tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89981835462559739382024-03-12T15:59:44.695-07:00Only BrandsJayanta Chakrabortihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07466799633961029461noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998183546255973938.post-46154245538001408912015-12-02T03:00:00.002-08:002015-12-02T03:03:22.058-08:00Desi Baba vs Videshi Baniya --- How Ramdev Baba is winning the brand war against the MNC Giants<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My first impression of Ramdev
Baba was quite impressive. I was 35 years old, running at the top of my career
and also earning quite well. But I was also afflicted with hypertension, high
blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, thyroid, indigestion, insomnia,
hairfall and what not. Every doctor I went to gave me pills which had to be
taken for the rest of my life. I was waking up in the morning and taking five pills
and then I was taking another five pills before going to bed at night. And I
would inevitably wake up in the middle of the night with palpitation and
nervous breakdowns making me go nuts. Sometimes I felt I would not live long.
Sometimes I felt I should kill myself to get rid of all the pain. In sheer
desperation, I enrolled myself in a Ramdev Baba Yoga Shivir to learn the secret
of healthy living. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
And frankly speaking, I was not
disappointed. What the half-naked sadhu was telling from the podium was sheer
music to my ears. Breathe in and breathe out and take control of your metabolic
system. Go into deep meditation and control your mind. Avoid junk food. Come
closer to nature. Go green. Of course, his discourses also held veiled threat
against the multinationals who, he alleged, were polluting the mind and body of
the gullible customers with highly advertised and thoroughly publicized harmful
carcinogens. I did start implementing some of his teachings. Although I still
take the pills, I have to admit that my body, mind and lifestyle have become
much healthier than before. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
And this week, I happened to
chance upon three cover stories done on Baba Ramdev by The Economic Times,
Business Today and Outlook. The Economic Times story ‘<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Desi Hustle vs MNC Muscle</b>’ focused on how Hindustan Unilever and
Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali were battling to gain chunks of the rapidly growing Ayurvedic
and herbal FMCG pie. The Business Today story titled ‘<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Baba of All Trades</b>’ detailed on how the Sanyasi was building up an
FMCG empire and launching Atta noodles to take on the might of Nestle and other
MNC giants. The Outlook story titled ‘<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Brand
Baba</b>’ was on how the Ramdev Baba backed ‘Patanjali’ brand has seen a
meteoric rise in very little time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The facts and figures dished out
in all the three articles were quite astonishing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although the brand ‘Patanjali’ is associated
with Baba Ramdev, he does not own a single share in the company. His associate
Acharya Balkrishna owns over 93 percent in Patanjali Ayurved, and his disciples
and investors hold the rest. In turn, Patanjali owns 90 percent share in
Aastha, the satellite cable television channel that catapulted Baba Ramdev into
a celebrity Yoga teacher. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The turnover of Patanjali has now
touched <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">₹</span>2,000 Crore with
diverse offerings like food (ghee, biscuits, pineapple juice, honey, corn
flakes and noodles), cosmetics (face wash, bathing soap and anti-dandruff
shampoo), household products (detergent powder, dish wash bar and floor
cleaner) and Ayurvedic medicines (nutrients and cures for diabetes,
hypertension, cancer and hepatitis). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
company is recording a staggering 150 percent year-on-year growth in turnover
and is slated to touch <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">₹</span>5,000
Crore mark in 2016. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Now, let us take a quick look at
his desi competitors and foreign MNCs. The biggest player, Hindustan Unilever, is
expected to touch <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">₹</span>35,000 Crore
in total revenues this fiscal year. HUL owns an Ayurvedic personal care product
line called Ayush. The other major players in the market are Dabur, Emami,
Himalaya and Forest Essentials. The multinational companies that he is
competing against are Proctor & Gamble(P&G), GlaxoSmithKline(GSK) and
Johnson & Johnson(J&J). The total size of the FMCG market in India is
estimated to be close to $50 billion.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In the case of noodles, it’s a no
holds barred contest between Nestle owned Maggi and Baba Ramdev promoted Atta
Noodles. The total size of India’s noodles market is estimated to be <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">₹</span>5,300 Crore. With Maggi taking a
sudden hit and forced to withdraw from India because of the Monosodium
Glutamate(MSG) controversy, there was a huge void that was waiting to be filled
up. Maggi was a Mother’s delight (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mummy bhookh
lagi /Bas do minute</i>), Bachelor’s delight (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kuch nahin to Maggi bana lena</i>) and a fast food restaurant owner’s
delight. But deep down in their hearts, everyone knew Maggi was harmful to
health. And Ramdev Baba stepped in with his healthy proposition of Atta
Noodles. The Atta Noodle from Patanjali is made from wheat, while the
tastemaker is made with rice bran oil, fresh peas, beans and carrots sourced
from Uttarakhand farmers. The price has been kept at a competitive <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">₹</span>15/- a packet while competitors sell
at <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">₹</span>25/- a packet. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
How did Ramdev Baba’s Patanjali
suddenly come out of the blue and snatch away a major market share from the
competitors? Well, it is an interesting story, told in a compelling manner in
those front page articles. Everything about Patanjali has been unique, and the
organization has been reaping rich dividends because of their innovative
styles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The operating strategy of
Patanjali is something that needs to be taken into reckoning. . Most of the key
employees of this organization take no salaries. The rest of the employees also
paid very modest compensation. They put in long hours in the organization
without any complaints or grumblings, just out of love and adoration for their
Guru. The Baba also has a succession planning in place --- he is preparing 500
Sadhus to run the venture in future days --- building a corporate structure
with a spiritual culture. The administrative and manpower cost is barely two
percent of revenue, in comparison to MNCs who spend more than 10 percent on the
same. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The brand ambassador of Patanjali
is of course, the Baba himself. He travels 200,000 km a year, mostly conducting
Yoga Shivirs. Through these Shivirs, he reaches out to a potential mass of 200
million people, many of whom are also loyal customers of the Patanjali
products. The captive television channel, Aastha, plays a key part in further
promoting the Baba as well as his products. Recently, the company also started
giving ads in General Entertainment Channels (GEC) like Star and Zee. The ad
agency Mudra has been roped in to develop an expansive promotion strategy. The
company is also looking at Southern regional channels to increase penetration
in the South. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
According the Acharya Balkrishna,
the major stakeholder in Patanjali, product development is done based on three principles
--- competitive pricing, purity of raw materials and innovation. Patanjali has
successfully brought down the price of Aloe Vera juice ---one of the key
offerings --- from <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">₹</span>1200 a
litre to <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">₹</span>150 a litre by
sourcing directly from the farmers. It has created a revolution in the desi ghee
