Indian retailers bank on e-marketing to hook customers

As Indian customers increasingly get digitally savvy, more and more retailers are realizing that e-marketing is the best channel to keep customers engaged by creating personalised shopping experiences across various channels, notes a new research titled 2016 India Retail e-Marketing Study: A Path to Revolution.

The study sponsored by Retailers Association of India (RAI), conducted by Octane Marketing, explores how marketing budgets and technology investment priorities are changing with retailers developing more targeted and personalized digital experiences across channels. It also found that mobile is emerging as the nexus for omni-channel retail initiatives.

According to this 4th Annual Retail e-Marketing Research by Octane Marketing, an overwhelming 85 per cent retailers are of the view that email marketing gives them better consumer engagement and is important for them and 94 per cent of them have embraced mobile as a part of their marketing strategy.

Customer acquisition continued to be the top marketing goal for 51per cent of Indian retailers for the fourth consecutive year although 44 per cent retailers showed keen interest in implementing an equal mix of online and offline marketing activities. However, with digital being the new currency in the industry, online presence has ranked first on their priority list, the study noted.

Also, a new initiative Cart Abandonment Program (CAP) was implemented by thrice more retailers as they found in it ways of to lower cart abandonment rates and improve conversion of online carts to orders.

The report was released at the ReTechCon (Retail Technology Conclave), organized by Retailers Association of India (RAI) in Delhi on Wednesday.

Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of RAI, said, “Retail is one of the few sectors in India which has been showing promising signs of digital innovation. One of the key driving factors being the new and evolving digitally savvy consumers.”

Octane Marketing Director & Co-Founder, Punit Modhgil, said, “Retailers will have to rethink shopper loyalty to create reasons for shoppers to come to their stores. And this is where digital marketing is helping to create sustained engagement with like-minded consumers who either buy online or find a reason to visit a retail store. In addition, it helps generate qualified leads and is equipped with smart analytics that helps retailers track the ROI of their digital investments.”

With a rapidly growing internet penetration, online retailing in India is expected to reach $1.7 billion according to industry estimates, at a CAGR of 10 per cent by 2017. RAI and Octane Marketing’s research seeks to give insights into how retailers in India can leverage this growth.