FROM THE EDITOR I am glad that the marketing club got the opportunity to use its monthly magazine as a platform for all the young marketing enthusiasts who are curious to let out their views on various topics. It gives me immense pleasure to write this message as Editor of this unique edition of the magazine. The theme of December’s edition revolves around the usage of concepts like the relation between e-commerce and small sellers in India, the supply chain revolution and Conversational Marketing. This edition has a lot under its umbrella, from doing a thorough analysis of various hidden inferences of marketing and consumer approaches to reinstating brands’ latest buzz. I extend my warmest gratitude to all the authors for their interest, enthusiasm, and well-documented submissions of excellent articles and participation in this magazine’s building. I firmly believe that no matter how your magazine is delivered; either at your doorstep or to your computer, printed on glossy stock or on cheap tabloid paper, appearing on your iPad or your cell phone screen, it is still the work of an editorial team for a discerning audience, a beautiful and meaningful (we hope) package of ideas, words and images put together by a group of experts for its readers. While technology efficiently delivers new stories to our desktops, laptops, and mobile devices, magazines are all about context – how ideas and images are presented in relation to one another and spanning a broader perspective. We, the editors, will always strive to keep you engaged.
Con
CONTENTS 01 How To Establish The Missing Link Between E-Commerce And Small Sellers in India
05 nversational Marketing: Changing the Way Customers Buy
09 Buzzfeed
07 Driving customer engagement with Interactive content
13 Is Hyperloop the next Supply Chain Revolution 19 Marquing The Moments
How To Establish The Missing Link Between E-Commerce And Small Sellers In India Attiso Bhowmick University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore With all the casualties and pandemonium that COVID 19 came along with, it also did quite an earnest job at accelerating the digitization of businesses around the globe. Businesses faced an unprecedent crisis when the pandemic hit the world with its new rules of complete lockdown, cessation of all commercial activities, social distancing, periodic and expensive large-scale disinfection of workplaces and other challenges. With the sustenance of business in view, especially for small sellers, the importance of participation in the e-commerce revolution has become painfully evident.
Why are Small Sellers reluctant to join e-commerce?
Prior to analyzing and developing strategies on how to equip small retailers for e-commerce revolution, the possible constraints preventing it must be addressed. When it comes to any new technology, its
adoption by the smaller retailers depend heavily upon previous engagement with it and general familiarity with digital services. The traditional way of setting up a website by purchasing a domain, loading it with keywords to make it search engine friendly and wait for it to gain organic web traffic is not an easy task. Hiring a professional for it is also not feasible as India is a price sensitive market. Geopolitical heterogeneity and lack of awareness about the efficiencies of customer outreach made possible by e-commerce are dominant constraints. A general sense of disinterest and indifference coupled with the obstinacy to stick to traditional methods results in incorrect assessment of the benefits of e-commerce, making small re-
tailers more cautious about investing to upgrade their businesses to e-commerce.
1
What are the Potential Solutions and Strategies? Proper execution of any new technology requires the fortitude of effective strategies and planning. When it comes to encouraging online business for small sellers in India, the situation becomes a little complex. Online retail giants like Flipkart and Amazon in India have time and again faced severe criticism from The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT). The principal reason behind such a passive aggression is distrust and lack of proper technical know-hows to scale up an online business. Already established online retailers can partner with government cooperatives and trade unions to help sellers spread familiarity. Regular workshops and awareness campaigns can be conducted to spread awareness about the ease of doing business online.
Ease of receiving payments form an integral part of all e-commerce platforms. Following Amazon’s example, setting up an integrated UPI interface can go a long way. Online payment merchants must work in close proximity with the retailers on the platforms to resolve any issues in collection of payments. Smooth keeping of records and transaction details is a better alternative for a seamless conduction of online business. Furthermore, it eliminates manual tasks like data entries, maintenance of invoices and enables easier customer-related disputes. A study by Ahrefs, a Digital Marketing company, showed that a major part of the revenue from e-commerce business comes from the high re-purchase rates of existing customers. Maintenance of personalised customer profiles and past purchase records boosts the sales of previously purchased goods, thus increasing customer loyalty, which is often persuaded by small retailers.
