How Philips is strengthening its consumer engagement to grow in India

• Philip recently completed 90 years in India and a huge focus on innovation has helped it stay relevant in the Indian market.
• The brand is witnessing lots of changes in consumer behaviour and is working hard to adapt to these changes, while coming up with products that will help them stay relevant in these changing ecosystems.
• Gulbahar Taurani, Vice- President, Personal Health, Philips Indian Subcontinent, Philips India talks about the brand’s efforts in building a strong connect with its consumers, to make sure they are an important part of their lives.

A brand that celebrated 90 years of its existence in India, Philips is doing a lot to make sure it stays relevant to its consumers. Innovation has been at the heart of Philips, and is one factor that has helped the brand not only survive but thrive in the country.

During the coronavirus lockdown, despite manufacturing and supply chain coming to a complete halt, Philips made sure it stayed connected with its consumers. It made use of the Digital platform to come up with engaging content, to not simply push its products but also build a deeper connect with consumers, to make them a part of the brand’s journey, and to make them feel more involved in the brand’s story.

It got them results. They have seen a lot of engagements and meaningful conversations with consumers who feel that the brand really cares for them. Meanwhile, it also dialed up its social listening and actually focused on solving problems that consumers were facing in their day-to-day lives. The result was the launch of many DIY products that will help simplify a consumer’s everyday life.

Recently the brand launched the Intelligent SenseIQ Hair Dryer and Hair Straightener to solve the age-old problem of getting the temperature of a dryer right. Meanwhile, since the lockdown led to the closure of parlors, Philips has recently launched a Pen Trimmer that can help getting rid of facial hair. Most of these launches are the result of effective social listening.

Going ahead too, the brand is planning to focus a lot more on the DIY segment, as the lockdown has led to massive changes in consumer behavior. “As a brand, Philips is committed to providing meaningful innovations that help in improving a consumer’s life. Going ahead as well, we will stay true to that. We aim to grow our business further in India by innovating even faster in the space of DIY products, cooking and home appliances,” shared Gulbahar Taurani, Vice- President, Personal Health, Philips Indian Subcontinent, Philips India.

The year so far

The weeks following the initial phase of the lockdown, specifically the months of April and May, have been challenging for most brands, not just in India but across the world. With lockdowns and a complete halt on manufacturing, businesses came to a standstill.

However, with the lockdown being relaxed across the country, things are slowly starting to look up. “We have been seeing recovery from June onwards. Initially, there was a bit of pent-up demand. However, we have also realized there has been a behavioral shift with more and more people wanting to use more gadgets and appliances that make them self-sufficient. This was something that had been already happening, but it got accelerated due to the lockdown. And we believe this is a trend that is here to stay,” shared Taurani.

During the lockdown months, Philips also made sure that it stayed connected with its audience. “If there was a time that communication took on a very important role, it was in these last few months. We realized the consumer was moving to Digital and spending more time on the medium which is why we diverted more of our spends to the medium too. Our aim was also to make sure that we don’t just give consumers information about our offerings but make it a two-way conversation. During these past few months, we have realized that consumers want to talk to us, give us their feedback and in general want to feel more involved and we have tried to help them in doing just that with our communications,” added Taurani.

He also added that going ahead too, Digital will see increased spending from the brand.

Growing Philips in India

Owing to the fact that Philips has been in India for close to a century now, the brand has been able to localize itself over the years, almost making itself seem like an Indian brand. It has also been doing a lot in terms of having local manufacturing and R&D which again has helped the brand innovate and come up with products specific to Indian consumers, and that has helped the brand stay relevant.

Moreover, the Indian market contributes quite substantially, thereby making it important for brand Philips in the global scheme of things, shared Taurani. “We are leaders in many categories in India and are contributing in terms of sales and profitability. The company is committed towards investing more in the Indian market to grow even further here,” he added.

This year, despite the lockdown, the brand went ahead with its plans of launching new products, and will keep doing that in the months to come. Going ahead, he added that faster innovation will be their key focus area. “We will keep innovating to help solve consumer problems. We will also work on creating new platforms for the consumers to stay connected with us. Therefore, we will go aggressive on innovation and consumer dialogue,” he said.