Author: Subir Palit
My foray into building materials and interior infrastructure industry was in 2007, when I joined one of the leading interior infrastructure brands at Delhi as the Country Head of decorative division.
There after I had served albeit for a brief period as a CMO/ President marketing in India’s top most ACP and Plastic/tank brand before joining Greenply in 2016 from where I superannuated in 2022.
During my stint at Greenply, I had umpteen number of interactions with trade partners of Plywood/ Laminate/Veneer industry all over the country.
Needless to mention the aspirations, size, ways of transacting, the approach etc. were different and distinct of each of these trade partners but few common subjects which came up for discussions on almost every occasion, both during formal or informal meetings were their intense interest in discussing -:
- How and what steps one could take to stay ahead and check mate their counter parts in the same city? Was price discounting the only option?
- In this digital disruptive world, what and how one could use the digital medium to enhance their business and stay relevant?
One will agree that the points mentioned above are sort of subjective in nature but I as always will try to evaluate the same objectively and share the same in this piece. It may be noted that below are my personal perspectives and my take aways as I see it, without any disregard to those who may have different views on the same.
Firstly, I have always believed that price discounting destroys value in the long run however, one can also not refute that discounting does help one in selling design products viz, laminates, decorative veneers etc and retaining customers who might otherwise go to another reseller or for a wholesaler to another dealer. Though, it may not be the most effective strategy in the long run, but yes, buyers are often price sensitive and discounts does make things attractive. However, its important and one needs to use discounts as a part of larger customer retention strategy. Discounts alone are not enough to retain customers in the long run as providing exceptional customer experience, post sales service and building a strong relationship through empathy are also important. Additionally, its important to be strategic about when and how to offer discounts, like for eg One could offer benefits through loyalty progs or referrals etc.
Customers today are emerging with updated priorities as they revaluate their choices. The needs are different and ideating and finding out innovative ways to reach out to them is the key. A case in point was my experience in Bangalore during my last stint where one key trade partner, a major wholesaler who was contributing to almost 50% of the branch T/O was not offering special price discounts / undercutting to check mate competition. It was visible and known to all but still for the customers, in this case retailers he was the preferred choice. This was because the said trade partner had done his back research and home work well. He was aware and monitoring the market trends and his approach was more of helping than selling. The relationship he had created was beyond sales. He was offering other value-added benefits which during that time for many was more important discounts.
As far as being relevant in this fast changing space and a digital disruptive scenario where there is an information over flow for all, one has to constantly ideate and innovate newer ways of doing old stuff to stay ahead of the pack. One is advised to not depend only on its principal supplier/company, to help them connect with consumers but need to build their own task force and reduce dependency on companies. Adoption of technology, using the old and existing customers to recommend and post their sales experience on social media will have much higher impact in terms of building trust and authenticity in today’s world. Today’s consumers have started trusting peer opinions, their reviews and comments as they believe that people like themselves tell them the truth and thereafter their purchase decisions are based on these. For a retailer, the existing data base of past customers is it’s huge asset and if used properly in terms of sharing these customer’s experience and recommendations in social media can be a game changer in future.
While summing up I will reiterate that to be relevant in future for a retailer be it large or a small sized one they will have to adopt technology, digitise and focus on customer centricity. Tomorrow’s competition will be e-commerce and one has to be prepared for search price practices and hence operational smartness in terms of inventory management, discount buying from suppliers etc. and cutting waste will be the key.
