MUMBAI: Smytten is an Indian tech-enabled D2C product discovery and trial platform which aims to enhance the way Indian consumers discover and experience products and services. Smytten has been founded by ex-Unilever and Google executives Siddhartha Nangia and Swagata Sarangi.
One of the things that Covid has done has been to increase the demand for in-home sampling. Increasingly consumers are looking for personalised experiences before trying any products and this trend is growing rapidly.
In an interaction with Indiantelevision.com Sarangi noted that product sampling and trials are tried and tested methods to attract people towards new products or brands. The key difference though was that in pre-covid times this was happening through on-ground activations, kiosks at malls and general trade stores - these were all avenues for brands to hand out samples of their products to people. “However, it has changed now. When we entered the D2C space, it was cluttered and decentralised. It was challenging for the brands to reach out to their target audience, create awareness and give a chance to their customers to experience the products and engage with them post sampling.”
The strategy of the company was to bridge the gap between brands and consumers across various touch points in the consumer journey. He noted that in recent times, D2C and heritage brands alike have taken their sampling activations online via Smytten. Users can sample products across lifestyle categories like beauty and personal care, makeup, health and wellness, food and beverages, fragrances and lots more. “We follow a pull sampling strategy wherein the customer can pick what they’d like to try from the app and create a box with samples of his/her choice.”
Talking about the progress made he noted that Smytten hosts 1200+ lifestyle brands across categories like fragrances, beauty and makeup, male grooming, food and beverages, baby and mother care, and health and wellness. “It enables consumers to sample products and helps them make the right purchase decisions. It also provides its brand partners with a suite of services and data-backed insights needed for scaling up customer acquisition, product development and channel expansion.”
Sharing light on trends he noted that the pandemic paved the way for the transition from physical to digital platforms. India he says has become one of the largest and continuously expanding markets in retail, beauty and e-commerce space. Quoting online statistics, he said that 75% of the retail stores have entered the digital space and have partnered with various logistic partners to reach larger audiences. “Covid has further boosted the adoption of digital-first consumer brands, D2C as a model has been a game changer for the brands during and post the pandemic. As consumers increasingly shift towards ordering online, it has opened more revenues for the D2C brands in the country.”
Talking about the business performance he notes that Smytten recorded a 3x growth in terms of order volume and customer engagement in 2022. There is a shift taking place in the market and to illustrate his point he mentions FMCG, beauty and personal care brands which were predominantly offline. These sectors are now considering going online and to D2C platforms. “We have experienced an exponential rise in consumer base from the Tier II and Tier III cities.”
He is proud of the fact that the strong growth has seen solid investor backing. It has raised more than $25 million in capital from venture capitalists like Fireside Venture, Roots Ventures and Sharp Ventures. On the expansion front, he explains that Smytten has over ten lifestyle categories on the platform and will be expanding to deliver pre-purchase experiences across over 20 categories in the next two years and will be partnering with more than 2000 D2C brands to bring their offering and experiences seamlessly to the users.
On the challenges, he noted that there will be cut-throat competition in the market. However, D2C brands should focus on their offerings and finding the right product fit. Innovation and personalisation will be the key differentiator for any brand to retain its customers. Many D2C brands he said are already driving conversions for their products in the form of trial packs, discovery boxes and gifts with purchases to break the clutter. “As you see, in-store sampling has traditionally been a critical component of any new brand/product launch. Smytten will continue revolutionising the space with tech-enabled support to the D2C brands.”
The reason that the D2C sector is extremely competitive is that players are seeing fast growth. Brands are constantly evolving and adapting to keep up with the ever-changing preferences of the new age customers. Purpose-driven communication, a customer-centric approach and first-hand experience have proven to be successful pillars for brands. For this year he sees customer experience taking centre stage, where all potential customers will be keen on experimenting with the products before purchase. “Earlier brands relied on traditional product samplings methods like in-store activations and others. But they come with a cost, a massive amount of pilferage and duplication.”
“We foresee an increase in demand for in-store sampling i.e. Augmented Reality (AR) Try-on technology. AR is the real-time integration of digital information with the user’s environment. Unlike virtual reality (VR), which creates an artificial environment, users of augmented reality (AR) experience a real-world environment with generated perceptual information overlaid on top of it. We will see more players entering the segment with new and innovative offerings. By taking a direct-to-home approach, brands are reducing their sampling pilferage and operational challenges to a great extent. Data-driven sampling focuses on delivering lower volumes of more engaging, higher-quality experiences to consumers in the comfort and safety of homes.”
Deep Profiling Of Consumers
One of the things that he says about his company’s USP is the deep profiling that is done before inviting consumers to join the app. “Smytten leverages advanced audience targeting platforms to reach a brand’s ideal consumer and drive brand awareness campaigns accordingly. On our platform, we have a reach of over twelve million consumers and deep profiling options. Any brand can target and reach consumers by region, demographics, lifestyle, personal interests, dietary preferences and much more.”
