On February 14, 2013 - I chaired two sessions at the 3rd World Marketing Congress organised by AIMA in New Delhi.
The new age consumer – Catch her if you can.
I opened the discussion by saying that, while consumers are willing to indulge themselves, at the same time they are also cautious about every rupee spent. These are the contradictions that make consumers very interesting and also very challenging.
I first gave an overview of who the new age consumer is?
According to me, she is
- A bundle of contradictions
- Elusive
- Fickle
- Connected
- Omni-present
- Not a monosumer but a polysumer
If those are some adjectives we are using for the new age consumer then has the consumer become more complex? In what role should the marketers catch him?
According to me, marketers and brands need to connect with consumers on an everyday basis and must get to know consumers on a detailed level and target them effectively. This is where insights can help, which can come from various sources such as social media, research and are sometimes intuitive as well.
Digital is a space to watch out for, with the screens having changed in the two decades from TV to computer to mobile and tablet, and it is incorrect to think that digital is still niche in India, especially where 600 million phones, 240 million data enabled handsets, 50 million Smartphone and two million tablets are available. Consumers are constantly connected and are a society of multi-taskers equipped with multi-screens and hence the marketers need to understand both the consumers and devices.
In such a scenario I agreed with my co panellists that - There is not one India, but several Indias in terms of brands, communication and identity. The product should have sustainability in terms of product, packaging and pricing to attract the consumer.
The second session was a discussion on Monopolistic Competition
A Monopolistic Competition is a market structure in which many firms sell products that are similar but not identical.
Competition with Differentiated Products
The Monopolistically Competitive Firm in the Short Run
· Each firm in monopolistic competition faces a downward-sloping demand curve.
· The monopolistically competitive firm follows the monopolist's rule for maximizing profit.
1. It chooses the output level where marginal revenue is equal to marginal cost.
2. It sets the price using the demand curve to ensure that consumers will buy the amount produced.
The Long-Run Equilibrium
When firms in monopolistic competition are making profit, new firms have an incentive to enter the market.
1. This increases the number of products from which consumers can choose
2. Thus, the demand curve faced by each firm shifts to the left
.
The new age consumer – Catch her if you can.
I opened the discussion by saying that, while consumers are willing to indulge themselves, at the same time they are also cautious about every rupee spent. These are the contradictions that make consumers very interesting and also very challenging.
I first gave an overview of who the new age consumer is?
According to me, she is
- A bundle of contradictions
- Elusive
- Fickle
- Connected
- Omni-present
- Not a monosumer but a polysumer
If those are some adjectives we are using for the new age consumer then has the consumer become more complex? In what role should the marketers catch him?
According to me, marketers and brands need to connect with consumers on an everyday basis and must get to know consumers on a detailed level and target them effectively. This is where insights can help, which can come from various sources such as social media, research and are sometimes intuitive as well.
Digital is a space to watch out for, with the screens having changed in the two decades from TV to computer to mobile and tablet, and it is incorrect to think that digital is still niche in India, especially where 600 million phones, 240 million data enabled handsets, 50 million Smartphone and two million tablets are available. Consumers are constantly connected and are a society of multi-taskers equipped with multi-screens and hence the marketers need to understand both the consumers and devices.
In such a scenario I agreed with my co panellists that - There is not one India, but several Indias in terms of brands, communication and identity. The product should have sustainability in terms of product, packaging and pricing to attract the consumer.
The second session was a discussion on Monopolistic Competition
A Monopolistic Competition is a market structure in which many firms sell products that are similar but not identical.
Competition with Differentiated Products
The Monopolistically Competitive Firm in the Short Run
· Each firm in monopolistic competition faces a downward-sloping demand curve.
· The monopolistically competitive firm follows the monopolist's rule for maximizing profit.
1. It chooses the output level where marginal revenue is equal to marginal cost.
2. It sets the price using the demand curve to ensure that consumers will buy the amount produced.
The Long-Run Equilibrium
When firms in monopolistic competition are making profit, new firms have an incentive to enter the market.
1. This increases the number of products from which consumers can choose
2. Thus, the demand curve faced by each firm shifts to the left
