Retail Brands Strengthen Their Online Capabilities
What drives a business to greater heights is nothing else but its consumers. The most crucial aspect of this is to learn how to interact with the customers and understand how they react to your brand. Making sure that they feel the brand cares about them is important. It must not just be about the business but about making relationships as well.
Startup companies in India these days are staying connected and hearing out to customers, which makes an immense effect on the growth of the business. Customers can tell a lot about an approach of the brand towards them and to maintain that is difficult, but not impossible.
With time, the retail business model has seen some changes. Especially with the emergence of online shopping sites in India. Even the best startups in India are looking at the online business model. Not necessarily, every business owner has their own website but they can still be up and running on an online platform. There were times when nobody looked up for a certain shop, supermarket or store but now reviews and social media interactions matter a lot. Brands these days are following such approaches and these must be inculcated to make your business reach greater heights.
Below are 6 effective methods that startup brands follow to connect with their consumers and build relations that last.
Individual Approach
An individual approach is different from a personal approach. Customers want to be felt special and want you to interact with them on an individual level. For example, sending the customers a personal message, wishing them on a certain festival, in comparison to wishing them on a business group, will make a huge difference. A personal message makes them feel special and will show them that even though your brand is connected online, it is making an effort to reach out to them personally.
Taking Customer Concerns Seriously
There were times when social media and the internet did not exist. If a customer did not like the service or quality, they would stop buying from that store. But with the internet and social media, customers from anywhere and anytime can raise concerns about quality and service. Even a basic negative google review of the product on the internet can be a black mark for that brand’s rating. Startup brands make sure that they are available for their customer at all times. These brands provide them with the
service they look forward to and make sure their products are of the highest quality that satisfies the consumers. Even then, if the consumer is unhappy, and the concern is genuine, offering them a gift card or discount as a hearty gesture will be much appreciated by the customer.
Being Active on Social Media
Times have changed and customers want regular updates of new products and offers, constantly and instantly. This is why being active on social media has been a game-changer for many brands. Sending out regular updates and posting pictures of new products has helped brands to sell products on social media itself. The customer does not even need to visit a store anymore. In fact, many new customers look through social media first, whether a brand has a good social media presence or not. Hence, being active on social media is worthwhile these days. Plus, this helps generate new customers because if a customer likes a certain product, they might share it with their friends and social circle, eventually helping your startup company in India.
Organise Online Contests
Keeping the customers engaged is also one important approach to strengthening the brand image of your retail business. For this, startup brands have started organising contests on social media and offering assured rewards and discounts to the winners to keep the customers brand-oriented and loyal. For example, an online quiz on Independence Day.
Send Regular Updates
Startup brands send out regular updates and offer announcements to their customers, which helps the customers to be up-to-date and shop accordingly. Weekly e-mailers about new products and discounts, a ‘thank you for shopping’ SMS, broadcast messages wishing the customers on festivals and public holidays, enhances the growth of a personal relationship. This in turn benefits the brand and makes sure they have a loyal customer base.
Making Use of Virtual and Augmented Reality
Virtual reality has taken over the gaming industry already and is one of the most sought-after technologies that the world is looking at. But apart from just the gaming industry, you must be thinking if there are other uses of VR for the business world, or not?
Startup brands are already making use of VR in their business models. A small example, VR is used in the eCommerce industry to enhance customer experience by offering features such as virtual store which enables customers to visit the virtual storefront online from the comfort of their home, or by offering them a virtual try-before-you-buy experience which enables them to try a particular product on themselves virtually before they actually spend money to buy it.
In 2017, Audi made use of the Oculus Rift headset to enable buyers to view and customise their dream car in 3D right from selecting the paint colour to choosing the body kit and engine which made the entire process much more interactive rather than just selecting upgrades from a list on a computer screen.
Likewise, VR is extensively being used in the interior designing industry. It helps customers to understand real-world scenarios and make wiser decisions. Not just these industries but even other startup brands have started switching to virtual reality.
Same with augmented reality, many startup brands have started to invest in these ideas. With several AR patterns these days there is a lot that can be formulated with AR. For example, the helmet of Tony Stark in Iron Man, is a clear example of AR. On those bases, many such helmets and watches have been designed. This is changing the approach businesses have towards their customers. With time there will be a bigger change and the approach will be different, based on AR and VR.
These are some of the methods and different approach techniques startup companies in India have been making use of, to strengthen their business and connect with consumers. Online marketing and customer relationship are one of the most important approaches to connecting with customers and being a part of the changing trend of the business model.
*The author is Rohit Pugalia, founder of This or That