2
A proper use of incentives can play a major role at this stage. Reward of small monetary perks and special privileges for the for a limited number of sellers who register at an e-commerce platform can boost their engagement. The same strategies can be applied to encourage the registered sellers to refer their fellow traders about the e-commerce services. The vast success of PhonePe as an UPI application was successful because they introduced a monetary incentive for referring PhonePe to the user’s friends and relatives. The ease of access and usage is perhaps the biggest stumbling block when it comes to diffusion of e-commerce in Indian small-scale businesses. Although, India has the biggest internet subscriber base (Source: BBC News) and has one of the cheapest mobile data prices, it still lags behind in the penetration of e-commerce into the traditional business models which are already prevalent. The origin of this lies in the complexity in the usage of new technologies. To make e-commerce a success a platform which primarily focuses on ease of handling must be designed. It can serve as a great selling point when properly marketed. Most of the technical details must be automated and predesigned turnkey solutions must be employed to achieve the desired effect.
Conclusion
The vast proliferation of affordable smartphones, cheap mobile internet and the huge number of youth population in India makes it an ideal scenario for e-commerce. When the entire country becomes a gigantic marketplace, the integration of small sellers can directly change the economic landscape leading to more competitive pricing of products and a demand-driven business, in contrast to the supply-driven businesses that is more
dominant for offline small retailers. Because of numerous unique attributes of the Indian localised sellers, like highly decentralised business models, high liquidity of the payments, dependence on locally available goods, and limited customer base, its incorporation to mainstream e-commerce requires special attention from governments and industry leaders. The transition can only be achieved with a smooth and gradual transition by alignment of all favourable factors, and less likely with a disruptive innovation.
3
4
Conversational Marketing: Changing the Way Customers Buy Abhimanyu Mukjerjee KIIT School of Management
Conversational marketing has created a lot of buzz as a personalized online business strategy recently. It is a useful marketing tool that is entirely feedback-oriented and works to improvise the user experience. Business organizations employ this strategy to enhance customer loyalty, drive the target audience, stimulate engagement, expand the customer base, and eventually increase the turnover.
horizons regarding communication with customers. Thus, conversational marketing is growing immensely popular, and numerous organizations are employing this technique to promote their brand voice (Diederich et al., 2019).
Image A - Conversational Marketing Source- (Galetto, 2017) The principle behind conversational marketing is to attend to the existing and potential customers’ requirements and implement their feedback in the marketing strategy (Lawrowski, 2020). It facilitates one-to-one communication with the customers and encourages more potential customers to use your products and services (Galetto, 2017). The idea of programmed conversation, one question at once, is similar to that of real-time communications. You can ask various inquiries dependent on their past answers to provide you explicit details regarding them. Thus, you get specific information regarding a particular product or service. Therefore, it acts as the quickest process to drive customers within your marketing and sales funnels. It fabricates relationships and genuine experiences with customers and purchasers (Galetto, 2017). The advent of several social media platforms and other computerized chatbots has opened up new
How Conversational Marketing Is Changing the Way Your Customers Buy
Today, people like to communicate via direct messages because it is comfortable, practical, and saves time. Yet, many organizations are still hovering in the endless hoop to offer their buyers a seamless conversation experience. The B2B buying system is now unresponsive, impersonal, and does not attract many buyers. Business organizations must add a personal touch to their marketing strategy again. The basics of conversational marketing are based on the conversational framework (Kilens, 2019). The conversational framework is broken down into three simple steps. 1. Engage 2. Understand 3. Recommend
5
