Croma Hires a Streaming Veteran to Fix Its Customer Experience

Introduction

Most electronics retailers compete on price, range, and location. Croma has just signalled it wants to compete on something far harder to copy — the end-to-end customer experience. The appointment of Piush Kothari as Chief Customer Experience Officer is a deliberate, strategic hire that pulls in deep expertise from India's most competitive consumer digital space: streaming. When a brand reaches outside its own industry for a CX leader, it's worth asking why. The answer reveals a lot about where Croma sees its next growth frontier — and what it means for Indian retail at large.

What Just Happened

Croma, the Tata Group-backed consumer electronics retail chain, has appointed Piush Kothari as its Chief Customer Experience Officer. Kothari confirmed the appointment through a LinkedIn post, expressing enthusiasm about contributing to Croma's customer-first vision across both physical and digital touchpoints.

Kothari brings over 24 years of cross-industry experience to the role. He joins directly from JioHotstar, where he served as Executive Vice President and Head of Subscriptions (SVOD) and Media — responsible for driving subscription growth and strategic partnerships at one of India's largest streaming platforms.

Prior to JioHotstar, Kothari spent close to six years at The Walt Disney Company, holding multiple senior roles including Head of Product, Growth, Partnerships and International Expansion at Disney+ Hotstar. He also served as a Nominee Director on the board of Mashal Sports during his Disney tenure.

His earlier career spans leadership positions at Welspun Group, Aditya Birla Group, and Accenture Strategy — covering business operations, digital strategy, and corporate leadership across diverse sectors.

What This Means for Your Brand

Croma's choice of a streaming and subscription economy veteran for its top CX role is not a coincidence — it's a carefully considered strategic signal.

Streaming taught India how to expect great experiences. Platforms like Disney+ Hotstar and JioHotstar have conditioned Indian consumers to expect frictionless onboarding, personalised recommendations, seamless payment flows, and proactive customer communication. Kothari has lived that world from the inside. Croma is essentially importing that consumer experience philosophy into physical and digital retail.

The omnichannel battleground is heating up. With Reliance Digital, Amazon, and Flipkart all aggressively competing in the consumer electronics space, Croma's differentiation cannot rest on product range alone. The ownership experience — from discovery and purchase to installation, service, and upgrade — is where loyalty is actually built. A dedicated C-suite role for this function tells the market that Croma is serious about owning that journey.

For other retail brands: This appointment is a prompt to audit your own CX leadership. Do you have a senior executive whose sole mandate is the customer journey — across every channel, every touchpoint, every interaction? If not, Croma just raised the bar for the entire category.

The contrarian angle? Streaming and retail CX are fundamentally different beasts. Digital subscription metrics don't automatically translate to the complexity of managing in-store staff behaviour, post-purchase service networks, and hardware warranty experiences. Kothari's transition will require navigating that gap quickly.

Expert Take

The creation of a Chief Customer Experience Officer role at a retail chain of Croma's scale is itself significant. In India's organised retail sector, CX has traditionally been a subset of marketing or operations — rarely a standalone C-suite function. Elevating it to this level mirrors a global trend where leading retailers treat experience design as a core business function, not a support role.

With over 500 stores across India and a growing digital commerce presence, Croma operates at a scale where even incremental improvements in customer satisfaction translate to meaningful revenue impact. Research consistently shows that customers who rate their retail experience highly spend more per visit, return more frequently, and generate higher lifetime value.

Kothari's background in subscription growth is particularly relevant here. Subscription thinking — recurring value delivery, churn reduction, engagement loops — is increasingly being applied to retail loyalty programmes. Croma's existing loyalty ecosystem could be a key area where his expertise creates immediate impact.

The brands.in Perspective

This hire is Croma thinking three moves ahead. The consumer electronics category in India is commoditising fast — every major product is available everywhere at roughly the same price. The only sustainable moat left is experience. By bringing in someone who helped scale Disney+ Hotstar and JioHotstar — two platforms that competed and won on the strength of their user experience — Croma is betting that retail's future looks a lot more like a subscription service than a shop floor. That's bold thinking. And in India's fiercely competitive electronics retail market, bold thinking is exactly what the moment demands.

Key Takeaways for Marketers

• Croma appoints Piush Kothari as Chief Customer Experience Officer — a new C-suite mandate
• Kothari brings 24-plus years of experience from JioHotstar, Disney+ Hotstar, Aditya Birla Group and Accenture
• Streaming-to-retail leadership signals Croma's intent to build subscription-style customer loyalty
• CX is being elevated from a support function to a boardroom priority in Indian retail
• Omnichannel experience — from store entry to post-purchase ownership — is the new competitive battleground
• Other retail brands should audit whether CX has adequate C-suite representation in their own organisations

FAQ

Who is Piush Kothari and what is his background? Piush Kothari is a senior business leader with over 24 years of experience across streaming, retail, and corporate strategy. He most recently served as EVP and Head of Subscriptions at JioHotstar, and previously held multiple leadership roles at The Walt Disney Company, including at Disney+ Hotstar. He has also worked with Welspun Group, Aditya Birla Group, and Accenture Strategy.

What does a Chief Customer Experience Officer do at a retail chain like Croma? The role is responsible for overseeing the entire customer journey — from the moment a consumer first discovers the brand, through the in-store or online purchase experience, to post-purchase ownership, service, and upgrade interactions. It is a strategic function that sits above individual channel teams.

Why is Croma's CX appointment significant for Indian retail? It signals that India's leading consumer electronics retailer is treating experience as a core competitive advantage rather than a support function. Creating a dedicated C-suite CX role raises the standard for the entire organised retail sector in India.

Let's Talk

Is your brand's customer experience led by a dedicated senior leader — or does it fall between departments? Croma's latest move suggests that in India's next retail chapter, experience will be the only differentiator that truly matters. What's your brand doing to own the full customer journey? Share your perspective below and follow brands.in for sharp, daily intelligence on India's most exciting brand stories.