The state of consumer brands has gone through multiple changes in the last ten years. And, the rate of change does not seem to slow down anytime soon. In fact, many experts are of the opinion that the disruptions are only going to increase going forward. Hence, it is critical for all stakeholders to research and understand the trends in close detail and devise strategies accordingly going forward.  

Kanwaljit Singh, Founder and Managing Partner at Fireside Ventures said, “The first five years of this decade - 2010 to 2015 - has been the 'challenger’s phase'. This is the time when brands were born to cater to the new audience and were doing things that were disruptive at the product level. However, the last five years have seen real disruption. The concept of digital brands and new business models which allowed brands like boAt, WoW, and Mamaearth to establish themselves in the market has been disrupting every aspect of the business.”

One of the common trends concerning the growth of these brands is the immediate feedback from their consumers. Based on the direct feedback from the consumers, the companies were able to make changes to the products and presentations right away without much delay. This was unlike the case of many conglomerates where one could hide behind the mass marketing budget and not worry about the immediate marketing budget. 

Singh gave an example of the consumer electronics brand boAt stating: “Two and half years ago boAt launched its first range of smartwatches and they did not do well at all. They got feedback. They launched it again a year ago and today it is the fifth-largest wearable brand in the world.”   

“Your research lab is the internet. Here it is all upfront on your face,” Singh further stated. 

Future of D2C

As per a report, the D2C sector in India will be worth $100 billion by 2025. Currently, it is worth $44.6 billion at the end of the fiscal year 2021 compared to $33.1 billion in 2020. In 2019, the D2C sector had a total valuation of $26.8 billion compared to $20.8 billion in 2018. This suggests how the industry has experienced growth over the years.

Singh is of the view, “Everything that we have done so far is going to get disrupted once again. And that’s daunting, exciting, and scary. What is happening on the product side – the lines between product, services, and solution is getting blurred.”

Need for Deep Science

Consumer brands in India have explored and experimented across various aspects, however, one of the aspects which had not been experimented with is at the product level. Going forward, brands can look into this aspect in order to grow their business.  

“The other aspect where Indians have not done enough of is in Deep Science. How many brands honestly here can say that they have innovated on products in the fundamental sense. Not in the recipe or composition or formulations. I think that is the most interesting opportunity I feel if we can dominate that part of it where we work with science and academic and create products that are disruptive at the science level and not at the recipe level. We have disrupted the channel and the business model but can we disrupt the product itself,” Singh added. 

In terms of the scope, there is still a lot of opportunity for disruption given much of the market has still not been explored. “We have a situation here where we have millions and billions of consumers and don’t have enough brands. It is probably the most unique economy in the world where there is such a large consumption opportunity,” Singh concluded.