Room for trial

Although India’s spirit of assimilation towards online shopping has been very positive, there is a large group, who still prefer shopping from real stores over virtual ones. Hence, there is a need for ecommerce platforms to reach out to them in the way they anticipate

While the e-commerce market is rapidly growing in the country, it has become more important that the consumers get more familiar and accustomed to the products lineup of various brands to institute what is called the brand loyalty. The forecast by Zenith Optimedia suggests that the e-commerce platforms, telecommunication operators and mobile handset makers will aid in boosting the country’s advertising spend by 13 per cent in the coming year.

Now while it is a great sign of development for both the venture capitalists and the directors of the platforms, it is crucial to retain the user experience at top priority levels. Not to forget, India is still a country where people prefer window shopping over shopping on Windows, especially when it comes to fashion products.

This is precisely where the ‘trial room’ methodology checks in. And while ecommerce platforms might be puzzled as to how to have trial rooms when the whole platform is virtual Craftsvilla.com answers it through a brilliant advertising strategy.

The online marketplace of ethnic products has formulated plans to launch ‘experience zones’ pan India by March 2016, to give the potential consumers a chance to experience the touch and feel of its products. That is certainly what most of the customers seek- to check the quality of products and then purchase them.

Through the campaign, Craftsvilla.com aims to bridge the gap and achieve the best consumer experience in its sector. Also, the centres that will be established will not only provide the users a firsthand experience on the products, but also ideate and enhance online sales by stressing more on user experience and pre-sales service, which has always been the key element behind any successful campaign.

By having the website’s best-selling products on display and staff well trained to aid consumers with online purchase while their visit to the experience zone, the campaign will be a perfect mixture of advertising and marketing. Well played Craftsvilla.com.

Craftsvilla.com is laying roadmaps to set up experience zones in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and of course apna Hyderabad. Similar experience centres were also set up by Pepperfry to reach out to traditional consumers who are apprehensive about online shopping without experiencing the product.

While reports says that ad spends are growing at double-digit annual figures in India (market likely to expand by three billion dollars between 2015-2018), it is a quintessence for all the e-commerce platforms to focus on consumer relationship and brand loyalty and give them as much importance as they give to investors.