ITV

Tag: Preeti Reddy

  • Kantar reveals consumer trends for 2020

    Kantar reveals consumer trends for 2020

    MUMBAI: How are consumers going to behave in  2020? The economy is in a bind, consumer spending has been cautious. Will they be a little more prone to reach into their pockets to make purchases? Well, market research firm  Kantar has drawn up the top 10  key trends that will impact consumer behavior in India in the year 2020. The trends touch upon a range of categories including FMCG, durables, home buying, transportation, loans, infrastructure, online engagements, entertainment, imported goods and much more.

    Speaking about the trends, Kantar insights division South Asia CEO Preeti Reddy stated, “If the consumer behavior in 2019 was driven by the desire to seek stability, the over-riding sentiment is one of ‘wait and watch’ in 2020 amongst Indian consumers. Meanwhile, with their wallets squeezed and aspirations intact, a large-scale reprioritization of spending is underway across the board”.

    Kantar- Consumer Trends for 2020

    Waiting for the economy to recover

    Declining household saving is forcing shoppers to buy smaller packs, and cheaper variants of household consumables. Apart from millennials reluctant to own homes, tighter budgets and job uncertainty mean that families will put off purchasing homes. And yet the affordability and accessibility of credit, particularly with the entry of digital lending players that offer instant loans, will ease this scenario. Lenders have seen a 50 per cent surge in loan applications for holidays.

    Waiting for deals

    97 per cent of Indian households in 2019 bought at least one CPG (consumer packaged goods) product on promotion, with overall promotion volumes up by 6.4 per cent. Brands have no option but to find new ways of rewarding smart, well-informed, deal-seeking consumers, as information gathering becomes an integral part of the shopping experience. 85 per cent of consumers check at least two data points other than prices and discounts when purchasing.

    But not waiting to sell

    Social commerce platforms like Meesho, GlowRoad, Dealshare, Mall18 will tap into the next wave of online shoppers, that is,  200 million from smaller cities of India with very different behaviour and needs vs the current group. Their transactions are hyperlocal in nature and work by sharing deals over WhatsApp. New platforms are enabling sellers to find buyers by leveraging their social networks. Bulbul and Simsim users interact with sellers during live video streaming and make their purchases immediately.

    Waiting for infrastructure

    Tired waiting for roads, consumers have embraced technological solutions such as car pooling and shared bus rides. The shared transportation market will grow to Rs 35,000 crores by 2025. Cities plagued by congestion and infrastructure troubles, such as Mumbai and Bengaluru, are quick adopters. The lack of action towards improving the abysmal quality of air is encouraging people to work from home, even as solutions such as air purifiers and oxygen bars emerge to give them a breather.

    Not waiting to deal with waste

    22 per cent of Indians say that plastic wastage is the top concern for them environmentally – significantly higher than the global average of 15 per cent. 53 per cent of Indian consumers will pay more for environment friendly products. A similar proportion is prepared to make changes to their lifestyle for the environment. Expect greater awareness and action around food waste, and trends such as up cycling to take off, spurred by conscious business and activist youth.

    Won’t wait for the experience

    Tighter control overspending does not necessarily mean that consumers are cutting back on experiences. 37 percent of urban Indians say that they finance experiences by trading down in certain product categories including jewelry, mobile phones, apparel, and home furnishings. Some consumers are optimizing their spends by renting kitchen appliances, clothes, and furniture; 25 per cent of consumers would consider renting in the future. 

    Won’t shy away from risk

    Uncertainty in the social and economic environment has propelled Indian consumers to embrace new opportunities and create alternative futures for themselves. India is now witnessing reverse migration, as two-tier cities and state capitals emerge as attractive places due to lower land and home prices, cleaner air and availability of quality education. Consumption-wise, there is rising experimentation with an array of offerings on e-commerce platforms, even as consumers seek ways to mitigate risk of redundancy by reskilling themselves through online courses. [93 per cent of Indian learners are in the 18-39 age bracket]

    Won’t wait for rcep

    Despite the political reluctance to leverage trade opportunities within Asian, Chinese, Japanese and Korean consumer brands – which have won the hearts and wallets of Indian consumers – they will continue to do well. Expect an integration of technology and content in many of these products. From home appliances to automobiles to social platforms such as TikTok. While Korean pop culture will capture the imagination of youth across campuses and small-town India, Tokyo’s hosting the Olympics will create greater engagement with Japanese brands.

