Interview with Sharmili Rajput– Marketing Director- Oriflame India
PW: As a marketer what would you say are your current priorities?
SR: At this moment, a marketer’s priorities should include enhancement of Social Media & Digital Communications as well as investing in new product development. Furthermore, focus should be drawn to E-commerce.
PW: At Oriflame India, how has technology played a role in customer acquisition or retention?
SR: We launched our new website two years back and today our online ordering share is over 90%. Our consultants have functionality to see their invoices; outstanding payments of their network, business points they have earned and report of their complete business setup.
We also have many applications for iPhone like Sun Coach which helps you to get the most out of the summer weather. There is another iPhone application that will take your make-up to a new level and turn it into your one stop shop for make-up tips, beautiful new looks and advice on making the most out of your Oriflame products.
So whether you are looking for that new look or help with that final touch, the beauty partner speaks out and tells all the secrets. We also have iPad application for Catalogues for our consultants.
PW: How has technology played a role in new product development, market expansion or other areas?
SR: Oriflame India made its foray into Social Media in 2011. With campaigns like ‘Make That Change’ and ‘Dare To Be’, we have been fairly successful in reaching out to desired segments of the market.
‘Dare To Be’ India Facebook Fanpage helped us to connect with the youth. Various applications & contests received very good response. ‘Make That Change’ was promoted as a grooming channel. Also, Oriflame India Fanpage enabled us to listen to what our consultants are saying and turn marketing into relationships and hence make the brand more human. In fact, our consultants interact with each other resulting in a fair amount of brand evangelism. The next step would be to launch eCatalogue on our website. Our products will be available online for everyone to buy which solves the problem of availability. This will be a first of its kind initiative among direct selling industry.
With 45 years of beauty expertise, Oriflame products are developed and manufactured based on stringent quality norms. The products are tested with independent bodies for unbiased claims and not tested on animals. In our pursuit to extend the best products, we give due emphasis on the packaging as well. Towards achieving this goal, Oriflame strives to package its products in recyclable packaging which is safe to the environment.
PW: Do you have a separate budget for the IT component of marketing? And how aligned are the marketing and IT functions in the organization?
SR: Yes, we have a significant part of our marketing budget that is kept for Digital media. Online is a very integral part of our business. Like I mentioned before, today our online ordering share is over 90%. We keep special focus on social media, iPad applications and online ordering.
