The business model due to digital media is not changing but is expanding its reach. The US$35b FMCG market would also be influenced by the digital media. There are 350mn internet users today and these are likely to increase to 650mn users by 2020. Of these, 250mn users are likely to be from rural India. Women would account for 200mn users by 2020. The medium of advertisement is slowly shifting from Television to the Internet.
According to Ramesh Bhaskar, Industry Head – FMCG, Google,
There are 6 billion queries on Google for FMCG and this query rate is growing at 90%. The major searches in the FMCG category are under the Beauty Products, Natural Products and the Baby Care Products. The most searched brand in the natural care space is Patanjali, which has the maximum number of searches in the Hair care and skin care space beating L’Oreal, and Lakme. In addition, the propensity for a customer to purchase a product online is higher as compared to the traditional store format.
Of the various categories in FMCG searched online, it is the male grooming, beauty products and the baby care segment, which is most likely to be, influenced by e-commerce the most. The power of digital media can be explained through the emergence of brands like Wardah in Indonesia and the Dollar Shave Club. Wardah was solely built through the digital medium and over a period of 3 years has garnered close to 20% of the market share in the skin care segment in Indonesia.
Digital Media can help in accessing a large number of customers at the same time. The digital medium as compared to the traditional modes displays its contents out to the relevant people thereby laying its emphasis on quality and some platforms can also engage potential consumers thus making Brands a compulsion to log on and establish meaningful presence on the Internet.