    Will watch and play/relax

    Our mobile gaming study reveals that 76 per cent of the gamers indulge in playing games on their mobile phone more than twice a day; and 31per cent play four to five times a day. 70 per cent of gamers spend more than half an hour and 42 per cent spend more than an hour playing mobile games. In-app purchases in online and mobile games present developers with financial opportunity. Some brands will deploy ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) – videos using audio stimuli like sounds of nature, mellow music, people whispering – to relax, soothe or invigorate viewers.

    Will watch local

    An average Indian spends 6.2 hours consuming online content daily. Going forward, spending per month on digital media content is expected to grow by 2.5 times. 95 per cent of online video consumption is in Indian languages. Bengali content growing more than 100 per cent year-on-year in watch time. Marketers will look towards online publishers and media companies to build engagement by learning techniques like transmedia storytelling, where single narrative cuts across multiple platforms and formats using available digital technologies.

  • 91% Indians to spend more on e-com sites in 2019

    91% Indians to spend more on e-com sites in 2019

    MUMBAI: Factors like growing traffic congestion across the cities are prompting more and more people to shop online reveals the business and brands predictions report 2019.

    Created by Kantar Media based on consumer insights, the report uses data and reference from various business units within Kantar and a host of syndicated studies such as- Target Group Index –Kantar IMRB, Global MONITOR 2018- Kantar Consulting, Kantar Worldpanel, eMarketPulse- Kantar IMRB. It outlines provide sharp insights to brands on what to expect from the market and solutions to reach out to the consumers in the most effective manner.

    The report further reads, “91 per cent of the people surveyed by Cashkaro.com said that they will spend more money on e-commerce sites in 2019. A massive part of that growth is expected to come from services, with specialized platforms gaining popularity over marketplaces. At-home service platforms like HouseJoy and UrbanClap have witnessed exponential growth in customers and service providers alike.”

    “There’s a massive B2B opportunity for food, beverage and grooming brands to fulfil the unique needs of the service providers – in the form of new products and new ideas,” it adds.

    Another key prediction made by the report reveals that 68 per cent of Indians agree that they are free to shape their identities and transform themselves in whatever way they want. Thus, brands and categories which recognise the consumer, for who they are and where they are, will flourish and user-generated content will grow by leaps and bounds.

    It also shared that brands will have to create a stable, positive environment, and enable support groups to change the discourse of negativity on media platforms as 47 per cent of Indians agreed to being feeling stressed these days. The percentage has increased from 39 per cent in 2017.

    Another interesting insight noted by the report is that 76 per cent of Indians are looking for new experiences and sensations that will liven up their everyday activities, reveals the business and brands predictions report 2019. The report further predicted that many brands will be leveraging the power of ‘senses’ to attract the consumers. “With gaming no more (being) a niche experience, it presents a fantastic opportunity for brands to both be involved in the game ecosystem and to gamify their user experience,” it read.

    Also, ‘digital detox’ is emerging as big business as 53 per cent of Indians (amongst those who use the internet) say that they wish social media had less of an influence in their lives.

    The report mentions, “The travel and leisure industry has much to feel optimistic about as more Indians seek physical and social in-person experiences. In the face of uncertainty and pessimism, this kind of reconnection and exploration provides platforms for stability. In 2019, we expect even more brands and industries to find opportunity in addressing the growing realization of the perils of technology engagement, particularly at a young age. Others will rekindle the nostalgia of relationships, memories, and places that allow us to rediscover ourselves.”