market, where the end product used to be largely adulterated to earn maximum
profits. Patanjali has brought the consumer trust back into the desi ghee
product, which now accounts for <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">₹</span>442
Crore or 36 percent of Patanjali’s turnover. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
They also successfully made amla
juice and amla candies popular, thereby saving the livelihood of the amla
farmers. It’s herbal toothpaste brand, Dant Kranti, also considered very
effective, brought in revenues of <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">₹</span>200
Crore in the Financial Year 2014-15. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Incidentally, Dant Kranti, is 30% cheaper than
Colgate Active Salt and Dabur Red. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
And strategically, most of
Patanjali’s products have been kept cheaper by 15 to 30 percent in comparison
to the competitors. In comparison, Hindustan Unilever’s products are 2 to 2.5
times expensive than the average market price. Patanjali is now getting ready
to launch herbal chocolates, rasgulla, idli-dosa mix and energy drinks, besides
the atta noodles launched to take on Maggi. There are new manufacturing units
being set up in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan to ramp up the
production. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The distribution strategy of
Patanjali has also been unique. Initially, they were depending on their own
channels of Super Distributors, Regional Distributors, Chikitsalayas and Arogya
Kendras to sell the products. But the turnover actually increased when they
went for strategic tie-up with retail outlets. Very recently, Patanjali has
tied up with Kishore Biyani promoted Future Group to sell it’s products at Big
Bazaar and other Future Group stores in 245 cities and towns. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is going to give the Baba a big edge in
reaching out to the end customers and consumers in a larger scale.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Unlike the MNC behemoths, Baba
Ramdev doesn’t have an army of highly paid B-School trained marketers to sell
his merchandise. But the word-of-mouth power that he commands seems to be
enough to increase his turnover by leaps and bounds. He doesn’t conduct market
research and test marketing; he just listens to the demands of his bhakts and
launches products as per their need. The FMCG, Cosmetics and Healthcare product
market is growing by 15 to 20 percent; Ramdev Baba’s Patanjali is growing at a
blistering pace of 150 percent. No wonder the FMCG giants are concerned and are
working on counter strategies to sustain their growth.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Despite all the positives, Baba
Ramdev did have his fair share of controversies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His proclamation that Yoga can cure
homosexuality drew a lot of flak from the media and the critics. FSSAI (Food
Safety and Standards Authority of India) was not too pleased when he announced
the launch of Atta noodles without getting the required approvals. The Indian
Medical Association (IMA) has written to the Government demanding strict action
against him for claiming that yoga can cure cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
As per the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, no one can claim complete cure for 54
listed diseases and all these three are included within them. But, all these
have been brushed off as minor faltering in comparison to the mega successes
that he achieved. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Though Ramdev baba is quite
appreciative about his Indian competitors, his is going all out to curb the domination
of the MNC majors in the Indian consumer markets. His objective, he says, is to
instill swadeshi pride so that Indian money does not go out of the country. And,
at this moment, it seems it is Baba Ramdev who is winning the brand war against
his foreign counterparts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is
launching Powervita to take on Cadbury’s Bournvita and GlaxoSmithKline’s Horlicks.
He is coming out with Yoga Wear and Sports Shoes to counter Nike and Adidas. He
is launching a beauty care line called Saundarya which will directly compete
against Lakme, Avon and Oriflame. No wonder, the MNCs are having sleepless
nights trying to gauge what he will do next to upstage their apple-cart. </div>
</div>
Jayanta Chakrabortihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07466799633961029461noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998183546255973938.post-42587561348716975962015-11-15T00:06:00.004-08:002015-11-15T00:06:50.770-08:00Want to enhance Brand Equity? Grab the Magic Word!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Once again, during this Diwali,
Salman Khan has stolen a million hearts with his blockbuster “Prem Rattan Dhan
Payo”, and his producer, the Barjatyas of Rajshri Productions are laughing all
the way to the bank. The movie, which has been lambasted and derided<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by the movie analysts and box office pundits because
of a wafer thin storyline, no hummable songs, very predictable climax and sloppy
dialogues, has grossed ₹40 Crores ($6 million) on the opening day and more than
₹100 Crores ($15 million) till now. How did the much criticized movie get the
mojo in the box office?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Well, one of the factors that
contributed to the mega success of this movie is the word “Prem”. Salman Khan,
in the past, has been associated with this name in fifteen movies, out of which
three have been mega blockbusters --- namely, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Maine Pyaar Kiya</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hum Aapke
Hain Kaun</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hum Saath Saath Hain</i>.
The name “Prem” evoked nostalgic fond memories in the heart of his fans, who
rushed to the theatres to see their favorite matinee idol recreate the magic of
the rejuvenated Prem. And who cares for storyline, script, characters, songs, background
score and exotic locations when “Prem” bhaiyya is entertaining you in full
swing? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
And, it is not the first time
that a brand has got its marketing strategy right with a catchy word. Coca
Cola, who was trying to make an aggressive foray into the rural and semi-urban Indian
households in 2003, understood that when a guest walked in, the Indian host
would always ask “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What would you like to
have --- Thanda ya Garam?</i>” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thanda
would imply anything from refrigerated water, soft drinks, fruit juice,
sherbet, squash, coconut water or chilled beer. And hot would mean anything
ranging from tea and coffee to alcoholic drinks. With this insight, Coca Cola unleashed
the fun filled ad “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thanda Matlab Coca
Cola</i>” with Amir Khan dressed as a Mumbai Tapori, Punjabi Farmer, Bengali
Bhadrolok, Bihari Contractor and Hyderabadi Shopkeeper, that left the audience
in splits and also increased the market share of the soft drink beverage brand.
The brand association with the word “thanda” was so powerful that it took Pepsi
years to counter the challenge posed by Coca Cola. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
But it was not the first time
that a beverage brand had stirred up excitement among customers with a bewildering
yet memorable word. The soft drink brand 7Up created a similar frenzy in 1967 when
they introduced themselves as the “Uncola”. While the customer had heard of
Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola, they started wondering --- What is this brand which
calls itself the Uncola? Getting the customers puzzled with is catchy word
helped 7Up to convert themselves from an uncool brand to a hot selling soft
drink beverage as the sales skyrocketed. It soon became the third most preferred
beverage drink of the 1970s. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In India, a similar positioning
strategy using word imagery was done by Anchor, the electric switch and accessories
maker. In 1996, the company decided to go for an unrelated diversification and
started making toothpastes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The oral
care market, which was dominated by big players like Colgate Palmolive,
Hindustan Unilever and Dabur, had little room for a new entrant to elbow in.