Image B - The conversational framework Source- (Kilens, 2019) We will describe each step in a more elaborate way: 1) Engage more leads with the help of chatbots Gone are those days when filling up forms was a mandatory task. Think of this- Your website offers its visitors portals to instantly initiate real-time conversations instead of filling out long forms before communication occurs. Results- Your business will have higher conversion rates, drive more organic traffic, and deliver a more user-friendly experience to its customers (Kilens, 2019). Today, conversations occur over a myriad of social media platforms like- Zoom, Facebook messenger, etc. All these channels aim to equip us to engage with people. Thus, businesses must keep the system of engagement simple for the customers. Chatbots are highly recommended as the primary tool for engagement. You can use forms if you like, but keep in mind that you risk losing their attention if the customers have any troublesome experience with it (Kilens, 2019). 2) Understand leads and what they want The conventional strategy of qualifying leads usually requires days of nurturing personalized emails and marketing automation. However, as per a study conducted by Harvard Business Review, business organizations must get back to their customers within five minutes of initial communication in order to have the greatest possibility of qualifying a lead. Through conversational marketing, automated chatbots enable you to remain available 24/7: facilitating you to engage with fresh leads spontaneously (Leung & Yan Chan 2020). Chatbots can comprehend everything about the
6
new leads and understand their specific requirements by qualifying them in real-time for you. Conversational marketing eliminates the process of waiting for follow-up emails, making the user-experience comfortable and streamlined (Kilens, 2019). For optimum outcomes, let bots ask qualifying questions to the leads. Create your automated chatbot by putting similar questions that have been already asked before (on primary qualifying calls/ form fields). The lead and the bot can carry on a follow-up conversation next to better understand the issues. Thus, the bot can advise subsequent steps to the customer engaging with it. 3) Recommend the right next step to the leads for moving through the funnel faster Indeed, automated chatbots work as an excellent tool for understanding leads and driving more traffic. However, human interaction still is the most preferred choice when it’s time to close sales. Hence, Bots employ intelligent routing for connecting leads to your sales team. Furthermore, these bots can also book meetings automatically (Kilens, 2019). Like this, your sales reps can concentrate thoroughly on selling. And, finally, as you decide upon your conversational marketing strategy, you must consider the following practices for better results: A) Time is everything The essence of conversational marketing lies in swift and convenient communication. Customers expect everything in real-time. Hence, make sure to get at the bottom line of the customer issue at the earliest (Cancel & Gerhardt, 2019). B) Personalization It is imperative to provide your customers with a highly personalized and relevant experience while communicating with your brand. You must use all the available data sources to create the appropriate insights your consumer is looking for. C) Analytics Make sure to employ analytics tools and analyze all data sources to get a clear picture of the customer requirements and serve them with better communications (Leung & Yan Chan 2020). Final Words Conversational marketing is an incredible tool to know your customers better, find new lead sources, and shrink the sale cycle. It enhances the customers’ experience and eventually leads to higher revenue yields.
Driving customer engagement with Interactive content Shweta Chauhan Birla Institute of Management Technology
The interaction of customers with various brands throughout various points across all touch points is measured by customer engagement. Customer engagement adds value to a business beyond transactional relationships. It helps brands to adapt themselves to the expectations of potential buyers. To drive customer engagement, generating interactive content has become very crucial for businesses. Interactive content requires customers to act as an active participator rather than as a passive audience. The ability to gain attention of the customers has become a KPI for companies because each minute there is so much of content generated across various channels. By 2021, the content marketing industry is expected to be valued at $400 billion or even more. This figure depicts the significance of interactive content in increasing customer engagement.
•Quizes and questionnaires are frequently used to assess the needs and requirements of the user and helps to provide them personalised content. It helps companies to receive feedback and can be used to educate and entertain the audience to drive customer engagement.
•Calculators are widely used by Banks and Insurance companies which easily enables the users to calculate tentative interest and premium. Fitness brands also offer calculators to allow users to calculate their calories intake. It helps the customers to derive real time value out of the interactive content.
Interactive content is served in several forms such as Infographics, Interactive videos, Hashtags, Quizzes, Calculators, Surveys and Polls, Landing pages etc. Same web page can offer variety of interactive content such as – infographics along with quiz and feedback forms.
•Surveys and Polls are oldest and simplest form of offering interactive content. They are in use much before existence of digital platforms but in present day, Twitter, Instagram Stories and brands own sites are used for polls & surveys to get in touch with your audience, to help various brands to build a genuine connection with their customers. They can be used to ask customers for their opinions about your services, to become familiar with their needs, conducting competitions etc. Fashion and accessories brands, TV channels, News Channels use polls and survey to engage customers.
