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<ul><li>Since the start of Unlock, <keyword id="6368349" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Online-Furniture">online furniture</keyword> selling platform <keyword id="864887" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pepperfry">Pepperfry</keyword> has witnessed good recovery, so much so that it surpassed its pre-Covid sales volumes by around 50-60% in October.</li><li>We caught up with <keyword id="707187" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kashyap-Vadapalli">Kashyap Vadapalli</keyword>, Chief Marketing Officer &amp; Business Head, Pepperfry to understand how the brand navigated the few months of lockdown and adapted to the new world order, and the factors that helped them come out of this adverse situation relatively unscathed.</li></ul>This has been an exceptionally difficult year for businesses across the globe. However, this has also been a year that has tested their resilience and how they reacted to the crisis has set the course for the rest of the year, and probably the next few years too. This became the time when a company’s ability to be agile and adapt to changing times was tested and the companies that were able to do that are already seeing results, getting back on track their growth story. While a lot of sectors were seriously impacted due to the lockdown, there were a few that got tailwinds due to the lockdown. One such segment is the <keyword id="10326510" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="online-furniture-industry">online furniture industry</keyword>. The pandemic has led to an increase in digital adaption across the country, making people who weren’t really shopping online come on board. The category also got a boost as with people staying at home, there was a need to furnish homes with suitable furnitures to make their houses suitable for working from home. Even students attending classes from home need proper furnishing to make the experience comfortable and it has led to more and more people spending on buying furniture online. Therefore it is not surprising that Pepperfry has been witnessing a steady increase in demand and growth since May. In fact, in October, Pepperfry surpassed its pre-Covid sales volumes, and that too by 50-60%. We recently caught up with Kashyap Vadapalli, Chief Marketing Officer &amp; Business Head, Pepperfry to understand how the brand navigated the few months of lockdown and adapted to the new world order, and the factors that helped them come out of this adverse situation relatively unscathed. Excerpts: Q) While the first half of the year was challenging, things have slowly started looking up. How have things been for brand Pepperfry? While the first half was challenging for individuals and businesses alike, we’ve witnessed a swift recovery in our business and a favorable consumer sentiment in the second half. In order to cater to the evolving scenario, we innovated and executed with great agility to cater to discerning consumers by launching new features, new pricing strategy and UI/UX changes among others. This overhaul along with the consumer’s growing inclination towards creating a home environment that is conducive to the evolved home has helped in a steady bounce back. We clocked 40% of pre-lockdown sales in May, 70% in June, 85% in July to a complete recovery at 100% of pre-lockdown volumes, in August. The remarkable interest towards the category has helped is surpassing our pre-COVID sales volumes by 50-60% in October. As the pandemic accelerated the shift in consumer behavior from offline to online, the online furniture category saw ~50% increase in interest, in comparison to last year. The increasing behavior shift has resulted in Pepperfry’s online business soaring to 120% of pre-lockdown levels by August/September. Furthermore, our first-time-buyers (FTB) business grew at a faster rate than repeat buyers in Tier-2 cities. Overall, Our FTB business contribution increased ~500bps for Tier-2 cities and beyond. As the leader in the category, which is known for its distinguished offerings, we introduced the ‘Buy on Phone’ program to smoothen this transition of offline to online for our consumers. The program allows customers or potentials to interact with Pepperfry’s sales consultants and seek guidance around the furniture buying process via phone and video chat. Q) With more and more people working from home, the demand for <keyword id="10326511" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="home-improvement-products">home improvement products</keyword> understandably went up. What kind of growth have you seen and how are you further strengthening your offering in the segment while also innovating to make people's work from home regimes a little better? As the lockdown progressed, most companies and educational organizations instituted a work from home policy, even extending it for several months until safety concerns are minimized. This new awareness of the work-from-home and study-from-home format, as a somewhat permanent lifestyle, has motivated consumers to view furniture as a required, long-term investment that will support and smoothen this transition. Undoubtedly, this has led to an unprecedented rise in demand for home-office furniture. Pepperfry’s home-office category, specifically study tables and ergonomic office chairs grew by 250% and 400% respectively in August 2020, in comparison to pre-lockdown levels. Currently, this category contributes about ~25% to the overall sales volume, a segment which earlier accounted for about 10% of total sales, prior to the lockdown. Furthermore, consumers are actively investing behind products that are lightweight and kinetic as well as flexible furniture that is easily movable, reconfigured and provide the flexibility to adapt to the situation. Apart from work, consumers are generally spending the bulk of their day at home. This has led to a consciousness and a need for a home-environment that not only enhances work productivity but also one that supports leisure and family-oriented activities. Therefore, the demand for hero products such as beds, mattresses, dining tables, wardrobes as well as furnishings such as wall décor, lights &amp; lamps have seen a rise in demand. Compact and space-saving products like bean bags have also grown reasonably well compared to pre-COVID numbers. Through such small additions and changes, consumers are definitely seeing value in making their homes more aesthetic and conducive to mental and physical well-being. In order to continue catering to the diversified home-office needs of our discerning customers, we have collaborated with B2B furniture players to address this strong demand. Q) How did you make sure that the pandemic did not have a huge impact on the brand? The announcement of the lockdown led to a temporary suspension of business operations - delivery and assembly of products, operations at Studios, et al.However, we made a conscious decision of keeping our website active, allowing customers to easily surf, view, research and purchase products. This led to an increase in engagement rate by 40-50% in the time spent by consumers on the site and page depth i.e. the number of pages a consumer visits when they are in a particular session. As we resumed operations with the easing of the regulations, we faced a few challenges regarding logistics and delivery. However, on the back of our robust big-box logistics and supply chain model, we were one of the first e-commerce businesses dealing with non-essential categories to re-initiate large item deliveries within the country and clear the backlog promptly after the announcement of unlock. Additionally, considering how furniture is a big-ticket category, which requires doorstep delivery and assembly, we ensured that all our functions were executed with absolute safety precautions in place. At our warehouses and Studios, we adopted preventive measures like daily tracking of employee health as well as monitoring the temperature of visitors, ensuring complete training on hygiene, use of sanitizers at regular intervals and disinfecting the complete space and product post-delivery. From marketing perspective, we quickly adopted a communication strategy that helped us in maintaining relevancy among consumers. We halted all sales and discount related messaging and turned towards addressing the current challenges through tips like how to maintain furniture, DIY décor ideas, safe ways to rearrange your furniture and so on. We witnessed an increase in consumer engagement, through these themes.Additionally, in line with our brand personality of being pioneering, intelligent and conscious we looked at content that helped the audience get up to date with the latest in lifestyle choices with a focus on home through a series of expert interactions. We used interesting formats such as quizzes and trivia to keep the curiosity alive and to achieve high engagement levels. Q) Did you cut down on your marketing budget during the pandemic? What does your budget allocation look like for the rest of the year and the upcoming fiscal? During lockdown, taking cognizance of the increasing amount of time consumers were spending on digital and social media platforms, we diverted our marketing spends towards these mediums. However, during the festive season, we adopted a more diversified approach. Typically, our marketing spends are divided by a 70:30 ratio wherein the larger share of the budget is allocated to digital. But for this festive season, we decided to divide the budget equally between traditional and digital mediums. Q) As a marketer, what are your key focus areas going to be, going ahead? The focus in marketing would be maintaining high scores and leadership in brand metrics like TOM (top of mind) and preference. It would be to continue increasing the conversion rates on the site by driving quality traffic. Additionally, using AI/ML to sharp target audiences to improve ROI along with conversions, would continue to be important. We will also be looking to underline the differentiated and curated catalog on Pepperfry to the discerning customer, which will help us gain share in the premium segment of the market. Q) What were your key learnings from the past few months? Key learnings from the past few months include – to always be active from a brand messaging perspective. While consumers may not be buying actively, maintaining communications will help when the demand builds back. Be empathetic to the consumers concerns, do not indulge in hard-sell, try and empower the consumer with knowledge and information in tough times and they will turn to you when the times are good. Q) Are people now coming back to <keyword id="3437283" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="studio-pepperfry">Studio Pepperfry</keyword>? Do you have plans of further expanding your retail presence and going deeper into the country? During the initial days of the unlock phase, we leveraged our social media platforms to communicate the preventive measures undertaken at the Studios. This helped us in building trust and confidence among customers. We are witnessing a great revival in footfalls, with the Studios already contributing to c.30% of the overall business (which was at 38% pre-COVID). Given that these Studios act as key consumer touchpoints for the brand and considering how these have bounced back swiftly post the lockdown, we will continue with our aim to build the largest omni-channel network in the country. Currently, we have 60 experiential centres in 20 cities across the country, out of these 18 are owned and operated by franchisees and the remnant are owned and operated by Pepperfry. Given the growing interest of consumers from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, we are planning to expand our Studio presence in these markets with the help of our unique and highly successful FOFO (franchise-owned &amp; franchise-operated) model. We aim to open at least 20 more FOFO Studios in Tier 2 and 3 cities by March 2021. Q) Where will the next phase of growth for Pepperfry come from? There is a huge headroom for growth in the conventional urban markets, where penetration of online furniture is still in the low single digits. Additionally we see a lot of Tier II and Tier III markets taking to online furniture shopping as they find designs and styles on Pepperfry that they do not find in their markets. I see this phenomenon contributing to the next phase of growth for us. <a name="_GoBack"></a>

