At present Haroon R Nagori is heading KCM Appliances Hardgoods Division, which deals with kitchen focused products. He completed B.Tech from NIT Calicut and MBA from IIM Indore. In past Haroon had held key leadership and managerial positions with engineering companies like Emerson and Larsen & Toubro, prior to joining KCM Appliances in 2020. Some of his key areas of expertise include Consumer Understanding, Marketing and Product Management, Sales Leadership, and Managing P&L for business.
Evolution of Indian Kitchen in last 20 years
Indian kitchen has undergone a serious transformation over last two decades. Earlier about 20 years back, kitchens were more like spaces where only women worked. Lighting and ventilation was poor, without too much space for multiple people to work, racks were full of Steel or Aluminium cookwares and in general it was more like a workplace where women worked from morning till evening. The appliances were very few, most work had to be done manually including masala grinding on a “sil-batta”.
With time, a lot has changed, and for the better.
Firstly, the perspective & mindset of women and their understanding about themselves itself has evolved significantly. Women today are much more independent, self-expressive, assertive, and aspire to achieve whatever they desire. As a result, women's understanding of how they relate to family, and towards kitchen too has evolved and this has led to the kitchen getting an entirely new avatar altogether.
Modern kitchens are no more just places where food is prepared; they are now places where memories are made, family and friends come together. They are well-illuminated, better ventilated, are bigger, better organized, are more colorful and have plethora of creative aspects being incorporated within them (modular designs etc). Most importantly, modern kitchens are no longer confined spaces for women only, it is a melting pot for the family.
Emerging Trends in Kitchen & Cookware
During the covid pandemic when there was country-wide lockdown and all of us confined at homes, many of us took-up cooking as a hobby and started accessing a lot of cooking related content online such as from Youtube videos, Instagram etc. Post pandemic, regular life ensued but this trend has caught on.
Instagram-Cooking today is emerging as a mega trend that has gained widespread adoption across all demographics. People have now started enjoying cooking and are even experimenting with new cuisines and recipes. They want to show off their talents, prepare exotic dishes, impress friends, gain followers, run their cooking channel.
"Modern kitchens are no more just places where food is prepared; they are now places where memories are made, family and friends come together."
In India just like languages change after few kilometers so do foods, and signature dishes. People today do not hesitate to travel to try out newer dishes. And we really have a huge variety of cuisines from North to South and East to West of the country. With the recipes easily accessible on mobile phones, this is really driving people to try-out newer tastes and food-items.
These trends mean that there shall be strong demand for kitchen appliances and a variety of specialty cookwares. Afterall, no one want to show an age-old, pitted and burnt aluminum utensil in an Instagram video, rather you would use a more presentable utensil and appliance. This leads to people demanding premium looks, colors, shapes. The appliance performance, reliability and safety though still remain paramount.
Impact of Technology on Customers’ Buying Patters
Today, customers are increasingly becoming conscious of what they are buying, wherein they do lot of research online about various available options prior to finalizing a product and before actually purchasing it. This is made possible with increased smartphone penetration, easy accessibility to high-speed internet, and proliferation of ecommerce that enable users to access any product information within a few clicks.
As a result, there is a heightened awareness among customers about comparing various products and their features. For instance, today, many customers are asking questions pertaining to the type of non-stick cookware, the chemicals and coatings being used there, thickness of the non-stick layer and many such niche aspects which were never being asked about earlier. From a technological standpoint, it is safe to say that consumers today are no longer the same consumers who would blindly accept whatever the manufacturers say. Today the relevance of online reviews, and comparisons cannot be understated.
"No one want to show an age-old, pitted and burnt aluminum utensil in an Instagram video, rather you would use a more presentable utensil and appliance. This leads to people demanding premium looks, colors, shapes. The appliance performance, reliability and safety though still remain paramount."
Additionally, social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook are also having a massive impact on the consumers’ kitchen related preferences. Since many of the people are today posting the videos of them cooking a variety of cuisines/dishes and posting them on social media, they are becoming very cautious about the kind of appliances that they are using in the cooking process and thus opt for top-notch quality appliances that are not only multifunctional and have high efficiency but are also aesthetically pleasing to look at and presentable.
What a consumer own and shows to others, really at the end of the day reflects his personality, his taste, his status and his emotions. So, people do consider these things a lot while making a purchase decision.
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