India is a unique market that has complex dynamics that not only govern societal behavior but also until recently directly influenced the fragmented nature of its markets, delivering unstructured growth opportunities until the dawn of digitization. In times like this, the famous old saying, "change is the only constant", comes to mind, holding true to even brand building in a diverse and constantly evolving market space in an emerging country like ours.

India is home to over 10,000 brands, with less than 30 of them being in the $100 million range. This number when contextualized with the spending power of 1.35 billion people, we can deduce that the nation's retail market is a largely unbranded space. For instance, the Fashion, Beauty, and Home markets in India are worth more than $120 billion, with 80 percent of it being unbranded, leaving behind whitespace for brands with technology, infrastructure, and know-how to operate.

The country crossed the 1 billion mobile phone subscriber number in 2016, with the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) - Kantar 2021 report stating that internet penetration in rural India has grown from 31 percent to 37 percent since 2020, pointing to the rapid digitization of the country. The pandemic also exponentially augmented the utility of digital payments and UPI, adding to the steadily increasing spending power in tandem with the average Indian's disposable income, thus driving the purchasing power of the nation.

The emergence of technology, social media, e-commerce, digital marketing, and increased availability of market capital, coupled with the digitization of the country has resulted in the evolution of the brand-building ecosystem of India. The significant shift from offline to online channels in businesses across sectors has proven the crucial role a digital presence plays in the scaling of brands, so much so that brands are now being built with a 'digital first' image.

The cheap access to the internet and increased data penetration see about 120-130 million consumers transact online yearly, rendering the users digitally savvy, thus opening up brand-building to the largest consumer base in the country, the Tier II and III markets.

With social media marketing taking off in the country, digital channels are now a keystone in engaging with consumers, with brands using influencers and content creators to establish relevance and brand recall with the audience. This again is a shift from the traditional method of leveraging a cricketing icon or a Bollywood superstar to establish a brand image. It is therefore common to see brands start online, establish themselves amongst customer cohorts and then adopt an omnichannel expansion strategy, which was until recently unheard of.

Another advantage of having a digital presence is that emerging Indian consumers are also value-conscious, researching the brand and competitor products before purchase, with most consumers in the age group of 20-35 seeking the meaning and purpose of the brand they are shopping from.

The price-conscious nature of the country's shoppers means that brands have to conjure effective pricing strategies that appeal to a wider range of income groups, which further drives market share. Thus, entrepreneurs also need to look at the unit economics and consumer value propositions, keeping in mind the EBIDTA level profitability, selling great products at the right price point, while also being successful on more than one selling channel, generating enough surplus to further build the brand.