Improving marketing effectiveness in Indian retail with experiential marketing

Abstract

India is one of the fastest growing retail markets in the world. In addition, the introduction of FDI in retail is bound to provide a further surge in its growth. With so many players competing in the industry, a retail store must be able to attract, acquire and sustain consumer interest, in order for it to be successful in the long run by differentiating itself from the rest. In this project, attempts have been made to understand the experiential factors affecting consumer decision making at retail stores in India and to analyze and find an experiential marketing technique that can be adopted effectively in India to differentiate a retail firm from its competitors. This CCS will include looking at strategies of foreign players who have successfully used experiential marketing techniques. The experiential factors that play a role in purchase decisions, in the minds of an Indian consumer will be studied. Based on the results from the study, an apt marketing technique will be chosen after analysis. Further, the way in which the experiential marketing technique(s) can be effectively implemented, in the Indian scenario, will be arrived at. For this the malls/retail chain stores in Bangalore will be looked at as a sample for assessing marketing effectiveness with experiential marketing techniques. Due to the relatively high purchasing power parity in Bangalore courtesy of being the IT hub of India, it is assumed that a similar scenario will prevail across all metro cities. However the project is limited by the following: ? Results cannot be applied to all cities across India due to the sample set of Bangalore that has been considered in this project but it does provide options that can be tried for marketing effectiveness in the tier II cities as well. ? Retailing success has primarily to do with the back-end structure and efficient supply chain management as well but for the scope of this project only the customers and their experience in the front-end has been focused upon to achieve differentiation and a loyal customer base. ? Retailers are rapidly moving towards e-tailing or e-retail due to the changing consumer lifestyles and significant growth in infrastructure. Marketing effectiveness and experiential marketing in this scenario will differ widely and hence has not been considered. This project focusses only on brick and mortar stores and the experience it provides to the customers. ? The factors affecting a consumer’s behaviour in a retail store has been analysed focusing on various aspects of the consumer experience. However no particular aspect has been dealt with in depth.