Marketing to India’s millions: Make social media a priority

As an emerging powerhouse of the global digital economy, India is an opportunity that Australian companies cannot ignore. Consumers here have embraced online retail, creating a market worth A$52 billion, which is expected to reach over A$100 billion by 2026.

Even so, the digital revolution is only just beginning, with an internet user base of over 560 million (which is rapidly increasing), 120 million buy online currently. With unfortunate incidents like COVID-19 and other external factors, this number too is bound to increase rapidly. The key for any Australian company to unlocking the vast potential of India’s digital economy lies in understanding young Indian consumers and how to connect with them.

What do Indian consumers want?

During a recent trade mission (Australia-India Business Exchange) to India, I along with several Australian companies visited luxury malls in Delhi and Mumbai.

As a consumer, I was delighted to find such a wide assortment of brands from all corners of the world.I could choose from the best of the Australia, U.S, United Kingdom, France, with a sprinkling of up-and-coming brands from South Korea and Japan, too.

Joining the crowds in these malls, it was blindingly clear that Indian consumers, want high-quality products from around the globe. As we discovered, many people are willing to travel to luxury malls to get these brands with a local and familiar shopping experience. But very few consumers actually have such access. India’s retail infrastructure is not well developed outside of the main cities (perhaps just 4 of them), where traffic jams take much of the fun out of shopping trips in any case.

As a result, India has embraced online shopping faster and more completely than anywhere else in the world. We have unified E-commerce platforms where you can even buy a premium Australian brand (be it fashion, food or beauty) in smaller cities of India.

Furthermore, much of this activity is taking place over smartphones. Over 60 % of India’s E- commerce are now happening on smartphones (Remember there are over 560 million internet users in India).

The “Jio effect”(India’s affordable telco disruptor) has brought millions of Indians online in the last two years, and for many of these new mobile-first users, WhatsApp is the Internet, YouTube is television — and personal referrals from family and friends play an outsized role in how they discover new products in this new digital world. This has turned social platforms into powerful distribution channels for many businesses, who are leapfrogging web and going digital with social-first models.

Leverage social media for different demographics

Today’s young Indian consumers are highly active on social media for everything from chatting with friends to researching purchases and sharing buying experiences. By some estimates, there will be more than 450 million social network users by 2023. This makes social media the most important platform for connecting with consumers, but it is a fairly complicated landscape to navigate.

In India, people use different social media platforms to meet different needs, which means there are separate platforms for mass, luxury and mid-tier brands. Australian companies need to understand who they are targeting and to identify the right channels and craft the right content to reach them.

Popular social media platforms Instagram, Facebook, YouTube are good starting points for any Australia brand, providing a strong entryway to communicate brand heritage and product information.

Different demographics use different social media, and Australian retailers and brands need to be aware of this to successfully reach their targeted consumer.

When Swisse Wellness launched in India last month, it was entering a market where the imported health supplements and nutraceuticals is still catching up. Swisse understood that their target Indian consumer in on social media and hence the digital only strategy adopted by Swisse in India. The Swisse page on Instagram is getting popular day by day as they continue to be more interactive with their consumers.

Communicate at speed and with focus

To be successful on social media means you need to work in real time, at lightning speed, and be on top of the topic of the day or week. The goal is to get India’s millions of social media users to eagerly share your post with their friends, and then their friends’ friends and so on.

For e.g., Victoria based Sukin Naturals along with their Mumbai based importer regularly post content on clean, green and safe manufacturing standards of #Australia.

Another example is Melrose Health which is well known in India for their range of organic Apple Cider Vinegar (which is a new fad in India) or Australian Manuka Honey company, Manukalife reaching out to Indian consumers via social media channels.

So what’s next?

Well, if you are Australian exporter and looking to export to India – try working out an E-commerce entry strategy to start with. We are looking forward to welcoming more Australian brands across categories such as processed food, health and beauty, fashion on the new Australian platform available on Amazon India. Reach out to us now.  Check it out here- www.amazon.in/l/20951450031

Source:

www.ibef.org/industry/ecommerce.aspx

https://www.emarketeducation.in/power-internet-penetration-online-india/ 

Yaser Siddiqui is a Business Development Manager at Austrade, working with Australian companies to export food, wine, health & beauty 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 2.2 year old!