Durables retailers see a virtual shift
Facebook as it seeks to establish itself as a onestop digital commerce platform.
Alphabet Inc’s Google is also exploring an investment in Vodafone Idea, a joint venture between Britain’s Vodafone Group Plc and India’s Idea Cellular, the Financial Times reported last week.
Amazon counts India as a crucial growth market where it has committed $6.5 billion in investments mainly toward expanding its e-commerce footprint.
The Seattle-based company has also expanded its digital offerings in India via its voice-activated speakers, video streaming and cloud storage, as it seeks to tap a rising number of internet and smartphone users in the country of 1.3 billion people.
A deal with Bharti could help Amazon expand offerings via its smart speakers and also boost its cloud business as access to Bharti’s vast telecom fibre network could help Amazon lower costs.
Post-lockdown, the unorganised consumer durable retailers and dealers have jumped on to the virtual bandwagon. Manufacturers too are handholding them in their digital transformation for contact-less sales. Covid-19 has led to changes in the consumer behaviour and unorganised retailers are transforming themselves in tune with that.
'Due to the virus fears, customers prefer to buy things online and this is applicable to consumer durables also. Earlier they used to research online, but close the deal offline. Now they want to do almost everything online," said Kamal Nandi, business head and EVP, Godrej Appliances.
Further, customers prefer to go to their nearest retailer to avoid travelling to a large retail chain. Even if they go to the shop, they want the deal to be closed at the earliest.
This consumer behaviour has forced retailers to provide facilities for virtual purchase. The consumer durable companies are also helping them in this transformation.
“'We have helped many of our retailers get enlisted on Google My Business so that the customer can find them out easily. We have also developed video content of our products and the retailers can send this to the customer to have better understanding of the product,” said Nandi.
According to B Thiagarajan, joint managing director of Bluestar, most of the companies have come up with virtual demonstration material of each product. Further demonstration will also be available on how to install the product at home.
The handholding also includes providing payment solutions for those who need it. Godrej has already engaged with 2,500 retailers in setting up estores and wants to take it to 25,000 within a month. Bluestar too has engaged with the retailers in metros, tier-I, II and III cities.
These efforts have borne some fruits as the consumer durable sales have recovered 30 per cent of what it was during the same time last year. "Though, we have lost a large chunk of summer sales, retailers are pushing cooling devices like ACs, refrigerators and air coolers... as arrival of new models will make old stock redundant," said Thiagarajan.