Pepperfry, an e-commerce furniture and home decor company, recently announced the launch of its new brand campaign, ‘PehleTryAtPepperfry’. The campaign humorously yet powerfully emphasizes the importance of experiencing furniture in person before making a purchase decision. In a world of online shopping, Pepperfry said that it recognises that furniture is tactile and personal. The “PehleTryAtPepperfry” campaign features three relatable video ads that playfully depict the pitfalls of choosing without trying.
Medianews4u.com caught up with Mahip Dwivedi, VP and Head of Marketing, for your reference.
- For 2024 what are going to be Pepperfry’s focus areas from a marketing perspective?
From a marketing standpoint, our focus is predominantly going to be on digital mediums to effectively track the impact on brand and performance spends. This will be complemented by ATL/BTL activities aimed at boosting our offline business.
- The new campaign encourages people to try the furniture. Is offering a touch and feel experience key to succeeding in the furniture category?
The touch and feel experience remains a crucial aspect of furniture shopping, aligning with the new campaign’s encouragement for customers to interact with the furniture. We at Pepperfry recognise that many customers prefer to physically engage with products before purchasing, driving them to visit our stores. We believe an omnichannel approach best serves the Indian consumer, offering consistent pricing across platforms while empowering customers to choose their preferred shopping channel for convenience.
- What role do special days like Diwali play?
Special occasions like Diwali and Dussehra are pivotal for our business. As we enter the festive season, these occasions present a prime opportunity to cater to customers’ festive needs. Our preparations begin months in advance to align with the Indian customer’s needs of furnishing and upgrading their homes during this period, resulting in heightened conversion rates.
- Do most of Pepperfry’s marketing activities center around performance marketing?
Yes, we have focussed heavily on performance marketing from the very beginning, as our priority has always been to ensure the best ROI for every rupee spent, along with gaining deeper insights into what strategies work best for us. However, we also put significant effort into scaling our social media presence and building our brand to drive top of mind recall this year and some of the Brand Campaigns were very effective for us.
- Is traditional media like TV also used to get the message across? Kindly elaborate
While we have leveraged traditional media channels like TV in the past with celebrity led campaigns where we had brand ambassadors like Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan, our current marketing approach is predominantly digital-focussed.
Platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook offer effective avenues for maintaining reach and frequency, aligning with our goal of optimising ROI and precisely measuring campaign impact.
- Does Pepperfry spread its marketing activities across the year or is the festive season more important?
We ensure that our marketing activities are spread throughout the year, strategically intensifying efforts during the festive season to capitalise on heightened consumer demand and align with industry trends. We think it’s important to be present throughout the year to maintain sufficient recall across touchpoints.
- Does Pepperfry prefer social media influencers or Bollywood celebrities?
We have worked with many influencers over the past one to two years, and it has been highly effective for us. While Bollywood celebrities are another option, at the same time this requires significant investment. Especially for a category like furniture consumers tend to prefer an approach where influencers can demonstrate furniture or showcase how to style a home.
- Are offline and online sales channels equally important?
Yes, both play an equally important role, and we maintain a constant focus on ensuring our presence on both platforms to increase visibility and top-of-mind recall for our consumers.
- Will tier two and three towns and cities be the next levers of growth? Or is there still potential in tier one?
Tier one cities still have a lot of potential for Furniture and Home, especially with the ongoing real estate expansion and the migration of people from tier two and three cities. However, given our current presence in tier two cities, we are also planning further expansion into tier two and three towns to increase the market penetration.