In terms of protecting user privacy, he said that Smytten commits to protecting customers’ privacy, and one’s personal data handling practices are continually reviewed to ensure compliance. “The information we learn and gather from consumers, personal or otherwise, is used to register them, verify their identity to permit them to use the app, undertake transactions (including facilitating and processing payments), communicate with them, convey any promotional offers, services or updates associated with Smytten, and generally maintain their accounts with us. We also use this information to customize their experience and improve Smytten’s performance.”
New Solutions
The Company has launched Smytten Pulse. He claims that this is an industry-first solution made for D2C brands, to address all their data and research needs. “It is fast, reliable and cost-efficient. It offers solutions like consumer research in 72 hours, AI-driven trend forecasts, real-time sentiment analysis, and deep profiling consumer insights, amongst other data solutions. Through AI and guided methodologies, brands can directly own their consumer journey. Smytten's Customer Research Solutions aim to assist D2C brands in discovering untapped markets with a potential customer base, thereby expanding their business. This data-driven research will provide emerging brands with 360-degree support in raising awareness and sustaining competition, thereby enabling growth.”
Deeper Market Penetration
He further explains that D2C brands initially took off in tier-one cities, as people in these cities are internet savvy and potential buyers well versed in online shopping. But for him what has changed is the narrative and the penetration of the smartphone market and the advent of 5G in India.
“In recent times, we have seen more traction from tier II & III cities like Patiala, Kolhapur, Ajmer, etc., and sellers have a massive opportunity from these pockets. With the entire digital transformation and social media exposure, it is easy for the brands to reach consumers beyond metro cities.”
The trend here he explains is that consumers from tier two and three 3 cities are keen on exploring new products which are value for money. They want to explore brands which were earlier not available to them for consumption via their local retail stores. These consumers are aspirational and are exposed to a lot of content on OTT, social media and even via influencers. The good news is that with just a tap of a button, they now have access to all the trends, be it an active skincare regime or the new cool brand on the block.
“In 2022, we have seen more transactions from tier 2 & 3 cities, the growth was primarily supported by multiple factors like the rising adoption of social commerce, faster and timely deliveries, content in vernacular language, and rising adoption of digital payment coupled with greater internet penetration.”
Work Done
Talking about companies that Smytten works with he cites on-boarding brands like Sugar, Forest Essentials, Bombae and Sleepy Owl in its digital product sampling arena. “In its latest initiative, Forest Essentials aimed to reach over one lakh, new users, through Smytten's Digital Product Sampling services. We have also helped brands like Pilgrim and Plum, amongst others, in reaching their target audience through our data-driven insights, product sampling and thoughtfully crafted marketing campaigns.
“As an effective marketing strategy, sampling helps to create a pre-purchase connection between a consumer and the brand. It provides an opportunity for the brand to initiate a long-lasting relationship with its target audience as they experience the product, share invaluable feedback and do so at a negligible cost. Through the process of sampling, Smytten aids the consumers' decision-making journey.”
Using Tech
Smytten he said has made massive investments in deep technologies like AI, ML, and Big Data, which are at the core of most of Smytten’s product offerings. These algorithms he elaborates are used for everything, from generating a highly curated product recommendation feed for customers to helping its brand partners to make sense of customer behavioural patterns within the app. “On the user front, these technologies aid them in seeing products that they are genuinely interested in without going through the entire catalogue.”
Elaborating further he noted that recommendations and curation are provided based on a customer’s order pattern and several other indicators we collect as part of their app journey. For the brands, these algorithms are used to process millions of product feedbacks, filter out noise, and derive actionable insights. The analytics provided to the brands help them plan and strategize their campaigns, optimise marketing spending and identify specific growth cohorts.
“With these investments and productisation, we have delivered almost 50% less CAC (Consumer Acquisition Cost) for the D2C brands compared to the traditional media platforms/marketplaces.”
The pandemic he said taught everyone a digital-first approach, and in no time, the brands have adopted new technology practices which have helped them enhance their services and expand their business model. Technology has helped brands in achieving seamless and personalized shopping experiences. Several personal care brands for example are relying on technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, and data analytics are helping in cutting down customer acquisition and retention costs. “AI-powered CRM technologies have enabled D2C brands to establish prompt and relevant interaction with their customers, from understanding their needs to guiding them to the concerned support team.”
Web 3, the metaverse
He explains that as web 3 and the metaverse continue to evolve, there will be a paradigm shift in all transactions becoming digital. He is excited about the fact that when used in combination, this could completely change the digital commerce industry by giving more opportunities to content creators, corporates and consumers. “Brands can be very creative and host online live events, create branded engagement activations, launch new products/services, etc.”
Shedding light on what D2C brands need to keep in mind for this year he says that D2C brands need to battle the rocky path to profitability by keeping their marketing spends in check and keeping up with the ever-evolving consumer needs.
“D2C brands should focus on customised experiences to survive the competition and also focus on pre-purchase experiences to help build customer trust and conversions. There are over 1000 partner brands which are leveraging the power of digital product sampling in their marketing mix to reach out to millions of consumers.
“I believe D2C is here to stay, and brands should also look at expanding to offline channels to increase their footprint,” he concludes.