Anchor found that one of the main ingredients of toothpaste was dicalcium phosphate
which was sourced from animal bones, while a vast majority of the users were
vegetarians. With this insight, they came out with an interesting brand
proposition positioning Anchor toothpaste as “vegetarian” toothpaste. The word “vegetarian”
resonated so strongly among the consumers by questioning their ethical values
that it soon became the second best-selling toothpaste in Gujarat and
Rajasthan. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Another multinational company
that has reaped benefits of powerful word association has been Cadbury. The
brand very rightly understood that the main challenge in India came not from
rival confectionary brands like Nestle, Amul, Parle and Perfetti but from the Mithaiwallas
and sweetmeat makers. In India, every occasion like birthdays, marriage,
festivals, passing exams, getting jobs and winning matches is celebrated with a
box of sweets. Cadbury rightly understood that to get a bigger market share in
India, they would need a stronger bonding with the word “Meetha”. With this
realization, they have been releasing ads featuring Amitabh Bacchan with the
tagline “Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye”, and riding the pinnacles of success. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
How do you get the right word
that will give a clear message to the consumer about the brand proposition?
While there are many popular word association techniques used by marketers,
brand managers, ad agencies and market research companies, the ZMET (Zaltman
Metaphor Elicitation Test) is perhaps the most structured tool that uses
metaphors to compare between two unlike entities. But ultimately, it is a
deeper understanding of the consumer psyche that will help the brand to get the
right word that will stir up the excitement in the consumer’s mind. Whatever
way it is, the underlying message is that one single powerful word is more
effective to garner more brand equity than sentences and paragraphs running into
volumes. And that is exactly why “Prem” bhaiyya will come back, year after
year, to entertain you and earn his moolah, irrespective of whatever the film
critics might have to say!!! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
</div>
Jayanta Chakrabortihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07466799633961029461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998183546255973938.post-59508552894635444932015-11-09T00:29:00.000-08:002015-11-09T00:57:11.462-08:00From Cold Calls to Customized Offerings --- How Marketing has evolved over the years<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
We have all read in our textbooks
about the different strategies of marketing --- from Product Concept to
Production Concept, Marketing Concept, Sales Concept & Social Marketing Concept.
The Marketers have tried different kinds of tools over the years like
highlighting USP (unique selling proposition), offering price cuts, free gifts
and bundled products; creating interesting ads and promotion campaigns; and also
disguising sales as a social initiative. </div>
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<br /></div>
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But the two particular tools that
many marketers have been fond of regularly using are making cold calls to customers
and doing door-to-door sales. And both have been so irritating and disgusting
that many customers have even hurled abuses at the hapless sales people. No
wonder, most of the students studying in B-schools literally dread to take up a
“sales job” even if they are lured with lucrative remuneration and incentives. And I have
actually come across housing societies who put up boards “Dogs and Salesmen not
allowed”.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
However, the one thing that every
person in an organization accepts is that it is the salespeople who bring in
the cash to the organization. And hence it is an integral part which no
organization can dispense with. On, the other hand, most of the marketplaces
today have become customer-driven where push strategy no more works. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Customer are looking for specific
products and services that are likely to provide solution to their problems and
are slamming the door on the salespeople who try to fool the customer with
deceptive offerings. In this regard, it has become more imperative for
marketers to thoroughly understand the need, want and demand of the customers
before they design or launch a product or services. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
CK Ranganathan, the owner of
CavinKare, found that people in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu, wash their hair with
soap. When asked why they do so, they replied that it was too expensive to buy
a bottle of shampoo. With this insight, he launched Chik shampoos in sachets at
a price point of One Rupee, which started becoming more popular than the
shampoos of HUL and P&G. Very soon, these multinationals also started selling
shampoos in sachets to get a firm foothold in the personal care market. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal,
the founders of Flipkart, faced an impediment while trying to sell books and
other products online. Customers would come and check the products in online
portals but buy them from physical stores. On probing why they did so, they
replied that they were apprehensive that their credit or debit card would get
hacked. With this insight, they introduced COD --- Cash on Delivery --- and
their products started getting sold like hot cakes. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Nissin in Japan observed that
people were so busy rushing for their work in the morning that they mostly miss
breakfast. With this insight, they launched cup noodles, which became a big hit
among commuters. The Swiss Watch industry made a spectacular comeback, after
having been mauled by the Japanese digital watch makers, when they understood
that a watch is also used as a fashion accessory, apart from being a time keeping
device. Coca Cola, Pepsi, McDonald and the international food and beverage
makers have understood that people are becoming more health conscious and have
come up with low calorie beverages and food items. Kellogg’s understood the
obsession of women to remain slim and came out with Special K for weight loss. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Now, the marketplace is being
dominated by players who understand the customer needs and provide customized
offerings. Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal do not make cold calls to any customer;
neither do they send any direct selling agent to customer’s homes. Instead they
use high decibel advertising to pull the customer towards their site, offer customized
products and solutions and give them mouthwatering deals which they simply can’t
refuse. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All this is done using
technology-backed tools like SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Recommendation
Engines and Market Basket Analysis (MBA). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
is the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring
that the site remains high on the list of results returned by a search engine. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is done by using smart keywords that are
likely to be picked up quickly by search engines, building relevant content in
the website, conducting high powered link building campaigns and providing the
accurate meta keywords and meta tags. SEO is basically a way to remain on the
top of the heap in Google searches and ensure that the brand has a higher
visibility than the competitors. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Recommendation Engine is a
software tool that analyzes data available about a particular customer and
builds algorithms to make suggestions to him/her based on his/her choices and
preferences. The recommendation engine is both collaborative and memory-based. It
identifies the customer based on the IP address, and throws in propositions
that might interest him/her, based on the earlier interactions or transactions
that the customer might have done on the site. One of the reasons why Google trumped
over Alta Vista was because it had a more powerful recommendation engine and
gave more relevant search results to the web browser. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Market Basket Analysis (MBA) is
another powerful predictive analytics tool being used by Flipkart, Amazon,
Snapdeal and other online marketers to motivate the buyer to go for higher volume
of purchase. This is a data modelling technique which recommends a set of
products or services which has close correlation with the product or service
that the customer is currently looking for or has made a purchase. For example,
a customer looking for a flight ticket on Yatra.com from Delhi to Mumbai is
also given offers on hotel stay and cab services in Mumbai. And often, Yatra
and MakeMyTrip bundles the offer on Air Ticket + Hotel + Cab and throws in an
attractive discount which becomes a tempting deal for the customer. By using
market basket analysis, the portal ensures that they increase the basket size
of customers as well as prevent the migration of the customers to rival
competitors. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Last year Diwali, Flipkart
surprised their competitors by announcing a Big Billion Sales day. Although
their site crashed and there were numerous customer complaints, the brand did
make a splash and created a distinct identity. Very soon, Amazon and Snapdeal
also followed suit and announce their Mega Sale day. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
But the company who stole the
show in this year's Diwali has been Paytm. This company has a mobile wallet service with
which customers can do shopping. For most of the shopping done on Paytm, the
company gives cash back to customers which is stored in their mobile wallet and
can be used for future transactions. This gives absolute delight to the
customer who now gets motivated to buy more and is a master stroke for the
seller who gets a bigger order. The combined effect is a win-win proposition where
both the buyer and seller both get satisfied and form a better bonding.
