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All retail has its niche
Brick-and-mortar retail started complaining about
e-commerce ten years ago and still continues the rant. Why?
New Delhi
Rohit, the retail world has been a complaint economy thus far. It started 35 years ago, and the complaints are still around. Newer ones replace older ones.
As all of this abounds, my one suggestion to the latest complainant in brick-and-mortar retail is a simple one. All of us need to accept the fact that Darwin has always been right for all of these 180-plus years. The fittest will survive. Retail that caters to the needs, wants, desires and indeed the growing and forever-changing aspirations of the consumer, will always survive and will always thrive. There is space for everyone.
The fact remains that India is large. The fact remains that the Indian is changing. The fact also remains that for each one of our 1.3 billion people, there is a solution that needs to be different in its appeal. Each of our retail formats, from the micro-retail format of 60 sq ft to the e-retail format of just no square feet at all, has an appeal to a distinct set of customers. Everyone will survive and thrive. The fittest in every space will thrive.
There is simply no point in complaining and wailing about it at all. Let’s laugh together. Hopefully all the way to the bank. The e-bank.
Do you really need money to build digital brands?
Mumbai
Shaina, money is needed to build brands in the physical space. I do not believe money is needed to build brands in digital space. I propagate the concept of ‘digital for digital’. If you are a digital brand, just focus on the electronic, the digital and the social. Why must you use the crutch of physical media to build your brand? I have isolated models where money spent on physical media such as print, television, radio, and outdoor is money driven into the drain of a fantasy. And money driven mostly to build fancy valuation numbers rather than money that actually helps you build a digital brand.
WhatsApp did not use money to build its brand. WhatsApp used ‘digital for digital’. WhatsApp used the format of what I have dubbed WOD. Just as we have word of mouth (WOM) in physical marketing, in digital marketing we have WOD: Word of Digital.
Word of digital is a powerful tool to build brands in a digital space. WhatsApp is a classic example.
Oh, yes, money is needed to build digital brand offerings. That money is gobbled by technology and tech upgrades, and not by advertising.
Harish Bijoor is a brand strategy expert and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. Mail your queries to cat.a.lyst@thehindu.co.in
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