Understanding pulse of Indian consumer in world’s second-largest smartphone market

India is a price-sensitive market, no doubt. However, even the most justified price point will not matter if the product is faulty, the ownership experience is poor, and the product journey is cut short with a bitter after-taste. Whether it’s the entry-level segment or the super-premium one, OEMs are concentrating on placing more premium and value on the ownership and user experience, rather than just focusing on a price to specs ratio. Today, a consumer’s touchpoint with the brand just does not end at the moment of purchase but continues for a good 3-4 years, depending on the product life-cycle. So, how is the needle on creating experiences shifting? Brands are chalking out buyer personas and creating highly differentiated product lines to complement their needs.

To cite an example, there are smartphones that come with powerful processors and super-fast charging solutions to meet the needs of performance seekers. While certain products are focusing more on a bespoke camera experience with quad-camera or high megapixel technologies for camera enthusiasts or long-lasting battery life and storage capacity for daily users. There are also investments in unique, customizable software experiences, responsive after-sales services, availability, and delivery of spare parts for a well-rounded experience that truly lasts.

So do we. Technology is the driving force to understand the consumer. And brands are deploying the full force of their tech toolkit to curate experiences and bring satisfied customers into the fold. We have observed how streaming giants use machine-learning algorithms to build personalized recommendations and suggest them preemptively, creating exclusive customer profiles. To bring personalization to the customer’s doorstep, OEMs are not just partnering with e-retailers but also creating their own mobile apps and hubs as the first frontier of engagement. With every swipe, browse and purchase, marketing teams get a peek into valuable behavioural data. This enables consumers to unlock the promising opportunities for loyalty rewards, product updates, discounts, selective engagements, hyper-curated recommendations.

Building on consumer insights, brands can create meaningful digital journeys, anticipate consumer needs and meet them with a faster turn-around strategy. Accounting in customer feedback is the hallmark of an intuitive brand. Customer feedback and suggestions left on social trails are proactively monitored and incorporated in product or service strategies to show measurable outcomes. Whether it is about popularizing a high-end quad-camera in the mid-range segment to democratize pro-level photography experiences or bringing powerful processors to cater to the performance seekers, each strategic decision is based on deep-dive data-driven insights.

For a brand to be truly successful, it needs to have an adequate presence in India’s mainline markets.

The expansion of online retail channels and last-mile delivery options have accelerated the speed with which brands are penetrating the country’s hinterlands. According to a report on online shopping habits by Bain & Company, e-retail accessed 95 percent of India’s pin-codes in 2020 and democratized online shopping. Hence brands are partnering with online channels to create interactive, shoppable content and fuel consumer interest, followed by the promise of delivery in the shortest possible time.

The other side of the coin is offline expansion as well. Offline retail presents a huge opportunity for better engagement, building rapport with the brand ethos, touch and feel the experience, and finally, better conversion rates at the end. Offline stores also double up as eyes and ears on the ground and act as a pulse-checking mechanism with consumers first-hand. As a result, smartphone brands are strengthening micro-distributorship in Tier 4 & Tier 5 cities, as well as opening flagship stores to bring global trends to local regions.

We are not living in the idyllic world without social media anymore. Brands and OEMs, whether it's QSRs, smartphones, or fashion apparel, are always fighting for consumer attention and loyalty. And add to that, an ever-burgeoning youth populace with demand for exclusivity and personalization makes the Indian market nothing less than an enigma. With consumer choices evolving by leaps and bounds, there is no one size fits all policy and brands need to constantly innovate to stay ahead of the curve. While there are no magic formulae, understanding the pulse of the elusive consumer can, however, be possible with these tenets.