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Tag: Paru Minocha

  • A Kantar report highlights how the intersection of the FMCD sector and sustainability will help marketers

    Sustainability for Durables

     

     

    By Our Staff

     

    Kantar, the leading data analytics and brand consulting firm, unveiled the FMCD Sustainability report, “Walking the Talk on Sustainability with Consumers – a roadmap for India’s FMCD Sector”. FMCD is short for Fast Moving Consumer Durable. The report is a guide for the FMCD marketers highlighting how the intersection of the FMCD sector and sustainability will further enable growth. It aims to provide key sustainability roadmaps for FMCD brands to help them navigate the ecosystem with sustainable solutions.

     

    The India FMCD market is at an interesting juncture today, a communique on the report notes, adding: “Emerging from the pandemic, the Indian market presents significant opportunities; starting with consumption patterns that have changed significantly – towards safety, premiumness and technologically advanced products. The Kantar report reveals that the Indian consumers are also becoming more conscious about the impact of human activity on climate change and other environmental factors. In fact, when we look at the Indian consumer’s top concerns within the ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs) framework, issues beyond poverty and hunger emerge.”

     

    Said Paru Minocha, Managing Director, Qualitative & Lead- Sustainability Practice, South Asia, Insights Division, Kantar: “The FMCD sector is witnessing rapid growth even in post pandemic phase while we’ve also seen a great consumer shift towards sustainability and the environment urging brands to rethink their strategies. Consumers have greater expectation from companies than from themselves; this is likely to be amplified in FMCD, where personal behaviors post purchase is led primarily by the policies/features of the product and company they use. With this report, we are putting forward recommendations to brands which help in solving customer tensions with sustainable solutions, addressing barriers such as packaging, service models, repairability, and return and recycling policies. There is opportunity for brands to target active consumers who are engaged to the core issue and instill structured business solutions to help overcome them with time”

     

     

    Some of the key recommendations for the FMCD brands are:

    1. Embed Green Lifecycle across portfolio and processes

    2. Connect the environment and the everyday

    3. Address Consumer Knowledge Barriers

    4. Mainstream PLM Strategies around Repairability, Packaging, Access-based business models, and Return & Recycling

    5. Meeting accountability expectations

     

    The India Story: Post-pandemic Consumer Attitudes and Behaviour

    • According to the Kantar report, consumer reactions in the wake of COVID-19 continue to evolve and the Indian market presents several opportunities for the FMCD brands. The report further states that cautious consumption is the norm – Hygiene, Health and Wellness are key consumer concerns, where 91% Indian households are washing hands more often now, 47% Indian households claim increased toilet cleaning, more so in rural (49%) vs urban (43%).

    • While the pandemic caused worry and panic, there was a high demand in the FMCD Health and Wellness space. New-market segments such as Air purifiers, ACs with purification filters, smaller sub-categories such as UVC disinfection categories, UVC Desk lamps, and growth of personal care health tech products such as smartwatches and fitness monitors saw amped-up sales.

    • Data also suggests that consumers are changing education and work codes, with work ecosystems being reshaped by digital transformation. With accelerated digital adoption, there is 125% growth in usages of smart devices among internet users, paving way for the emergence of a smart home. Some of them are – Smart Lights, Smart Speakers, Smart Air Purifiers, Smart Display, Smart Home Entertainment and Smart Cleaning

    • There is also evidence to suggest that ‘value’ is a key factor for consumers since post-pandemic financial concerns have cropped up, where 73% attribute COVID to have impacted household income, while 67% pay greater attention to prices while shopping. This has led to an overall joint accountability of both businesses and consumers towards adopting a stronger sense of collective corporate responsibility.

     

     

    Commenting on the focus and relevance of FMCD, Sushmita Balasubramaniam, Shopper and CX Domain Lead, Kantar addedL “Consumers today are more aware and concerned about sustainability and other issues like pollution, carbon emissions, etc. For example, in the mobile phones category, consumers expect brands to address macro environment issues of carbon emissions and plastic pollution whereas in the computing category – carbon emissions, packaging and tax evasion are palpable concerns. In appliances, concerns exist on pollution (air and plastic) and emissions besides packaging. While we see consumers consciously making smarter choices, the responsibility resides with brands and marketeers to provide sustainable solutions to resonate and build credibility with their audiences moving forward.”

     

  • As many as 77% say they are prepared to invest time and money in companies that try to do good.

    Kantar debuts sustainability study in India

    By Our Staff

    Kantar, the data-driven analytics and brand consulting company, has released preliminary findings from a new study exploring what sustainability means to Indian consumers. Kantar’s Asia Sustainability Foundational Study interviewed nearly 10,000 consumers across nine countries in the region, including India, to understand their concerns and priorities.

    Key findings from the India Sustainability Foundational study include:

    • In India, a country faced with numerous socio-economic issues, resource scarcity and environmental challenges, the issues closest to home take precedence for consumers.