•Infographics and interactive videos are a good
Benefits of Interactive Content
Types of Interactive Content
way to ensure that the customers grasp the message, which otherwise would not be done in case of plain text. Here the customers become the active participator and they can react, comment, and share the content. It increases the reach of the content and further increases customer engagement. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest are popular platforms where users often engage with brands and this is because of interactive content which is available there.
1.It Prioritises the customers Interactive content opens a channel for a two-way communication, which makes the customers feel more engaged with the brands. It provides real time value and instant gratification, which develops a sense of control among the users. It educates customers and rather than merely focusing on increasing sales, it intends to retain customers for a longer period of time by earning their loyalty.
7
2.It Provides measurable results Interactive content makes it easier for businesses to gather important data from their visitors, which has significant ramifications on their capacity to customize showcasing efforts and to address the possibility’s greatest concerns. Most importantly, one can assess whether the content has served its purpose or not. Using analytical tools, companies can find out reach, number of clicks, duration of sessions, conversion numbers etc. Generally, interactive content has double the conversion rate as compared to the passive content. 3.Improved Search Engine Optimization Interactive content such as videos, infographics etc have a higher possibility of being shared and a superior possibility of drawing in more connections due to its engaging nature. More traffic and connections mean a superior SEO positioning. Top notch content as an intuitive infographic, challenge, or quizzes are often embedded on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter and facilitates the earning of higher SEO points.
8
Future implications
Since rise of 4G internet in India since late 2016, we saw the rise of consumers who are watching more content and reading less, but now, customers will be playing more and watching less. Consumers love branded games, or ‘playable,’ so much that data recently collected from Instagram and TikTok revealed remarkable increases to conversions and click through rates when comparing playable ads against video ads. In near future we can expect use of AI and machine learning to build personalised interactive content to engage customers in more exciting way. With the arrival of 5G internet, the processing speed of data will increase and it will enable the companies to serve real-time content swiftly as well as users to load more content is lesser time. 5G will make virtual reality feasible. Streaming live videos without buffering will push the companies to explore immersive media formats such as VR and AR and start creating totally different interactive content. In such situation, only those brands which will be able to engage and retain customers in long run will outshine in the market.
#BUZZFEED #BUZZFEED
Brand Myntra changes logo Zomato offers Rs. 25 lakh forafter offensive claim consumer created ad
Zomato is proof that they can turn criticism into a super innovative marketing campaign. After consumers. After consumers growing boredom with monotonous YouTube Flipkart-owned Myntraexpressed is one of their the largest online retailers forZomato’s apparel and accessories in India.and TVThe ads,company some users took to social media to criticize Zomato’s butterSale’ chicken ad. However, Zoamto recently grabbed headlines for its ‘End of Reason . The company witnessed a reseems to have played its cards well by coming up with a smart idea to help it come up with fun growth cam- of cord-breaking 15 million visitors on its opening day on December 20, registering a massive paigns withover theirthe customers. morewhile thanengaging 110 per cent BAU (business as usual) period. TheMyntra firm went out, proclaiming thatthe thefirst ads 24 dohours. suck. So now, it has opened the floor for creative soldall 3 million items within Tier 2 and 3 cities witnessed a growth of 55 per ideas from customers. What was commendable was that, apart from the novel idea, they also shared cent in new customers, led by Jammu, Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Kakinada, Dehradun and Imphal, theamong feelingothers. with their customers that made them win many hearts.