This is in stark contrast to the tele-callers and direct sellers who make life miserable
for the reluctant customer. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To succeed in the market place, it is now imperative for the brands to
move over from cold calling to offering value to the customer by customizing the
offerings as per his or her needs. And technology, in the form of data
analytics, is always there to help the marketer refine his or her strategy to suit
the needs of the customer. </i></div>
</div>
Jayanta Chakrabortihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07466799633961029461noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998183546255973938.post-38420210994656111872015-09-25T01:20:00.000-07:002015-09-25T19:22:32.769-07:00Rich Businessmen and their Loss Making Ventures --- The Intriguing Paradox!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Most of the newspapers and news channels yesterday carried
the story that Mukesh Ambani has been named India's richest for ninth year in a
row with a net worth of $18.9 billion while the Flipkart founders Sachin Bansal
and Binny Bansal made their debut on the country's top 100 rich list with a net
worth of $1.3 billion each. The other billionaires from India who made it in
the list of top 100 richest entrepreneurs are Sun Pharma's Dilip Shanghvi ($18
billion), Azim Premji ($15.9 billion), Hinduja brothers ($15.9 billion), Shapoorji
Pallonji Mistry ($14.7 billion), Shiv Nadar
($12.9 billion), Godrej family ($11.4 billion), Lakshmi Mittal ($11.2 billion),
Cyrus Poonawala ($7.9 billion), Kumar
Mangalam Birla ($7.8 billion) and Rakesh Gangwal of Indigo Airlines ($1.6
billion).</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Now look at the intriguing paradox. Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance
industries Limited (RIL) made a consolidated profit of ₹23,566 Crores in the
Financial Year 2014-15, the highest made by any company till now. Dilip
Shanghvi’s Sun Pharma, which acquired Ranbaxy for $4 billion, made a net profit
of ₹4,541 crore. While Lakshmi Mittal’s Arcelor Mittal reported a net loss of
$1.1 billion in 2014-15, his personal fortune also declined by $4.6 billion,
pushing him down to the 5<sup>th</sup> spot among India’s riches tycoons.
Raakesh Gangwal has been a new entrant to the billionaire club, all thanks to
his Indigo Airlines recording profits for the ninth consecutive year, with net
profits standing at <span class="webrupee">₹</span>1,304 crore for the year
ended 31 March, 2015.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">All these facts follow a logical sequence and pattern. What
defies logic is the entry of the Bansals of Flipkart in the billionaire club.
Flipkart <span class="p-content">reported a loss of </span>₹<span class="p-content">344.6 crore in Financial Year 2012-13 and loss of </span>₹<span class="p-content">719.5 crore for the year ended March 2014. The figures for
2014-15 are yet to be published. </span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="p-content"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Flipkart makes</span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> a loss of approximately ₹5 per
order. This loss is due to the cost incurred in making customer acquisitions,
funding mark downs, making free delivery and product return charges. What keeps
their business running is the huge money poured in by the investors who believe
that there is a pot of gold at the end of rainbow. The company raised $2 billion
in 2014 which leapfrogged their valuation to $12 billion by the end of 2014. So
although the company is yet to record a single rupee as profit, their owners
have already been crowned as the paper billionaires. Many experts are already
predicting a dotcom like shakeout that happened in 2001 throwing out a lot of
companies that were running on illogical business models and gravity-defying
valuations. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And it’s not only Flipkart which is making the experts
beguiled about the E-commerce business model. Amazon and Snapdeal numbers also
reveal intriguing facts. As per figures released by Morgan Stanley, Flipkart is
the market leader in the $6.3 billion Indian E-Commerce market with a 44 per
cent market share by Gross Merchandise Value (GMV). Snapdeal follows next with 32% share of GMV.
Amazon, which achieved $1 billion sales in 2014, is ranked third with 15% share
of GMV. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">That was the sunny side. Now look at the financial figures. In
2014-15, Flipkart ran losses of ₹719.5 crore whereas Snapdeal lost ₹265
crore, and Amazon ₹321 crore. A recent report in Times of India (20<sup>th</sup>
August, 2015) says that the losses made by Snapdeal might have skyrocketed to
an astronomical ₹1,350 Crore, as per data given by Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The more fascinating fact is that, Amazon, the global entity, actually made
profit this year after twenty years of consecutive losses. The Amazon shares
jumped up by 14% based on this news. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">These huge losses mainly occur because of the deep discounts
on products given by the E-Commerce companies. They make up the difference
between actual price and selling price by paying sellers and charging the cost
to promotional expenses. An article published in Business Today (17<sup>th</sup>
August, 2014) say that Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon burn more than $100
million of cash every month. Flipkart has the highest cash burn rate.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Although these companies have tried to sugarcoat this
bleeding of money by calling it ‘gap funding’ to the sellers, the fact remains
that they are getting dragged into a financial trap from which they might never
recover. The investors have also now started asking questions about how and
when these companies are likely to break-even and deliver profits.</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Now look at the personal
fortunes of the maestros of E-Commerce. As
stated earlier, the personal net worth of the Bansals stand at $1.6 billion.
Jeff Bezos of Amazon is the fifth richest person in the world with personal
fortune of $50.3 billion. In comparison, neither NR Narayanamurthy, Nandan
Nilekani or any of the Infosys founders are yet to make it to the top richest list
although Infosys has made a net profit of ₹12,249 Crores in the Financial Year
2014-15. Ratan Tata is not even a billionaire although Tata Sons have made a
profit of ₹9,060 Crores in 2014-15. </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">Although it is too
premature to pronounce a judgement whether the rich promoter-loss making
venture business model will sustain in the long run, all eyes will actually be
on the financial liquidity situation in the global market place. And if the
China Crisis, Arabian Turmoil and the European Slowdown casts a long shadow on
the global economy, the tap providing easy funding from investors might just
run dry forcing these loss making ventures to cut down on their lofty
ambitions. </span></i></span></span></div>
</div>
Jayanta Chakrabortihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07466799633961029461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998183546255973938.post-79217506909205536852015-06-20T09:48:00.000-07:002015-06-20T21:25:57.379-07:00Fifty Shades of Grey and Still Counting…….. (Part 2)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My first novel, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Cinderella Jones Affair</b>, finally got
published in USA and UK, at a listing price of $17 and £12 pounds respectively.
