Personalisation and integrity are two important pillars of customer experience in India: KPMG report

BestMediaInfo Bureau   Mumbai, August 28, 2018

KPMG in its recently released report ‘Customer Experience: The new operational excellence’ points out personalisation as the most important pillar of customer experience in India. It is closely followed by integrity.

The report surveyed 2,508 consumers across 108 brands within nine sectors in the Indian market and identified the top among them for customer experience excellence. Brands were measured across six pillars of customer experience excellence– personalisation, integrity, expectations, resolution, time and effort and empathy.

Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces ranked high up in the categories, personalisation and integrity. The non-grocery retail sector too scored high on both these pillars, with brands such as Tanishq, Flipkart and Indian Oil being front runners. The report further deep dives into how leading brands are creating exceptional customer experiences and how they are addressing the need to connect to the ideas and technologies of the future.

The report further stated that with India having an incredibly diverse population, brands are having to cater to a wide range of customers from a plethora of backgrounds, cultures and varying sensibilities. That said, the winners are those organisations which appeal to the customer’s core values, score high on the integrity quotient and reduce friction in the transaction cycle.

This is the first time that KPMG is undertaking the study in India. The study was first undertaken in the UK. KPMG intends to make this an annual report going forward. 

Abhijit Ranade

Commenting on why it was the right to launch the study in India, Abhijeet Ranade, Partner and Head, Customer and Channel, Management Consulting, KPMG India, said, “It is time for organisations to get out there and understand their markets, their customers, the real value of their products and services and aspire to build a sustainable enterprise in the market; having the ability to fulfil their customer promise at each transaction via an extended supply chain. Difficult? Yes, but has to be done in order to survive and grow in this VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) world.”

Aditya Rath

“India is continuing its indulgence with experiences which customers can live, share and feel connected with. Brands need to find a way to bring experiences to life and fulfil their customer promise at each interaction” added Aditya Rath, Partner, Customer and Channel, KPMG India.

Report highlights:

• Personalisation is the pillar with the highest impact on ‘loyalty’ and ‘advocacy’. Brands that are front runners in this pillar stay ahead of competition by recognising the individuality of their customers.
• Establishing a sense of integrity and building trust with a brand is critical for the Indian customer.
• The contemporary Indian customer not only wants his/her traditional in-store experience but also wants the ease and convenience that an e-commerce experience brings. The survey shows that brands that have excelled on the customer experience metric are those that not only provide multiple channels but more importantly integrate these channels and provide a single, unified, omni-channel experience.
• The current Indian landscape opens a window of opportunity to differentiate and drive growth while keeping the customer at the heart of every business strategy.
• Globalisation: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been increasingly liberalised with many sectors now allowing 100 per cent investment. This has meant the rising number of superior quality global products available at competitive rates; making a choice is becoming increasingly difficult for the customer.
• Hyper-localisation: The Indian market is segmented and differentiated in choices and preferences; from North to South and East to West. This has meant brands cannot expect to run the full length and breadth of this market on a single-themed approach and to this effect the concept of hyper localisation is booming.
• The Digital Wave: Connecting the remotest parts of the country with high speed internet and mobile coverage, and providing cloud based on-demand services to the citizens will not only make Indian citizens connected but more aware and more demanding of better and quicker services.
• Disruption by data: The disruption brought about by 4G has made data in India one of the cheapest in the world today, making access to a mobile phone even more relevant to the average Indian. This is why keeping experiences real and relevant is key. Hotstar’s live streaming of the IPL or Jio’s partnership with Pokemon Go in India proved that the focus is moving from selling just connectivity and data to selling service enabling customer experiences.

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