360 degree communication channels were discussed at the Retail Week Central Asia forum during the expert session ‘Trade Marketing and 360 degree communication’, 17 October 2024 in Tashkent.
Maria Stroeva, Marketing Director of M Cosmetic, spoke about the strategy of brand differentiation. According to the expert, it is important what values the shops carry for the customer, what values the customer has and how the shop corresponds to these values. M Cosmetic’s unique selling proposition relies on providing expert assistance to the customer, the speaker said. She is convinced that advertising in big media creates brand awareness, but it is the communication that people receive in the shop that is important.
Maria Boyko, Head of Architecture and Design at Chanel Russia/CIS, spoke about the peculiarities of the company’s entry into the Central Asian market. The strength of Chanel brand is beauty inside and beauty outside. The company broadcasts this mission all over the world. The speaker said that plans to organise trade spaces in Central Asian countries became a reality only after travelling to the regions: ‘You have to go to the country, let the culture of the country pass through you’. At the same time, she said, it is important to go through all the standard stages: to study the specifics of the market, your customer, the main trends, to analyse the retail outlets and the situation around them, to develop a strategy of representation – brand visibility, to balance investments in the creation of the shop and to maintain an open dialogue with partners. ‘Trade space should correspond to what it sells,’ summarised the expert.
Alexey Bazanov, managing partner of Global Service, noted that the trend of the near future will be eco-friendliness. According to him, many foreign companies that come to Central Asian countries have made commitments to meet these standards. For example, Chanel recycles equipment and used materials and imposes similar requirements on suppliers. The speaker shared 14 recommendations for environmental compliance that have been developed in Russia. He is convinced that very soon the environmental compliance requirements will be relevant for Uzbekistan.
Valentin Yeltsov, Product Owner GEPMOLIVE Marketplace, reminded that outdoor advertising is the first media in the history of mankind. He cited statistics. This year in Tashkent sold outdoor advertising for 20 million dollars on digital surfaces, and this figure will grow to 30 million by the end of the year. Compared to last year, the outdoor advertising market in Uzbekistan has grown by 20%, which is 2 times faster than the world market.
Muhamed Baktyyar, head of Trout&Partners representative office in Central Asia, spoke about marketing trends for the next 5-10 years. According to him, technologies are developing so fast that it is no longer enough to beat competitors at the local level, we must learn to beat competitors at the global level. According to him, the first trend is positioning. In his view, positioning is the key answer to how to beat the competition. ‘It is the reason to choose you over your competitor,’ the speaker is convinced. The second trend, according to him, is recommendations: ‘Recommendations are trusted content.’ The expert told how to broadcast values through communities of brand lovers using the example of the BMW community. The third trend, in his opinion, is positioning in the field of artificial intelligence, which will become relevant for buyers of the Alpha generation in about 10 years, and it is important to prepare for this phenomenon in advance.
