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What makes people buy - and not buy - furniture from a dot com? Pepperfry's new campaign was born after the team analysed both, the purchase barriers and triggers.
With Diwali, India's biggest buying season, around the corner, brands are soon going to be at their generous best with the 'Dhamaka' and 'Bumper' sales, and the media will be inundated with ads announcing these eagerly-awaited offers. But, for the online furniture and home products marketplace Pepperfry, the party will be slightly different.
While there's no denying that the e-commerce revolution has considerably changed the way India shops, there are still certain categories which need that push to overcome psychological barriers that exist while shopping online. One such category is furniture. And, it is to dispel such apprehensions that Pepperfry has released a new campaign to inform potential customers about its services just before the festive season begins.
"Many people are aware of our site; we want to make them buyers. Consumers will come to know of the sale once they land on the website, but to get them there, we must address these barriers," shares Vadapalli, adding, "The initiatives we took on the advertising and branding front over the last two years have paid off. We are happy with the demand and traffic on our portal. Pepperfry has also done well in terms of the three brand salience parameters that include awareness, top-of-mind recall, and preference."
Recently, Pepperfry raised Rs 210 crore in E Series funding from existing investors. The funds will be used to expand the brand's operations to the next 500 cities, increase the number of experience centres called 'Studio Pepperfry' from six in the metros to around 20 covering all major cities, and in automating the supply chain to bring more transparency in product handling and communication with customers.
Vadapalli believes that all this will help in converting the visits on the website into purchases. "The need," he states, "is to exploit the triggers which include occasions/life events, value for money, and availability options. While online offers better value for money and about 10 times more choice than offline, the purchase barriers, namely, concerns regarding quality, returns, and after sales service, need to be addressed. And, this is what the campaign talks about."
Expert Speak
"The campaign has been designed to overcome the nervousness of online buyers for something as important as furniture, which becomes an integral part of his/her daily life," he says.
According to Uboweja, Pepperfry is making an attempt to build the image of a reliable furniture vendor which can be trusted for the most complex of requirements. "It is a sound and logical consumer insight to work upon. The younger generation is certainly more comfortable taking risks. We are in the middle of a change in buying patterns across categories and industries. While an elderly man is the protagonist, the brand has treated him with respect and shown him as someone who is willing to change his perception," he notes.