Who controls the market? Men or Women

In a recent survey of Boston consulting Survey associated to women shopping, some astonishing facts have been identified. These facts reflect increasing contribution of women in an economy. According to the survey, amongst the total spending of 18.4 trillion on consumer items; sixty-five percent is under control of women. These amounts to 12 trillion, which is aprrox 10 times of the country’s economy. In the next five years it is expected to reach significant level which will result into more spending.

Currently women are spending lavishly on diamonds, jewels, and laptop and on foreign trips. Skin care is another segment where women are spending. Visit any branded showroom, restaurants you will find women over there.

Working women have diverse approach of spending, even companies are coming up with innovative products for this segment of women, ready to eat food, taxi service, hotels having special floor for women guests, insurance policies, some banks have plans like Miss confident keeping in mind working women, low interest rates, zero balance facility, loans to women for buying gold and jewelry at very low rate.

Rising female economy is outcome of more number of working women. In America women are ahead of men. The difference between male and female salary has reduced to a great extent.

Biotique

Within a short span of the last five-six years, the use of cosmetics by Indian consumers has increased significantly with more and more women and men taking greater interest in personal grooming.

Biotique a name synonymous with premium ayurvedic cosmetic segment. It was 1992 when Vinita Jain started her dream project Biotique mostly to export, has set up an R&D centre in Switzerland to get a blend of Swiss biotechnology and ayurveda and today she is credited with making Ayurvedic beauty products fashionable. Biotique today boasts of Rs 600cr turnover . In India, Biotique is undertaking a rebranding and repositioning exercise that, Jain hopes, will help her brand reach the Rs 1,000 crore revenue mark in the next 18 months

The ayurvedic segment accounts for about Rs 4,100 crore, or 18%, of the country’s Rs 22,000-crore cosmetics market, according to KPMG Advisory Services. Other key players in the segment include Forest Essentials, Shahnaz Husain Himalaya, Blossom Kochhar, VLCC, Dabur and Lotus.

EVERY two months, Vinita Jain takes off to Switzerland for about 10 days or so to oversee her team of doctors, biotechnologists and scientists. The team, based in Switzerland, comprises Biotique's exclusively-owned research and development headquarters.

The results show. Demi Moore, Kate Moss, Prince Charles and the royal families of Dubai and Saudi Arabia are just some celebrity names that figure in Biotique's regular consumer base.

That the trademark green and white jars now draw immediate brand recall from consumers across various cross-sections and income groups is an indication of success that has come in quick time.

Exports now account for about 65 per cent of Bio Veda . Within the herbal category, Biotique competes with the Shahnaz Husain range, besides smaller names such as Lotus Herbals and Ayur.

Driving factors for such growth is increasing purchasing power in urban cities. The advent of satellite television and awareness of the western beauty and fashion world, advertisements and promotions, increasing number of women joining the work force is changing preferences, customs and cultures in India.

All this has led to a constant up-gradation from mass to premium products even though mass-market products still constitute the major portion of the India cosmetics and toiletries market.

Babies’ world

Some 24 million (240 lakh) babies are born in India per annum, much more than born in any other country globally.

What do you know about them? It’s not only about their rising numbers. It’s about their mindsets. It’s about their approach. It’s about their thinking, their preferences, likes, dislikes and everything else that make a kid a kid.

One of the most fascinating and complex facets of retailing happens to be branded children’s apparel. This segment has been till now small and largely stable. But exciting times are in the offing. In the kids apparel market, the large variety, segmented customer profile and changing tastes plays a big role. Also, the children’s buying behaviour, influence of parents and media makes a huge difference in the purchase decision. Selling kids apparel you would soon realise is no child’s play. Spunkywear, for instance, is an iconic global apparel brand. Its premium name commands a loyal customer following. In India, Spunkywear has been a prominent brand in adults wear segment. The company now aspires to achieve a similar status in kids segment with its brand ‘Spunkywear Kids’.