The book is now available at <b>www.amazon.com</b> as an e-book as well as paperback edition. The initial sales have been quite low, but it was heartening to know that a few
people in those foreign destinations were actually reading my book. While I am eagerly
waiting to get their reaction and feedback, the next challenge before me is how
to market my book in my home country, India. And therein, I started looking at
the strategies employed by the best-selling authors in India --- Chetan Bhagat,
Amish Tripathi and Ashwin Sanghi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of
course, Durjoy Dutta, Ravinder Singh, Bhaavna Arora, Preeti Shenoy and Sudeep
Nagarkar are also making waves in the Indian literary field, but I would like
to confine my discussion to the first three amazing authors, just to keep the
article brief.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Chetan Bhagat is perhaps a
phenomenon who has equal number of admirers and criticizers. On one hand, his
die-hard fans swear by his easy-to-understand language, the very lovable
characters with their queer vulnerabilities, the hush-hush titillating sexual
innuendos, and of course, the unexpected twists and turns that makes the heart
beat faster. These mostly young readers, who come from small towns as well as
the big cities, might have heard about the award winning authors like Salman
Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh and Vikram Seth, but never dared to pick up those
voluminous tomes written in a high-end English dialect. In comparison, Chetan
Bhagat was the crisp fast food that you could gulp down without bothering much
about understanding the meanings of the words. It was food served on a platter
that was easily digestible. Most of the books are between 200-300 pages with
price tag between Rs 100 to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rs 200 that
is within the reach of the masses. The critics like to lambast him for the lack
of literary depth but it is actually Mr Bhagat who is laughing all the way to
the bank, with a 5,00,000 average print run of each of his books. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
But Chetan Bhagat also had to go
through a struggling period. As many as nine publishers turned down his
manuscript before it was accepted by Rupa. But the best part was that he was
also ready with a marketing plan that would compel the masses to go for his
book. Being an IIT-IIM grad, Bhagat understands quite well how to leverage
social media to reach out to the masses. His Facebook page gets around 2.5
million likes while his Twitter account has 1.2 million followers. He has also
launched T-shirts that incorporates famous quips from his books. He writes
columns in English and Hindi dailies, hosts TV shows and delivers motivating
talks across the country. All these activities have culminated in making him a
cult figure and ensuring that he remains the best-selling author.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The second high profile author whom
I was studying closely was Amish Tripathi. Amish became famous with the Shiva
Trilogy --- The Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas and The Oath of
the Vayuputras. Collectively, the three books sold 2.2 million in print and
grossed over Rs 60 Crore in sales. His next trilogy --- The Ramachandra Series
--- is slated to hit the stands on June 22 with the release of The Scion of
Ishvaku. A common thread between Chetan Bhagat and Amish Tripathy is that both
are IIM Alumnus and both worked in the financial services industry for a
considerable period before venturing into fiction writing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The Shiva Trilogy, which tells
the tales of Gods in an interesting and riveting style, captured the
imagination of the readers who were always fascinated with the stories of gods
and goddesses and supernatural beings that they had been hearing since
childhood. The conflict between Suryavanshis (The Meluhans) and Chandravanshis
(The Nagas) and the good overpowering the evil with the help of larger than
life Lord Shiva did create the ambience for a fascinating story.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The other common factor between
Chetan Bhagat and Amish Tripathi, being IIM Alumnus, both are terrific marketers.
Before the release of his first book, Amish Tripathi approached bookshops and
asked them to give a free sample copy of the first chapter of his book to
anyone who approached the cash counter. This was a form of buzz marketing to
create brand awareness. He also used social media effectively by making a
trailer film with a background score by Taufiq Qureshi and released the same on
YouTube. The interest in the book increased manifold and the book became a
bestseller. For his second book, he created a video trailer that was shown at
all major multiplexes. For the third book, he created a music album with
soundtracks by well-known singers like Sonu Nigam, Palash Sen and Vickram
Ghosh. These were very innovative strategies to market a book which ensured a
sure shot success for all three of his novels. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The third author who has made a
significant impact in pulp fiction has been Ashwin Sanghi. He has made a
significant impact in the literary circle with books like The Rozabal Line, The
Krishna Key, Chanakya’s Chant and Private India. He is called the Indian
version of Dan Brown for creating suspense by espousing conspiracy theories
built around ancient legends. He does extensive research before writing a book. For writing The Krishna Key, he read more than 50 books, hundreds of research articles and traveled extensively to gather the facts. He also has the rare distinction of co-authoring with
James Patterson, to write a book called Private India. For the uninitiated,
James Patterson is the author of the world famous Alex Cross suspense novels,
and holds the Guinness World Record for selling 1 million e-books. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
But even Ashwin had his share of
struggles before he stablished himself as an author. He self-published his
first book , “The Rozabal Line”, and wrote to 40 bookstores to stock his book.
Only one bookstore replied positively. One day, on a visit to the store, he
found his book gathering dust in a corner of the store. He dusted the book and
put it back on the best-seller rack. Such persistent efforts finally paid off.
The book was subsequently published by Westland in 2008 and went on to become a
national bestseller.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His second book
“The Chanakya’s Chant” won him the Crossword-Vodafone Popular Choice Award and
the third book “The Krishna Key” became the AC Nielsen No 1 bestseller within a
week of release. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The mantra he gives to the young
aspiring writers is “Write when you are drunk and market when you are sober.”