    • And despite these challenges as a developing nation, the concerns of Indian consumers go beyond their basic rights, as sustainability issues are interlinked with their daily lives.

    • The top 5 sustainability concerns of Indian consumers are:

    1. Water pollution

    2. Poverty and hunger

    3. Deforestation

    4. Lack of access to healthcare and vaccinations

    5. Air pollution

    • Consumers’ concerns vary depending on the category in question, so brands developing their sustainability strategy need to understand this in order to focus their efforts. For example, consumers expect food brands to avoid over packaging and to discourage wastage. To gain competitive advantage in this category, brands need a credible back story around the “farm to fork” journey of their products – and to demonstrate that they are taking steps to minimise the impacts of intensive farming such as over-use of pesticides.

    Around 48% of consumers in India are active and engaged on sustainability issues. This group is more conscious of the impact of their own choices. 77% say they are prepared to invest time and money in companies that try to do good. But intent is not always translating into action; 84% of consumers still prioritise saving money over saving the planet when it comes to their real-world actions.

    Though most Indians express willingness to spend time and money to support companies that do good, the Value-Action Gap is still significant, with consumers often failing to act on these good intentions. For example, 65% of consumers report that they throw recyclable waste in the trash or dustbin.

    Further, the study measures the three factors persistently undermining sustainable consumer behaviour:

    • Cost – at the time of purchase, 84% say they prioritise saving money over saving the planet.

    • Comfort – 76% say they do not have enough information to choose sustainable options.

    • Convenience – 72% say they tend to forget about sustainability in their busy day-to-day lives.

    The research additionally introduces Kantar’s Sustainability Framework which businesses can use to build a consumer-centric strategy for success. This leverages a ‘Sword and Shield’ approach to better understand how brands in different categories can responsibly navigate sustainability issues by identifying where to focus their attention, how to localise their brand purpose to address local consumer tensions, and how to innovate to overcome the Value-Action-Gap.

    Commenting on the findings, Paru Minocha, Head of Sustainable Transformation Practice, at Kantar’s India office  said: “India’s stage of growth and increasing consumer consciousness regarding sustainability gives it huge potential to create commercial value and address environmental and social issues. Consumers are looking for brands that have social and environmental purpose, so from a marketing standpoint, purpose is imperative, and sustainability will potentially drive consumer choice. Our research illustrates the importance of taking a local approach to sustainability issues. While a company purpose could be a global constant, translating that into action needs to take into consideration the tensions that exist in each market. For the first time, through this foundational study we are able to identify which sustainability issues consumers care about most and how that should translate to action depending on the consumer category. The immediate task ahead is to find levers to unlock this behaviour change.”

    Added Jonathan Hall, Managing Partner, Kantar Sustainable Transformation Practice: “Kantar’s Sustainability Foundational Study uniquely identifies the social and environmental issues that are relevant for consumers on a sector-by-sector basis in India and across the world. Brands have the opportunity to apply the lens of their purpose to understand where to play in the space and to create interventions that are meaningful for different consumer segments. In this way, brand can help people align their actions with their sustainable beliefs and close the Value-Action Gap.”

  • Paru boasts a well-rounded experience in market research, a mix of both qualitative and quantitative research

    Kantar IMRB appoints Paru Minocha as the Head of Qualitative Business

    By A Correspondent

     

    Kantar IMRB announced the appointment of Paru Minocha as the Head of Qualitative Business Unit. She has taken over from Rohini Abraham. Paru joined Kantar IMRB in Sept 2015 and is based in Mumbai. She will play a key role in leading the company’s go to market services and drive the growth of the qualitative business pan India.

     

    Armed with over 20 years of experience in Market Research, Paru started her career as a qualitative researcher in MARG and went on to set up and head Synovate in Delhi. Having done this successfully, she moved to Mumbai to head Synovate pan India and subsequently, as Head of Innovation in IPSOS.

     

    Paru boasts a well-rounded experience in market research, a mix of both qualitative and quantitative research. She has expertise in several sectors including Social, FMCG, Tobacco and Automotive.

     

    Commenting on the appointment Preeti Reddy, CEO, Kantar Insights, South Asia said, ‘’Paru’s experience in both Qualitative and Quantitative will prove to be an asset. She brings in a deep understanding of research, complex business environments and client needs. Paru’s cross sector experience will certainly aid IMRB Qualitative to rise to greater heights under her stewardship”.

     

    Speaking on her appointment, Paru Minocha said, “I’m thrilled to be leading this role when the core Qualitative research is being redefined. I look forward to leveraging technology, social media data and marrying them with the primary survey data. This new approach is also reflected in how as a company we are organized and the investments that we are making in technology and digital. As Kantar IMRB, we have unique access to social data, proprietary syndicated data as well as strong partnerships with third party data owners. I strongly believe that qualitative research would form an integral part in decoding and making sense of the big data