How Pepperfry surpassed its pre-Covid sales volumes by 50-60% in October

<ul><li><keyword id="864887" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pepperfry">Pepperfry</keyword>’s latest ad brings a family together in a fun, playful way.</li><li>The ad is conceptualised by <keyword id="2633203" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Law-Kenneth-Saatchi-Saatchi">Law &amp; Kenneth Saatchi &amp; Saatchi</keyword>.</li></ul>Pepperfry has launched a heartwarming yet puckish <keyword id="3090852" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Diwali-campaign">Diwali campaign</keyword> – Family times = Pepperfry times. Forging a deeper connect with its consumers, the TVC-led campaign highlights how, this year, individuals will be celebrating Diwali indoors with their loved ones and the role furniture plays in creating those moments and memories that bring the family together. The global pandemic has had far-reaching implications on people, but the one great thing it has resulted in is a much more strengthened bond with one’s immediate family. Having spent more time indoors, individuals are discovering both endearing and annoying things about them. They are indulging in nostalgic tales with ageing parents, playing with the little ones in between work calls, and making up for all the lost meals by breaking bread together every day on the dining table - all the things that couldn’t be accommodated in the previous hustle bustle and race against time. <div type="Youtube" id="vwfxT49mEVU" title="Pepperfry Diwali Sale - Kuch Apne Liye, Kuch Apno Ke Liye" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vwfxT49mEVU/mqdefault.jpg"></div> While everyone was embracing this new normal, furniture played a vital role in nurturing this bond, almost akin to a family member. The study table pivoted from silently participating in serious calls with colleagues and at other times helping cheer up a friend. The dinner table, which used to be a 1-2 person at a time affair due to conflicting schedules, now hosts buzzing family meals. The bed has become the center of a nightly game ritual for all. This Diwali, too, while card parties and glittery garden gatherings will be missing, it will be a more intimate family affair full of love and appreciation. And once again, it is furniture that will be at the core of all conversations, meals, entertainment and celebrations. Celebrating this, Pepperfry, a brand that sparks a feeling called home, has launched its new Diwali campaign. Conceptualized by <keyword id="2409473" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="LK-Saatchi">L&amp;K Saatchi</keyword> and Saatchi, the campaign kick starts with a TVC showcasing a father-daughter duo engaging in a witty banter, fighting for that one armchair, which rests in the best WiFi spot of the house. On realizing that he is about to lose, the father calls it truce by gifting another armchair to his daughter for Diwali, placed right next to his. Thus, Pepperfry comes to rescue with its Diwali sale with an underlying narrative of ‘Thoda apne liye, thoda apnon ke liye’. Talking about the latest campaign, <keyword id="707187" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kashyap-Vadapalli">Kashyap Vadapalli</keyword>, Chief Marketing Officer &amp; Business Head, Pepperfry, said, “Pepperfry’s core proposition is to democratize the furniture category and make it an intrinsic part of people’s lives, making the brand almost synonymous to home. It has always partnered with its consumers to help create lasting memories. And this Diwali, we want to build on the connect and trust that we enjoy with our consumers. Through our Family times = Pepperfry times campaign, we aim to catalyze and encourage celebrations with family and friends in a joyful, intimate manner.” He also said – “The right furniture has come to the rescue of the - stay at home, work from home, study from home, entertain from home - Indian family over the last 7 months. Even as we look forward, all of us are acutely aware of the role that homes are playing in our lives - they are outsized, compared to earlier. In such a scenario having the right furniture to eat, work, play and relax is very important and who better than Pepperfry, the market leader, to turn to? I am excited that these films and the campaign will evoke exactly this response in the minds of consumers and drive the desired behaviours” Pepperfry has adopted a multi-pronged campaign approach, wherein the film will be aired on TV as well as digital mediums like Video Sharing platforms and social media platforms and across interesting content sides on the internet. Debarjyo Nandi, Executive Vice President, Law &amp; Kenneth Saatchi &amp; Saatchi, said, “Now that we are all working and schooling from home, we realize the importance of having the right furniture in the right spaces. The film is only a representation of today’s situation hence real and relatable, and this time we have chosen to give a unique quirky treatment to make it fun and different.”

Pepperfry's Diwali ad will remind you of all the times you fought with your loved ones for your favourite spot at home

<ul><li>The campaign is conceptualized by <keyword id="3086062" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="LK-Saatchi-and-Saatchi">L&amp;K Saatchi and Saatchi</keyword>. </li><li>It encourages consumers to buy ‘Swadeshi’, not because it is Indian, but because it is superior.</li></ul><keyword id="864887" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pepperfry">Pepperfry</keyword> has launched its new campaign, Swadeshi Is Great, to promote and celebrate Indian artisans and their creations. The brand, which was conceived with the idea of building an ‘honest Indian’ company, impresses upon consumers the superiority of Swadeshi products on key variables of purchase decision-making i.e. quality, style and value. Through this heart-warming campaign, it urges people to buy Swadeshi furniture not only because it is Indian, but also because it is superior. Historically, majority of India's handcrafted furniture was exported primarily to premium retailers in the US and Europe. However, since its inception in 2012, Pepperfry has aimed to democratize the furniture industry in India. With its unique marketplace model and an extensive catalogue that comprises 90%+ 'Made in India' products, the brand has made authentic Indian furniture accessible and affordable in every corner of the country. Additionally, Pepperfry has also provided the local manufacturers and artisans access to a steady national market and pride from the fact that fellow Indians are using their handcrafted products. Having championed the cause of 'Made by Indians for Indians', Pepperfry has launched this three-part digital campaign to highlight that Indian is better and Indian is beautiful. It conveys that Indian furniture is not mass-produced and through each intricately carved piece a carpenter brings to life his expertise, craftsmanship as well as his rich lineage. Most of the furniture is made from hardwood like Sheesham, Teak, Mango and Acacia that lasts a lifetime and with beautiful designs, they are indeed priceless. Conceptualized by L&amp;K Saatchi and Saatchi, the first film captures a carpenter carefully working on a piece of furniture and as he finishes the article, he looks at his father and says that he has learnt this world-class manufacturing process from his abbu. The second film shows a carpenter that checks the wood of his furniture item, knocks it, varnishes it and critically eyes it before proudly claiming that this international quality piece is made in Ratangarh. The last video depicts a couple of carpenters painstakingly refine a motif as one of them proclaims that such edgy styling and design is their speciality. <div type="Youtube" id="9DEwKlyZpaA" title="International Quality | Furniture Proudly Made in India" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9DEwKlyZpaA/mqdefault.jpg"></div> <div type="Youtube" id="VQSMTVPpTYE" title="Edgy Styles and Designs | Furniture Proudly Made in India" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VQSMTVPpTYE/mqdefault.jpg"></div> Speaking about the campaign, Kashyap Vadapalli, Chief Marketing Officer &amp; Business Head, Pepperfry said, "Pepperfry has always endeavoured to democratize the furniture industry in India. A one-stop-shop for authentic Indian furniture and home décor, it has not only made beautiful handcrafted furniture affordable and accessible but also empowered local artisans and manufacturers. Through this campaign, we are celebrating these skilled craftsmen and encouraging consumers to buy Indian furniture not only because it is Indian but because it is superior, beautiful, durable and stylish." Debarjyo Nandi, Sr. Vice President, Law &amp; Kenneth Saatchi &amp; Saatchi, said, “Swadeshi is at the very core and essence of brand Pepperfry and a dominant part of its product portfolio. The campaign looks to instil pride in Indian made furniture and celebrate the craftsmen who create beautiful and world-class furniture right here in our homeland.” Trishay Kotwal, Executive Creative Director, Law &amp; Kenneth Saatchi &amp; Saatchi, added, "We wanted to deliver the message with simplicity and authenticity, really focusing on the skill and dedication of the master craftsmen who create these exquisite pieces. The entire campaign is an ode to swadeshi furniture and everything that goes into making it so special."