The writing has to come from a passion for the plot and the marketing has to be
done in a systematic and methodical way to achieve success. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The six authors that I have
profiled in the two-part blog emphatically show that with an interesting content
and innovative marketing styles, it is not that difficult to establish oneself
as a writer. But how effectively I can implement these learnings for a
successful Indian launch of my book <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
Cinderella Jones Affair</b> is the biggest challenge that is going to unfold in
the days to come. (Concluded) </div>
</div>
Jayanta Chakrabortihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07466799633961029461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998183546255973938.post-37290301144136446182015-05-09T03:52:00.001-07:002015-05-09T03:52:55.169-07:00Fifty Shades of Grey and Still Counting…….(Part 1)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Finally, after twenty five years
of intense struggle, I managed to make my debut as a novelist. My first book “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Cinderella Jones Affair</b>” has got
listed at Amazon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next challenge,
for me, was how to market my book and create awareness around it. Being a new
author, it is a real daunting task for me. But, then the best-selling authors
of today --- EL James, JK Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, Chetan Bhagat, Amish
Tripathi and Ashwin Sanghi --- also started as newbies and made their name as
prolific writers. How did they do it? I started doing a research to know the
secret of their success.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
A very interesting case study is
that of “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy</b>”
written by EL James. The genesis of the book started as a story posted by EL James in
Internet under Twilight Fan Fiction. She gained good response from there and
put up the book on her website. The trilogy was then picked up by an Australian
publisher, The Writer’s Coffee Shop, who released them as e-books and
print-on-demand paperbacks. The book started gaining in popularity when, in
January 2012, Vintage Books, a division of Random House, formally published the
trilogy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Why was Fifty Shades of Grey so
successful? Well, the Twilight series had already prepared the fertile ground
for popularity of books on romance with a dash of erotica. While, most of erotic
novels published till now, were more or less targeted to fulfill the male
fantasies, this series of books <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>talked
about BDSM and kinky sex from the women’s perspective. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very soon, it became a topic of discussion
among women readers and the sales sky-rocketed accordingly. Another
master-stroke of EL James was to publish the book first as an e-book. Readers
might feel embarrassed to be seen around with an erotic novel, but they were
more or less comfortable to buy an electronic version online and read it in
privacy. The biggest lesson that the case study of EL James teaches us --- if
you want to make your first book popular, offer it for free, get a fan following
and then get it published under a reputed publishing house. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The next well known author that I
want to talk about now is JK Rowling. She is already a household name for her
Harry Potter series. The first Harry Potter book, “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone</b>”, got started when she
wrote her Harry Potter ideas on a napkin, while traveling in a train from
Manchester to London. The book was subsequently typed on a typewriter, mostly in
Edinburgh cafés, where she used to go with her baby daughter, Jessica. She was
a single mother suffering from clinical depression and insomnia. Twelve
publishing houses rejected her initial manuscript of Harry Potter, before Bloomsbury
agreed to publish it. She was given a small advance and a condition that book
would mention the author name as “JK”, because a book written on wizards by a
woman might not be accepted widely. This book went on to become the best-selling
book of all times. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>JK Rowling went on to
become a billionaire and was honored with the OBE(Order of the British Empire).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
How did JK Rowling and the Harry
Potter series achieve such skyrocketing fame? First of all, it had innovative
ingredients like Hogwarts and Quidditch. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The central character, Harry Potter, is an
orphan and vulnerable to the evil designs of Lord Voldemort, which makes the reader
develop an immediate fascination and liking for the child protagonist. The concept of wizard
classes and magic spells became a rage among young kids. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then, there were the brilliant marketing
efforts. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The personal life of JK
Rowling, who was single mother struggling to survive with government support, drew
many readers towards the book. There were rumors that the book was promoting
witchcraft among children. The rumors only succeeded in increasing the sales of
the book. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bloomsbury did two different
covers for the same book, one for children and the other for adults, thus
creating curiosity among both segments. There was a frenzy created around Harry
Potter through midnight releases and pre-order bookings. Fan blogs were created
to make the readers discuss the books and create viral interest among others
who had not read them. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The result of such innovative and diligent
marketing efforts was that more than 400 million books of the Harry Potter series
has been sold till now making JK Rowling a billionaire and the Harry Potter brand reach
the $15 billion valuation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The third author who has created
stratospheric waves with her “<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Twilight</b>”
series is Stephenie Meyer. She got the idea of Twilight in a dream in 2003,
when she dreamed of a vampire who was in love with a human girl but also
thirsted for her blood. Subsequently, she converted the dream sequence into a
novel. She was writing for her own enjoyment and never intended to publish the
book. It was her sister who finally persuaded her to seek a publisher. She
wrote fifteen letters to different publishers and literary agents. Five of them
were unanswered and nine people rejected her manuscript. Only one person, Jodi
Reamer of Writer’s House, gave a positive response. The manuscript was put up
for auction in 2003, and she got a three book deal from Little, Brown &
Company for $7,50,000. Twilight was later expanded into a series with three
books named New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The series has sold 100 million copies
worldwide with Stephenie Meyer breaking JK Rowling’s record by remaining the
bestseller for 143 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List. She has an
estimated net worth of $125 million.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
How did the Twilight series
create the rage among the readers and fans? First of all, it created a frenzy
among the teenagers as the main characters in the book are themselves
teenagers. Also, it created a nostalgic feel among the adults who pined for
their teenage days. The experimentation with the girlfriend-boyfriend issues
and the insecurities attached with it in the teenage years are beautifully
portrayed in the book. The characters — Bella, Edward and Jacob – look much more
lively with their vulnerabilities. It appealed very much to the teenage girls
who fantasized adventure and thrill in a love affair. And it was backed up by
very strong and innovative marketing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stephenie
Meyer connected directly with the Twilight fans through the social media
platform MySpace. She also communicated with the readers through her own
website, social networking sites and fan created sites. Her marketing team worked
hard to connect the fans to share Twilight related news. And finally, the movie
starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson made the books a household name
all over the world. The lessons from her book --- create a plot that can be
identified easily by a particular section of populace and build excitement
around it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In the second part of the blog, I
shall be exploring how Chetan Bhagat, Amish Tripathi and Ashwin Sanghi are
using innovative strategies to make their books the best-sellers in Indian
market. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>(To be Continued……)</div>
</div>
Jayanta Chakrabortihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07466799633961029461noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998183546255973938.post-68773557263902876942014-09-30T22:40:00.001-07:002014-09-30T22:40:40.949-07:00Gone in Seconds --- The Amazing Story of Xiaomi’s Market Strategy in India<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I will start this article by sharing
a personal anecdote. Some years back, I was actually forced into buying
Blackberry handset by my boss who wanted to connect all the employees with
himself through the BBM (Blackberry Messenger) instant messaging tool. The trigger
was that TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority in India) had capped the number of
SMS that you could send in a particular day. As we were a large organization
with more than a thousand employees, he needed to send and receive information
from a huge number of people. The BBM option actually helped him to get over
the constraint caused due to TRAI notification. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
But after buying Blackberry, I
actually thanked him. This was my first smart-phone experience, and I was amazed
that you could actually do so much with your handset --- send and receive
e-mails, browse the net, listen to songs, watch movies, share pictures and
videos, connect with a huge number of people on social media like Facebook,
LinkedIn and Twitter and even use Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. And of
course, the BBM was the icing on the cake. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
But due to a series of
unfortunate events, Blackberry started losing the sheen and their popularity took
a nosedive. I could actually sense a lot of my connections moving out of BBM
and opting for WhatsApp (Even my boss wrote, “Hey there, I’m using WhatsApp”
and disconnected me from the BBM contact list). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To make
things worse, my Blackberry handset was getting heated up, the software started
hanging frequently, and the rubber paddings started coming out from all sides,
giving it an ugly look. I started looking for a new handset that would be
sleek, good looking, technologically superior and of course, affordable.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
That’s when I read the about the
Xiaomi’s launch of Mi3 mobile phones in India. There were no Print Ads, there
were no television commercials, no hoardings, no promotions at dealer outlets
--- just a plain and simple press release in all major newspapers and internet
news sites on July 8<sup>th</sup> which said that that Xiaomi, who was also
known as the “Apple of China” was launching the much popular Mi3 phone in
India. The specifications were awesome --- it was offering a 5.00-inch
1080x1920 display powered by 2.3GHz processor with 2GB RAM and 13-megapixel
rear camera. But the breath-taking feature of Xiaomi Mi3 was the price --- it
was offering all these at a mere Rs 13,999/-.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
But the buying process was
difficult. Xiaomi had an exclusive channel partnership with Flipkart and you
could only buy it over Internet. Before buying, one had to pre-register with
Flipkart and Xiaomi. The sales window was supposed to open on 15<sup>th</sup> July
at 12 o’clock afternoon. I waited with bated breath. I was desperate to buy the
Mi3. But at the designated moment, a series of mishaps happened. Firstly, I
could not enter the site. By the time I managed to enter, the site had crashed.
