Crompton

Having emerged as an undisputed leader engaged in the manufacturing and sale of smart consumer electronics and heavy-duty appliances, Crompton, despite its profound repute and robust legacy of over 6 decades, witnessed challenges penetrating the cluttered market of consumer electronics and gaining significant market share. 

Highly renowned for its extensive range of smart energy-efficient fans, air coolers, water heaters, water pumps, home & kitchen appliances as well as lighting solutions for residential and commercial use, the brand had to rise-up and make an impactful comeback. With the emergence of new players in the market, the deliberations on the formulation of game-changing retail strategies and exceptional action-plans was paramount to elevate market positioning, gain consumer attention and counter critical challenges effectively. 

As penetrating the retail market for consumer electronics and combating the odds is nothing short of sailing against the wind, D’Art being a pioneer in end-to-end remarkable Retail Transformation and defining growth trajectory for big businesses, stepped in by introducing a decisive strategy that entailed a robust pragmatic approach. While the scenario turned fiercely competitive leading to extreme pressure on the marketing landscape for Crompton due to Indian market being highly distribution-led irrespective of the new-age marketing concepts hence tapping on the distribution network tends to be an imperative. Approached with a core objective to crack the science behind the two-way business development strategy that integrates the B2B and B2C framework, Crompton through its extensive retail network have been exploring new dimensions to acquire a larger consumer base. 

Commenced with the initiation of rigorous on-ground audit in a phased manner extending to the entire network of over 80% of the direct selling brand outlets, nationwide, the Project #BlueWave was set in motion. In view of the intensity and scale of the project, a specialized league of personnel armed with tremendous expertise were tasked to execute a thorough site-inspection and secure first-hand insights and crucial data. Taking over the project to decode complexities through in-depth retail diagnosis in collaboration with dedicated teams, striking brand strategies and impactful formats for in-store merchandising and fixtures were explored during dialogues with the decision-makers from the brand. 

In pursuit of identifying key parameters and gather intelligence with respect to what distribution channels have been seeking in the market, D’Art being not just the foremost but a responsible brand design agency, prioritised catering to vendors in line with their preferences and expectations. As store vendors are central to the preparation of successful roadmaps and new retail methodologies, the consideration of their concerns advanced the progress in the right direction and instilled a strong belief amongst them about investing in their part of the story more than a brand. 

As core objective behind the project was to amplify the visibility of the brand and SKUs, breakthrough creative execution for distinct fascia design to elevate the front-facing outlook of stores was initiated to ensure heightened emphasis on brand, draw attention and make an ever-lasting impact on potential customers to foster positive brand perceptions that further translates into incremental growth in sales. With a sharp focus on establishing robust brand identity and exclusivity in line with the larger objective of projecting the brand in a bigger light, a blueprint for end-to-end retail transformation was put in place. 

Besides heightened stress on brand identity at stores through creation of sophisticated in-store appeal, pillar branding as part of the façade and line-art creatives demonstrating the star products on the one-way vision were mindfully applied to capture significant customer attention. Precisely aimed at igniting up the store interiors dramatically and to feature the entire range of products in an eclectic manner, ceiling with LEDs were rigged strategically. To complement the appeal further, specially-designed fixtures for striking merchandising brought more weightage taking the in-store customer engagement and retention rate up-a-notch. 

As lack of concentration on amplified brand visibility and strategic placement of the SKUs posed significant challenges in drawing customer attention and traction, causing significant impact on sales, the approach to manifest brand standing and positioning that extends brand visibility, fuel sales and accelerate growth in demand for its products across all prime categories proved to be highly promising for building an irresistible inclination and consideration amongst customers for exploring Crompton products. 

From securing necessary permissions and approvals to on-site execution, the project involved a series of practices that elevated brand projection, turning the outlets into ultimate go-to destinations for electronics and home appliances. Having started with a few outlets in Maharashtra, the project execution expanded progressively to other regions including Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, covering 36% of the outlets in South, followed by 29% in the North, 18% in the West and 17% in the East. 

Triggering a massive response rate, the investment in branding took the ROI up by 100% and D’Art by stressing the right aspects the right way increased not just the returns but the ticket size while ensuring 4X growth of the channel partners as well. Having become a buzz in the market reflecting on the brand standing of Crompton, the distribution chains continues to retail as experience centres sparking high volume sales. 

With respect to the accomplishment of the project, the outlets stands tall reflecting strong brand visibility, triggering 13% of additional growth in key categories and with significant savings of 21% in contrast to OOH, the advanced branding strategy placed great emphasis on the entire product range, fuelling sales significantly, increasing number of walk-ins and creating surge in inquiries. Strengthening the execution quite intensively, the compelling sales pitch by the brand continues to secure new margins and introduce better pricing strategies that further results in higher market share, brand visibility, and extension of product line in the specific market of consumer electronics. Taking the industry by storm, Crompton share has come back with a bounce back of giving 2X investments in the same segment and setting new precedents to attain greater heights as a disruptor.