Pepperfry encourages consumers to buy Indian brands for their superior quality

<ul><li>In our latest interview series, we talk to brands to understand how they are coping with the new normal and their strategies towards navigating these difficult times.</li><li>Kashyap Vadapalli, Chief Marketing Officer, <keyword id="864887" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pepperfry">Pepperfry</keyword> shares with us how the brand is preparing to open up its stores and why communicating with your audience in times of distress is extremely important. </li></ul>Pepperfry, which started as a pure online portal, felt the need to launch a studio only after two years of its existence. Its success story is a testimonial to the booming sector of virtual trading, which helped the brand to thrive even in today’s volatile market. However, since furniture wasn’t listed under essentials, the first two months of lockdown was a challenging period for Pepperfry and its employees. Now that markets are opening up, the brand is gearing to deliver furniture in key cities and non-containment zones. Pepperfry also saw its social media engagement rising up because all employees are working from home and there was a need for office infrastructure -- work desks, chairs, etc. While the brand couldn’t deliver its products, it kept in touch with its consumers by solving their queries online and offered tips for furniture maintenance, DIY interior décor, safe ways to rearrange your furniture and so on. Kashyap Vadapalli, Chief Marketing Officer, Pepperfry, has seen the brand growing from scratch. He shared with us some marketing lessons he has picked up from today’s challenging environment, what kind of precautions the brand has taken to open up its stores, future of retail industry and changing consumer behaviour. Excerpts: Q. How challenging has the last month been for you as a brand? This period has been challenging for most organisations, but the situation has also given us the opportunity to re-analyse our business, innovate to adapt and explore newer ways to connect with our consumers. Pepperfry is a unique omni-channel marketplace and our offline presence through Studio Pepperfry has been a key consumer touchpoint. However, given the nation-wide lockdown, we suspended operations at all our Studios towards the end of March. With the recent relaxations, we are adopting an extremely cautious approach to reopen the studios gradually after ensuring complete sanitization and putting in place other preventive measures. Another challenge that we faced was the disruption in logistics. Since furniture was not listed under the essentials category, our warehouses were not functional and deliveries were halted. However, markets are now opening up for ecommerce and non-essentials, albeit with restrictions. We have received permission to start delivery services in key cities and have also resumed operations at most of our warehouses. As a brand, we invested our efforts behind enhancing our consumer connect by engaging with them on topical subjects and relevant content. In line with the current situation and consumer behaviour, we aimed to address their existing needs. For instance, given that several people are working from home, there was a need for good home office infrastructure - a proper chair, desk, storage options for work-ware and units to keep their printers, etc. In these last few weeks, our focus has been to help them achieve this set-up, educate them in simple ways to maintain their homes and even tips on using interior design to strengthen mental health, in these stressful times. We, therefore, witnessed an uptick in the engagement level across our platforms and channels. Q. What has your marketing strategy been during the lockdown? Have you changed your media mix, investing more on platforms like Digital since a few other mediums like OOH/Print have been suffering due to the lockdown? Now more than ever, consumers are using digital platforms not only for recreation but also from an awareness and knowledge-building standpoint. Therefore, we opted to emphasize our owned platforms, like our website, email marketing, push notifications and social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. We used this opportunity to drive a shift in our messaging to make it more relevant, interesting and engaging. We continued with our consumer-focused conversations, aimed at addressing their challenges and interests like tips for furniture maintenance, DIY interior décor, safe ways to rearrange your furniture and so on. We have seen an increase in consumer engagement, through these themes. Additionally, in line with our brand personality of being pioneering, intelligent and conscious we looked at content that helped the audience get up to date with the latest in lifestyle choices with a focus on home through a series of expert interactions, we use interesting formats such as quizzes, trivia to keep the curiosity alive and to achieve high engagement levels. Q. A lot of brands have started doing webinars, have you joined the bandwagon? What kind of response have you seen around it? Being a B2C brand that enjoys a strong consumer connect, we have actually focused on hosting fun live masterclasses on our social media platforms with our design experts, as opposed to webinars that are better suited for B2B brands. These masterclasses have been curated around consumer-facing content like interior design, making the right furniture choices, selecting the right mattress, creating home-office set-ups suitable to one’s profession, etc. and have seen a very healthy engagement rate. Q. Have you seen any changes in consumer behaviour? With work from home now emerging as the new normal, we have certainly witnessed a rising interest and disproportionate growth in some categories. Home-office related items – desks, chairs etc., items that address ergonomic needs as well as products like beds and mattresses (as several people end up working on their beds) have seen a lot of traction. There has also been an increase in engagement on our website. We have seen an upsurge of 40-50 per cent in the time spent by consumers on the site and page depth. This indicates that visitors are now far more indulgent – they are not just browsing but are taking the time to do their research well, which can result in conversions post the lockdown. Q. How are you utilising this time to upskill your employees? Have you introduced any mental health awareness and/or health care programs? We have used this time to expand our training and knowledge-building measures, not just vertically within teams but also cross-functionally between departments. Our in-house subject matter experts have been hosting sessions for employees across categories like marketing, logistics, category management, supply chain and others. This cross-functional training has helped everyone within the company gain a much stronger understanding of our product propositions, customer profiles and marketing strategy to give our consumers the best possible experience. Our leadership team has also been hands-on throughout this insight process. Our CEO, Ambareesh Murty, has been brainstorming with our marketing team to understand how we can improve our social media strategy in particular and overall marketing approach in general. Q. How are you preparing yourself for when things come back to normal? Because we think it will not be the same. Being an agile and flexible organization, we have introduced several changes in our way of working in order to adapt to the evolving situation. Working remotely has shown benefits - increase in productivity and reduction in travel time. Members have quickly adopted technology and applications like Slack and Zoom, among others, which have enabled us to conduct effective meetings, share documents and maintain a steady workflow. We have developed and strengthened our ability to operate in a distributed fashion in the last few weeks, making this new approach a great choice. From a consumer perspective, we see a definite shift in behaviour and inclination towards digital consumption. We believe they will come to rely heavily on e-commerce, especially given the apprehensions around safety in entering physical markets. We have always been a digital-first brand and we plan to fortify our online strategies further to cater to this change. Q. What are some of the key learnings you have picked up in this unusual period? We have learnt that we can function with great efficiency, even remotely – our teams have been just as productive as they were while working together in office. Furthermore, while we have always been well-prepared with a knack of planning for the week, the month and the quarter, the teams have now translated this into effective planning for the day. We’ve spent more time in analyzing and understanding consumer behavior on our platforms. We plan to accelerate the usage of this learning and data to approach customers with more targeted offerings. In an evolving consumer and business environment, we aim to leverage sharper and automated targeting to drive both engagement and conversions. Q. How do you think the retail industry will shape up after this period? The change in consumption patterns and behaviours will lead to considerable changes in the industry. The way we view a customer journey is going to evolve from singular funnels of online or offline to a truly omni-channel funnel and added to it will be newer channels such as telephone and video consultation with collaborative tools. For instance, for a complex need like modular furniture, consumers would typically visit the store, try out different designs and items. Today, they may still continue to do so but in a reduced capacity. Consumers would rather opt to use collaborative tools for virtual sessions to view features on their laptops or other devices. These newer channels are likely to become much more relevant and important. This is where the new wave of disruption will arise.

Marketing in times of COVID: Pepperfry

Travelling around the wonderland that is India is a thrilling experience, especially when fast-moving super <keyword id="168020" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="expressways">expressways</keyword> are right here to ensure some wonderful on-the-road vacations. Of course there are business travellers who are in a hurry to reach their destinations and <keyword id="2053038" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Super-fast-expressways">super fast expressways</keyword> minus traffic snarls suit them down to the ground. But then, you can be one of those away on a leisure trip and looking forward to a fast and panoramic drive on your way to a new city. Either way, the expressways of India won’t disappoint you. As we mentioned before, expressways are controlled-access highways like the freeways or motorways or autobahnen in the US and Europe, essentially designed for high-speed traffic. As of now, most of the expressways in India are 6-8 lane toll <keyword id="6358996" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="roads">roads</keyword> and cover a total distance of nearly 1,208.19 km. 
 
