The last laugh in the long-run

Customer retention, rather than discount-led acquisition, will be the key to success

In the last two years, the battle between the cash-rich e-commerce players has turned around from customer acquisition to customer retention. Marketplaces have started adopting huge cashbacks, promo codes et al over and above discounts to retain valuable customer base. Further, digital wallet players are getting traction from offline retail giants too to scale up sales and woo customers.

Although cashback has become the buzzword and is seen as an effective way for customer acquisitions vis-a-vis discounts in today’s volatile or hyper-competitive market characterised by swift customer churn, brands need to look at loyalty and rewards as a long-term sustainable strategy.