India Decoded: Omni Channel strategy for Australian brands

Evolving Retail Landscape

In a country as complex as India, retail is split into two distinct categories—brick and mortar and e-commerce. It is my belief that over the next 5 years these two worlds will begin to merge and it will be difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins. Each of these worlds has its own strengths and is very good at delivering value in its own way. Brick-and-mortar retail gives customers the touch and feel of products and the feel-good experience of living the brand. E-commerce offers greater choice, convenience and value.

It is important for an Australian brand to be present in both the channels as the lines between online retail and brick-and-mortar stores are blurring for the new-age customer. In other words it’s important to be “phygital” in India. Start small with either physical or digital but plan well in advance to expand if you really want to scale up in India.

The fact that Indian consumers want to touch and feel the products they buy as much as they want to shop within the comforts of their home has become necessary for Australian brands to embark upon a multi-prong retail strategy.

The end goal for any Australian brand is to sell their products and fulfill customer’s retail needs. There is a overlapping here and it is important for you as an Australian brand to be a part of it.

And this is where we are bullish on export opportunities for Australian companies to India.A one-size-fit-all business approach is not a recipe for success and this is where Austrade comes to picture. We have a strong plug and play network in In?dia and fully equipped to help you navigate all the challenges and make India as your next big export market.

Starting from Monday 02 September we are hosting India’ largest online retailer- Amazon India and India’s largest gourmet food retailer- Foodhall.

Please reach out to us if you would like to see Amazon India & Foodhall either in Melbourne, Gold Coast & Sydney.

Yaser Siddiqui is a Business Development Manager at Austrade, working with Australian companies to export food, beauty, skincare and fashion products to South Asia. As well as having an MBA in International Business, he has over 7 years of marketing and business development experience, working across several industry sectors in South Asia. When not working, you can find him creating new business and marketing content, collecting matchbox covers (yes you read it correct) or playing Peekaboo with his 18 month old.