Despite challenges such as the slowdown in global markets, the Indian market is surging ahead. “India is today a nation in transition. From license raj to competition, from commodity to brands, from domestic to global markets, we are expanding,’’ said Rahul Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Auto and past President, Confederation of India Industry (CII), while addressing the 12th CII Marketing Summit 2012 on Monday here.
“Our marketing strategies have to grasp with our own realities. At the same time, Indian companies today also have to focus on foreign markets. Today you cannot have a large national company without an international footprint. To prosper, you have to compete in the global market space and become a global company.’’ Mr. Bajaj said that success hinged on the ability to anticipate and companies should see how to realign to or drive change. “In dealing with change, first you must be great at anticipation. Secondly, you must be clued in to the present and ready for the future.
Thirdly, many assume their growth and market size and if it does not materialise, it leads to great difficulties. In such situations, building in a possibility of a downturn is a sensible thing to do.’’
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Addressing industry leaders, Vinita Bali, Managing Director and CEO, Britannia Industries, said, “brand is business. To be great, a brand must have relevance and differentiation in the market, pricing and staying power. Great brands energise people, galvanise action and become icons in the categories they operate in.’’
At the summit, Mr. Bajaj and Ms. Bali released a CII Nielsen study, ‘Emerging Consumer Demand: Rise of the Small Town India’, which concerns the growth of smaller Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns in India and how they drive the Indian market and how consumer demand in small town urban India is growing across categories.
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A report by Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council for Eurasia and Africa titled, ‘Understanding shopper loyalty within different formats,’ was also released.