Last month, we brought you <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/8-Super-ExpresswaysIn-North-India-That-Fulfil-Your-Need-For-Speed/articleshow/29486214.cms">8 super expressways</a> in North India that fulfil your need for speed. And this time, we move to the West and the North-west of the country where some more picturesque drives await us. However, the <keyword id="52840" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="sea-links">sea links</keyword> and the <keyword id="2053055" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Coastal-expressways">coastal expressways</keyword> will come up in our next article. So grab a coffee, get a map and read on. By the time you are through, you could be checking the map and picking out the spots where you want to go first. As the Turkish playwright <keyword id="1981629" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mehmet-Murat">Mehmet Murat</keyword> ildan has said: Some roads are so beautiful that you know not whether you travel on the road or the road travels in you! 
 
Image: Thinkstock Photos/Getty Images

Open Roads Return: 6 Super
Expressways In West & North-west India

<ul><li><keyword id="19741479" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="wedding-gold-sales" source="Orion">Wedding gold sales</keyword> are seeing recycling on account of high prices, but it’s a zero sum-game.</li><li>If allocation of gold is higher than 15% in a portfolio, profits can be booked but that is not strongly advised.</li><li>Experts believe that there will be another spike in <keyword id="46002" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gold-prices" source="Orion">gold prices</keyword> in 2024, once the US Fed changes its stance on interest rates which will shift focus to gold. </li></ul>Jayasri Vadapalli, 54-year-old homemaker from Hyderabad has been trying to exchange her old-fashioned gold jewellery pieces for a while now. After gold prices hit a new-high in December, she was thrilled to hear that the necklace she purchased eight years back is now worth twice what she paid for. “I thought of exchanging it for another set,” she said. But her plans were thwarted as she learnt that she missed the festive-period discount season. As per reports, there has been a surge in people recycling old gold like her, during the ongoing wedding season. Prices are of no consequence as exchanging old gold for new jewellery is a zero-sum game, say experts. “There is no gain to be made when people recycle gold. In fact, it’s a bad idea to exchange when prices are high as no jeweller will give any offers when there is a rush,” Jateen Trivedi, VP and research analyst at LKP Securities tells Business Insider India. Book profits or hold? India is sitting on physical gold holdings which are estimated anywhere between 25,000 to 27000 tonnes. It’s all worth a lot more after the recent spike, but little can be realized from it, as most of it is in the form of jewellery — which is not sold unless there is a specific need or an emergency. “Traditionally, Indians have been advised to safeguard their future by saving or investing in gold. While considering physical gold, it is usually not purchased for investment purposes so they could hold it for their respective purpose,” says Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities , Mehta Equities. Agrees Trivedi,“There is no woman in India who would sell her jewellery no matter what the prices are or how much profits there are in it unless there is a financial crunch or need for family. The amount of physical gold in the form of bars which is held for trading purposes can be sold to book profits, but that percentage is very low.” It’s very unlikely that even traders would liquidate their holdings, since analysts expect gold to see another spike once the US Fed goes in for rate cuts to support growth. “We advise as much as 10-15% of the portfolio to be in gold holdings. Any incremental holdings can be sold to book profits as we look at gold holding strategically and not tactically. If prices run up a lot, they can be sold to book profits but prospects for 2024 look good, so they shouldn’t miss out on that,” says Ghazal Jain, fund manager of alternative investments at Quantum AMC. Should you buy more? Most experts expect some short-term correction from the all-time high to the tune of 5-7% in the next few months – offering a brief but decisive entry point. “After the first quarter of 2024, we might see another positive cycle after interest rate cuts,” says Trivedi. Jain also says that the outlook is positive even if there could be some volatility in the next few months. “We suggest individuals could consider shifting to Sovereign Gold Bonds, offering the dual advantage of gold investment and earning interest over time,” says Kalantri. There is another factor at play that can offer long-term support to prices is the aggressive central bank purchases of gold. Apart from the yellow metal’s safe haven status, de-dollarization is also adding to its lustre. “One of the main drivers of gold demand is China, India, Russia, and Turkey, which buy record amounts of gold to protect their economy from dollar fluctuations and increase their financial independence,” says a report by Kedia Advisory. China, which is the biggest global buyer of oil, has been in talks with Saudi Arabia to sell them oil in yuan since 2022. “It is possible that the Saudis may have asked for the yuan to be backed by gold, to bolster its lack of free convertibility. This could explain why the Chinese central bank has been buying more and more gold each year,” explains Jamal Mecklai, CEO of Mecklai Financial in his note. China has already announced its goal of raising gold holdings to 5%, and its share at the end of Q2 2023 is at 3.84%. “The possibility that China may see fit to push the share of its gold holdings even higher than 5%, we may well be seeing just the start of a real bull market in gold,” adds Mecklai. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/stellar-listing-gains-book-profits-if-there-are-bumper-gains-say-experts/articleshow/105630290.cms">Stellar listing gains: Book profits if there are bumper gains say experts</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/private-equity-vc-players-make-a-killing-as-ipo-rush-yields-them-10000-crore/articleshow/105649353.cms">Private equity &amp; VC players make a killing as IPO rush yields them ₹10,000 crore</a>

Gold rush: Don’t recycle or book profits yet, another bull-run on the way say analysts

