Pitch CMO Summit: Today’s consumer is polygamist, not loyal to one brand: Kartik Sharma
Kartik Sharma, CEO-South Asia, Wavemaker, quoted a report saying that by 2020 consumer experience will overtake price and product as a key differentiator
What does today's consumer want? Better pricing of products? Value for money? Or is peerless customer experience now the holy grail for brand custodians? At the Pitch CMO Summit in Bangalore on Wednesday, Kartik Sharma, CEO-South Asia, Wavemaker, answered these questions by sharing some critical insights to underline the next phase of growth for brands across categories.
Speaking about the importance of delivering unforgettable consumer experiences, Sharma said, “A lot has been spoken in the early 90s about loyalty programs and the ultimate consumer experience. But it may not be sufficient in a world which is so competitive. If we talk about the economics of consumer experience, there are two parts to it--one is the consumer and what he/she wants at a certain price value and from the brands owners’ side it’s about delivering experiences during the brand sale. There is an interesting report by Frost & Sullivan which says that by 2020 consumer experience will overtake price and product as a key differentiator. In fact 86 per cent of consumers’ will pay attention to consumer experience. Given this, all the marketers should be focusing on the consumer experience. The big question is: is it easy to do it on a sustainable basis?”
That there is no dearth of brands in this hyper connected world, a fact that Sharma also spoke about. He said that today’s consumers are loyal to a set of brands and not to a particular brand. “There is a lot of myth in marketing which is happening around us, not only in India but globally. This myth is that consumers are monogamist and they will be loyal to my brand. This myth is propagated by conventional wisdom but the reality is that the consumer is polygamist.
Consumers are loyal to a set of brands, they are not loyal to a particular brand."
Terming the famous Pareto principle, which states that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes, Sharma shared data points which revealed that in most categories 20% will yield just 50% results.
Speaking about the importance of delivering unforgettable consumer experiences, Sharma said, “A lot has been spoken in the early 90s about loyalty programs and the ultimate consumer experience. But it may not be sufficient in a world which is so competitive. If we talk about the economics of consumer experience, there are two parts to it--one is the consumer and what he/she wants at a certain price value and from the brands owners’ side it’s about delivering experiences during the brand sale. There is an interesting report by Frost & Sullivan which says that by 2020 consumer experience will overtake price and product as a key differentiator. In fact 86 per cent of consumers’ will pay attention to consumer experience. Given this, all the marketers should be focusing on the consumer experience. The big question is: is it easy to do it on a sustainable basis?”
That there is no dearth of brands in this hyper connected world, a fact that Sharma also spoke about. He said that today’s consumers are loyal to a set of brands and not to a particular brand. “There is a lot of myth in marketing which is happening around us, not only in India but globally. This myth is that consumers are monogamist and they will be loyal to my brand. This myth is propagated by conventional wisdom but the reality is that the consumer is polygamist.
Consumers are loyal to a set of brands, they are not loyal to a particular brand."
Terming the famous Pareto principle, which states that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes, Sharma shared data points which revealed that in most categories 20% will yield just 50% results.
