It is not accidental for businesses to face brutal markets on and off in their consolidation phase. It is at that time many began to wonder what will pull them out of their branding woes. 

According to Eli Greenblat, a featured writer on economics, ‘Lockdown a Wipeout for old retail’. Greenblat finds more and more retailing will go online. This is an example for brutal markets and the benign market is just the opposite where fewer market uncertainties exist and manufacturers doing a brisk business. 

In a brutal scenario, there will be less consumer spending, low cash flow due to poor receivables and inventory overhang that will take away the spirit of C-Level executives. Now the pressure is upon marketers who should revive the demand in some way or the other. At this time what custom promotional items would help them? Let us trigger a discussion.

Yeah, in the event of a concerted attack from online trading the offline ones should work smart. Offline marketing has its unique advantage like giving a personalised deal to the customer, good-natured friendliness from the service staff and the advantage of seeing the products live. We all believe in one thing – seeing is believing which means the offline segment is more attractive to gain the upper hand in a tough competition. But for that, they should do a certain sacrifice.

I can tell you one incident which will serve as a lesson for offline players. It is about how Jewish patriarch Jacob got outwitted by his uncle Laban who showed the younger daughter for marriage but Jacob ended up getting the elder daughter because certain background activity he could not see with his own eyes. Similarly, where is the guarantee that you get the products that you browsed online? On the contrary how many have the testimony of getting another product which is not of their choice.

For example, one ordered a shoe that is of 8’’ size. But he received a 10’’ one, due to that he had to return the product. But at the same time, some people received the exact size, maybe due to excellent customer service. So, there is always a possibility of seeing one product and receiving another at the same time online traders can correct that mistake through refunds or offering replacements without charging anything extra.

But in the case of physical retail shops, customers always have the advantage like shopping and picking the right product. Since the credibility and customer convenience is higher while dealing with a physical store, what the offline trader should do is to do some promos with the help of personalised coolers & insulated bags. 

That is why it is important for offline promoters to have a tie-up among themselves to liquidate the inventory. Now the question may arise why taking recourse to cooler bags when many other products available in the market. We need to explore the same.

First of all, we should have a product that will closely associate the basic needs of everyone. So, what can be the basic requirement? No need to think, it is our food. Now the question what about food from a hotel? Yeah, there is an answer again. Nowadays during lockdown restaurants are not that popular and sensible ones will cook food at homes and preserve it in cooler bags for consumption at the next interval. This is going to be a compulsory habit because we should be careful about mingling with people. 

Put it simply, we should have a Covid survival mechanism through social distancing and one way to realise it is by taking home-cooked food along with us in personalised cooler bags.

Yeah, our whole discussion is about how to respond to brutal markets. We have found many retailers are going to face tough markets due to Covid impact. It forced us to stay indoors and order online. But we humans have an inclination to go around and choose the best one for ourselves. Unless and until one familiarises with a thing or a person, how we can opt for a long-term association. Herein comes the relevance of retail vendors coming together for mutual promos with personalized insulated bags which will help them reach a wide audience who wants to have food and reduce their fast food expenses or lunch out at a time when the lockdown is relaxing.

We need some more discussions on how to club together various retail stores and do joint promotions. For example, we can combine a fashion segment within a complex called malls. The collaboration should be within non-competitors otherwise there will be frictions in the later stage. When a footwear store joins hands with a watch store or a men’s fashion store, they can mutually promote their products with the help of coupons and promos and of course giveaways like cooler bags for their journeys, work, and outdoors. 

The ball is in the court of the retail players. You can offer tough competition offline with the help of promotional tools. And other than insulated bags what other product will attract the customers more?

Similarly, organisations also can make a partnership between them. For example, a bank with an IT company where both parties benefit. Here, banks can sell their financial products to the IT company. On the other hand, the bank can give their projects to the same IT company where they promote their financial services where both parties benefit. Create a Hungama like attractive promotions with the help of cooler bags as everyone is interested in gifts. The message is clear. Both parties should stock enough cooler bags for their internal promotions. It can be offered like offering loans at a lesser interest than the competitor. 

No need to add more to state that advertisers can convert brutal markets to benign ones with the help of cooler bags. Try out this and give your feedback. While doing so, please consult a reputed gift marketing company for better ideas. Then you are on the way to become strong brands, realising ROI. Yes, you can. Do it.

Author : Amit Ghia