A sessions on how global brands view the Indian market and the strategies they adopt to sell their products across a wide mix of people with differing socio-economic and cultural perspectives brought some interesting insights
There are some things we are certain of when we look at India from a global perspective – a large and youthful population that is also tech-savvy, the largest English-speaking population in the world and a service-based economy, which all amounts as positive from a franchising point of view. Elaborating on this theme during a session on ‘Global Brands Perspective on the Indian Market,’ Chad Wissingerm, General Counsel, Nutrimost, said, “The political climate in India is stable. It’s very welcoming to international brands. From a regular perspective, you have a very friendly model as far as I am concerned.”
With there being hardly any restrictions throttling the education industry, Lex Baker, Franchise Management & Development Director, Wall Street English, launched his school for adults in India. “We teach adults and so it’s easier than if you are entering kids’ education but nonetheless, what it means here is that we have got a fragmented market, partially with very questionable quality. We see that as an opportunity,” he said. Bill Schreiber, Vice President International Development, Little Caesars, opined, “India can easily be looked at as six countries within one country. There are about 12 metropolitan cities that offer unique opportunities to all of us.”
Market Strategy to Strengthen the Brand
The challenge only increases once the global brands enter India. From thinking big to aiming high to actually establishing and growing their business by leveraging the brand, the ball keeps rolling to expand the brand to more cities. To build and widen a strong business network it is important to have a sharp strategy and model and realistically think on how to make the best of this opportunity.
Opines Sachin Pardhan, Operations Director, Ice Cream Labs (UAE): “If you are available online, your reach expands globally. I get queries from countries of which I have never heard. This shows how much the online presence helps you to reach masses.” Meanwhile, edutainment is a new concept brought in by Benjamin Porter, Director Sales, Little Kickers. When it comes to their marketing strategy they look at numbers to make sure they’re getting the message across regarding edutainment in India. “When it comes to actually getting a response, you have to reach out as quickly as possible and through data science we can compare whether we have reached two leads in an hour or in two days,” Porter reveals.
Samir Chopra, Chairman and Founder, CybizCorp is of the opinion that bringing in a concept is very different because you have actually not only got to sell the product but you have to sell the industry and you have to sell the idea. Remax was brought to India in 2009 and started as a franchise concept. They had reached about 150 franchisors at some point but lost a lot of them during the real estate slump. “We did not lose them to competition. We lost them to industries. People quit and moved on to different avenues. But in the last year, suddenly everyone wanted to come back to real estate franchising business because the quality had superseded the anxiety that people had,” Chopra asserts.
Penetrating Borders to Build Business
Going global is a basic criterion for any franchise brand with the fundamentals in place. Gone are the days when brands were country-specific with certain stigmas associated with it. Luca Di Lelio, International Development Manager, Yogorino, has brought his brand to India from Italy, which is not much into franchising. “As a franchisor and manufacturing company with over 30 years’ experience, we can go around the world and bring a full package, which is our image and our experience behind the product that is controlled by us. That’s how we see our expansion in the world” he says.
Coming to India was a natural extension of what Jim Durie, MD International Development, Energie Fitness, does already. “We will bring franchisees from UK back in this country and use their experience from our domestic business and we are going to allow them to help us develop globally and locally as well” informs Durie. Also, a strong and healthy partnership is very integral when you are bringing your brand out of your home country, is what the panel members opined.
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