119
#BUZZFEED
In December 2020, NGO activist Naaz Patel, associated with the Avesta Foundation filed a complain stating that the e-commerce company’s logo was offensive to women. She claimed that the logo resembled a naked woman. The complaint was filed at Mumbai’s cyber crime department post which officials at Myntra stated that the same would be replaced within a month. Soon after changing its logo, the brand issued printing orders with the new logo on all its products and packaging material. However, the new logo was also met with widespread criticism driving the internet frenzy with sarcasm. Myrtna’s logo tweaks are subtle. The orange and purple elements no longer overlap to create a red centre, and the colours are no longer symmetrical. The new design manages to dial down the supposedly “offensive” imagery of the original while maintaining its essence. Twitter has, of course, made light of the incident, with many suggesting other logos based on the letter ‘M’ ought to be worried (more bad news for Google’s ill-received new Gmail logo?). Others, meanwhile, have likened the original design to other famous logo fails.
10
#BUZZFEED
Jio named in world’s ‘Top 25 Strongest Brands’ List; Tata India’s most valuable brand Reliance Jio and HDFC Bank feature among the world’s ‘Top 25 Strongest Brands,’ with Jio making it to the coveted top five. It is preceded by WeChat, Ferrari, SBER, and Coca-Cola. Others in the top 10 are Deloitte, LEGO, Amazon, Disney, and EY. Jio earned a BSI score of 91.7 out of 100, and the elite AAA+ brand strength rating. HDFC Bank, meanwhile, got a BSI score of 89.6 out of 100. The dominance of the brand across the nation is evident from the results of Brand Finance’s original market research. Jio scores highest in all metrics — consideration conversion, reputation, recommendation, word of mouth, innovation, customer service, and value for money — compared to its telecom competitors in India. The brand has no major weaknesses within the sector, and unlike other telecoms brands globally, Jio has shown that it has broken the mould Tata Group continued to be India’s most valuable brand, as per Brand Finance Global 500 2021. It climbed seven spots to 77th globally with a brand value of $21.3 billion. The venerable brand has led from the front in combating COVID-19 in the country by committing approximately $200 million (Rs 1,500 crore). The Tata brand is deeply ingrained in the fabric of India and is by far the most global Indian brand
11
#BUZZFEED
12
IS HYPERLOOP THE NEXT SUPPLY CHAIN REVOLUTION Riya Shakchi Lady Shri Ram College for Women, New Delhi
The Coronavirus is wreaking havoc by attacking societies at their core, claiming lives and people’s livelihoods. It has also served as a wakeup for better supply chain management. The effective planning and management of a logistics and supply chain is a challenge for most countries. In India’s consumer economy, transporting items from the factories to the stores is a painfully slow process. For too long, logistics and supply chain management in India has meant two different things - dark storage spaces and dilapidated trucks moving goods on the pothole-filled roads. But now, since the volume of goods produced and consumed in India has increased exponentially in the past few decades, the old system is inadequate. Lately, the Indian Logistics and Supply chain have undergone a transformation, owing to the steady adaptation of smart technologically engaged operational practices, combined with accelerated growth opportunities. However, India’s fast track rise to become a global economy has prompted a staggering effect on its environment and ecology. India’s poor Environmental Performance Index: 168/180 in 2020, is a loud warning sign for the economy to urgently adopt sustainable practices so as to remain globally relevant.
Going green is definitely not a one-time proposition, yet a nonstop exertion to perceive approaches to diminish a company’s environmental impact and improve business standards. In the forthcoming decades, the Indian supply chain will be impacted by various evolving macro-factors such as mega cities, increased consumer segments, increased global trade and more importantly affordable technologies. Therefore, there is a need for a green supply chain system which can reduce the harmful impacts of industrial activities from the environment without sacrificing quality, cost, reliability, performance or energy utilization efficiency. Responsible supply chain depends on two measurements: the center cycles of a supply chain and the idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR). A firm has to fulfil its CSR such that it enhances society and the environment, instead of contributing negatively to them. Covid has further worsened the supply chain scenario in India. Adding onto the climate crisis, the world undoubtedly needs to focus on sustainability in the supply chain.
13
The word Hyperloop has been abundantly ‘hyped’ a term nowadays and is in the news for quite a while now. Beyond cars, rail, water and air it is getting faddish in logistics innovation today. The demographic density across the network of roadways in the next 50 years looks quite alarming with the fast-multiplying global population and traffic congestion. Business processes will improve, automation and robotics will minimize turnaround time and man will have to discover ways to limit travel time definitely in the midst of congestion.
