The presence on social media helped Neeru’s acquire a voice and mobile commerce, which helped them to know the customers and in generating good sales around all the marketplaces and in-store
Avnish Kumar, managing director, Neeru’s, along with his father Harish Kumar (CMD), launched the concept of luxury and high-end stores- Neeru’s Emporio. The two palatial stores of Neeru’s Emporio are located on the most celebrated and striking shopping streets- Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. He has driven the story from a chain of stores to a brand now present in more than 15 cities pan India and also the first international store in Dubai.
Looking back if you had to pen down your top 3 learnings from 2022, what would they be?
The first and most important learning from 2022 was to understand the mantra, ‘To Bounce Back”. The way in which consumer markets reopened and responded post-COVID taught us how to stay afloat in times of restricted revenue and cater to a massive surge at the same time. The lesson of balance between demand and supply was learned the hard way.
The second learning was to understand the real value of the brand. Corrections in merchandise and margins gave a great balance to raise the bar of our game on complete full-price sales and this was possible only because Neeru’s had created a prominent name for itself in the aspirational space as a brand.
The most important lesson learnt this year was to understand the tandem of the bottom line and top line.
What is the vision 2023 for your brand?
We look forward to a brighter and more fulfilling year in 2023 by increasing the footprint of our brand. We aspire to do this with bigger stores and wider choices to provide a great shopping experience to the customers. We are targeting to open at least 2-3 stores pan India in every quarter. We will be focusing on a strong omnichannel presence to smoothen our geographical availability for our customers to buy online pick up in store (BOPIS) services, and same-day delivery.
Tell us about the brand growth in the last cycle. Highlight the key elements which helped you achieve this number.
We have made significant progress as compared to the last cycle and the rising numbers are testimony to our growth. Technology is the most important catalyst for our growth as the latest advancements have aided us in introducing an affordable new product line. In addition to that, the adoption of the latest fashion trends is another key element helping us in achieving and exceeding our revenue targets.
Tell us about your expansion plans. Tier I/II/III cities, your preferred choice for expansion? Reasons.
We are consciously concentrating our efforts on expanding in regional states and cities of India.
What are the innovative in-store experiences that your brand has introduced to enhance customer experience?
We have installed RFID (Radio- frequency identiȱ cation) technology to store a range of information from serial numbers, to short descriptions, and even pages of data. We have also installed LED screens to enhance a consumer’s shopping experience. On top of that, we have adopted Omnichannel retail and mobile commerce to give our customers a seamless shopping experience.
Tell us about the tech innovations implemented and the impact of it.
One of the key factors for success is to stay up to date with the latest trends. In this digitally growing world, we adapted ourselves to ȱ t in with our online presence. The presence on social media helped our brand acquire a voice and mobile commerce made it convenient for our customers. It helped us to know our customers which in turn generated good sales around all the marketplaces and in-store.
Going forward, which technologies and initiatives are you looking forward to?
In order to stay competitive and up-to-date, we will be adopting:
- AI Mobile commerce
- Omnichannel
- Voice Commerce
- BI technologies
Are the new categories in the pipeline? If yes, please elaborate.
Neeru’s thrives on the idea of bringing something new to the table. We are planning to surprise our audience with an exciting range of fusion wear and easy-to-wear ethnic wear every month.
How are you laying the bricks for growth and success in the New Year? Is it going to be an omnichannel journey or putting action to digital transformation or accelerating processes with technology or something else? Tell us your thoughts.
In the forthcoming year, we want to lay a strong foundation. We wish to employ a combination of omnichannel and mobile commerce approaches to reach a stepping stone in our journey. We aim to keep our model cashless, contactless, and autonomous shopping and delivery.
Elaborate on the initiatives (marketing and digital) which were a success in this period.
One of our most notable triumphs was the Wedding Collection’22, which featured the stunning Chitrangda Singh for Hyderabad Times Fashion Week and showcased our bridal winter collection.
Our efforts in developing innovative digital advertisements have also resulted in favourable ROIs. The Koi Noor campaign was also one of our most successful and well-received campaigns this year.
This story was first published in Images Retail Magazine (January 2023 edition)
