Studying Time: 6 minutes
E-commerce in India isn’t “booming”—that already occurred. What we’re witnessing now’s a reset. What was as soon as a gradual climb has now turn out to be a rocket launch: E-commerce penetration jumped from simply 3.4% earlier than the pandemic to eight.3% by 2023.
However right here’s what most individuals don’t discuss—this isn’t only a startup story anymore. Legacy manufacturers, some with many years of shopper belief below their belt, are rewriting the principles.
At our current #GROWTH Summit, when leaders from Tata Neu, Havells India Ltd., and TTK Status sat down for an trustworthy dialog, it wasn’t nearly campaigns or metrics. It was about navigating a basic shift: how do conventional giants transfer from retail cabinets to digital screens with out dropping what made them iconic within the first place?
This weblog dives into what these seasoned manufacturers are doing in another way. We’re speaking about extra than simply omnichannel methods or AI adoption. That is about legacy assembly agility. About constructing with knowledge and emotion. About turning many years of offline belief into digital loyalty.
In at the moment’s India, the winner received’t be the one with one of the best product. It’ll be the one who will get the client on each channel, at each second.
The Evolution of Model-Buyer Relationships: Mixing Bodily with Digital
Let’s be clear: COVID didn’t change shopper habits—it simply hit fast-forward. What ought to’ve unfolded over a decade occurred in below two years. That type of acceleration doesn’t give manufacturers time to adapt slowly. You both evolve otherwise you lose relevance.
Why Legacy Manufacturers Had the Hardest Problem
For digital-first startups, pivoting on-line was the norm. However legacy manufacturers? Their greatest energy—many years of belief constructed by means of face-to-face interactions—out of the blue turned their greatest hurdle. How do you keep that deep, human connection when the shop door closes and the one entry level is a display?
This was the query on everybody’s thoughts on the MarTech Summit when leaders from Tata Neu, Havells, and TTK Status took the stage.
Omnichannel Is the New Commonplace
For manufacturers like Havells, TTK Status, and Tata, going digital wasn’t the exhausting half. The actual problem was delivering a unified expertise throughout on-line and offline channels, with out dropping the non-public contact.
“The larger downside to resolve is how can we mix, how can we combine, how can we assimilate the bodily contact and really feel experiences delivered at our shops with a really digital expertise?”— Sourabh, Havells
Shoppers don’t suppose by way of “channels.” They anticipate consistency, whether or not they’re looking a cellular app or standing in a retail aisle. The manufacturers that crack this are those that win. In reality, omnichannel buyers spend 4% extra than single-channel ones. However pulling it off? It calls for tight knowledge integration, smarter platforms, and cross-channel coordination.
From Channel-Centric to Buyer-First
Manufacturers that thrived didn’t simply add tech — they reimagined the client journey.
TTK Status is a first-rate instance. Pre-COVID, service meant clients touring to facilities. However lockdowns made that mannequin out of date — quick.
“Throughout COVID, folks couldn’t come out, so we used to usher in vans to do the service,” stated Mr. Ram. “That labored out very nicely… so we modified from service center-based providers to house providers.”
That wasn’t a brief repair. It was a turning level. As a substitute of anticipating clients to suit into legacy workflows, they flipped the script and met shoppers the place they had been—actually.
That is the true essence of customer-centric transformation: not digitizing present techniques, however rethinking them fully primarily based on buyer habits.
Tech Isn’t the Barrier. Silos Is.
If there’s one factor that got here by means of loud and clear, it’s that tech isn’t the toughest a part of digital transformation. Silos are.
Too many manufacturers nonetheless deal with digital, advertising, and customer support as totally different departments, every with their very own knowledge, techniques, and KPIs. That’s precisely how nice buyer experiences disintegrate.
“Should you requested a few of our group members to have a gathering by means of collaborative platforms like Groups or Zoom round 7–8 years again, it was slightly exhausting to persuade them,” stated Mr. Ram. “However at the moment, I can’t think about present with out such platforms—it has turn out to be primary hygiene.”
The pandemic pressured inner alignment. Cross-functional collaboration wasn’t a nice-to-have—it was the one option to survive.
The Actual Digital Mandate: Don’t Lose What Made You Nice
The panel made one factor crystal clear: digital transformation doesn’t imply erasing your id. It means scaling it.
Manufacturers like Tata and Havells aren’t chasing flashy tech traits. They’re utilizing digital to do what they’ve all the time achieved — simply extra effectively and at scale:
- Construct belief
- Provide actual service
- Present up persistently throughout touchpoints
However this solely works if digital isn’t handled like a division. It must be embedded into how the enterprise operates, end-to-end.
