A suitcase or bag is no more a five yearly purchase item for families, today these products have turned into fashion statements, a reflection of not just individual needs but personalities. That is why American Tourister has recently come up with a trendy collection of backpacks aimed particularly at the youth. Anushree Tainwala, Executive Director- Marketing, Samsonite South Asia Pvt. Ltd tells us more about the brand’s marketing strategy
Q] What was the insight behind the ‘Tourister your everyday’ campaign for American Tourister?
American Tourister has become synonymous with long distance travel in India. But we wanted to remind our consumers that the use of our products is not just limited to holidays. With this collection we are sending out the message that our bags can also be their every day travel companion.
Q] What is the marketing mix for the campaign and which medium is the focus of your ad spends?
The focus is on television, but we are also investing a substantial amount of money on the digital medium, an important platform as far as the American Tourister consumer is concerned. The youth are very familiar with the digital medium, and more than willing to participate, making it a two way conversation as opposed to just the brand pumping in content to the consumers. Additionally, we are also using cinema in some activations.
Q] How is Samsonite keeping pace with the changing consumer preferences in bags?
An average American Tourister customer is of 25 to 30 years of age, just out of college or in his first job. He rides a bike to work and is increasingly looking to travel for short weekend getaways. However when it comes to providing bags for them we don’t believe in the one size fits all theory. We are looking at different ranges which will cater to different personalities of our customers. Luggage is no more shared by an entire family. Today, the wife wants her own bag which reflects her personality, perhaps in a vibrant colour, with a feminine print on it. We have thus launched a women’s collection, where the focus is more on colours, and the use of silky fabrics. The husband wants something that he can use on a work trip and not be embarrassed by his wife’s feminine bag. Even the children want their own set of bags whether it’s hiking gear or a rucksack or something that makes them look cool and trendy. We have recently launched a range of bags for kids of two years and below, another range for school children. It has a compartment for their tiffin box, pencil case and is big enough to fit an art book inside. So we are attempting to look into the nuances and address specific needs of consumers.
Yes, but not under the brand Samsonite. It will continue to be a brand for the premium consumer who wants more in the department of design aesthetics. However in our group portfolio we have a large number of brands, each one addressing a different type of audience, like ‘Kamiliant’ which we have recently launched. It is targeted at the smaller towns-- the B and C class towns.
Q] A similar project launched by Samsonite ‘Project Pappu’ which was aimed at targeting the rural audiences failed in 2013, why?
Unorganised players have an advantage in the low price category, however we were not going after them alone when we started ‘Project Pappu’. We realised that there are many organized players as well who get their bread and butter from the market, which we don’t address with an American Tourister. I blame the lack of buzz around our initiative back then on the fact that we were trying to target rural audiences by drawing them to something like an American Tourister, not realising that consumers from a smaller town still consider it as a premium brand. This time we are re-launching, ‘Project Pappu’ with Kamiliant, a brand that has worked really well even in international markets. It is available in the price range of Rs. 2000 to Rs. 4000 while American Tourister starts from Rs. 4000, and Samsonite from Rs. 10,000. As of January this year we launched Kamiliant in India, and the first response has been very encouraging. So, I think we will finally get the buzz we desired
Q] When will you roll out the Smart Luggage for which you have a tie up with Samsung?
We don’t have a target date as such but are hopeful of getting a commercially viable product out there soon. We are trying to make it smart in a way that’s actually usable by the consumer, make his life easier and at a price that is affordable. We are trying to find that balance. It will integrate technology to disrupt the way we use luggage.
Q] What is the market share of the brand today and who would you consider as your biggest competitor?
In the organized players market, we have anywhere between 35-40% for all our brands put together. The VIP group is our biggest competitor.
Q] What is the brand’s strategy to counter the VIP Group?
Their main brands are VIP and Skybags in the mass segment in which American Tourister now operates. We are competing with the above mentioned brands by providing the Indian consumer --American Tourister, an international premium brand at an affordable price. VIP’s sale also comes from lower end brands ‘Alfa’ and ‘Aristocrat’ which we are hoping to target now with our new brand Kamiliant.
Q] What is the USP of Samsonite?
Samsonite today is the only truly international brand out there. We are present in over 100 countries and no other brand in the world can make that claim. We believe it’s not just about functionality, but also about being aesthetically beautiful and unique. We make products for consumers who appreciate a piece of art in the form of luggage. Because of our scale, we can give that to our consumer at a price which they are more than happy to pay.
Q] What contributes to a large chunk of your sales and what are the challenges the brand faces in the Indian market?
Almost 50% of our sales come from non-luggage items, i.e. business cases, bag packs, duffle bags, gym bags, and the other 50% comes from luggage. In India the challenge for us has been that the market today is not that big for premium luggage. You can only grow as fast as the market is growing, and sometimes we are just impatient for India to catch-up.
Q] Can you narrate an interesting marketing experience?
I was always very sceptical about the use of social media for marketing, especially Facebook and Twitter which makes it very hard for a brand to reach out organically to the consumer. But it changed after this particular social media campaign we did for ‘High Sierra’ called ‘Take Back Monday’, we went out on the streets to signals and malls and told people, ‘If you agree to leave whatever you are doing right now and come away with us, we will give you a free adventure of a lifetime’. We made a series of videos on their reactions and gave those who agreed the promised adventure. When we uploaded these videos on social media, we got an unbelievable response. It really convinced me of the power of social media. In fact we are trying to re-launch the campaign this year because it was so successful.
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