Marketers across industries are trying to redesign their business models and the luxury industry is no exception:  Vinod Zutshi 

New Delhi: With all businesses and industries throughout the globe in massive chaos, there has been the grave economic impact of coronavirus across the sectors from tourism to airline; from entertainment to education; from cruises to cars, from food to fashion and so on. To understand the current scenario and way forward, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized an interactive webinar on “Need of Innovations in Luxury Industry: Post Covid-19” with Shri Vinod Zutshi, IAS, Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and other esteemed industry players. The objective of the webinar was to understand and analyze the product lines, the shift of demand change patterns, and what will be the path of the luxury comeback.

Shri Vinod Zutshi, IAS, Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India set the theme of the webinar by addressing that COVID-19 has disrupted the entire world and economy. There is a change in the business and lifestyle of people. Retail is one of the hardest-hit sectors and luxury brands are facing a worse effect. Marketers across industries are trying to redesign their business models and the luxury industry is no exception. It’s time for the luxury industry to analyze the impact of pandemic and address issues of changes faced, anticipate the shift of consumer sentiments towards luxury brands and reshape their business models in tune with the consumer mindset and adapt to new normal for variability and sustainability.

It is time for the luxury industry to address the challenges, anticipate the changes of consumers towards luxury brands, and reshape the models according to the changing consumer behavior. Luxury has always been dependent on global supply chains and these future strategies need to be rediscovered. The luxury industry will re-bounce its shape, said Vinod Zutshi.

The other esteemed industry players which deliberated on “Need of Innovations in Luxury Industry: Post Covid-19” were Ms. Radha Bhatia, Chairman, Bird Group; Mr. Hemant Arora, CEO, Aston Martin Lagonda; Mr. Debraj Sengupta, Marketing Head (Brand) and Country Head (Watches) Victorinox; Mr. Ashish Soni, Fashion Designer; Dr. Sheetal Jain, CEO, and Founder, Luxe Analytics. The panelist talked about the present and future of the luxury sector and emphasized that the luxury industry is here to stay. Luxury brands have to potential to make local or Indian brands by the way of its experience and feel. They also discussed social commerce and its time to think out of the box and innovate their business models and strategies.

Mr. Pradeep Multani, Vice President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in his welcome address gave a brief insight into the importance of the luxury industry in the world for years.

He also gave insights about the actions points in the luxury innovation which are to make focusing on meaningful luxury, new business models, and many more. He also emphasized the increase in the usage of e-commerce platforms in this industry.

To enable true elasticity in their exploration, and their vision to work future-back scenarios leaders should make sure that they are following a path that will keep them relevant today and 20 years from now. Consideration will need to be given to how each aspect of the industry, from customer experience and sales to supply chain and back offices, will need to interact seamlessly and collaborate to address the customer expectations of the future, and how technology can be leveraged to enable new ways of working, said Mr. Multani.

Mr. Saket Dalmia, Chairman Retail Committee, PHD Chamber, gave a warm welcome to all the delegates and participants. He discussed the issues and challenges faced by luxury brands due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He raised queries regarding the speed of recovery, impact on customer, industry recovery, and many others. He also gave a vote of thanks to all the esteemed delegates and participants.

The webinar was supported by Marble City. The webinar was moderated by Shri Vinod Zutshi along with Dr. Yogesh Srivastav Principal Director, PHD Chamber, and was attended by many senior PHD members and received participation of over 50 members of PHD Chamber which included industry players and other industry stalwarts from all over the country.