India’s large and aspiring middle class of 75 million households or more than 350 million individuals want products that are value-driven. What are retailers doing to target this lot?
I would say price is not always the driver of consumption. The aspiring Indian middle class is today looking for products which truly reflect the value they attach to them. Retailers and brands therefore need to ensure that they deliver that value.
Retailers cannot rest on their laurels, because standing still in a rapidly developing and fast growing market like India is dangerous. Do you agree?
Absolutely. Retailers are constantly battling with each other for the share of wallet and this calls for the ability to read and forecast consumption trends. As a progressive retailer in a dynamic market like India, one needs to constantly experiment and innovate to sustain the leadership position.
Your strategy and operations must be guided by the people they are meant to serve: your customers. But are companies really doing so?
India is one of the most difficult retail environments to do business and in this context the customer is at times compromised. So, as a community we have still a long way to go, but as the market attains maturity, things will fall into place.
What about Costa Coffee? Is it leveraging new strategies and technologies to create operations capable of making good on its customer centric promise and growing its business?
Coffee is the heart of our business and our aim is to “save the world from mediocre coffee”. In fact, our hand-crafted coffee, which is an art form, is based on a process that can be replicated by our baristas day in and day out. This helps us keep our promise to our customers consistently.
Today’s consumers compare their experience with your company not just to their interactions with your immediate competitors but to their experiences with companies in general. For instance, a pampered luxury car customer expects the same attention from a retail store at a mall. Are you prepared to meet that expectation?
As we are in the café space, we are competing with the larger food & beverage (F&B) community. It is therefore very important for us to not only be the best of class in our domain but to also attract consumers from other formats. So we are constantly working on convenient and approachable locations, the ambience, and innovations in our F&B offering. Further, when you walk into a Costa store you will notice it’s different to other coffee shops. First of all, there is the warm and welcoming atmosphere. Then, the great range of authentic coffee drinks. Next, the Ferrari of coffee machines. And finally, the most passionate and well-trained baristas around. It’s this unique combination that makes us stand out from the others.
Today the voice of dissatisfaction echoes louder than ever before. According to conventional wisdom, a dissatisfied customer might tell 10 people of a negative experience; today, social media enables that same customer to reach thousands with a few keystrokes. Do you have a strategy to address negative feedback hitting the Web? At the outset retailers & brands need to have the maturity to accept feedback, negative or otherwise. A successful retailer is one who is quick in reacting to a negative feedback and fixing the problem for good.