<ul><li>The pandemic and lockdown period has brought many new learnings for all businesses, and e-commerce has undoubtedly been one of the sectors with the biggest takeaways.</li><li>As we enter a new year, we reached out to e-commerce platforms to understand what role it would play in 2022.</li></ul>The e-commerce segment has been witnessing a good growth over the last few years and has been showing no signs of slowing down in India. And why would it? Hasn’t shopping become so much easier now? We can buy anything, from groceries and perfumes to expensive jewellery, from the comfort of our homes. The pandemic further brought fundamental and long-term changes in the way people shop and make their purchase decisions. It has accelerated the industry’s growth in the country as historically offline shoppers also downloaded ecommerce apps onto their phones to shop from within the safety of their four walls. The past year and a half has brought millions of new e-commerce users, including from smaller cities and towns who now are comfortable with buying online. The industry has witnessed an uptick of 77% between 2020 and 2021 and Tier II, III cities are transacting more than ever, said a recent report by Bobble AI. This trend has pushed e-commerce platforms to embrace a wide range of regional brands and local sellers, which offer a compelling value proposition to consumers. With increasing internet penetration, e-commerce players are expecting new growth from Tier II, III and beyond, which will cumulatively contribute to $150 billion of e-commerce as per RedSeer Consulting’s report. The Indian market is expected to surpass the US to become the second-largest e-commerce market in the world by 2034, revealed another <a href="https://www.ibef.org/industry/ecommerce-presentation">report</a>. It is poised to reach US$99 billion by 2024 from US$30 billion in 2019, expanding at a 27% CAGR, with grocery and fashion becoming the key drivers of this incremental growth. As we enter a new year and e-commerce further expands its presence deeper into the country, we speak to a few e-commerce platforms to discuss what lies ahead, where would the second phase of growth come from and trends that would dominate the industry. Here’s what they had to say: <keyword id="1922572" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="manish-taneja" source="Orion">Manish Taneja</keyword>, Founder and CEO <keyword id="1688931" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="purplle-com" source="Orion">Purplle.com</keyword>: The year has witnessed major growth in the beauty ecommerce industry, ushering in the next year with great potential. In 2022, the emergence of virtual reality tools will fuel the industry. Offering virtual beauty experiences that seamlessly merge with an omni-channel approach will be the norm. Over the next year, we at Purplle will invest heavily in technology and data science advancements to further personalize customer experience. Natural, transparent beauty products, effortless shopping with shorter delivery times, data-based product development, and value-driven experiences, are some of the other trends that will emerge in 2022. Bharati Balakrishnan- Country Head and Director, Shopify India: The Indian ecommerce market will continue to evolve in 2022, with D2C brands taking centrestage, driven by growing consumer demand and local brands increasingly making ecommerce a priority. On the one hand, the new shopping habits formed over the past 18 months will become an important factor: consumers have embraced online shopping and are actively choosing small, independent brands. This means that D2C brands are here to stay, and we anticipate the emergence of a new generation of proudly Indian brands across food, fashion and lifestyle. Simultaneously, traditional brands and retailers who dominate offline are evolving to meet the demands of the new consumer - they are building to provide a consistent experience to their consumers across online and offline, and would like to use their own online stores to truly extend their brand promise to existing and new customers. It’s an exciting time to be a consumer brand in India Amit, CEO, <keyword id="9798181" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="olx-autos-india" source="Orion">OLX Autos India</keyword>: Rise of the prosumer: The many faces of personalisation With the majority of buyers now clearly preferring online shopping over the traditional format of in-store purchasing, the new trend is inclined towards the forward-thinking, influential and proactive prosumer. Personalisation of the products according to customers preference will be key in 2022. E-commerce marketers will need to integrate personalizing products through advanced technologies in order to provide tailor made and seamless customer experiences. In a cookie-less world, contextual marketing has reared its head in a big way. Targeting consumers has come of age - from category, to keyword, to semantic contextual targeting, now. Many more trends like crypto payments, and dynamic pricing will grow for pure-play retailers. But it is personalization for the prosumer that will chart the way forward. <keyword id="2227756" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="prabhkiran-singh" source="Orion">Prabhkiran Singh</keyword>, Founder CEO, Bewakoof: Live video commerce, Virtual trial rooms (or AR/VR driven fit assists), customized lifestyle products and 3D animated UX interactions are the key trends we expect to disrupt shopping experience in the coming year. Video or content commerce would be largely driven by influencer or user generated content. To drive scalability, there will be multiple SAAS companies launching solutions to simplify handshakes between brands and influencers in content acquisition, ingestion and performance driven payments space. Early movers in the space are Myntra Studio, <keyword id="8861782" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="trell" source="Orion">Trell</keyword> and Bewakoof Bshots. With large VC investments going into the Web 3.0 and metaverse space, a lot of the product cataloging problems around accurate sizing or fit assessment would become more trivial. We will see brands launching virtual trial rooms, 3D product shoots and fit assistants to bridge the gap between online and offline shopping experience. 3 out of 10 customers who shop on our platform would like to customize their product design and sizing. We see this as a growing trend that multiple brands will adhere to in the coming year. 3D and animated content will become a UX trend in the consumer internet industry. Animations used to be a hindrance to many designers and developers as they may slow the loading speed of websites or apps and it is data consuming. With 5G scaling up and 4G becoming a norm across the country, designers will chose to use more animations. Kashyap Vadapalli, Chief Marketing Officer &amp; Business Head, <keyword id="864887" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="pepperfry" source="Orion">Pepperfry</keyword>: ‘MarTech’, which essentially means amalgamation of marketing with technology, is the future of commerce where brands will run marketing in a digital and connected ecosystem to offer an immersive experience to their customers. With the advancement of technology in marketing, consumers are constantly looking for an enhanced buying experience. Thereby meaning, from 2022 onwards we will witness more technology integrated experiences like development of offline Virtual Reality shopping rooms for consumers. Since VR offers an immersive 360-degree perspective, products in virtual design, especially big-ticket items like furniture can be easily a luscious offering for customers who want an interactive experience with the product before making the decision, therefore, simplifying the buyer’s journey. Going forward, I believe, Martech will play a dominant role in the strategic priorities and investments of brands, pushing marketers to embrace digital operations and integrated customer experience. <keyword id="12792513" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="shubh-darpan" source="Orion">Shubh Darpan</keyword>, VP- BI &amp; Analytics, Cashify: From the trends we have seen over the past couple of years, we at Cashify believe that the demand for refurbished mobiles is here to stay. It started with the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns when having a mobile became a necessity. Refurbished devices such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc. were seen to be preferred by the Indian consumer. Mainly because of the economic aspect of it, the refurbished market has seen an upward motion in India. Moreover, with the shortage of chipsets, there have been fewer smartphone launches in recent times. This too has been a factor in pushing consumers towards refurbished mobiles. Refurbished smartphones offer an optimal and sustainable solution to today's tech-dependent world and we can see it going a long way. Gitanjali Saxena, Business Head - Global Luxury, Tata CLiQ Luxury <div type="image" title="Gitanjali Saxena, Business Head - Global Luxury, Tata CLiQ Luxury" msid="88446509" hostid="261"></div> Inherently, shopping is a social experience. As people continue to spend an increasing amount of time online and on social media, online shopping, which witnessed a huge boost because of the pandemic, is now also becoming social. Social shopping, which is already booming in countries like China, has been gaining momentum in India and will be a leading trend in the coming year. Engaging and immersive formats of selling, such as live commerce, will be at the forefront. In addition, AR and VR will play a crucial role in enhancing the online shopping experience, enabling more personalization, and targeting niche customers. Some of the biggest brands in the luxury fashion and beauty industries are working closely with social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat to leverage their capabilities of live streaming, in-app shopping, and augmented reality to offer an experience that every luxury customer desires. Snapchat has harnessed the power of technology and introduced an augmented reality lens that allows for a virtual try-on of products. Convenience, personalization, and a sense of community are some of the drivers fuelling the growth of social shopping. The advancement of technology is unlocking a slew of exciting opportunities in social shopping, including user-generated content, virtual product try-ons, direct interaction with brands and peers, and instant gratification. E-commerce platforms will reimagine their strategy to integrate social shopping elements by introducing innovative and engaging formats to bolster their reach and engagement with customers. With social shopping, e-commerce platforms can revolutionize the way people shop on their platforms by presenting a new way of shopping.

