Mohit Khattar, is the Managing Director of Natures Basket Ltd, a retail chain of fine food and gourmet stores. He is directing its strategy, business operations as well as managing its expansion. Prior to Natures Basket, Khattar was the President of Subhiksha. In this position, he was responsible for directing the company's Mobile business, the formulation and execution of the Subhiksha mother brand marketing strategy as well as development and growth of the private label business for the retail major from scratch. In previous assignments, he has worked with with TI cycles of India and has held positions of importance in Product and Brand Management as well as in Sales Management in companies Like Titan Industries Ltd and Reckitt Benckiser India Ltd.

 

In conversation with Jagadeesh Krishnamurthy, Khattar charts the way for marketing a brand like Godrej Nature's basket, and touches upon their on-ground initiatives.

 

How has the brand been positioned in these multiple cities, considering the clutter created by the unorganized sector?

 

With scores of street vendors, mom and pop stores as well as undifferentiated retailers forming the base layers of food retail in India, Godrej Nature's Basket is positioned right on top of this Food retail pyramid as a premium destination for authentic world food and ingredients. We run, hi-street gourmet stores, located in premium residential catchments, with a simple strategy. We cater to the refined needs of food and beverage of the upscale Indian family. We are not a grocer masquerading as a supermarket. This essentially implies that we do not focus on selling grocery or mass Indian foods or snacks. Instead our focus is world food and authentic ingredients from around the globe including the finest handpicked brands in cheese, delicatessen, boulangerie, patisserie, beverages, confectionery and cooking ingredients for disparate world cuisine.

 

What are the typical mediums of communication adopted by the brand?

 

Given that we run few niche stores, we have never focused on mass media communication. Growth in retail along with subsequent saturation of mass media has been inevitable. In such a scenario, a positive consumer experience becomes even more importance. Instead, we rely completely on approaches that connect directly with the consumer. For Godrej Nature's Basket, shopper engagement and involvement is a way of daily life. It begins by creating a look, feel and vibe that encourages better customer engagement. Our in-store efforts are supplemented with intense catchment activation programs.

 

How important is experiential marketing, especially on-ground consumer engagement, for a brand operating in your space? Please elaborate on some of the initiatives from your end.

 

Experiential marketing has always been an indispensable promotional tool for any luxury or premium brand. Gourmet retailing is still a mere 2-3 per cent of the retail industry. Hence the need to connect is much stronger. We believe that upscale and discerning audiences that we target are far too niche, and mass media will not do justice to our messaging. This makes on-ground activation and customer engagement a necessity and not a luxury.

 

Sampling and cooking demonstrations are a regular affair at Godrej Nature's Basket. Being pioneers in this sector, it's important that we create awareness not just for the products but their utility as well. We also regularly promote the food culture of diverse destinations. In terms of service levels GNB maintains high levels of personalized service.

 

We regularly run wine sampling and cheese tasting sessions, cooking demonstrations for world cuisine, celebration of assorted events and days at our stores, have talks by celebrity chefs, nutritionists, etc.The manner in which we educate consumers, launch new products as well as conduct customer friendly events at our stores, they all go a long way in helping us build that elusive bond with our core consumers.

 

In terms of marketing spends, what is the percentage split of revenues between on-ground marketing efforts and other communication mediums which include direct mailers, print, etc.?

 

We hardly do any mass media including print advertising. Almost 60 per cent of spends are directed towards in store efforts. Balance 40 per cent is spent on catchment programs including leaflets etc.

 

Since you mentioned about on-ground consumer engagements and activities, how do you promote the same to your TG?

 

We maintain a customer database that we are regularly in touch with by way of electronic and printed mailers, sms and social networking sites. We also have a bimonthly newsletter. PR is another effective tool that we use frequently.

 

Do you work with a specific agency in each city for these activities, or have you appointed a national-level agency for the same?

 

For events we have an in-house team that runs these initiatives and programs. They coordinate with different agencies for execution in the cities that we operate in.

 

How do you measure RoI for your activities? And, how do you measure the amplification of the brand achieved through the on-ground initiative?

 

Given that very little is spent on mass media, measuring ROI is not so complex. Usually we are able to measure the impact of in-store initiatives or catchment programs through increased footfalls and increase in average ticket sizes or sales for the cuisine or ingredients being promoted.

 

How do you engage your trade partners, considering that they are an integral part of the supply chain? Are there any special initiatives targeted towards them?

 

Our promotions are incomplete without our suppliers and their support extends right from educating our teams on specific new products to supplying the point of sale material or helping us develop the right material and then finally helping us run the promotion on-ground.