Vishwadeep Bajaj, CEO, Valuefirst, shares his thoughts and experience on usage of technology in enhancing shopping experience with Debasis Sen.
Debasis Sen, Mall Marketing Digest, April 16, 2009
How do you see the market?
The growth of organized retail in India in the past few years has given more choices to a shopper. In every category, there are not one, but several brands. The shopping has graduated from a mundane activity to an experience. The challenge for a retailer is to attract shoppers and tell the story of the brand and its offerings. When a retailer expects high volume of shoppers, they have to rely on technology to automate many of the processes to sustain quality.
There is a scope to use technology to connect with mobile phones to increase footfalls in a mall and delight shoppers as well.
How technology can help?
The technology can help in filling the gaps and there by raise efficiency from supply chain management to enhancing footfalls in malls. As mobile phones are becoming a part of lifestyle, there is a scope to use technology to connect with mobile phones to increase footfalls in a mall. It can also be used to delight consumers, such as a shopper would receive a personalized welcome sms welcoming him/her to the store as soon as he/she enters the store.
But turning a shopper into a customer is not enough. How do you retain them?
Profiling of customers and sending them promotional offers could be done using mobile phones. Targeting the right products to right customers would always drive sales in the store.
What is the barrier in developing a CRM?
The most important barrier is to get a shopper fill up the loyalty programme form. This form has to be designed so attractively that a shopper is drawn to it. A good amount of thought has to be given to develop this form so that technology can do the job efficiently.
What is blue tooth marketing?
Bluetooth marketing is an exciting new way of allowing customers to interact with an advertising panel or a poster with their mobile phones. Customers can receive content such as video clips, music, vouchers and coupons, contact information or product information by simply activating Bluetooth on their mobile phones in the vicinity of the display.
The benefits are: it creates awareness of your product or service, edge out your competition through timely promotional offers, help in lead generation and improve customer relationship.
