Crouching Customer, Hidden Marketer

12 June 2021, Mumbai 
Crouching Customer, Hidden Marketer

(Crouching=adopt a position where the knees are bent, झुकना. Marketer =Sellers, brands)

India (Bharat) has been a key market for consumer durables & electronics goods, technology products, online retail and banking &, financial services & insurance (BFSI). All these segments touch lower-mid to the top section of the consumer pyramid. They all are interlinked, and complimentary to each other’s growth. 
 
Thus it is important to investigate the issues prevailing in, and around these segments. We will come to the key topic. Before that just sample this – 
1. A “made in India” 55 inch smart television set is bought from a so called “home-grown” e-commerce portal (which has substantial foreign load). The product has some issues and are reported by the customer to the topmost layer of the e-commerce platform.
 
Engagement starts, followed by exchange of emails, con-calls. WhatsApp too messages happen. Customer has to recite the problem that he faced to 5 different people. After 2 weeks He is pushed to the wall by offering refund or some replacement. Customer is exhausted and keeps the same unit.
Marketer 1, customer 0.
 
2. Customer buys a mid to high range laptop (a top American brand) for personal consumption (obviously not the first in his life) from the offline channel, at a much higher price than the e-commerce sites. The product throws tantrums right from day 1 and by day 3 it is decided that it be reported to the manufacturer. 2 weeks are wasted with call centres /HO/RO discussions, some of them being unpleasant experience. 
 
Finally the customer decides to take it directly to the top boss of the manufacturer. After his coming in picture, his support team swings in action by declaring the unit is “Dead On Arrival (DoA)”. Two full weeks for a DoA process! 
 
Now that the unit is declared DoA, Customer Demands of upgraded product. Brand gives his options similar to the product he purchased, whereas customer argues that he had lost business opportunity in two weeks, interactions with brand team had been stressful so the brand should compensate by giving a higher configuration product. 
 
But some custodians of the brand decide to take an ego trip, and stall the process. This so despite, the fact that the dialogue was initiated from the chief number one of the brand. Now, as this piece is being written, the defunct product is lying somewhere else, customer does not have the product although he has already paid in full, and now is in “dark mode”. Brand team seems to sheepishly laughing on their “success” on putting the customer to the wall.
Marketer 2, customer 0.
 
3. An ordinary citizen suddenly starts receiving emails from a top Indian private bank (having names of top Indian business families) asking for payment of an alleged loan. The person never been a customer of the bank, never have taken the loan. So he writes back to the sender stating that he is not that “target” customer, thus his email address be removed from their list, only to receive a terse reply that it is not the bank’s problem. They advise him to go to police or wherever. 
 
After 5 months, he receives same email, which pushes the person then sends similar to wrote email to the top executives. As nothing happens, he takes to twitter and tags the chief boss. Within no time her receives a typical “will get back” message from the company’s customer care handle. Nothing happens for a month. This person naggingly seeks their response, only to receive a reply that the bank has lot contact with the person who took the loan, that person is untraceable and this email address was given by the alleged defaulter. The email address can not be removed, so keep quite. This comes after so called intervention of the top management. That email address is still not removed.
Marketer 3, customer 0.
 
Customer “Not welcome”?
All of these are real-life incidences. In all the three instances, one could see a pattern. Extreme “Disdainful” attitude towards customers. Although the top management claims to strive for creating brand equity, the mid-to-lower teams fancy their fights with customers 24x7.
 
All of these are real-life incidences. In all the three instances, one could see a pattern. Extreme “Disdainful” attitude towards customers. Although the top management claims to strive for creating brand equity, the mid-to-lower teams fancy their fights with customers 24x7.
 
Corporate "Bullyism”
In the abovementioned Banking case, the bank is liable to maintain KYC norms. But this fleecing is happening right below the nose of RBI. Despite reporting, they fancy their chances to bully the whistle-blower. The bank’s top management is quite busy these days in writing appreciative tweets for the “Mumbai Model”. Does that indicate anything? Does being part of an ecosystem, gives them right to bully ordinary citizens, just like some political parties in Mumbai do?
 
CCA- customer centric attitude?
This is all hogwash. It is a shadow created to keep the customer busy, then exhaust him or her so much that they give up their demand. Don’t be surprised if in some cases they use uncivilized elements to create a threat perception for the customer or his family.
 
Robust Spending
As per some statistics, Consumer spending across India amounted to over 21.6 trillion rupees as of January 2020. India is expected to become the third largest consumer market by 2030. Fundamental changes in Indian family structure are a determining factor in consumption patterns: extended family gives way to nuclear homes - a couple or a single person, with or without children who tend to spend more. According to World Bank data for 2019, per capita GDP (Purchasing Power Parity) in India was US $ 7 034.2.
 