Children are also the main focus of Indian families, and their aspirations in terms of education and career choices are quite high today. The average family size in India has been on a decline, coming in now at almost 4.3 as compared to earlier years when it was more than 5. With the reduction in their average size and the increase in their incomes, Indian families have more money to spend. And children being the main focus, parents try their best to fulfill their aspirations. Net result, they get more attention and participate a lot in the decision making process.

Gone are the days when children would go ga-ga over a doll or a toy car. With most of them buying toys on their trips abroad now, the desi market is literally burning the midnight oil to come to terms with this demanding shopper. Education consultant Ekta Singal, mother of a three-year-old, says, "My son knows his mind. He is very definite and selective about the toys he picks up." Echoes Saurabh Gupta, a toyshop owner, "Parents are happy to go by their children's choices. The price is hardly a consideration."

Next time you tell your friends that you are taking your children shopping, correct yourself. If the figures are anything to go by, it is the little ones who are taking you on a shopping spree because, incidentally, you hold the purse strings.

From toys to FMCGs to apparel to gizmos, kids want it all. And this snooty tiny tot is responsible for a $3 billion market, which is growing even as you read this. India is the largest children's market in the world and such are the demands of children here that business organisations and associations are holding meets and calling experts to understand what children want.

India has a rapidly expanding middle class and therefore the world’s largest retail groups have long been circling India and are urging the Government to drop rules that prevent foreign companies owning multibrand retail operations

Why Companies need Brand Ambassador?

Who are Brand ambassadors? What role they play in promoting product? Can we trust them ? These are some of the questions which need to be answered.

The role of the brand ambassador is to transcend all aspects of the brand. One of the most important factor that attracts consumer’s mind is psychological factors such as motivation, perception, learning, believes and attitude. And these are the factors that a brand ambassador influences. Brand having successful association with its Ambassador sometime translates into stronger brand awareness campaign than millions of rupees spent on other marketing efforts such as advertising and promotion.

Consider the case of Salma Hayek selling pampers during her pregnancy

What actually is the power that brand ambassador exerts over the consumers to urge them?

These people have such a strong impact of personalities that people sometime use brand ambassadors as a “tool” for their product, like we seen the case of Junaid Jamshed clarifying Lays issue when it was hit by the accusation of using haram contents in its manufacturing.

More often than not Brand endorsements, especially, come at the expense of an idea. Everyone remembers when Zoozoos and the Pugs walked away with the honors while Airtel was busy spending crores on Sharukh, Madhavan etc. An idea overpowered the blandness of celebrities. Brand ambassadors mean that you are forced to weave your brand around the celebrity than the other way around. This results in lack of believability and consumers fail to associate themselves with the brand. How believable is it when Deepika Padukone says that she uses orbit white? Whereas, Happy Dent had a brilliant idea that needed none to endorse. The crucial ingredient in the success of any brand is its claim to authencity and poor brand ambassadors destroy it.

If the consumer feels that the brand ambassador is the brand itself then there is nothing better than that and that will not be possible until and unless there is exclusivity in your selection. Brands should awaken to the power of zero cost internal marketing assets like their customers, internal as well as external, who can represent their brand. Starbucks is what it is today not because of any ads, in fact they hardly advertise, but due to the service experience that the employees or the Starbucks “partners” help provide. These kinds of brand ambassadors are especially relevant to brands that are service oriented. Even the high end apparel brand Abercrombie and Fitch uses only its sales representatives as its brand ambassadors. Consumers are willing to pay extra for a good service where the employees represent the brand wholeheartedly and hence enhance the brand equity and create a win-win relation. Many product brands are now shrugging of the albatross around their necks of the brand ambassadors and using its consumers or a seemingly normal person as its brand ambassadors. We have seen Dove doing it and Maggi and KurKure do the same with the faces of consumers on its packages.

It is advisable to opt for better ideas more than secondary associations. Incase, companies feel that they need a brand ambassador they should adopt a brand character. If they are still dissatisfied then they should opt for credible, exclusive as well as zero cost marketing assets like consumers and employees to be their brand ambassadors. It will create long term brand equity and better “hard-to-attack” points of differences.