    Kantar Insights Division CEO—South Asia Preeti Reddy said, “At Kantar, we recognise that it is imperative to achieve a balance of human insight and data-enabled decisions in both the business world and our personal worlds. While data might give us the confidence to believe, our personal experience and foresight give us the guidance to act differently and courageously. In identifying the key trends and how they may manifest over the coming year, we have attempted to exhibit that spirit of digging deep and finding stability.”

  • Kantar launches Global Analytics Practice to fuel business growth

    Kantar launches Global Analytics Practice to fuel business growth

    MUMBAI: Kantar, WPP’s data investment management division, has launched a new global analytics practice that unlocks deeper insights to fuel business growth. Integrating analytical capabilities from across the company, Kantar Analytics Practice will combine the world’s most in-depth understanding of consumers with a deep analytics toolkit developed over four decades of solving the most difficult sales, brand, media and marketing problems. In India, WPP has combined the analytics teams from Kantar and GroupM to form one combined practice.

    Kantar Analytics Practice unifies a global network of over 1500 data scientists, analytics consultants, technologists and data designers from across Kantar. It will encompass existing highly regarded businesses such as MaPS, Analytics Quotient, GroupM’s analytics team in India and connect them with specialist analysts from Kantar’s operating brands in sales, retail and shopper, media, health and public affairs. The new practice integrates Kantar’s unique consumer insights, based on the world’s largest first party data sets, with clients’ own customer data and a broad range of third party sources. By combining behavioural and attitudinal data, the outcome is actionable customer analysis to inform every brand, marketing and sales decision.

    Kantar Analytics Practice offers capabilities across five areas of expertise. Its brand and media ROI helps in maximising value creation from brand and media investments, by balancing short-term sales performance with long-term brand valuation and profitability.

    The customer analytics helps in making the right operational and strategic investment decisions in customer experience and loyalty marketing, to maximise the value of each and every customer relationship. The segmentation and activation helps in targeting the highest potential customers and prospects with personalised content, to drive profitable growth with maximum efficiency. While Innovation Analytics is used for optimising customer-led innovation lifecycle for long-term growth, from spotting new trends before your competitors, to optimising the profitability of your product launches, Retail and Shopper Analytics can be used for maximising the commercial return from investments in sales, retail and e-commerce via optimising decision-making in channel choice, assortment, promotions and pricing.

    Kantar CEO Eric Salama says, “Less than half of advertisers believe they have the right, actionable data. Clients feel data rich but insights poor and impact short. Kantar is unique in having the most complete view of consumers across the entire demand cycle: the way they live, feel, shop, watch and post. Combining our insights with data from across any client’s organisation can unlock deeper insights that fuel growth. “

    GroupM South Asia CEO and WPP India country manager CVL Srinivas mentions, “The new practice addresses the clients’ ask for data driven transformation for better ROI from marketing investments in the digital era. GroupM and Kantar have been working closely together in India, co-creating services for our clients. The launch of the Kantar Analytics practice is another step in this direction and demonstrates the ability of our group to come together to provide enhanced value for clients.”

    To this, Kantar South Asia CEO Preeti Reddy adds, “The practice formalises the connected journey with GroupM in bringing data driven products to the markets like Campaign Watch (for during campaign ROI management) and consulting services on TV audience measurement data. Proprietary assets like SAAS platform Athena (built in India) will offer marketers a predictive and near real time opportunity to add up to 20 per cent improvement in ROI from marketing investments including those in e-commerce. And, in Sunder Muthuraman, who will take over as CEO APAC and global chief client officer, we have a great leader for the practice.”

  • Kantar IMRB sweeps three awards at MRSI seminar

    MUMBAI: Kantar IMRB has won all of the three prizes at the 26th Annual MRSI seminar, the marquee industry event held every year in the country. The Annual Market Research seminar titled “Looking Beyond” was held in Bengaluru on 20 & 21 February.

