Customer Delight – with a Fresh Perspective in Bangalore

It’s a good time to be a consumer in India.  Brand launches are aplenty.  Some have adopted the usual route – average products & failing service standards, complemented by glib advertising and huge money spends on celebrity endorsements.  Big basket ‘India’s largest online supermarket’ is one such brand that started off on a good note making the task of mundane everyday grocery shopping easily accessible at one’s fingertips.  However it lost my loyalty as quickly as it had won it for reasons mentioned above.  There have been other brands however that have made their way into my home and heart and these are the ones that have veered off usual price-value curve and have offered something unusual – whether this is in terms of price, product or the service platform. 

My choices have been influenced by a change in my life stage.  With a toddler in the house – I have become extremely discerning about products that enter the house – especially food and personal care.  I've switched to organic brands from non-organic ones for food and other staples.  Most organic brands tend to be positioned as premium brands however a few like Safe Harvest believe in ‘democratizing access to safe food’.  They make organic food an alternative to mainstream brands rather than positioning it as something exclusive, which also reflects in their distribution model.  I first found their range of products at my neighborhood grocer and was pleasantly surprised at their reach, unlike the seriously organic brands that are only available at specialist shops. 

I have stayed away from most packaged beverages due to their synthetic flavors and overdose of sugar.  However in the recent past, Paperboat has won my affection.  I first encountered this brand being sold on-board in an aircraft.  The one word that comes to mind when I think of this brand is ‘refreshing’ - right from its packaging to the flavors offered to the tone of voice in the communication and of course the brand name.  Positioned on the platform of childhood nostalgia, this brand has a striking resemblance to Innocent smoothies.  Having a Paperboat, feels like enjoying one of life’s small and simple pleasures.

The third brand I have adopted in the recent past is a radio taxi service.  The city I live in does not have a great public transport network and one has to rely on cabs and auto rickshaws if one doesn’t drive.  A couple of years ago I booked a taxi only if I had to travel on work, the cost being a deterrent.  Of later, two factors have created a big change in the dynamics of the local transport sector.  A) Most taxi services have segmented the market by price and have launched sub-brands at different price points.  B) Instead of calling a call-center and waiting for a long time, one can now book these cabs using a very convenient phone app.  The app tracks the GPRS location of the consumer and alerts them of the choices available in the vicinity – making the whole process very seamless.  The service I use most often is by Meru cabs.  When their low price variant Genie was launched, the word-of-mouth got around very quickly.  A friend suggested I try the Genie service using the phone-app.  Right from my first experience with them I find the brand Genie stands true to its name.  Most of my travel these days happens at short notice and despite that, all it takes is a few clicks for a taxi to mysteriously appear at my door.