The brands that make every Indian wedding

Family has been a very intrinsic part of the Indian culture and value systems. No wonder the coming together of families through a wedding is also rated as a very big event. A new beginning of sorts is marked with a hell lot of new stuff which floats amongst the families. There is a lot of shopping activity that happens prior to the actual wedding and there are a few brands which have actually carved a niche for themselves as far as Indian weddings are concerned. Yes, there are a lot of local players in each category, but for some verticals- these brands stand as the gold standard primarily through the years of advertising that they have sincerely followed.

 Amongst the unwritten rule for the groom or the majority of the male population is to be dressed in a formal suit for the reception or some occasion during the wedding. At this point only Raymond’s can make a man complete. It may be tailored next door, at a Raymond’s Made-to- Measure store or be it a readymade, the fascination with a suit in Raymond’s fabric is like a must. In more recent times, Raymond’s has tried to make the man a sensitive father, a retiring teacher, a caring son and husband; but as a brand they also have an unmistakable connect with weddings. The man in Raymond’s has the charm to break a traditional sangeet into an impromptu ball dance, express his love in a manner suited to the shining armoured knights and also turn a reluctant arranged partner fall in love. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87lrVrz3Pv0)

The domination of Raymond’s in this space is so high that competition like Siyaram, Grasim suiting’s, Reid & Taylor have all had celebrity endorsements and placed themselves in the office wear category to distinguish themselves from Raymond’s. People can be so particular in terms of the suit fabric that even a fabric worth over 10K or a final suit worth 30K is not looked upon as splurging.

When we talk of traditional wear for men and women, it has been an area which was strongly dominated by local market players. The bling value on traditional clothing for both genders has always been different and varying as per the regions and customs that go around in every part. Not to mention for the ladies, sarees and their patterns have held traditional weavers as the highest authority. When it comes down to stitched wear, designers and tailoring shops still carry a high regard. It has again been a bit different for the guys as various styles of kurta are the only possible variations. Manyavar seems to be making a heavy in roads on this front. Apart from a very heavy team sponsorships in IPL, the brand has also made an impressive TV ad showcasing that they will lead the pack in organised occasion wear for Indian men. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I4Qd1wbAV4)

Now so much for men- the ladies segment has a whole lot of saree and jewellery stores which are local market chains like Roopmilan, Kala Niketan, Nallis or the PC and Ghanasingh jewellers and many more like them. Clothing somehow does not have one brand which has the kind of appeal that goes beyond the product and how it makes you feel. But jewellery has had a larger emotional and social angle in terms of brands. A bride without gold to adorn the dress is like unheard across socio-economic strata in India. So apart from the traditional and family attached jewellers, there are big jewellery brands like Geetanjali or TBZ which have added a touch of glamour and a royal appeal to wedding and occasion wear ornaments. But a national brand which may stand out in my opinion is Tanishq by Titan. I see them as a brand which had communication which went on a note that it could inspire the “not interested” to get in the marriage mode. Which other brand thought that they could also add a touch of glitter to a 2^nd marriage? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqggcpL79qw)

 While we are on Titan, watches were always a part of the accessories which could also be a gift for anyone in the family; father to their ward, amongst siblings, as a gift for send-off… but can you propose marriage with a watch? Well in a way, Titan just redefined that space occupied by a diamond ring with a watch in the most refreshing and ‘without words’ emotions. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYSvzmqD4fQ)

There are so many other examples I can think of which have become a part of the Indian wedding saga. The woman get a space of her own in a new environment and the first stage of trust in a new relationship is established by a Godrej cupboard. A whole lifetime of memories shifts to a new space safe and sound in VIP luggage. A lot of brands are trying to break into this wedding space; a lot have already owned this space for themselves.

There is nothing to deny, marriages in India is a big affair and with anything between a million and ten million marriages taking place every year and an average of four members in each family- it is also a considerably large sized market for brands to look forward to. Not restricted by economic conditions or political scenarios; the big fat Indian wedding is USD 40 billion industry which is here to stay and just boom on. 

Brands have Emotionale

A visiting faculty to my college, Sumit Roy, gave us this powerful statement, which opened my mind to better understand the difference between a brand and a product. Anything that can be put on to a paper and floated around is what a product is. But when it comes to a brand, it is a far greater and closer to heart feeling that people carry towards the brands in their home. It is this feeling that people possess which leads to big words like brand loyalty and cults. The higher order attachment is actually the defining moment in the journey between a brand and its consumer.

Honestly, this is nothing new and people across the management verticals talk about this is ways more than one; basically there is nothing new that I can add here. But there is a critical part of this brand-consumer association which more often than not is the first level of this relation- we call it the brand experience and until recent, this was the biggest area of focus for retailers and brand to concentrate on. Everything that a brand put across to the consumer across all the mediums has a uniformity in terms of content and tone. The visuals and merchandise are in sync with all this. Lastly, it is about a sentiment a person has, an unfulfilled need at times, which a brand experience satisfies.

Brand retail- both as brand shops or Shop- in- shop (SIS) have their own charm. Walk into a Nike or Adidas store and even if you are not a hard core sports freak, you start feeling like one. Shelves full of shoes, jerseys, sports goods and accessories suddenly channel a rush of adrenaline. Spot a Federer or Bolt on the wall or just a face in the crowd out for a run on an empty road inspires one to just grab a pair right there to cherish that dream to get into shape. The sight of a man dressed in crisp formals at an Arrow or Raymond’s section builds the aspiration to make that impression in the meeting room. At the perfumery or the cosmetics section, all brands have testers for people to try it on and then decide what suits them in what kind of a look. Not to forget, at each stage, you have a personalized attendant to show you more options, recommend better products and even in case you are hell bent not to take his words seriously; no one hates if that person shares you a compliment. Feels like magic isn’t it?