By the time the Flipkart site recovered, there was a message saying “The
product is out of stock. Wait for the next announcement.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Although Flipkart or Xiaomi did
not reveal the actual figures, the various news agencies surmised that they had
sold 5,000 units in 30 minutes. Flipkart did send me an e-mail stating that I
could again try next Tuesday at 2 PM without any pre-registration. Next
Tuesday, the product got sold out in 5 minutes. The news was that this time
10,000 units were sold in 5 minutes. I tried again next Tuesday. The product
got sold out in less than a minute. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Xioami
had managed to sell 15,000 units in less than a minute. And in the following
week, they sold 20,000 units in 5 seconds. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And since I didn’t have a super-computer at my
disposable to match those lightning speeds, I gave up on Xiaomi and settled for
Alcatel Onetouch, which had similar specifications but priced at Rs 16,999/-.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
What Xiaomi has done in India is very
remarkable because they managed to get great word-of-mouth publicity without
spending a penny on advertising or sales promotions. They literally converted
the dynamics from push-marketing to pull-marketing. While other mobile phone
companies are busy trying to lure customers with freebies, discounts and big
ads featuring bollywood and cricket stars, Xiaomi is quietly doing their job of
capturing the markets and building their brand image with a strategy that we
call as “Power Pricing”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Xiaomi is not the pioneer of
using the concept of power pricing for brand building in India. Long time back,
a company called Akai had given the established consumer durables companies a
run for their money by offering high end color televisions at rock bottom
prices. Although that blitzkrieg didn’t last long and Akai was eventually
acquired by Videocon, it actually demonstrated that you can create a buzz in
the markets by getting the pricing right.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In economics, we talk about two
zones called the producer’s delight and customer’s delight. Producer’s delight
comes when the product can be sold at premium pricing by convincing the
customer that although they are paying very high, they are getting value-for-money.
Apple follows a similar strategy where the products are given an esteem value.
Consumers Delight is the zone where the products are sold at a value lower than
what the consumers are ready to pay. In case of consumer’s delight, the
customers become very satisfied, but the company ends up with substantial
losses or missed opportunity of enhancing profits. In between is the sweet zone
where the company ends up with profits and the customers end up with satisfaction.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Xiaomi
seems to have successfully discovered the sweet zone and is going great guns by
implementing the power pricing strategy to build their brand.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Meanwhile, Xiaomi is still
creating tremors in the mobile phone market while I nurse my broken heart of
not being able to possess one of their much-talked-about products. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yesterday (30<sup>th</sup> September, 2014),
they sold 60,000 units of their second mobile phone brand called Redmi 1s
through Flipkart in 13.9 seconds . This is one case study which no Professor of
Marketing can easily forget to cite in their classrooms. And maybe, next time,
I should take help from Carl Lewis or Usain Bolt when I try to buy a Xiaomi
product !!! </i></div>
</div>
Jayanta Chakrabortihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07466799633961029461noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998183546255973938.post-14513817208753794022014-09-17T11:01:00.000-07:002014-09-17T11:01:52.180-07:00How Apple Watch will redefine our timekeeping and lifestyle<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In the year 1987, a Hindi movie
called Mr India, starring Anil Kapoor, captured the public imagination with
it’s innovative storyline. In the movie, Anil Kapoor is bequeathed a gold watch
that helps him to disappear. The villain Mogambo desperately wants that wonder
watch and finally the good prevail over the evil. The film went on to become
the second highest grosser of the year and till today is considered among one
of the cult classic movies of Bollywood.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The humble watch that we use to
keep track of time has gone through several transformations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Initially it was the hourglass that used to
indicate the correct time. Later, that evolved into the sundial, water clocks
and pendulum clocks. The wristwatches were initially mechanical devices driven
by clockwork and springs. The mechanical devices were later replaced by
vibrating quartz crystals that gave more accuracy in measuring time. The next
stage of evolution was the digital watches which ran on electronics technology.
</div>
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<br /></div>
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Wristwatches started becoming
popular after the Second World War. It was also a popular item given as gift in
marriages. The wristwatch was also used as a credit card --- if you were short
of cash, you could keep your wristwatch as a security till you arranged the
cash. However, with mass production and the prices of watches coming down
drastically, the popularity and esteem value of watches also started coming
down. </div>
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<br /></div>
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While the Japanese watchmakers
like Seiko and Casio popularized the digital watch, the Swiss watchmakers
breathed a new life into the watch industry by making it a fashion accessory. Rolex,
Rado, Omega and Swatch came up with breath-taking designs that added the gleam
to your personality when you adorned their watches. These models were also a
precious possession bought by people who travelled abroad and gave gifts to
their acquaintances. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The launch of the Apple Watch has
brought in a whiff of fresh air into the watch industry and is also all set to
pose a serious threat to the traditional watch makers. As per information given
by CNET,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“The Apple Watch is a music
player like an iPod, a fitness tracker with heart-rate measurements, a communications
device that will send and receive messages, calls and audio recordings, and a
handheld portal to other apps, too. It also makes payments via Apple Pay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It can also control your Apple TV and act as
a remote for connected smart home devices.” This electronic device will monitor
heart beats, track calories burnt and take dictations. The most remarkable
feature of this watch is a “haptic” processor that will send subtle
vibration feedback for notifications, alarms and other messages.</div>
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<br /></div>
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How will Apple Watch change the
contours of the watch industry? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Just the day after Apple Watch was unveiled,
we got a shocking news --- HMT was closing down after 53 years of operation.