Ecommerce: The trends to watch out for in 2022

<ul><li><keyword id="31174" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="brands">Brands</keyword> have seen early signs of recovery during <keyword id="126295" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Akshaya-Tritiya">Akshaya Tritiya</keyword> and <keyword id="6385850" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Raksha-Bandhan">Raksha Bandhan</keyword> and their businesses are approaching normalcy. </li><li>After surviving the storm during the lockdown, brands have a lot of hope resting on the festive season to bring in cheer and profitability in their businesses. </li><li>With Ganesh Chaturthi around the corner, we decided to speak to a few brands across categories on how they are preparing for the festive season and what kind of expectations they have pinned on the latter half of the year for recovery. </li></ul>Brands are pinning a lot of hopes on the festive season this year to help them bounce back. They have started working on their advertising campaigns in full swing to win back consumer trust and help shape the <keyword id="29547" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Market">market</keyword> sentiment. The festive season, which begins in August and continues till January, often results in a disproportionate increase in demand of goods and services, marking an important period for most consumer brands. However, the pandemic this year has made consumers frugal and the current market unrest has taken a sharp toll on the total spends. As per Madison’s report, AdEx collapsed by as much as 65% because of COVID-19 in Q2, indicating how badly the economy has been performing so far. Last year for Television, the Indian Premier League (IPL), ICC World Cup and Elections in Q2’19 contributed around Rs 3,000 crore (34% to the TV AdEx in Q2’19). However, the pandemic removed both these money-spinners from the AMJ quarter this year, which has added to the decline. This year, brands are trying to come up with innovative solutions to reach out to their consumers at their door steps and are optimistic about seeing a stable growth in the next few months. Fashion e-commerce giant Myntra has seen early signs of recovery and <keyword id="1549018" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="consumer-sentiments">consumer sentiments</keyword> picking up during Raksha Bandhan as it witnessed a surge in demand for women's ethnic wear, men’s occasion wear, kids wear, and accessories such as watches, handbags. It also saw 3.5 million customers shopping during the June edition of EORS, a testimony of how consumer sentiments are getting back on track. “The festive season, followed by winter, is the most exciting quarter for Myntra. This year we are expecting a massive scale and growth in festive buying as consumer sentiment continues to be strong. Myntra is already operating at a pre-lockdown scale, and this upcoming festive season will definitely help us in boosting our growth further. Our focus will continue to be on enhancing customer experience by providing high-quality merchandise in a curated and personalized store, along with safe and fast delivery. Our new customer acquisition is at an all-time high and we are ensuring we help them in all their lifestyle needs. We are witnessing a spike in our Tier II and Tier III customers and orders as well,” said Ayyappan Rajagopal, Head of Business, Myntra. Another new-age brand Melorra that specializes in modern jewellery, has managed to avoid the losses incurred by various other businesses during the pandemic months. It saw a 400% growth in the last financial year, and is confident of matching that level of growth with a strong performance in the upcoming festive season. “The festive season this year is expected to be even more impactful than the past for Melorra. Firstly, the lockdown that started in March slowed down the jewellery purchase due to disruption in the delivery logistics, and most of the people are looking to buy jewellery now that the deliveries have resumed. Given the pandemic, all festivities in the first 2 quarters of the FY was a washout, hence there could be a trend reversal during festive season – but not at the previous levels. Since the prices are also at an all-time high, customers would opt for lightweight and trendy gold jewellery that is not only stylish but also easy on the pocket. Melorra caters to women who live in the moment and do not keep gold stacked away in lockers like before. Hence, it is definitely a key period for the brand and the jewellery industry at large,” said Sharat Krishnan, Head of Marketing, Melorra. The festive season has always been the most important part of the year for the jewellery business. Titan has already seen 80% recovery because people are celebrating their milestones with their families at home. It has a campaign and launch of a new collection lined up for October. Ajoy Chawla, CEO Jewellery Division, Titan Company Ltd sees no reason why the festive season shouldn’t be as good as last year. “It would be as good as last year or slightly lesser. The most optimistic expectation is that it should be as good as last year. Even if it is 90% or 80% close to last year’s performance, that’s good. We’re currently seeing 80% recovery and this is my best estimate. We’ve seen this recovery because people are still celebrating milestones like anniversary, birthdays, etc. They understand that the reality is grim but how long can you keep your life on hold? They want to feel good. Also, Q3 is wedding season but the festive season is delayed this year so the season may start a little slower unless there are massive rebound cases. Some markets also take two steps forward and three steps back, there is always some fluctuation. However, after October, we are hoping to see more stability. We will also launch a new collection and campaign around October,” shared Ajoy Chawla, CEO Jewellery Division, Titan Company Ltd. On what the consumer sentiment would likely be this festive season, Nidhi Sinha, Head of Content, Mintel India said, "One of the most important things people are looking forward to once the restrictions of the pandemic are lifted is meeting friends and family. However, according to research from Mintel’s Global COVID-19 Tracker in August, 42% of Indian consumers are looking forward to meeting family and friends in person compared to 34% of consumers in early July. This desire has accelerated due to the onset of the festive season." Mintel's research data indicates that consumer sentiment is improving and there is more willingness to spend on luxury items and good brands in the market. Sinha added, "Ganesh Chaturthi, which is round the corner, would be one such important festival that would entail celebrations in a different way so as to be in line with the pandemic protocols. As people continue to be under restrictions due to the pandemic, this festival is expected to be low key compared to regular times. However, Mintel research highlights that 30% of Indian consumers are planning to spend more on clothes and accessories, presenting an opportunity for brands. This is indicative that people are planning to spend on indulgences despite a negative economic outlook. Brands like Gemini oil, Ferns and Petals and Cadbury have been very agile in talking about the changing face of the festivities and how it is an opportunity for people to spend such festivals at home with their loved ones.” Festive season is an important period for the retail industry. It is a time when consumer spending is at an all-time high. One of the leading sportswear brands PUMA has multiple new launches planned throughout the season to cater to increasing demand. Telling us how the consumer sentiment changed in retail, Abhishek Ganguly, General Manager, PUMA India and Southeast Asia said, “As we’re witnessing right now, online channels will continue to be a convenient option for consumers to shop. Given the precautions around health and safety, we are seeing people shop online or go to a store where they are confident about the hygiene measures being implemented. Having said that, as lockdown continues to be relaxed across the country, we are seeing a steady week-on-week increase in footfalls with consumers visiting our stores to buy fashion essentials.” On festive expectations, Ganguly added, “Over the last 3-4 months, we have been seeing steady growth across both our offline and online channels. The conversions have increased substantially from pre-Covid times as people exactly know what they want to buy and are shopping with a clear intent. Given the trend of how things are continuing to improve compared to the previous months, we are very hopeful of a strong September and October. We hope this trend continues through the festive season and beyond.” Electronics giant Philips has launched a few new products like Smart Hair Dryer, Eyebrows Trimmer this month to ride on the improving consumer sentiment due to the festive season. Gulbahar Taurani, Vice-President, Personal Health, Philips Indian Subcontinent, Philips India, said, “The trends indicate that this is going to be a good season. We will have our challenges in terms of supply chain, partial lockdown, movement of products because the number of COVID cases are going up. From a demand standpoint, we see a very positive sentiment. I believe that this is going to stay, which will drive the festive season. As a part of the festive season, we had a couple of new launches last month itself.” The furniture segment, which was on complete halt during the lockdown as it did not fall under essentials, is also gearing up for the festive months. Given that individuals are spending more time at home due to the lockdown, home-grown brand Pepperfry witnessed an uptick in demand for WFH furniture and décor. In fact, Pepperfry is already at 100% of its pre-lockdown sales volumes. Kashyap Vadapalli, Chief Marketing Officer &amp; Business Head, Pepperfry is now anticipating to see this trend boost their sales further as people continue to focus on making their home spaces better equipped for everything. The brand is upping its digital media game and has launched a new campaign called ‘Swadeshi is Great’. “Given that household products and celebrations at home play such an important role during the festive season, consumers are constantly looking to revamp/renovate the space such that the home category witnesses a natural upswing in demand during festivals. With this combination of consumer adaptation and brand innovation, we are positive about the consumers’ outlook and demand for categories like home décor and furniture. As consumers have become apprehensive with regards to shopping offline or even stepping outside, they are increasingly adapting to buying online. Our online business is already at 120% of pre-COVID levels. As we move along, we plan to keep innovating with digital tools to enhance our consumers’ buying experiences,” said Vadapalli. The sudden outbreak of the pandemic brought a lot of businesses to a standstill. However, one of the few sectors that have seen an upturn amid the nationwide lockdown is EdTech. Now, to evolve with changing times and to prepare for the upcoming festive season, upGrad is looking at altering its marketing strategy. It is shifting its spends towards TV as consumers would want to spend more time together, while supplementing it with digital. Telling us what kind of changes EdTech has gone through lately, Arjun Mohan, CEO-India, upGrad said, “Given the current scenario, consumer priorities are being re-calibrated. They are now undergoing a behavioral shift which is directly reflecting on their spends. Unlike earlier, individuals today have ample time and money to spend on upskilling options, which otherwise, was parked for a later date. upGrad has seen a big behavioral shift in the mindset of parents too towards learning online, as they have seen their kids benefiting from it in real-time. This is one of the major drivers that has created a massive demand for our specialised online programs, which not only enhances the domain knowledge, revise skill sets, etc. but also help professionals achieve desired career outcomes.” All brands voiced their confidence that the worst has passed, and the markets will only move towards normalcy hereon.

Festive Marketing: Brands are optimistic that improving consumer sentiments will help them bounce back and bring in profitability

