There has been a lot of discussion and debate about the role of sentiment and brand loyalty when it comes to e-commerce. Different schools have propounded that there is no heart involved with an online transaction. They have defined e-commerce as a cut and dry, transaction driven entity that survives on price offs and instant attractions.

The base of their argument seems to be that they believe that customers behave differently online and different rules apply. I have been thinking about this debate and am trying to articulate my thought process today, perhaps in response to a friend’s post where the heartless, cold, calculative transaction was held up as an example of where e-commerce stood today and where it was headed.

Now I am privileged to have witnessed over the years, some remarkable changes in media and corresponding changes in consumer behaviour. Newspapers have moved from black and white to colour. Radio, Television, Outdoor (Urban and Rural) and now the Net Based options…I have seen them all and have had the opportunity to work with all of them.

The amazing thing I noticed is that every time a new media option was ‘discovered’ a new consumer profile was created. The man who reads about a product in a newspaper reacts differently from a man who sees the ad in colour in a magazine and is definitely different from the man who sees a film about the product…Similarly, an urban consumer reacts to a hoarding quite differently from the way his rural counterpart sees billboards. And so on and on.

But surprise, surprise…as the years went by marketers and researchers concluded that the differences were only cosmetic and that at the heart of it all, all consumers reacted similarly to products, propositions and offers. Apparently native logic was a common denominator.

I am tempted to wonder if what I am seeing in this sudden distinction between the online consumer and the offline one is not just a replay of history.

That shopping is a touch and feel experience where a thousand trigger-n-touch points play significant roles in the process is already established and proven. Where he heard about the product, who else endorses it, what was the salesman like, what was his impression of the shop and such like were as important as the price and the payment terms in any purchase.

Trust is built up over the years. Relationships are nurtured across engagements. And loyalty is always a premium.

Now when someone opines that e-commerce exists in a sterile, isolated shell where the prime motivators are just the price difference I am tempted to engage in a debate. But then the white hair syndrome kicks in and I feel like taking the position – let him/them think what he/they want. A few years later wisdom will dawn. As it did for me.

But then suddenly it strikes me that in the period of confusion there is a business opportunity that exists.

You see, as long as everyone thinks price is the only inducer and bangs hard and consistently on that door, no one is going to bother with creating an environmental distinction. A distinction that celebrates the more traditional values of trust and encourages loyalty.

The brand that fights with today’s rules and invests in tomorrow’s values will be the brand that’ll outlast all the others. That is my considered opinion.

What do you think? Is there scope for branding, brand loyalty building and other matters of the