The science & art of brands, buying & behaviour

VCCircle Consumer & Brand Investment Summit 2010 attracted over 250 delegates.

A year after the world’s worst slowdown, which completely disrupted consumption patterns and buying sentiments, it was time to pick some thoughts and tips from the industry’s star trend-spotters to tackle the upturn.

VCCircle Consumer & Brand Investment Summit 2010, which put together over two dozen expert panelists, attempted to count the pulse of the great Indian consumer and understand the real opportunity beneath the consumption theme. The day-long conference, which attracted over 250 delegates, deliberated on new-age brands, the mofussil story, luxury and mass market brands and the economics of deals in this space.

Setting the tone of the conference, Raamdeo Agrawal, managing director, Motilal Oswal Group, said, in the opening keynote address, “there will be a consumption boom in the next 15 years as a demographic shift was silently happening. A great boom is also waiting to happen in the rural market which is three times the size of the urban market. A staggering increase in rural consumption is going to be the next frontier of this story.”

Picking up from these threads, the inaugural panelists set out to unravel the great Indian consumer story. Some of India’s celebrated observers of the consumption theme--Roopa Purushothaman, MD, Research, Everstone Investment Advisors; Avnish Bajaj, MD, Matrix Partners India; Rakesh Biyani, CEO (Retail), Future Group; Sumir Chadha, MD, Sequoia Capital India; Rajeev Samant, MD, Sula Vineyards and Rajesh Sawhney, President, Reliance Entertainment—graced the panel.

Sumir Chadha of Sequoia felt that, the top-end segments will grow the fastest in India due to the strong economic growth. So, super luxury brands will come out winners.

But, rational price points and innovative products will truly be the game-changers in this story. Agreeing, Rakesh Biyani said, "New markets can be created in rural India also but it should be with right price points. We have broken all the myths about modern retail and turned them to reality."

Elaborating on pricing, Avnish Bajaj said, India was one of the price-sensitive markets in the world. But, it is not the cheapest market, he underscored. So, for any industry player, the biggest challenge is to dissect the segment, and to decide whether to target all or niche verticals.

Watch this space for the entire proceedings of the event.

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