<ul><li>As we enter a brand new year, we want to crystal gaze into what the year holds for us. </li><li>In today’s feature, e-commerce players tell us what lies ahead in 2021. </li></ul>With the second-largest internet user base, India has emerged as one of the most prominent markets globally. Being stuck at home because of the pandemic further triggered the desire to make life and work easier at home, which resulted in a significant increase in <keyword id="10547863" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="shopper-spends">shopper spends</keyword>. People who would otherwise go out to buy groceries and medicines at the pharmacy, turned to e-commerce platforms to get essentials delivered at their doorsteps. 2020 accelerated the e-commerce industry by a decade, revolutionising the way brands operate, run, and grow their businesses, as well as how consumers choose to shop and pay. As per Nielsen India’s E-commerce Consumer Panel (E-Analytics Solution), there was a double digit increase in average spend of <keyword id="237977" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="online-shoppers">online shoppers</keyword> for electronics and accessories (39%), mobile and accessories (12%), and fashion, including apparel, footwear, and accessories (10%) after the pandemic. Appliances (e.g.TV, WM, refrigerators, etc.) also saw notable shopper spending increase at 9%. This growth trajectory of e-commerce platforms in India testifies how customers are increasingly recognising the importance of comfort shopping within closed doors, and after seeing their businesses take a plunge in the first three months of the lockdown, more and more sellers are also coming online. According to IBEF, ‘The Indian E-commerce industry has been on an upward growth trajectory and is expected to surpass the US to become the second-largest e-commerce market in the world by 2034. Indian e-commerce sector is poised to reach US$99 billion by 2024 from US$30 billion in 2019, expanding at a 27% CAGR, with grocery and fashion/apparel likely to be the key drivers of incremental growth.’ The second half of the year, which is the festive season in India, brought cheer for many brands and further pushed the adoption rate of e-commerce. Players like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, and Snapdeal together sold goods worth $3.1 billion in the first 4.5 days of the festival season sale. Consumers are still hesitant to return to in-store shopping completely and audiences from Tier II and Tier III are also preferring to shop online. Snapdeal saw 70% of its orders come in from Tier II and Tier III during Diwali. The pandemic and lockdown period has brought many learnings for all businesses, and e-commerce has undoubtedly been one of the sectors with the biggest takeaways. As we enter a new year, we reached out to e-commerce platforms to understand what role it would play in 2021. Here is what they said: Anchit Nayar, CEO, <keyword id="7726437" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nykaa-Retail">Nykaa Retail</keyword>: In the initial months of the lockdown, businesses witnessed a clear shift in consumer behaviour- with scores of historically offline shoppers coming online due to convenience and safety. As the country reopens further in 2021 we see the customer seamlessly moving with ease between online and offline channels underscoring the importance of omnichannel retailers catering to customer preference. Another key trend for 2021 will be a focus on bringing more personalization and curation to customers shopping online through greater tech and marketing integration. Lastly - we believe social commerce is going to have a big impact this year. At Nykaa we have integrated our content into our shopping app thereby allowing customers to watch and shop at once. Sandeep Komaravelly, Director of International Growth at Shopify: Shopify’s first annual report* <a href="https://www.shopify.com/future-of-commerce/2021">Future of Commerce 2021</a> report brought together global merchant and consumer data to predict how the commerce landscape will shift in the coming year. It highlighted five key trends that will be prevalent next year. <ol><li>Young consumers will change the business landscape as ecommerce charges ahead.</li><li>Physical retail as we know it will transform, giving local businesses new advantages.</li><li>Consumers want to shop independent. Businesses will adapt to make that easier.</li><li>More consumers will vote with their wallets.</li><li>Modern financial solutions will disrupt business and consumer banking, financing, and lending.</li></ol>Although we have seen the greatest shift online among young consumers, the other key segments including middle aged and older consumers are also seeing significant numbers starting to go online for their shopping needs. We expect such habits to persist in 2021 as Indian consumers increasingly prefer to support independent brands and local businesses. Kashyap Vadapalli, Chief Marketing Officer &amp; Business Head, Pepperfry: In a post-pandemic world, the one guarantee is massive shifts in the outlook of humanity across a wide spectrum of things. As people, as societies and as businesses, there has been a sea change in what one values or considers in their decision making and actions. The illusion of continued uninterrupted safety, growth, progress have all been shattered. In such a scenario fundamental values have become paramount. Organizations and marketing teams that focus on foundational propositions will thrive and in my opinion the trend that we will see in the next few quarters will be about these fundamental matters. People have become more purposeful in their actions and consumption than ever before and marketers who can tap into this theme of purpose will be able to attract consumers to their offerings. While digital and social have enabled interactions over the last 5-10 years, the next stage of this trend is where simple interactions, evolve to become deep connections. Going beyond the transactional exchanges and building relationships is the second key trend that will drive the growth of businesses in future. Samarth Agrawal, CEO, Cofounder, MaxWholesale: The key e-commerce trend for 2021 will be D2C retail, as e-commerce is growing at a fast pace, new-age brands will capitalize this opportunity to grow direct-to-consumer reach to a $15-$20 million revenue run-rate online for their brand. For the medium and large brands, the operative word is going to be “omni-channel retail” as they will try to champion B2C and B2B e-commerce for growth. B2B e-commerce in India today is where B2C e-commerce was in 2015. Amazon Spokesperson: “The unprecedented situation of the pandemic has brought about a rapid adoption and acceptance of e commerce as an essential service. One thing we’ve learned this year is that how important a role Amazon and ecommerce can play with enabling policies – for our customers as much as for small businesses &amp; economy. Throughout the year, we remain focused on enabling small businesses to benefit from widest reach made possible by e-commerce as they adapted to the unprecedented situation. For customers, we continued to put together and safely deliver the best of products from our widest selection by top brands across categories to address their ever evolving needs. As the lines between online &amp; offline continue to blur, 2021 will see businesses seamlessly implementing an omni channel approach and leverage our investment in technology and infrastructure to help empower their growth.” Snapdeal Spokesperson: The lockdown saw shoppers order everything online, from groceries to stationery, from maths tutorials to yoga sessions. Covid-19 related disruption has brought fundamental and long term changes in the way people shop. Millions of new e-commerce users, including in smaller cities &amp; towns, are now comfortable buying online. The growing cohort of online buyers is also leading to deepening of the supply available online. Online has grown beyond just well-known brands to embrace a wide range of regional and seller brands, which offer a compelling value proposition of good quality at great prices. The range of products that users now browse for and buy online has grown significantly this year. It’s not only phones, gadgets, food and fashion that they buy online, but also everyday stuff like a new mop, cooking utensils, bed covers and much more. Till a year ago, customers usually preferred to buy such products offline after a good look and feel. Users are now turning to online channels more proactively to discover choices beyond the physical markets in the neighbourhood. Having experienced the vast selection that is available online, the basket for online users will become more diverse and will reflect their consumption in a more representative way.