Retail is a refined art. It is designed to stimulate your senses in every possible way. Attractive colours and themes on the displays, bright interiors with immaculately put up shelves with neatly arranged wares and smiling sales persons. Even the air within the store is pepped up with aroma candles and oils to make the people feel wanted and cared. Say for the look, an Apple store is expected to be in all white with the silver coloured machines and the staff in black Tees. A Samsung Smart Café or a Mercedes Benz showroom will look the same all across. It is all a part of giving you that distinguished brand experience. The entire affair with the look and feel is so great that clients hire specialized agencies as the people who will build this experience. These are the people who specialize in areas like retail window displays, the look for a season or festival as well as the overall retail design to catch our eye.

No matter what; this aspect of the retail experience is something which I believe cannot be easily duplicated in an online retail environment.  The convenience of shopping sitting in your lazy chair just does not have the charm of walking around in the isles, trying on stuff in a trail room to see how it fits you or at times, make you feel that you are shopping against surfing sites for the best deals. I agree that brands are putting in something very close to the SIS kind of arrangements on sites like Myntra, Flipkart and Jabong, but even with the banners and livery visible on the screen, it sincerely does not inspire the same sentiments. How can holding a pair of Ferrari Puma shoes in your hand be compared to seeing it online? How does one gauge the power dressing rush coming from an Arrow shirt by seeing some firang model wearing it unless you can touch the fabric?

It is good to know that brands are taking cognisance of this and keeping a distinction about what it sells through an online SIS as compared to its own online portals and physical outlets. They are ensuring that their products through a multi-brand online retailer is more aimed at brand penetration through these channels and maintaining a watch on the degree of discounts being offered to ensure there is no cannibalization. For all the pricing games and wars which happen every day on the online ecommerce retailers, there is much need to respect the sanctity towards loyalists through the traditional channels.   

Consumers live by experience. Comfortable, easy-to-use, convenient and ergonomic are what products are designed to be. Brands have a higher order of satisfaction- it is the aura, imagery, style and the ‘feeling-good’ factor added in. This is what makes brands, the emotions it invokes and wins consumers for life. 

DEAL or NO-DEAL

 The Independence Day week just went by and I was compelled to start thinking what a great tradition has now set in to the retail system to offer great deals to boost sales. While reading ‘It Happened in India’ by Kishore Biyani, I was highly impressed by the business acumen of this person to come up with ideas to drive footfalls by attractive offers.  Today just about everyone has joined the bandwagon- most noteworthy this year was a car rental ‘Cars-on-rent’ offering discounted fares for cars booked on 16^th August (named National Bunk day) to cash on the long weekend that we had this year. 

Discounts, offers, deals have always been a part of our lives but their presence has now become much more pronounced. Prior to the retail revolution hitting India in the last 90s-2000s; a discount clearance sale was an annual feature which ran around July to August each year. One of the key reasons was the festive shopping is predominant in India runs and from October to January for most people. The July to August was also the time for rains which always pose the threat of stocks getting damaged.  Clearance sale met two objectives; people shopped in a non-festive season as well as got the shelves ready for fresh stocks during the festive buying.

The retail revolution brought about a change in terms that shopping was now a weekend affair. What this created was a lean period in the middle of the week. Big Bazaar’s ‘Big Bachat Wednesday’, bridged this gap with price driven shoppers flocking the outlets with shopping carts full with groceries. But Biyani’s master stroke was the Republic Day sale- creating an opportunity within a month after the festive season rush to get people back in stores. The unprecedented success was replicated with the Independence Day sale.

The success of the day specific deals has caught up like a wild fire today. Festive offers now run not only for big festive occasions like Dusshera- Diwali, Christmas and Eid but smaller occasions like raksha bandhan, holi are in the ring. High value purchases like gold and jewellery are also now offered with deals of no making charges to boost sales. There are deals on hotels, holidays, air tickets, spa therapies, medical procedures- just about everything.

I was always under the feeling that brands by definition are supposed to make people exclusive. Brands mark the line separating the ‘have’s’ from the ‘have not’s’. But in recent times, I have seen even iconic brands like apple entering the deals arena. ‘Get an i-phone 5 in exchange for your old smart phone and save X’ and there was a herd of people heading into grab the deal.  What this does at times is dilutes the value of the product for an early adaptor who spent a good amount to buy the phone for its exclusivity.

While discounts, exchanges, bundled deals, extra at the same cost all have seen the hay days, one thing that has actually caught up in India has been coupons. I remember my grandfather in the pre-1991 day used to wait for the 15% discount coupons of Raymonds to redeem against purchases of suit lengths. This was a prized possession as the brand was exclusive and not everyone except select employees and share holders got the coupons. Yes, there are fast food chains that run coupons through news papers and delivery boxes; but I am yet to see anyone buy a pizza because they had a coupon.

But yes, coupons are still around and have changed form and now come as an e-code. While online travel booking sites or online stores are using this at present, it has a limited impact. Firstly, they are given out as loyalty benefits and secondly, the kinds of discounts they offer have a very low impact in the larger scheme of things. For me as a user, 20% off on a hotel booking with a cap of maximum discount amount of Rs 500 makes an impact only if my hotel room was priced under Rs 2500. Beyond this my discount percentage falls down and has no meaning.

But as I gather, chunk of buyers today come from our strong and growing middle class population in India. The mass consumerism and buying will go on and once the buying decision is made- deal or no deal; it actually doesn’t matter.