Brands go slow on promotions to buyers scarred in second wave

Brands go slow on promotions to buyers scarred in second wave

• By Staff Writer

Since last month, most states have eased restrictions and store timings, triggering retailers to push their wares by messaging and mailers, hoping to compensate for sales loss since April.

However, over half a dozen brands said they would rather wait for a few more days to communicate on their discounts or offers instead of being intrusive.

For instance, Tata’s jewelry brand Tanishq said when it started interacting with customers soon after unlocking, it realized they were not in the mood to be receptive. “We know of many other jewelers and other companies that have started promoting in a big way. But we are not doing it because it's okay to err on the safe side. We are in it for the long run here, and fifteen days here and there doesn't matter,” said Ajoy Chawla, chief executive-jewelry division at Titan, which has opened nearly 95% of its stores.

Ditto for brands such as LG, Bosch, Levi's, Siemens NSE -0.56 %, and Vijay Sales, which claimed to have avoided direct sales push to consumers after the second wave, even as rivals started discounting, cold calling, and messaging their offers.

This is also in contrast to the first wave, when most companies, including these, were quick to hawk their merchandise soon after re-opening. India’s largest appliance maker said last year's pre-booking pitches to consumers during the first wave yielded good results.

“This time the board of directors decided we will be passive since almost every family has been impacted in some way or the other by the second wave. Instead of instigating purchase, we decided to cater to the purchase,” said LG India vice president (corporate planning) Deepak Bansal.

While LG is now only reaching out to consumers who showed interest in the brand in its digital platforms and gave consent, Neeraj Bahl, MD of BSH Household Appliances India, which sells Bosch and Siemens appliances, said the company decided to stop making cold sales calls due to the second wave impact on families.

To be sure, these companies have not halted their marketing activities completely. Some are even sending messages, but only to a select few instead of spamming a larger consumer base.

“One of our core values is that of empathy and given the deep impact of covid after the second wave, we made a conscious effort to be very sensitive not to inundate our consumers with frequent messages and dialed down our marketing communication outreach significantly in this period,” said Sanjeev Mohanty, man managing director, South Asia, Middle East, and North Africa, Levi Strauss & Co.

Tata-owned electronics retailer, Croma's chief marketing officer Ritesh Ghosal said as a practice the company does not send out too many SMSes and emails to customers, except to consumers who chose to receive.

“There is a category context to this — electronics have become more useful to people in the new normal, while some other categories may have started looking like indulgences in the changed circumstances. I, for one, would think an offer for a spa treatment is wildly insensitive at this point; while an EMI offer on a high-spec laptop is manna from heaven,” said Ghosal.