The company whose punchline was “timekeepers of the nation” could not face the
onslaught of the new age watchmakers who promised more beauty, elegance and
style in addition to accurate time. And how are other watchmakers gearing up to
face the competition from Apple? The luxury watch makers had previously
successful fended the challenge from quartz and digital watch makers, but this
time they are up against a much formidable competitor. The high end watchmakers
will continue to have patrons who will vouchsafe for their quality, design and
craftsmanship. But, as the adage goes, once Apple enters a particular category,
it leaves very little room for competitors to maneuver. </div>
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<br /></div>
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How will it change our lifestyle
? Well, we might just stop using mobile phones and switch over to the Apple
Watch. So no more botherations of having to pull that brick out of your pocket
to make calls. It might make us very very health conscious and calorie
conscious. And as the haptic engine of the Apple Watch promises to convey
feelings through taps and vibrations, we might just stop hugging and kissing
our loved ones and send subtle tap signals instead !!! Shall we see James Bond
ditching the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra wristwatch and switching over to Apple
? Whatever it is, the Apple Watch promises to be an exciting device that might
radically transform the way we communicate and live. </div>
</div>
Jayanta Chakrabortihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07466799633961029461noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998183546255973938.post-47399901226138995292013-04-16T02:25:00.005-07:002013-04-16T02:25:52.655-07:00Can Apple break the jinx in the Indian market ?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In
the book “Pepsi to Apple”, John Sculley, who had been the President of Pepsi
from 1977 to 1983 & CEO of Apple Computers from 1983 to 1993, has recounted
a very interesting episode of his interaction with Steve Jobs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Steve, who desperately wanted John Sculley to
quit his job at Pepsi and join Apple as the CEO, agreed to pay him $1 million
in salary, $1 million as sign up bonus and $1 million in severance pay. But
still John was dithering to leave his high profile job at Pepsi. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was one sentence from Steve Jobs that
changed his mind and decide that his future lay at Apple --- “Do you want to
spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to
change the World?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Apple
Computers has always been admired for innovation, classy product line and
awesome advertising. Apple was the first to make the GUI interface popular by
launching the Mac OS. It was the first to launch UNIX based OS X (operating
system) for personal computers. The other great innovations of Apple include
the iPhone, iPad, iPod and the iTunes Library. The ITunes Library currently has
7,75,000 Apps, out of which 3,00,000 are native to Apple (as on January 2013).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Apple
has also been traditionally known to create dazzling and eye capturing ads. The
ad campaign titled “1984” ran during the Super Bowl games in 1984 has been
named by Advertising Age as the commercial of the decade. The Apple Ads have
mostly targeted people who are smart, think out-of-box and look for innovative
and cool gadgets. So it was quite a surprise when there was a series of Apple
Ads in the front page of almost all leading daily newspapers in India that
hardly spoke about the features of iPhone, but very prominently pronounced the
discounts and exchange offers that the customers could get on buying an older
version of iPhone --- the iPhone 4. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
IPhone 4 set was first being offered for Rs 26,500 and now Apple has topped the
proposition with a Rs 7,000/- exchange offer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">So
why has Apple abandoned the strategy of focusing on innovation and started a
price war in the Indian smart-phone market? To understand this, we need to look
at the historical perspective of how Apple has viewed the Indian markets.
During the previous launches, the iPhone used to cost 30% more than that in USA
and customers had to wait for nearly six months to a year to get the delivery
of their smart-phones.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">But
now, with Samsung having overtaken Apple in the global smart-phone market with
the frenzy being built around the Samsung Galaxy phones, Apple has become
focused about getting a firm foothold in the Indian market. Around a year back,
the iPhone did not have a place among the top 5 smart-phones shipped to Indian
customers, today the Apple iPhone commands a market share of 15.2%, and ranked
number two after Samsung who has a market share of 38.8%, as per data released
by IDC.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">So,
the discount strategy and the exchange offer have actually brought the mojo
back into the demand for iPhones. The iTunes Store launched with Indian content
and localized prices is also pushing up the sales of the Apple devices. The
next strategy of Apple, of course, would be to increase the reach by signing on
more distributors and giving more priority to the Indian customers during the
launch of the next exciting model which would, in all probability be christened
as iPhone 5S.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">But
rivals like Samsung, Micromax and Karbonn are working on their strategies to
recapture the market share taken away by Apple. Samsung has already made a
strong impact on the smart-phone market with the newly released Galaxy S4. In
addition, they have started an EMI scheme and 15% cash back on the Galaxy range
of smart-phones to woo the lower end of the mobile phone users to upgrade to
high end smart-phones. They retaliated exactly in the same manner of Apple by
putting up these offers on the front page of leading newspapers as full page
advertisements. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In
the meanwhile, Micromax has created a stir in the smart-phone market by
launching the Micromax Canvas HD. The Canvas HD was launched with exciting
specifications like </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1.2
GHz quad-core processor, an eight-megapixel camera and a five-inch touch-screen</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> and a low price of Rs 13,990/- .
This model was completely sold out within 2 days of launch . Micromax had to
announce a waiting period of 24 days and also increased the price of the model
by Rs 1,000. Now Micromax is gearing up to launch the Canvas model in 3D
format. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Karbonn,
which was a fringe player in the smart-phone market, saw their fortunes rise
when they bravely offered subsidized data packages from service providers like
Airtel. This was in stark contrast to the global business model where handsets
are sold at subsidized prices by the cellular service providers. Karbonn
offered customers 500 MB of 3G data from Airtel free for six months when they
bought their branded handsets. Karbonn has also created excitement by launching
the Titanium S5 which will compete against the Canvas HD of Micromax at a price
point of Rs 11,990/-. Karbonn is now ranked fifth in terms of volumes shipped
into the Indian smart-phone market, as per data published by IDC. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Whatever
be the developments, the Indian mobile phone users will soon be spoilt for
choice with a huge number of exciting models being launched by the Indian as
well as the multinational companies. The Indian consumers will have a plethora
of brands to choose from as per their needs and as per their budgets. And the
Indian customers are sure to be pampered with an early availability of the
iPhone 5S model. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
</div>
Jayanta Chakrabortihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07466799633961029461noreply@blogger.com6