‘COVID has put focus back on cost optimization’ : Himanshu Patil
By Mohit Manghani | June 16, 2020
For retailers, Lockdown has been a time to rethink their marketing strategies and prepare plans to serve post-covid shoppers. The good news is, companies who have embraced change, put a real focus on innovation, and stayed in lockstep with consumers are moving much faster, leaving once-competitors in the dust.
Himanshu Patil, Co-Founder at CloudSocial Technologies, in an exclusive chat with Retail4Growth, shares smart solutions that could help brands and retailers serve post-lockdown shopper better.
What kind of patterns do you see when it comes your client spends on technology post Covid?
I think COVID has been a wakeup call for most clients, obviously, something like this happens hopefully once in a lifetime. But this put the focus back on cost optimization. Now if the spend on tech comes with a cost-benefit and a quick ROI then yes clients will definitely spend. But if the ROI is spread over a longer period or the case is not cut and dry then most likely it will get pushed to the back burner.
Going forward what kind of trends do you see?
Trends would emerge most likely in areas that give cost benefits. Be it better productivity, enabling remote working, push consumers towards digital fulfillment. Social media is another area that has come into focus due to more time being spent on it by consumers as well as brands. With high expectations on response times, it is imperative that brands are on top of their game.
As a tech player what would be your recommendation to brands/retailers on catering to the post Covid shopper better?
Adapt processes to the new normal. Automate where ever possible. Build a community of your consumers if not done already. Be consumer-centric. The Consumer has limited money and will spend it carefully. And finally, use social media tools to manage the entire activity more effectively and efficiently.
CloudSocial is a social media management platform that offers great value and some interesting features. One feature which I would like highlight is along with the popular Social media channels it also has email. And all these come in a single unified inbox. Typically in most companies, email and social media are handled by different folks. But for the consumer, it is one company.