Information because the Bridge Between Belief and Transformation
Legacy manufacturers aren’t simply sitting on many years of gross sales data. They’re sitting on relationships— deep, contextual, traditionally wealthy knowledge that digital-first manufacturers can solely dream of.
However right here’s the twist: That very same knowledge is each their greatest asset and their hardest problem.
The Shift: From Product-Centric to Buyer-Centric Information
Historically, manufacturers used knowledge to measure what bought. At this time, the neatest ones use it to know who’s shopping for — and why.
“Information has been used for a very long time… however largely to drive gross sales. Now, consumer-centric knowledge consumption is growing, bringing intelligence about clients and their habits.” — Mr. Ram, TTK Status
This shift represents a philosophical reorientation:
|
Then |
Now |
|
Observe product gross sales |
Observe buyer journeys |
|
Deal with macro traits |
Unlock micro-segmentation |
|
Inform quarterly technique |
Drive real-time selections |
For legacy manufacturers like TTK Status, this implies combining their 70+ years of relationship capital with trendy knowledge intelligence.
Bridging the Offline-On-line Divide
However making that shift isn’t easy, particularly for manufacturers with deep offline roots.
In contrast to digital-first gamers, legacy firms should join bodily and digital touchpoints to create a unified buyer view. And that’s no small feat.
“A serious good thing about MarTech for legacy manufacturers like ours is the flexibility to combine offline and on-line habits to sew an entire buyer profile.” — Sourabh, Havells
The problem is multi-layered:
- Fragmented touchpoints: retail shops, distributors, name facilities, web sites, apps
- Various identifiers: loyalty playing cards, cellphone numbers, machine IDs
- Inconsistent knowledge codecs: wealthy in-store histories vs. sparse digital habits
This stitching course of is crucial. With out it, even probably the most superior tech stack will fail to ship the customized, contextual experiences at the moment’s clients anticipate.
When Extra Information Turns into the Drawback
And even after fixing the stitching puzzle, there’s one other lure: knowledge overload.
“For me, knowledge is an issue… as a result of I’ve too many knowledge factors now.” — Antriksh, Tata Neu
He shared actual tales that spotlight how an excessive amount of knowledge — with out the precise filters — can truly undermine buyer belief:
- Providing a low-value mortgage to a rich movie actor
- Sending promos to deceased clients
These aren’t simply embarrassing—they erode belief. Within the age of hyper-personalization, irrelevance feels disrespectful. Legacy manufacturers should not simply acquire and join knowledge—they have to contextualize it with empathy and precision.
Turning Intelligence Into Influence
As soon as manufacturers transfer past quantity and begin prioritizing worth, knowledge turns into a real progress engine.
“Can we predict when an AC wants a filter change? Or when a water air purifier wants servicing? That’s the extent the place knowledge begins fixing actual shopper issues.” — Sourabh, Havells
The panelists outlined a transparent roadmap for manufacturers seeking to drive smarter engagement:
- Buy intelligence – Perceive what clients purchase and when
- Utilization intelligence – Monitor how clients work together with merchandise
- Service anticipation – Predict and act earlier than points come up
That is the place legacy manufacturers really shine — utilizing knowledge to not push extra gross sales, however to raise possession experiences and construct lasting relationships.
The underside line is that legacy manufacturers are present process a data-driven reinvention. The journey isn’t nearly upgrading instruments—it’s about redefining how they perceive and serve their clients. By remodeling knowledge from a static asset into an energetic enabler of expertise, these manufacturers are constructing the bridge between long-standing belief and future-proof transformation.
The AI Alternative: From Experimentation to Implementation
If knowledge is the inspiration, AI is the accelerator.
Legacy manufacturers have spent years amassing, connecting, and contextualizing buyer knowledge. Now, they’re poised to unlock its full worth by means of AI-driven intelligence, not simply to optimize processes, however to raise how they suppose, resolve, and serve.
In contrast to previous tech waves that centered on operational shifts, AI is reshaping how these firms think about the long run, merging many years of area information with predictive energy that was as soon as unimaginable.
Sensible AI, Actual Influence
Generative AI could dominate at the moment’s headlines, however for legacy manufacturers, AI isn’t about hype. It’s about purposeful software.
“Once I have a look at AI proper now, it’s a soul. It’s as much as us entrepreneurs to place a physique round it, and we will use it in any method.” — Antriksh, Tata Neu
This sentiment echoed throughout the panel: AI is a versatile enabler, not a plug-and-play answer. And probably the most forward-looking manufacturers are focusing their AI efforts the place they matter most — on clear enterprise use instances and important buyer moments.
