Saturday, September 30, 2023
MediaNews4U
  • Exclusive
  • Advertising
  • Media
    • Radio
    • Cable & DTH
    • Print
    • Digital
  • Television
  • OTT
  • Impassioned
  • Marketing
  • Campaigns
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
    • Opinion
    • Think Through
    • Prescience 2023
  • People
  • Events
    • Leader Speak
    • STRAIGHT TALK
    • Gamechangers
    • Print & TV Summit
No Result
View All Result
MediaNews4U
  • Exclusive
  • Advertising
  • Media
    • Radio
    • Cable & DTH
    • Print
    • Digital
  • Television
  • OTT
  • Impassioned
  • Marketing
  • Campaigns
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
    • Opinion
    • Think Through
    • Prescience 2023
  • People
  • Events
    • Leader Speak
    • STRAIGHT TALK
    • Gamechangers
    • Print & TV Summit
No Result
View All Result
MediaNews4U.com
No Result
View All Result
Home Exclusive

Straight Talk: Digital adoption aids acquisition; true convergence yet to be realised

A panel discussion moderated by Yesudas S Pillai, Founder & CEO, Y&A Transformation, featured Suman Saha of Arrow, Vignesh Murali of Equitas Small Finance Bank and Kavitha Srinivasan from Coeus Communications.

by Neethu Mohan
November 21, 2022
in Exclusive, Featured, STRAIGHT TALK
Reading Time: 5 mins read
A A
Straight Talk: Digital adoption aids acquisition; true convergence yet to be realised
Share Share ShareShare

A panel discussion titled ‘The Omni-channel Age: Has physical retail converged with the digital world’ at the fourth edition of Medianews4u Straight Talk delved into the fundamentals of convergence and what it means to brands. The event was hosted in Chennai on 18 November 2022.

The panel discussion moderated by Yesudas S Pillai, Founder & CEO, Y& A Transformation, also discussed the role data plays in convergence and how brands are staying relevant to the omni-channel consumer. The panelists were Suman Saha, CEO, Arrow; Vignesh Murali, Head of Marketing, Brand & Corporate Communication, Equitas Small Finance Bank; and Kavitha Srinivasan, Founder & CEO, Coeus Communications. 

The discussion started with the question: What are the fundamentals of convergence for the business and how are brands tackling it?

Saha said, “There are no omni-channel consumers; consumers are consumers. What has happened fundamentally is the purchase pathway got altered post Covid. How people discover your brand and how they make a choice about the brand have altered fundamentally. All conversation about purchase is about the sales side of it – there is also the supply and create side. The real convergence is going to happen when the supply and create are going to link through to the sales side. The real convergence is when your assortment starts reflecting the consumer values and that will move from your data.” 

He underlined that the consumer is undeniably finding newer ways of discovering brands and added, “One part of the organisation is moving faster than other departments, but there is a lot of work to be done on the supply chain and creation side of it.”

“When the brand is multi-channel, your business model does not allow visibility into consumer behaviour because 40 to 50 pc of the sales is through a controlled network. What about the balance percentage? There you get a sketchy condition of things. If you ask me about the total number of consumers in the category, I will not be able to give a finite answer because I don’t know. I can tell you how many customers are served through controlled channels. Therefore, for me real convergence is when you can integrate everything and when you have holistic data on the consumer,” explained Saha.

While there are traditional sources of consumer data getting upgraded with technology, there are new interventions to track cohort behaviour across social media and metrics, underlined Saha. 

“But that is one part of it. Now, given your insights, how quickly you can turn around, how quickly changes are made, remains an area where it is underfunded,” he added.

Game Changers in Consumer Behaviour 

Asked on how digitally transformed is Equitas Small Finance Bank, Murali said, “There were two happenings in the BFSI space that were game changers in terms of consumer behaviour, one is demonetisation and the other one is the pandemic. Post demonetisation, we were all impacted and the UPI era started. Post Covid, digital became mandatory. We were ready from day one. We had the product called Selfe, where customers can open an account sitting at home. RBI came up with a  regulatory framework, where the entire contactless KYC could happen. In the last four years, Equitas as a brand opened 2 million accounts across the country with Tamil Nadu having 25 pc contribution; 40 pc comes through the video KYC channel. What has happened is the entire productivity that normally happens shot up. In a month where we (usually) saw 20,000 account openings, the number went up to 2 lakhs. The front-end team, whose earlier job was to do cold calling and acquire customers, is now responsible for managing these clients.”

Murali said that digital transformation which was forced upon the brand has become positive for the brand, as productivity has gone up and customer acquisition is happening at a cheaper cost.