E-commerce: Trends to watch out for in 2021

<ul><li>90% of the furniture market is unorganized and a lot of organized brands who dared to venture in this category, frizzled out eventually</li><li>However, <keyword id="864887" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pepperfry">Pepperfry</keyword> has maintained a consistent growth ever since its launch. It has achieved a CAGR of more than 80%</li><li>Despite the poor economic conditions, Pepperfry aims to break even under 6-9 months and aspires to be a <keyword id="7438361" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="billion-dollar-company">billion dollar company</keyword> by <keyword id="8078701" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="march-2021">March 2021</keyword></li></ul>Pepperfry, an eight-year-old furniture and decor company, has managed to succeed in a complex category like furniture where close to 90% of the sector is unorganized. While many other platforms entered the category and fizzled out with time, Pepperfry continues to hold its own. In the e-commerce adoption cycle, furniture comes in at a later stage (compared to books, electronics, fashion, grocery etc.) but Pepperfry now stands at 65 stores across 24 cities and aims to launch 100 Pepperfry Studios by next year. In the first four years since its inception, Pepperfry’s marketing budget ranged between Rs 25-40 crore annually. However, there has been a 70% jump in advertising and marketing budget in FY19 and their total spends stand at Rs 135 crore now. According to Kashyap Vadapalli, CMO, Pepperfry, 60% of the marketing budget is invested in digital mediums, about 45% on performance channels and 15% on brand or content initiatives. In an interview with Business Insider India, Vadapalli further tells us how Pepperfry helps give local artisans a boost, its content marketing journey, and how with all of this, it has managed to achieve a CAGR of over 80%. Excerpts: Q. How has Pepperfry's journey been so far in India? Tell us a little about your financial trajectory? Over the past 7.5 years, Pepperfry has increasingly built special competencies to serve the Indian market and bridge the existing gaps in the market. We have elevated consumer experience manifold by building a curated marketplace, ensuring the highest levels of quality control and providing a robust post-transaction experience of delivery and installation. On the back of our understanding of Indian consumers in the furniture segment, we introduced ten dynamic House Brands to democratize the market by addressing unique design philosophy and price points. We pioneered the omni-channel strategy in India by creating multiple touchpoints for consumers across the length and breadth of the country. We launched our first experiential Studio in 2014 and today we operate 65 of them across 24 cities in India, which are built on a solid bedrock of an unparalleled supply chain infrastructure. Each of these offerings are built on the premise of creating superior consumer experiences, which is the cornerstone of our brand motto- happy furniture to you. Thus, building a strong brand that makes it to the consideration set each time. We have had strong and consistent growth ever since launch, in the last 4 years we’ve achieved a CAGR of more than 80%, we are likely to breakeven in under 6-9 months and aspire to be a billion dollar company by March 2021. Q. What do you think sets Pepperfry apart in the category? What are the challenges faced by the company? Pepperfry is the dominant player in the category, as it is the only truly omni-channel player in the segment while most other brands are multi-channel. Pepperfry is also the only curated home and furniture marketplace, which offers a wide portfolio of products for consumers to choose from while also helping them filter choices based on quality, price and preferences. In the e-commerce adoption cycle, furniture comes in at a later stage (compared to books, electronics, fashion, grocery etc.) so we have to work extra hard at acquiring customers. Furniture is also a high-ticket, high-involvement, low-frequency, non-standard item – coupled with the fact that consumers are less-savvy about the technical and quality aspects of furniture – these are the key challenges to online conversion and scaling. We have tried to overcome these challenges by bringing in customer education, through quality listings and content, bringing in AR capabilities on the mobile, having 3D visualisations on the website and also opening up Studios in 65 places across the country. We have seen that each of these features, touchpoints gives us an additional lever to acquire customers and scale. We have also focussed on building a well-recognised brand and have established best in class service capability. Q. What's the ‘360-degree-marketing’ strategy at Pepperfry? The furniture market in India is largely fragmented, with over 90 percent occupied by the unorganized sector. At Pepperfry, it is our aim to change the buyer’s behavior to move from traditional methods (custom furniture, small unorganized players etc.) to organized platforms that offer better value, variety and service. As a marketer, it is essential to view one’s brand from a funnel perspective right from awareness and acquisition to engagement and loyalty via conversion or activation. Over the years, we have created strong brand equity through a mix of both digital and non-digital mediums. At the acquisition stage, we run strong performance marketing campaigns targeting the potential consumers through varied mediums. For conversion, we utilize various tools such as cash-backs and coupons, which aid in pushing the consumer towards the transaction. We also ensure high engagement with our customers through multiple touch points which results in a high repeat rate. This is achieved through push notifications, emailers and traditional campaigns and also by keeping consumers engaged through content led pieces which integrate our brand into a plotline. Therefore, we engage with consumers through varied mediums activating a combination of myriad channels at different points of time. Q. Since its inception, Pepperfry has chosen to use content marketing. (With Miss Malini, Girlyapa, TVF, Dice Media) Can you tell us what influenced your decision to take that route? In today’s dynamic and competitive market ecosystem, it is essential that brands seek clarity on what they offer to a consumer, what pertinent problem is being solved through this offering and who their target demographic is. When we launched Pepperfry, we decided to create a brand that offers great variety at a great price alongside seamless consumer services, thereby filling several existing gaps in the market. Our key target demographic therefore became the urban millennial i.e., individuals in their late 20’s and early 30’s from metro and tier 1 cities who were early adopters of the internet and online shopping. We leveraged this by ensuring that each of the platforms we chose had a significant overlap with our target demographic thereby helping us create brand awareness and high top of mind recall among these individuals. While co-curating content for these partnerships we refrained from forcibly integrating our products and offerings into the sketches, a blunder brands often make. Today, our presence on digital platforms has grown significantly higher – 50% of the marketing budget is invested in digital media - to ensure we are constantly engaging with our customers. Q. What is the marketing budget set aside this year? How has your marketing budget evolved over the years? By what percentage? Pepperfry was launched in 2011 and for the first 3-4 years, our marketing budget ranged between 25 to 40 crores annually. Over the last 4 years, our marketing budget has ranged from 60-90 crores, with this year being in the higher end of the above range. While we continue to grow business at high double digits even at scale we have managed to stabilize our marketing budget because as a brand gets stronger and our marketing channels get more efficient the same investment yields better results, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Q. What is your media mix? Which medium gets the lion's share and why? Our media mix is evenly distributed with our marketing budget being split equally between both digital and traditional mediums. Within digital, performance marketing occupies a key position with 70 - 80% of the digital budget being allocated to it while 20 - 30% is allocated to brand and engagement enhancing digital mediums. We focus on performance marketing channels as they help drive consumer acquisition. Traditional mediums, too, play an essential role in our marketing mix wherein, 70-80 percent of the total spends of the traditional bucket are allocated to television as it as it allows us to scale both reach and impact quickly, especially for seasonal promotions, such as Diwali and Independence Day, etc. The remnant 20-30 percent is allocated to radio and outdoor advertising, which play the role of support mediums in large campaigns. Q. There was a top of mind recall survey, according to which Pepperfry ranks 1st in the category. Can you tell me a little bit more about it? For more than a year, we are running a continuous brand track, which has covered more than 20,000 respondents across the top 8 cities. This Brand Track is executed by our partner research firm who are part of GroupM. Pepperfry scores the highest rank across all key parameters such as – TOM (top of mind), preference and intent and usage. Consistently we have seen that we have a TOM score which is more than 100% higher than the 2nd nearest brand. This shows that we have the most recalled brand name in the segment and we have built it basis a very clear and sharp proposition of “Happy Furniture to You” that we have been taking to the media over the last 5 years. Q. Many platforms had entered the category but have slowly fizzled out. What has helped Pepperfry tackle difficult market situations? This is a complex category given the unorganised market ecosystem and multitudes of variables when it comes to purchase decisions. Most other platforms that have not succeeded to scaling in this market had not been able to manage the complexity. They typically would focus on technology and marketing while the key factors are operational execution at a category management level and at logistics. At Pepperfry, we decided to build all the aspects of customer value delivery ground-up and in-house, right from merchant capability development to catalogue building to merchandising to quality control to first-mile and last-mile logistics and also installation support. In a nutshell, an integrated, full-stack, product and service offering that was designed around the consumer. The ownership, control that this approach gives, coupled with strong data led process improvement practises helped us to scale and tackle the disorganised nature of the market. Q. How are you making sure that your organization is environment friendly, considering you use a lot of wood in your furniture? As a business, we encourage and enable the manufacturers we partner with to procure raw materials only from authorized and certified markets which follow proper practices when it comes to acquiring wood and other components. As an organization, Pepperfry has planted over 1-lac trees in areas across the Rajasthan belt and will continue to do so, by partnering with organisations involved in afforestation efforts. Q. How have you been making sure that local artisans get a boost? We believe in providing a platform for small businesses to showcase their products to the pan-India market, consequently more than 80% of the merchants on Pepperfry are small and medium business who are based in traditional wood-working hubs across the country. When we first collaborated with these SMEs, they were largely traditional in their approach with little to no access to larger markets. We took it upon us to build their capabilities by enabling their technological infrastructure, aiding them with raw material procurement and standardization of the products. Today, each of these businesses have received a remarkable boost in their overall business practices with a significant increase in revenues. Q. What is your expansion plan? Where do you see Pepperfry in next three years? A large part of our current focus is to simplify the furniture segment to enable larger chunks of consumers to shift from traditional to online purchasing. This effort is being supplemented by the rapid expansion of our omni-channel model which will further aid in building not just brand awareness but also consumer trust and affinity due to the availability of the ‘touch and feel’ aspect of purchasing. Today, we stand at 65 stores across 24 cities with an aim to have 100 Pepperfry Studios by next year. We are also focused on scaling our modular furniture capabilities in urban markets to provide consumers with bespoke solutions that are tailor-made to suit their budget and preferences.

Pepperfry Aspires to be a Billion Dollar Company by March 2021

The festive season is starting from October and the e-Commerce companies are gearing up to woo the customers. The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=e-Commerce">e-Commerce industry</a> is expecting sales of Rs 25,600 crore ($4 billion) this year during <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Diwali">Diwali season</a>. 
 
As per the Hindu calendar, the festive season starts with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/7-Diverse-Dusshera-Celebrations-In-India/articleshow/43980552.cms">‘Navratri’</a> in the month of October. After October, there are a string of festivals and the festivities do not stop till December as the last month of the year is believed to be the most auspicious one for weddings. These festive months, as calculated by the <keyword id="3020651" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Technopark-Advisors">Technopark Advisors</keyword>, are expected to account 40% of the total $10-billion annual sales the Indian e-Commerce industry is aiming to record this year. 
 
The growing sector reported a $7-billion sale in FY15 with 40% sales coming during the festive season. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Snapdeal+">Snapdeal </a>senior vice-president, marketing, Idi Srinivas Murthy, said that the company saw a 15x increase in traffic during <keyword id="188" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Diwali">Diwali</keyword> last year and this year too they were intensifying all aspects of business operations, including logistics, supply-chain, financial and technological support. 
 
"We have launched faster last-mile delivery solutions and a refreshed user interface. We are also developing a host of solutions for our 1,50,000 sellers," Murthy said. 
 
Being the most lucrative period for the whole industry, the companies often compete with each other to gain maximum benefits. The two major grounds on which all the e-tailers focus are delivery performance and customer satisfaction. 
 
Mumbai-based furniture and home products seller <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Pepperfry">Pepperfry</a>, in a bid to make most of the festive season, has increased its merchant base, multiplied marketing outreach, has invested in doubling its logistics capabilities by expanding fulfillment centers, delivery and assembly capabilities as well as technology capabilities. 
 
The company’s chief marketing officer Kashyap Vadapalli said, "Our sales were up 200% (last Diwali) as we took necessary steps both at the logistics and supply end.” 
 
The coming festive months are crucial not just for the e-Commerce industry, but also for the companies providing logistics solutions. Logistics startup<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Delhivery+"> ‘Delhivery’</a> is expecting a significant surge in volumes, similar to last year. 
 "<keyword id="1560090" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Delhivery">Delhivery</keyword> is continuously investing in technology, infrastructure and automation to ensure such surges are managed well during the festive season," said Mohit Tandon, co-founder, of the firm. However, with rising demand, these companies are bound to face innumerable challenges. 
 
"Since the logistics partners are common to almost all players, fulfilling the demands over a given period of time becomes a concern," said Praveen Sinha, managing director and founder of online fashion retailer Jabong. "It is not always easy due to the overwhelming response that we get during this time. It sometimes becomes challenging to have a constant stock of products," he added. 
 
In the past one year mobile and internet penetration has increased further indicating that this year online purchasing will grow multi-fold compared to Diwali 2014, Kushal Nahata, CEO and co-founder of enterprise mobility platform FarEye said. 
 
<a href="http://cdn.youthkiawaaz.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/26/bursting-crackers-just-one-day-year-harm-really-heres-much-needed-guilt-trip/Diwali-crackers.jpg">Image source</a>

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