    This year’s theme focused on Technology & Data, and especially the role that big data plays in powering meaningful insights that impact marketers’ business decisions and strategy. Kantar IMRB’s win once again reaffirms its mark of excellence, the quality of thinking and insights that it brings to the industry.

    Kantar IMRB is a pioneer of market research services in Asia. Kantar IMRB’s suite of solutions is designed on frugal, agile innovation and adds value, real value, to help clients make impactful decisions.

    Kantar IMRB president  & Kantar Insights CEO – South Asia Preeti Reddy said, “A win at MRSI is particularly gratifying because it is a platform that showcases the best and the brightest minds in our industry. While I would like to congratulate all the winners, this year stands out for us for our robust participation as a Kantar family: Kantar TNS presented two invited papers, 11 of the 16 presenters in the session reserved for young researchers were from Kantar, and Kantar IMRB swept all the awards.”

    A panel of distinguished marketing executives and research experts judged and selected the best entries on the basis of comprehensive evaluation criteria.The panel shortlisted most innovative, cutting edge, modern and thought-provoking papers that showcased the forward thinking of market research fraternity.

    Kantar IMRB won all the three awards as follows:

    •  The Jury Award for Overall Best Paper was given to “Navigating the Net” presented by Debjyothi Sen Sharma and Abhinaba Neogi
    •  The Audience Award for Most Popular Paper went to Debjyoti Sen Sharma for “Reading Your Mind”
    • The Best Presentation – Brave New World titled “Taste the Test” by Adityo Sanyal

    The winners were felicitated at the event attended by over 350 professionals from India’s research fraternity, analytics companies and client partners. In addition, over 1000 delegates viewed the event through live streaming.

  • Kantar IMRB appoints Paru Minocha as head of qualitative business

    Kantar IMRB appoints Paru Minocha as head of qualitative business

    MUMBAI: Kantar IMRB, a leading market research company, announced the appointment of Paru Minocha as the head of qualitative business Unit. She has taken over from Rohini Abraham. Paru joined Kantar IMRB in Sept 2015 and is based in Mumbai. She will play a key role in leading the company’s go to market services & drive the growth of the Qualitative business pan India.

    Armed with over 20 years of experience in market research, Paru started her career as a qualitative researcher in MARG and went on to set up & head Synovate in Delhi. Having done this successfully, she moved to Mumbai to head Synovate pan India and subsequently, as head of innovation in IPSOS.

    Paru can boast of a well-rounded experience in Market Research, a mix of both Qualitative & Quantitative research. She has expertise in several sectors including Social, FMCG, Tobacco and Automotive.

    Kantar Insights CEO – South Asia Preeti Reddy said, ‘’Paru’s experience in both Qualitative and Quantitative will prove to be an asset. She brings in a deep understanding of research, complex business environments and client needs. Paru’s cross sector experience will certainly aid IMRB Qualitative to rise to greater heights under her stewardship”.

    Paru Minocha said, “I’m thrilled to be leading this role when the core Qualitative research is being redefined. I look forward to leveraging technology, social media data and marrying them with the primary survey data. This new approach is also reflected in how as a company we are organized and the investments that we are making in technology and digital. As Kantar IMRB, we have unique access to social data, proprietary syndicated data as well as strong partnerships with third party data owners. I strongly believe that qualitative research would form an integral part in decoding and making sense of the big data

    Paru has done B Com Honors from SRCC and holds MBA degree in Marketing and Finance from Xavier’s Institute of Management.

  • Kantar IMRB appoints Paru Minocha as head of qualitative business

    Kantar IMRB appoints Paru Minocha as head of qualitative business

    MUMBAI: Kantar IMRB, a leading market research company, announced the appointment of Paru Minocha as the head of qualitative business Unit. She has taken over from Rohini Abraham. Paru joined Kantar IMRB in Sept 2015 and is based in Mumbai. She will play a key role in leading the company’s go to market services & drive the growth of the Qualitative business pan India.

