Traditional Digitization and Modern Retail

Digitisation and hyper localisation of the kirana, POS billing, app payment and back-end integration of the kirana with the wholesale suppliers to ensure the customer’s unmet needs are met at the right time. Mobile applications which have the ability to scan and issue bills from a printer is the next stage of evolution for the kirana in India .The kirana store owners during the COVID-19 lockdown have proved to be the most efficient in ensuring that consumers got access to essentials. With distributors unable to deliver inventory due to manpower shortages and consumers not stepping out to shop as often, business of most kiranas has got impacted. A large part of a kirana's revenue comes from impulse shopping, which has stopped as consumers are not stepping out as much.

When Amazon or BigBasket were unable to deliver due to manpower shortage, it is the local store owner who went from one distributor to the other, picked up inventory and ensured that his store was well-stocked. 

Supporting the kirana network with their assortment for their specific customer base as in India food habits change every 100 km.

Additional support can be provided by training them with planograms, assortment selection and product placement within their stores to improve their margins.

The modern retailers have realised that they can't ignore the local kirana stores anymore and this conviction has resulted in interesting partnerships between the organised retailers and kirana stores during the coronavirus lockdown.

Just then Facebook bought 9.9% of share of JIO thus planning to take up the major market of India. Google Pay and PhonePe are adding more storefronts to their payment platforms, in a bid to beat WhatsApp Pay’s imminent entry and explore alternative money-making avenues after the government waived processing fees on Unified Payments Interface transactions.

PhonePe, that’s owned by has geotagged more than half a million merchants with excess cash, to help out customers convert digital money into cash. The basic idea is to increase merchant engagement, on PhonePe’s platform by creating a new value service for both local shop owners and consumers.

Apart, from that the most recent initiative is Amazon's 'Local Shops In Amazon' which allows not just kirana stores but also local apparel, furniture, sports and appliance stores to be part of Amazon's network. So, if a consumer is searching for grocery items or even a product like an inverter, the search will also give details of retailers in the locality of the consumer which sell invertors.

If we glimpse upon snacks Industry  and Private Brands of Metro Cash and Carry, Big Bazzar and many more had raised 50% more profitablity in this current situation.(Finally they could make an impact utilizing this situation although is not about choosing a product but all about whatever is available).

Collaborative and symbiotic relationship between big retailers and small mom and pop stores are not only creating a win-win situation for both but are also contributing to better customer experience. While modern trade houses can expand their geographical footprint by simply tying up with the Kiranas, sans any major investments; Kirana’s, on the other hand, stands to benefit from the wide bouquet of expertise and services. 

Digitisation is just step one for the modernisation and re-skilling of the kirana, there is much more the industry can do to ensure they thrive and complement the online businesses.

There is more that can be done on the finance aspect of modernisation, most kiranas work on credit with suppliers and customers, so working capital loans become a critical component of their business operations.

Impact on Digital India- Facebook and Jio Deal

While its social media services and messaging services have been extremely popular in India, Facebook has however struggled to get past regulatory concerns in India over some of its ambitious projects such as its free limited Internet offering Free Basics and digital currency Libra ( the preference of people using Facebook will be more than other social media).

When the national and global economies have entered an unprecedented zone of uncertainty and turmoil on account of the massive disruption caused by COVID19, we have just witnessed the ‘largest investment for a minority stake’ by a technology company in India. 

The biggest news in 2020 Facebook invested in Reliance JIO.

Facebook invested 5.7 Billion Dollars and they got a stake of 9.99% in Reliance Jio(The largest FDI deal in the tech sector in India).

 Facebook subsidiary is Watsapp and Instagram  where Reliance industries subsidiary is Jio Platform Limited (JPL) and Reliance Retail Limited (RRL) both are fully owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited( if they have 100 shares  all are owned by Reliance Industries).

Now, JPL, RRL and Watsapp they have entered into an agreement with each other.

Although the investment is not about data arbitrage or data acquisition embedded in the transaction, hidden from the public eye, as this investment is not about either. Also, by no stretch of the imagination is it an ‘opportunistic bid’ to extract resources from a Indian business or the burgeoning Indian digital market at a time when Government’s attention is diverted by a raging pandemic.