Consumer Behavior
Indian consumer behavior is strongly influenced by the social  system. In general, Indian consumers are attached to a particular brand, but are not exclusive. Indeed, they seek above all the added value of the purchase and the brand, more than its reputation.
 
Consumerism
Consumerism is defined as social force designed to protect consumer interests in the marketplace by organising consumer pressures on business Conscious consumerism has begun to drive the adoption of environmental sustainability. Consumers are also making conscious choices by investing in products, services, or experiences which are important for them. It is now time, the consumer takes strong stance against the malaise of marketers.
 
Market is growing, so is apathy ..
India now has an established online retail ecosystem. Although the players are limited, but they are backed by leading global finances and technologies. On the other hand, rise in incomes among urban population is fuelling aspirational buying. In addition access to finance is easier thanks to rising number of credit cards, and quick loans from banks or NBFCs. All these factors catapult demand and consumption of aspirational goods like mid to high priced Mobiles, laptops and Consumer electronics, which is understandable.
 
In addition, recent production linked incentives schemes of government of India (to augment it’s “Atmanirbhar Bharat” programme) will act as a. Catalyst for the manufacturers to make these products in India, at a lower costs. This could create more availability, possible moderation in pricing, and get “push” through financing companies.
 
All such building blocks are essential to India’s rise in the global economy, and also take it’s economy to the 5 trillion milestone.
 
At whose expense? 
While capacities are ramped up, ecosystems to create demand and serve the produce are in place, but the moot question is, where is the so called “Customer service” focus? By merely giving some call centre numbers which will take hours to connect, are these marketers or enablers expecting customer to spend their precious time by being in telephonic que?
 
Legal position..
Sure, we have Consumer protection laws. But are they really practical or viable or keeping pace with the rapid expansion of markets and its structure (especially e-commerce)? Are these brands really answerable under that law? Try doing that and one day it will be declared by them, just like the social media platforms that we are not governed by the Indian laws in Toto.
 
Clock is ticking fast..
Need of the hour is to study, review and revamp these laws. Make Marketers more responsible by asking them to give service level agreements – even to the tiniest of the customer. Especially in BFSI – the call centre systems are so overloaded that they can take an hour to get a query sorted.
 
This is when we are assuming that the customer is educated and can make the most of customer support systems. What about uneducated, rural customers? Even though language barriers are broken where is the focus and zeal to serve them?
 
Time is ripe that all apex associations, apex bodies and government agencies to initiate a dialogue for an easy availament of services by all segments of customers. 
 
First class origins, but third class attitude..
When these multinational brands, their marketers and employees boast of their international lineage and origins, why can’t they bring the same spirit to serve their customers in India? Remember, it is the customer who makes a simple name on the product a “brand”. It is the trust of customers that turns a “brand” into a “SuperBrand” and creates brand equity.
 
Custodians of brands do undertake massive efforts to create brand image, and retain or enhance its equity. Many companies invest heavily in customer feedback mechanism by hiring gold plated consultants and market research agencies. But even after that, if the top management of these “big brands” are struggling to handle a simple customer situation, then it indicates that the problem is internal and not external. It makes jobs of people managing customer feedback system much easier – just create an impression that “We are customer centric”.

Potential is huge..

• As per Conservative estimates, the middle classes may comprise nearly 30-35% of the India. This has varied implications for the evolution of democracy and economic choices. The Middle classes are the backbone of aspirational buying.
• The Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing proposes a financial incentive to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments in the electronics value chain including mobile phones, electronic components etc.
• Production Linked Incentives of up to INR 40,951 crores will be awarded over a period of 5 years.
• Indian appliance and consumer electronics (ACE) market reached Rs. 76,400 crore (US$ 10.93 billion) in 2019.
• Appliances & consumer electronics industry is expected to double to reach Rs. 1.48 lakh crore (US$ 21.18 billion) by 2025.
• GoI estimates the country to produce 100 crore mobile phones, five crore television sets and five crore IT devices like laptops and tablets in the next five years.

Adequate Action needed..

GoI has recently taken several steps to contain the malaise of OTT and social media platforms. With the same gumption strict action (amendment of laws) is needed to enhance the customer service systems of BFSI sector, e-commerce platforms and sellers of all kinds of consumer durable goods, including electronic items.
Because, if your buyer is happy he will buy more.
 
Sam Walton (founder of Walmart) had once famously said “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”
 
So, my dear “big brands (and their custodians)”, be grounded before you get grounded. Customer will always be the “King”, while to some he may appear to be crouching, but beware of his rebuttal. It could kick some of You out of the market. Don’t hide under the table, come serve your customer "rightly".

Stay Safe. Be Responsive. Succeed.

Dhananjay M. Deshmukh, Mumbai
Dhan1011@gmail.com
(The author is an independent market research and business consulting professional. Views are personal. Data presented is collected via online secondary research).