Voltas Beko, a JV between Voltas and Europe’s leading consumer durables player, Arçelik of Turkey, is committed to the ‘Make in India’ initiative, and has just announced the expansion of its home appliances portfolio with products custom-designed for Indian households.
Talking to EVENTFAQS Media, Prasenjit Basu, Marketing Head, Voltas Beko, takes us through the brand’s efforts in the area of experiential marketing and activations, how its Experience Zones have fared and why he is a firm believer in the offline experience.
Please take us through the recent efforts of Voltas Beko in the area of experiential marketing and activations.
Last year, keeping consumer-centricity and innovation at heart, Voltas Beko had launched a dynamic Instagram AR filter, urging people to celebrate Durga Puja at home and seek blessings of the Goddess at the click of a button. Owing to the pandemic, Durga Puja celebrations were significantly impacted due to the social gathering restrictions this year. Aiming to add some cheer to the festive season, Voltas Beko partnered with its Digital Agency, Interactive Avenues, Gurugram, to help users bring the celebration home, with the special Durga Puja 2020 Instagram Filter. This unique celebration was well-appreciated by people celebrating the festival across the world. The special filter was also complemented by a contest activity where the top three entries (selfies and videos with the filter) from the users won a brand new Bluetooth speaker, making it all the more exciting and shareable.
You just launched your second Experience Zone at Bangalore. Tell us more about these experience centres – what has been the response to them from consumers and are there plans to launch more stores?
We recently launched our second Experience Zone in Halasuru at Bangalore. The state-of-the-art centre is being launched to offer a unique shopping experience and meet the growing expectations of consumers in a major city like Bangalore, with technologically advanced products of Voltas and Voltas Beko. The Experience Zone features a well-designed and visually appealing display of the new range of Voltas and Voltas Beko products, comprising air-conditioners, air-coolers, commercial refrigerators, water dispensers, water-coolers, air-purifiers, refrigerators, washing machines, microwaves and dish-washers. Conveniently located in the prime vicinity of Bangalore – No. 14, Cambridge Road, Besides Lourdes Church, Halasuru – the Experience Zone is the ‘one-stop destination’ for customers that will further enhance Voltas’ brand experience and visibility.
Our first Experience Zone at Faridabad, in Delhi NCR was inaugurated in October, 2020 and has received a tremendous response from customers, media and partners in a short span. We are confident that our Bangalore Experience Zone will also be well-received. Based on the success of these centres, we are planning to launch more EBOs as well as Experience Zones as we understand that the physical aspect plays a crucial role in the purchase-making decision process for white goods. As a market leader in the AC category, Voltas has always placed customer-centricity at the core of all its offerings. Voltas Beko has been built on the same principle, aiming to provide best in class products as ‘Partners of Everyday Happiness’.
How important is the events/activations space for the brand and what are your future plans in this area? What kind of ROI do you derive from the events and experiential medium for your brand?
We believe in having a holistic 360-degree strategy where we focus on being accessible to our customers in the ways they expect us to be. As part of this, we have adopted an omni-channel strategy with equal emphasis on online as well as offline channels. This largely helps us customise our approach to suit the different markets in rural as well as urban areas across the country.
While there is an increasing focus on going digital, touch and feel will continue to be an important factor in decision-making when it comes to consumer durables. The offline experience will stay. Our organized trade partners and retailers are already operational, while adhering to all social distancing guidelines. Voltas and Voltas Beko brands are now available at 195+ EBOs in the country. As the pace of electrification increases, there will be a trickle-down effect on consumer durables and given the rise in disposable incomes, demand from rural as well as Tier II and Tier III cities will increase. Keeping this in mind and anticipating a major growth in demand, we have recently opened brand shops across Tier II and Tier III cities, including Jalandhar, Ranchi, Bokaro, Faridabad and others. This is in line with our strategy of being extremely accessible and reaching out to customers through channels that they are most comfortable with.
As a part of our ‘Smart Thinking’ philosophy, the brand’s distribution network has grown 10 times over the last 10 years, to more than 20,000 consumer touch-points across the length and breadth of the country. There are plans to open many more stores in the near future which will host all the products from Voltas and Voltas Beko – including refrigerators, washing machines, microwaves, ovens and dish-washers. Further, we are expanding our presence though experience zones which feature a well-designed and visually appealing display of new products.