He continued, “Earlier the acquisition used to happen at Rs.4,000 to 5,000; now the cost has come down to Rs.400 to 500. The opportunity for cross-sell has also happened and multiple products can be pitched. For us, the marriage between digital and phygital is perfectly summing up in terms of profitability and acquisition. Phygital channels are used in driving values. We are very much happy in terms of how we are strongly shaping up and well poised in terms of our growth story.”

Long way to go 

Srinivasan observed that there is a long way to go for seamless convergence to happen. 

She elaborated with an example, “All of us would have probably experienced this situation. We might own a credit card of a particular bank and still get another call from the bank about owning a credit card. They wouldn’t even check the database, as in whether the customer is already having a credit card and the longstanding relationship with the same bank. Hence, I reiterate that convergence has long way to go.”

Murali said that one of the critical things the brands are working towards is to leverage data. 

“Today acquisition is not a challenge for us, retention and profitability are. We have now started investing money in data warehousing, where we look at the customers in a different angle, with past data and pin codes as critical parameters. India has over 19,000 pin codes and Equitas has opened accounts in 5,400 pin codes. Now, how do you classify these customers? Unless investments happen in terms of understanding it is going to be very difficult. All the customers are digitally active, the traditional methods of reaching out to them is not going to work. We need to be proactive. So, lots of study and investments are happening in terms of data leveraging and mining insights,” he added. 

According to Srinivasan, clients to a large extent are aware of the transformations that are happening, but most are hesitant to act. 

“Maybe some of them are trying to find ways to get into omnichannel convergence. While some of them are aware of it, they are trying to see how to go about it. Omnichannel or convergence can happen when the brand establishes all the channels as then convergence comes in,” she added. 

The Consumer’s  Voice 

On assimilating consumer feedback into the journey, Murali elaborated on the ratings and redressal mechanism at Equitas. Besides the internal team that watches and acts on feedback on an ongoing basis, an external agency has been hired to seek inputs from customers twice a year. “Those inputs will be seriously taken up in terms of implementation and we do go back to consumers informing them of suggestions being accepted and working on improvement. We do take customer voice very seriously,” he said.

Saha noted that every company has an established process of knowing the consumer. While in physical retail customers are met in person everyday, he personally meets five to 10 customers each month. 

“When Covid came, we were unprepared and 80 pc of business didn’t exist. Then we figured out different ways of surviving. The customers today are more and more demanding, the way they seek and discover and go about life is going to be different,” he noted.

Besides bringing different systems into play, how they can usher in the next change is what brand owners are thinking about, reflected Saha.

Tags: ArrowCoeus CommunicationsEquitas Small Finance BankKavitha SrinivasanStraight Talk 2022Suman SahaVignesh MuraliY&A TransformationYesudas S Pillai

RECENT POSTS

Rakesh Sharma elected President of Indian Newspaper Society for 2023-24
Featured

Rakesh Sharma elected President of Indian Newspaper Society for 2023-24

September 30, 2023
0

Rakesh Sharma of Aaj Samaj has been elected as President of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) for the year 2023-24....

Read more
Bharat Matrimony brings alive quirky ‘interest mismatch’ plots
Campaigns

Bharat Matrimony brings alive quirky ‘interest mismatch’ plots

September 30, 2023
0

Taking forward the campaign to promote its ‘Interest Matching’ feature on social media, Bharat Matrimony has launched a set of...

Read more
Star Vijay ready for next season of Bigg Boss Tamil with two houses instead of one
Featured

Star Vijay ready for next season of Bigg Boss Tamil with two houses instead of one

September 30, 2023
0

Star Vijay, which launched the promos for season 7 of Bigg Boss Tamil a month ago, has announced a line...

Read more
Britannia brews up a ‘Coffeeverse’
Featured

Britannia brews up a ‘Coffeeverse’

September 30, 2023
0

Around the occasion of International Coffee Day (October 1, 2023), Britannia has ventured into the metaverse with the launch of...

Read more
Chrome News Track 29th September: Speed News, India Canada Diplomatic Row
Analysis

Chrome News Track 29th September: Speed News, India Canada Diplomatic Row

September 30, 2023
0

Chrome Digital Track data on the most watched news stories online (Chrome News Track), is brought to you by Medianews4u.com....

Read more
Puma owns the dive, invites viewers to dive-and-post to play alongside Virat Kohli
Campaigns

Puma owns the dive, invites viewers to dive-and-post to play alongside Virat Kohli

September 29, 2023
0

Sports brand Puma India launched an AI-led campaign themed ‘Puma Dive’. Cricketer and Puma ambassador Virat Kohli took to his...