    Armed with over 20 years of experience in market research, Paru started her career as a qualitative researcher in MARG and went on to set up & head Synovate in Delhi. Having done this successfully, she moved to Mumbai to head Synovate pan India and subsequently, as head of innovation in IPSOS.

    Paru can boast of a well-rounded experience in Market Research, a mix of both Qualitative & Quantitative research. She has expertise in several sectors including Social, FMCG, Tobacco and Automotive.

    Kantar Insights CEO – South Asia Preeti Reddy said, ‘’Paru’s experience in both Qualitative and Quantitative will prove to be an asset. She brings in a deep understanding of research, complex business environments and client needs. Paru’s cross sector experience will certainly aid IMRB Qualitative to rise to greater heights under her stewardship”.

    Paru Minocha said, “I’m thrilled to be leading this role when the core Qualitative research is being redefined. I look forward to leveraging technology, social media data and marrying them with the primary survey data. This new approach is also reflected in how as a company we are organized and the investments that we are making in technology and digital. As Kantar IMRB, we have unique access to social data, proprietary syndicated data as well as strong partnerships with third party data owners. I strongly believe that qualitative research would form an integral part in decoding and making sense of the big data

    Paru has done B Com Honors from SRCC and holds MBA degree in Marketing and Finance from Xavier’s Institute of Management.

  • Kantar makes management changes at IMRB International

    Kantar makes management changes at IMRB International

    MUMBAI: Kantar has announced a change of leadership at IMRB International, which will see Preeti Reddy take over from long-serving president Thomas Puliyel when he retires in August, this year.

    Reddy, currently senior vice-president, will work alongside Puliyel during the next few months as the transition takes effect. Once president, she will report to Kantar president Wayne Levings.

    Levings commented, “Thomas has made an outstanding contribution to IMRB and the broader Indian research market throughout his long and distinguished career. Under his leadership, IMRB has continued to improve and innovate around its offering, expanded into new markets and sectors and has been consistently recognised as the leading research agency in India. He leaves with our thanks and best wishes for his retirement.”

    Levings further added, “In Preeti, we have an excellent new leader of IMRB. She brings a combination of strong client leadership, general management and consulting capabilities. With the very strong leadership team she has around her, IMRB will continue to build on its world-class foundations.”

    Reddy has close to three decades of experience in research and consulting, working with leading Indian and multinational companies. She joined the IMRB group in 2009 when she was appointed CEO of LMRB in Sri Lanka. She has previously worked in consumer consulting at Technopak, was senior vice-president at TNS India and has worked with the BAT group in India.

    Reddy said, “I’m delighted to be leading such a diversified and vibrant business which continues to define research in the region. We have a great team of experienced and highly competent managers to head our different businesses and I look forward to working with them to build IMRB into an even bigger and better business.”

    In other management changes, effective 1 February, 2015, Jasojit Mookerjea, currently responsible for International Business Unit (IBU) senior vice-president and IMRB One joint head will take on full responsibility for IMRB One as well as heading change management and managing the key account directors within the company.

    Currently IBU BAT global account director and vice president Sreeram Sreenivasan will take overall charge as IBU senior vice-president based in London. Diptya Mukherjee will continue in his role as IBU vice-president based in Calcutta. The management team at IBU is being further strengthened under the leadership of Sreenivasan and Mukherjee and the proposed changes will be communicated in due course.

    Senior vice-president Vivek Gupta will head the Auto, BFSI and Telecom sectors, while the Brand Science business will be merged into IMRB One.

    Puliyel joined IMRB in 1981 as manager, overseas projects and remained with the company until 1992 before moving to set up Research International India as country manager. He returned to IMRB as president in 2000. The company has been named research agency of the year eight times since 2005 and Puliyel has twice served as president of the Market Research Society of India.

    Puliyel said, “IMRB is a wonderful place to work in. The open, empowered work environment is a great magnet for the best research talent. The freedom that the company provides makes it a great place to learn and realize one’s potential.”