 Jio-Facebook agreement vindicates the unique Indian way of doing business: of responding to the needs of the bottom of the pyramid. 

If we try to understand the advantages or synergy for both.

We can consider Jio has a very good customer base over all on the other hand Facebook is good with its analytics of the preferences of the customers and the activities we do or rather where we spend some time more( accordingly pushing advertisements as it is their main source of income).

On the other hand Jio had an all cash deal it will help them to pay off most debts. (Mukesh Ambani in his AGM meet 2019 declared Reliance will be debt-free by 2021).( To know more about Jio -https://travellingabusiness.blogspot.com/2018/02/jio-joint-implementation-opportunities.html )

Average Revenue per User of Jio is Rs 120 now they will try to increase it (playing on no’s on the no. of subscriber). 

This new digital platform will not displace small and local businesses. Instead, it will collaborate with them and amplify their reach as well as their profitability. The distinctly Indian ‘Kirana’ led retail model will be infinitely strengthened both in terms of business viability and their employment generation capacity.

How they will earn profitability if we see in China they have a model of WeChat which is quite similar to Watsapp the difference is it is also a shopping platform where buyers and sellers meet. When any transaction happens comapany earns money through transaction fees. 

If we think of Facebook and Watsapp something like this in future if we don't forget there was a concept of Watsapp money too which is almost dormant now.

The agreement and the implicit trust of the investor in the Indian market validate the potential of fin-tech, e-commerce and a reliable data infrastructure to boost growth and development in India. This potential extends well beyond India’s urban middle classes. 

It will be a big step towards giving form and shape to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Digital India’.

TVF and Content Marketing

   
India's new NETFLIX is on Amazon Prime with a bangn web-series Panchayat.(For refernce you can clink on the link (https://travellingabusiness.blogspot.com/2018/09/viral-too-costly-as-regularly-tuned.html).

Yet another times TVF series attempts to paint a slice-of-life picture of the ways of village life. Rural India seems to be a popular setting among makers of Indian web series. Amazon Prime’s Mirzapur and Netflix’s Jamtara, for instance, are two recent shows that play out in villages. While both these shows are crime dramas, Panchayat takes another path.

Panchayat‘s strongest suit is the way it uses humor to talk about socially relevant topics. The show touches upon topical issues such as dowry, family planning and gender equality.

What catches the customer mind apart from the amazing experience is the Content of the web-series.

Content marketing is different than traditional product-marketing efforts like sales collateral and other product-specific info. Content marketing includes things like educational articles, e-books, videos, entertainment, and webinars that answer specific questions people have and provide them with something they can’t get elsewhere. It’s the best way to turn your product, no matter how common, into something that is not like everyone else’s. While you may be nodding your head at this point and thinking, “Yeah, this is something I want to do,” you certainly shouldn’t adopt content marketing because it’s the “in” thing to do. Content marketing takes a lot of work, persistence, and patience. Content is only as valuable as its ability to attract audience members and compel them to engage with your business on an ongoing basis — as subscribers, customers, evangelists, or, ideally, all three. Once you have an addressable audience, your content efforts will help increase sales, gather valuable customer insights, and activate your most ardent followers as brand advocates.

In a Layman language content marketing is the new cool and it exactly portrays and gives us info  about what we want to know or something that is related to our life.

TVF's Panchayat was so successful in portraying a picture of  the dynamics of the village and are shown through Abhishek’s eyes. Abhishek Tripathi, a big city lad who has just arrived to take up the post of secretary in the village’s gram panchayat. Panchayat‘s strongest suit is the way it uses humour to talk about socially relevant topics. The show touches upon topical issues such as dowry, family planning and gender equality. Substantial coverage is given to the issue of “pradhan pati”, something that plagues a wide number of Indian villages. The makers broach these topics in a subtle manner, without making the overall tone of the show serious. Directly, hitting the sentiments of the target audience.

TVF in its previous web series has perfectly pictured “Cubicle”  and  " Kota Factory" the name itself suggests the life of their targeted customers and who spends their time mostly in their web-series .

On addition to it there is not much brand advertising we see on any TVF’s content as it diverts the mind of certain audiences.

Although, it’s not the same there are many web series we watch without consciously understanding the constant endorsing of certain brands and mentioning their name in every episode.