Read more

LATEST NEWS

Bharat Matrimony brings alive quirky ‘interest mismatch’ plots

Bharat Matrimony brings alive quirky ‘interest mismatch’ plots

September 30, 2023
Star Vijay ready for next season of Bigg Boss Tamil with two houses instead of one

Star Vijay ready for next season of Bigg Boss Tamil with two houses instead of one

September 30, 2023

ANALYSIS

Chrome News Track 29th September: Speed News, India Canada Diplomatic Row
Analysis

Chrome News Track 29th September: Speed News, India Canada Diplomatic Row

September 30, 2023
0

Chrome Digital Track data on the most watched news stories online (Chrome News Track), is brought to you by Medianews4u.com....

PEOPLE

Jahangeer Khan joins Garage Group as AVP New Business and Client Servicing
Featured

Jahangeer Khan joins Garage Group as AVP New Business and Client Servicing

September 28, 2023
0

Garage Group announced the appointment of Jahangeer Khan as Assistant Vice President for New Business and Client Servicing. Before joining...

Ullu appoints Avinash Dugar as CEO

Ullu appoints Avinash Dugar as CEO

September 27, 2023

MARKETING

Britannia brews up a ‘Coffeeverse’
Featured

Britannia brews up a ‘Coffeeverse’

September 30, 2023
0

Around the occasion of International Coffee Day (October 1, 2023), Britannia has ventured into the metaverse with the launch of...

Subscribe to Newsletters

ADVERTISING

Mavcomm Consulting, House of Lions enter into strategic partnership
Advertising

Mavcomm Consulting, House of Lions enter into strategic partnership

September 29, 2023
0

Brand and reputation management company Mavcomm Consulting and integrated communication consultancy House of Lions announced they have entered into a...

Skybags joins hands with Disney; launches Marvel and Wakanda Forever collections

Skybags joins hands with Disney; launches Marvel and Wakanda Forever collections

September 28, 2023
Hearth Ventures appoints Tute Consult as its communications partner

Hearth Ventures appoints Tute Consult as its communications partner

September 28, 2023

PRINT

Print media ad revenue to remain below pre-Covid level in FY24: ICRA 
Featured

Print media ad revenue to remain below pre-Covid level in FY24: ICRA 

September 27, 2023
0

Information and Credit Rating Agency (ICRA) estimates revenues for the print media industry to grow by 8 to 10 pc...

Srinivasan K Swamy elected Chairman of Audit Bureau of Circulation for 2023-24

Srinivasan K Swamy elected Chairman of Audit Bureau of Circulation for 2023-24

September 16, 2023
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot launched Jaipur edition of 3 newspapers

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot launched Jaipur edition of 3 newspapers

September 9, 2023

THINK THROUGH

Opinion: After paying back 40K crore why would Mr Chandra default on 200 Cr to Yes Bank
Opinion

Opinion: After paying back 40K crore why would Mr Chandra default on 200 Cr to Yes Bank

June 18, 2023
0

One of the much-awaited merger deal in Indian Media and Entertainment ecosystem that is expected to create a largest Broadcast...

UPLIFT MEDIANEWS4U DIGITAL PVT LTD
No. 194B , Aram Nagar 2, JP Road,
Versova, Andheri West
Mumbai - 400061

For editorial queries:
[email protected]
[email protected] (Mumbai)
[email protected] (Bengaluru)

For business queries:
Smitha Sapaliga - +91-98337-15455
[email protected]

Recent News

Rakesh Sharma elected President of Indian Newspaper Society for 2023-24

Rakesh Sharma elected President of Indian Newspaper Society for 2023-24

September 30, 2023
South Indian Bank welcomes PR Seshadri as New MD & CEO

South Indian Bank welcomes PR Seshadri as New MD & CEO

September 30, 2023
CM Bhupesh Baghel to be the Chief Guest at News18’s ‘Agenda Chhattisgarh summit in Raipur; other top leaders to also attend

CM Bhupesh Baghel to be the Chief Guest at News18’s ‘Agenda Chhattisgarh summit in Raipur; other top leaders to also attend

September 30, 2023

Newsletter

Subscribe to Newsletters

Medianews4u.com © 2019 - 2023 All rights reserved.

  • The South Side Story 2023 Download Report
  • Goafest 2023: Day 3
  • Goafest 2023: Day 2
  • Goafest 2023: Day 1
  • Straight Talk Gallery 2022
  • The South Side Story 2022 Download Report
  • Focus 2022
  • Futurescope Conclave Gallery 2022
  • The South Side Story 2021 Download Report
  • FOCUS 2021
  • Exclusive
No Result
View All Result
  • Exclusive
  • Advertising
  • Media
    • Radio
    • Cable & DTH
    • Print
    • Digital
  • Television
  • OTT
  • Impassioned
  • Marketing
  • Campaigns
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
    • Opinion
    • Think Through
    • Prescience 2023
  • People
  • Events
    • Leader Speak
    • STRAIGHT TALK
    • Gamechangers
    • Print & TV Summit

Medianews4u.com © 2019 - 2023 All rights reserved.