The expense of building a hyperloop is assessed to be significantly less than constructing a highspeed railway line for a similar distance. As the route is 100% electric, the greenhouse gas emissions may be lowered by up to 86,000 tons over 30 years. There are some innovative and administrative obstacles in execution, however they are eventually expected to be overcome. There are already six private players in the race, the Hyperloop in the end, is by all accounts a triumphant competitor.
The idea of hyperloop has its origin in ‘vacuum trains’ that can run at a speed faster than sound. Regardless of whether the reality of traveling faster than sound can ever be materialized is begging to be proven wrong, but what looks a possibility is that hyperloop might eliminate tube rails with its incomprehensible speed and could even beat the speed of planes too. India has also begun asserting its stake in the worldwide hyperloop portfolio. The Virgin Hyperloop One (VHO) is working to develop a network across a distance from Mumbai to Pune.
India might be the first country to get Hyperloop operational within the next 5 years. This would be a major paradigm shift to create colossal chances for the market players in the areas of supply chain planning and inventory management.
Said to be a faster , safer and sustainable mode of transportation than the other means, hyperloop technology is quickly gaining traction. Hyperloop’s super-fast speed is a great advantage for implementing Just-In-Time inventory practices. The organizations can design around holding less stock, decreasing the warehouse footprint and the related operational and overhead expenses.It is assessed that the carriers can move twenty fold the amount of freight at partial expenses per kilo, which additionally implies that payload should be bundled, stacked, dumped from manufacturing area to hyperloop stations all the more rapidly and effectively.
14
The Hyperloop will allow businesses to achieve a whole new level of flexibility, having a streamlining effect on supply chain operations. Because of more limited lead times, organizations would have the option to get to a more extensive spectrum of suppliers and even explore completely new business sectors. Instead of holding high inventory levels in numerous local distribution centres, stock could be quickly and efficiently transported from just a handful of central and regional warehouses. This would create a more responsive supply chain. Hyperloop-driven inventory chains can assist in delivering agile, just-in-time-based manufacturing and replenishment practices, the savings from which can overshadow any economies in transportation costs. It is the sort of transformative change that the global supply chain industry has been waiting for. It calls for a high level of government involvement if long-distance hyperloop projects are to become a reality.
There are some problems plaguing Hyperloop at the initial stages. Constructing a tube hundreds of kilometers long would be a designing wonder all by itself. However, introducing a tube hundreds of kilometers long that operates at a near perfect vacuum is out and out short a sci-fi dream. Small scale experiments reveal the basics of the thought are sound. Albeit, in reality, there are such a large number of variables that can’t be represented with a limited scale plan. In reality, there are a huge number of kilograms of barometrical pressing factor which takes steps to pulverize any vacuum chamber. The Hyperloop would be tremendously costly. There are numerous unavoidable issues confronting the Hyperloop that undermine the underlying trustworthiness, and each human existence ready. Endeavour is in making this concept more sustainable and low cost, through utilizing solar energy in-
stead of electricity wherever possible. After all initial fixed expenses, hyperloop projects are economical to operate and have a serious level of operating leverage. They don’t rely on fossil fuels like the conventional trains, and are a superior alternative for reducing the impacts of environmental change. Until now, reliability and efficiency in supply chains were the dual priorities of supply chain organizations and were prized over resilience and sustainability. The exclusive focus on dependable supply at the lowest cost made supply chains inflexible and opaque. Apart from the resilient and responsible chains, the goal of sustainable supply chains also remained elusive. The proposed sustainable design would achieve cost reduction and transparency in the supply chain. With this, we can surely say that we are heading towards the kind of future we desire.
15
16
M M
Marque - The Marketing club, IIM Rohtak
THE
ARQUING OMENTS
17
18
MARQUE - THE MARKETING CLUB INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT ROHTAK
marketingclub@iimrohtak.ac.in
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the stake holders of IIM Rohtak EDITOR : Hassan Ahmed DESIGN : Divya Yadav FOLLOW US ON :