There are various ways to earn money through content marketing it is just the way we choose too and what fits our content. 

Doing my PGDM- College Diaries

                              

I know the title will rather sound as a title of an essay than of a blog, but today I will really like to share about my college. You can take an ease I won't be discussing about the placement or the the subjects taught. Rather, in this blog I will love to discuss how my college helped me to know who I am.

Joining college in the year 2017 to pursue my PGDM in Marketing and coming to Hyderabad for the 1st time was all together an exciting and enchanting experience totally unaware of what will happen in this 2 years and how will I spend here for  2 years.

So, telling about my college once you enter the main gate it will give you a felling that you are in a park with lot of greenery and absolute silence. Entering the campus will give you a feeling of peace and calmness.

Once, you enter the campus there is a meet and greet with a smile on face be it on 1st day or 4 months after leaving the college Siva Sivani family has this culture of greeting everyone and wishing them with a smile on face that is an add on for a good day. Because, I personally use to travel 25 kms one sided everyday to go to college and entering the college with such warm welcome will make you awake.

So, starting from the starting my 1 month in the college was induction with introduction of subjects and all the management games that 1 month had a beautiful end. All, the friends that were made are all separated ( ironically 1st few friends I made and were separated after induction are my colleagues now). But, it was a pain.

Then, we all came to the new class "MARKETING SEC- C"(repeat it 20 times :P). The ratio of that class being 55Boys: 5Girls( Exciting) it was tough for me to recall all the names and it was tough for them to come and talk with us( for the presentations and assignments).

I don't remember though a single class or single day of my college where the we have not been scolded from 1st to last day and there was certain unity among my classmates all of us to do all the notorious stuffs possible.

In college apart from learning various subjects I remember that my professors use to share with us various business models, tell us various stories their fall or how they succeeded and trust me more than my subjects I remember those stories that were told. Along, with that the questions my classmates use to have.

But, those scoldings actually taught us something if I look back now.

Then, came Fresher's Party and seniors started interacting I was good to them I answered all their questions and most importantly they appreciated my talent and gave me a big thumps up to go ahead.

I had a subtle stage fear which I knew I had since my school days but I wanted to use SSIM as an ice-breaker to it by participating in everything  possible.

After, my engineering I exactly knew which mistakes in college is not to repeat as there I had made a lot of blunder.

I always had a feeling of left out during my starting days so I made sure I speak with anyone and everyone( whether they feel comfortable and uncomfortable). Most essential reason to feel that was a language barrier and food barrier which created a cold distance from everyone. The only way to communicate was English ( because Hyderabadi hindi is not so simple Hindi its different from whole India).

Likewise, I was spending some cool days learning different subjects 1000's of assignments( copying from google and modifying it ), 1000's of exams ( trying to remember everything taught till date)   and off-course the presentation( which was mostly prepared by me when I used to travel to college or 5 mins before class). 

Although, I remember my 1st presentation given on Book Review Session that was also an ice-brake for me and my classmates because I took 40 mins to present (all the time I was continuously speaking) in a 50 mins class. After which my classmates requested me to speak l'il less during presentation. 

As, the days was passing we had to get into internships prepare our projects. Finally, we got into an internship where me and my best friend had to attend together everyday, more than a internships it was fun, we didn't knew after 1 year we will be staying in Hyderabad or not so almost everyday we used to complete our work quickly and started exploring different shopping hubs in Hyderabad by local transport ( in hot summer)( that was the prime reason to know almost all parts of Hyderabad).

Our targeted place to explore was shopping hubs and biryani.

Speaking of biryani I confess I helped my friend to run out of college (as she used to stay in hostel) bypassing the regulation to have biryani and coming back running to college to attend class.

The 2nd year starts with the tension of placement, within a week we got placed (which was quite random). By the way 1st time I got late for my college was my placement day because I missed my alarm, then I couldn't find my uniform hustling all this  I forgot my CV and then I missed my college bus. I was running to get through my college gate because that was the 1st company I was sitting for placement to check how it happens. I got placed. Started Job!                                                       

                                                           

                                                             College Over

                           ( What remains are learning, memories and smile on face )

SCHBANG- The Modern Marketing Solution

                         
Fevicol made it again, with it’s out of the moments marketing strategy. The ad is as basic as a screen grab of Google map's route to the Pidilite office.
The closer to the office, the heavier the traffic. Essentially, the brand hints at - the closer to Fevicol you are, harder it is to move away.

