Luxury brands gear up to entice shoppers

As India eases out of lockdown restrictions, with its festive season kicking off, luxury brands are ramping up efforts to entice shoppers.

The Indian government issued orders splitting goods and services into essential and non-essential categories, at the start of the countrywide lockdown in March. However, many consumers are still differing non-essential purchases and services – marking an uphill climb for brands that fall within these categories.

That’s mainly because most consumers were forced to skip large shopping occasions in the first half of 2020, said Kishankumar Shyamalan, Vice President, Wavemaker India.

Marketers operating in luxury categories are scaling up their experience offerings to bring in more customers in a bid to drive sales during the anticipated spike in spending for the festive season.

Fashion brands and retailers are accelerating their efforts to reach out to loyal customers with at-home video shopping experiences. Sheetal Seth, Head Marketing and Digital Media, Raymond Apparel, views these experiences as the new ways of ‘moment marketing’.

Jewellery brand Tanishq is asking customers to celebrate “golden moments” with families when at home, hosted live music shows, and released occasion-based campaigns across digital and print media.

Saahil Kumar, Head - Marketing, Sennheiser India has been investing in an omnichannel approach to provide customers with all available choices for shopping.

Kumar added that there have been some early signs that show quick recovery for premium and luxury brands, leading to optimism about recovery. The International Monetary Fund has predicted India would grow 1.9 per cent for the fiscal year that ends on March 31, 2021, making it one of the few major economies, alongside China, expected to register an expansion despite the pandemic.