The outbreak of COVID 19 has changed the way and strategies used by customer experience management. During the lockdown, it has been a great challenge for the retailers and online platform based companies to redesign the customer experience management with innovative strategy and ideas. So that the consumers can sit at home and enjoy the seamless shopping experience.
To help industry pioneers on utilizing innovative technology and to make a differentiated customer experience. Few thoughts and ideas were shared by certain companies on a panel discussion.
Pepperfry: Kashyap Vadapalli, CMO, Pepperfry has stated that during the pandemic customer vary to go out and interact with store consultants. Also after placing the order online, customers are worried about the virus traces in the products. So to avoid these issues Pepperfry has started online interaction customers through video calls by addressing their concerns and doing the work in a scalable fashion.
Adobe: Vikrant Neogi, product specialist has mentioned the fundamental shift in the whole definition of customer experience. An organization had to reimagine and redesign the whole customer experience platform which put the brands on severe cost pressure in terms of marketing cost and operating costs. This made companies to be more data-driven on decision making as the new initiatives are taken by the companies that need thorough analysis in terms of ROI, benefits, or business cases.
Aditya Birla Group: Namrita Mahindra, CDO stated that more seamless you make the online platform for customers the greater the affinity could be seen for the brand by navigating the customers from offline to online by creating a comfort zone for the customers
Grofers: Prashant Verma, VP, marketing (head) believes that due to accelerating movement in the e-commerce sector, the brand should focus on their customer by gaining their trust in the transition from offline to the online shopping experience.
Jockey: Ashok Cherian, CIO has commented on the challenges Jockey is facing in connecting with their customers as the majority of customers are working from home which has created a demand for casual and leisurewear. Therefore, Jockey is focusing more on getting connected with the customer and understand their needs and making things easier for them.
Raymond: Kunal Mehta, CIO has stated that during the pandemic, suddenly there has been a drastic increase in activities at e-commerce as customers don’t want to visit the store but they know your brand so they are fine going online and make purchases. Brands are willing to engage more with customers through social media platforms. Therefore, for the last 3 months, Raymond was building their entire e-com platform and engaging with customers in different ways.
Tata Consumer: Sagar Boke, CMO has spoken about inversion of the pyramid for FMCG firms from the perspective of consumer behavior. In the current situation, consumers are more focused and keen to understand about safety, hygiene, and nutrition value of the products of their daily needs. Therefore, the way retailers interact with their customers has been changed and their anxieties and curiosity towards the product have to be addressed.