When the whole World is dwindling around to find the marketing solution to sell themselves (Personality selling) or to sell their products. Schbang came with a complete solution or rather a customized solution according to the requirement.

It was not only marketing anymore they have re-marketed it.

Schbang was founded in 2014 by Harshil Karia, Akshay Gurnani & Sohil Karia, Schbang is a holistic solutions agency based in Mumbai.

What's special for the clients- they tailor made their offering absolutely with existing technology and tailor made technology. It is absolutely customized basis the infrastructure and exact requirement of the brand - something to track on-ground sales, develop lead generation systems or even global brand centers.

Schbang has an an interesting acronym which represents the company philosophy i.e Solutions for Customer Experiences across Holistic Media creates a bang.

The fact that they are not just a digital or a creative agency to the brand but considered as a business partner on their side is what gives us an added advantage and makes them stand out in the kind of output they were able to deliver.

Will Work From Home be the new trend?

                             

                                             OH! What time of the day is it?

When half of the corporate where dwindling with issue whether to give a leeway of Work from home for the employees or not. Right then government declared a national lock down so work from home is the only option.

At first for many employees it was relief and fun thinking of the fact that work from home will be fun. They can at least be at their bed for some time or at least be at home. For most working woman and mothers it's a time when complains will be over for not spending their time with family.

Off to work? For a growing number of employees, that means rolling out of bed, sauntering over to a kitchen table, and firing up the laptop. Forget about the commute, forget about business attire, and forget about office chitchat. This is the emerging face of work in the 21st century.

From the business point of view work-from-anywhere policies for employees have the power to increase productivity and revenue and decrease hiring costs.

Also, remote work and working from home have grown exponentially with technological advances that support collaboration, faster internet speeds and a greater emphasis on work-life balance. Yet, working remotely can have some drawbacks, including loneliness, a feeling of disconnection and a lack of the spontaneous interactions that can result in ideas and breakthroughs. Working from home can be highly productive, but it can also go badly wrong. Without a proper office space, a prioritized schedule, and on-the-spot supervision, it's all too easy to be distracted, and to get very little done.

Mostly, there are two camps when it comes to working from home. One group usually thinks that people will get nothing done, and the other group believes workers will be happier and more productive. Chances are, your answer greatly depends on how you personally fare when working from home.

The tech industry is well known for its flexible schedules and telecommuting opportunities, which makes sense, considering most tech companies are web-based and technology is the greatest resource when working from home. With video chats, conference calls, VPN networks, and wireless Internet, we can constantly stay connected as though we were sitting in our office, rather than at home. Working from home can allow workers to minimize distractions and increase the time they spend focused on a project. It stands to reason that, in the end, companies benefit from these remote employees by getting projects completed faster with fewer mistakes.  But, the world doesn't run only on tech industries!

For some companies, working from home can be a matter of more hours in the day. This is especially true for small businesses and new companies where they can’t afford to waste even one minute of the workday.

Companies are certainly catching onto the trend, and most have the flexibility to work from home, if not at all the time, at least when needed. It’s changing the way we work, especially in the tech sphere. And, while it may not be for everybody, employers may find they can save money and increase productivity for some workers. For some employees, work-from-home benefits may be the difference between an enjoyable and stressful work life.

I feel work from home doesn't only benefits employee or employer in a whole society gets benefited will less traffic and less air pollution. Although, work from home are making us lonelier we are only virtually communicating in a formal way. In this modern world where we are into laptops or mobile most of the day small chitchats communicating to people outside gives us a feeling of belonging which is missing in a modern World.

Here are few tips:

• Stay active and take breaks. It's easy to forget to move.
• Stay on a schedule for eating, exercising and sleeping.
• Avoid raiding the snack drawer by not keeping snacks in the house.
• Schedule meetings to "humanize communication."
• Enjoy events put on by various cultural institutions.

Let me know in comments if you have any tips you want to share with us.

  

-Debopriya Gupta