2C tech stack HM Nucleus at the event. The playbook received high praise from Mr Rahul Talwar, CMO, MaxLife Insurance, who unveiled the “Limited edition copies” at the event.
In all, the event was a big gathering of marketing masterminds across D2C brands and sparked many interesting conversations.
