Retailers on catalogue blitz to increase footfalls
As retailers in India look at ways and means to garner more footfalls, catalogues are slowly emerging as a force multiplier to the marketing initiatives undertaken by various formats.
By Rajiv Banerjee, TNN |
MUMBAI: As retailers in India look at ways and means to garner more footfalls, catalogues are slowly emerging as a force multiplier to the marketing initiatives undertaken by various formats. Catalogue marketing, though in its infancy, is seen as an effective marketing tool for formats to target audiences beyond the restricted catchment area. Thus players like Croma, Big Bazaar and Hypercity have initiated catalogue marketing programmes with an eye to increase not only brand visibility but also offtake of certain categories.
Big Bazaar will shortly launch a customised catalogues of what���s on offer within a particular store. Big Bazaar CEO Rajan Malhotra says that the format will be launching the catalogues across 50-55 stores in smaller towns and cities. ���Catalogues are add-on media and we think it works best within a particular catchment or city,��� he says.
Ajit Joshi, CEO, Infiniti Retail, which runs Croma, says that catalogues reduce the transaction time on the floor. ���The purchases are family-oriented and evenings are the peak time at our stores. So, catalogues enable one to exactly zero in on the desired item to take a look before purchasing it,��� says Mr Joshi. So for purchasing a LCD or a washing machine, which may take about 45 minutes on the floor, catalogues help reduce transaction time, which means fast turnaround during peak hours. Croma brings out a catalogue every alternate month, with offers on around 200 products for a specific period.
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Catalogues, as a promotional tool, offers two benefits ��� it helps create brand recall and allows retailers to promote certain offers and promotions for products. ���It helps in advertising new product range on offer and services like extended warranty schemes,��� explains Mr Joshi. Hypercity used catalogue to good use when it started operations way back in 2006, says Hypercity CEO Andrew Levermore.
���By using catalogues, retailers can eliminate catchment limitations and hope to cater to a bigger audience,��� says AT Kearney principal (consumer & retail practice) Hemant Kalbag. Big Bazaar had initiated catalogue programme some years back, but discontinued it as the format grew bigger and using mass media became a viable option. ���But now promotional effort is also necessary. It complements our mass media activity. Catalogues help in local area activation as the categories within a store has grown with a lot more SKUs added than before,��� explains Mr Malhotra.
Typically, catalogues are distributed as newspaper inserts, stocked within the store or distributed in and around the catchment area. But using a blanket bombing approach to distribute them often doesn���t lead to desired results. What���s needed is a more focussed approach where retailers can use their existing database and customise accordingly.
���For any retailer with a large customer loyalty scheme database, mailing these leaflets to this base is very effective. Newspaper inserts are helpful if you want to target a specific customer profile. The worst results in our case come from a blanket delivery of leaflets into an area,��� says Mr Levermore.
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There are possibilities of creating synergy between catalogues and other mediums like phone-ins and internet, but in India it is still sometime away. ���When it involves high-ticket purchases, customers still want experience the product before purchasing.Certain consumer segment, as the market evolves, can look at phone-in or internet after browsing through the catalogue,��� explains Mr Kalbag. In the Indian retailing arena, trial and error is the norm. Looks like catalogue marketing will also go through stages of evolution as well in the time to come.
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