Welcome to The Mobile First & Cloud First World!!

So Ever Dynamic Business Landscapes

Whether its Microsoft buying Nokia or Facebook getting maniac for Whatsapp.......All are trying to be Relevant and in quest of Re-inventing their Business model!!

Microsoft took three good decades to loose some relevance and start looking for INNOVATION VECTOR, Facebook started feeling heat in just three years and has amazed the whole world to go crazy for Customer Acquisitions in search of sustainability or scalability, will remain a matter of debate for Tech & Biz Wizards.

Business landscapes are getting more and more dynamic and who won`t believe in Darwin theory will hardly make it to the next cliff. The future for Technology lies in Hand Held Devices and its making today`s consumer even more powerful as it makes them feel World under their finger tips. So all Business have to make this transition a swift one if they wish to see tomorrow. And all Marketers have already started to queue-up to reach their customer`s and grab their ever decreasing eyeball span.

Microsoft has accepted the trend of increasing penetration of Mobiles more than the PC hence started developing Softwares (Office for IPAD) to engage with this new breed of customer and be relevant tomorrow. Nokia`s Acquisition is one such step in that direction. An integration of Software and hardware to challenge Android maybe with a superior interface. Nadella is surely grabbing many eyeballs by his `Mobile first Cloud first` business strategy. Microsoft is really trying for that Innovation vector to stay relevant for today`s consumer.

 $43 acquisition cost per customer($19Bn for 450M customers growing at a rate of 1M daily) may look like a Maniac-Zig but Zuckerberg is no fool, he surely knows what he is doing. He is trying his best to be as close to his customers. Facebook entered their personal chats now, Imagine the kind of data he is getting privy to. Afterall all the companies in this field have to compete with GOOGLE, its just a matter of today or tomorrow. At the same time Google is finding tough to replicate their supremacy when it comes to Hand-held devices, leaving a space, to innovate to design several business models around.

The most important the Marketers are dying to take a nap in their customer`s lap or may be to sleep with them. E-Commerce is becoming a business phenomenon, and saying that Mobile is the future for it. Its like the GODS are craving for and lending their trust with something!!

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How Offline Retailers are Padding-Up to foray Online to sustain and keep themselves relevant...

Offline Retailers Open an Online Front

Cos slash prices, launch exchange offers to offset loss of business to the likes of Flipkart, Snapdeal

Top mobile phone and electronics retailers such as The Mobile Store, Future Group and UniverCell Retail are boosting their online presence with aggressive deals to counter e-commerce portals that have hurt their brick-and-mortar business with discount offers.
These firms have slashed prices, launched exchange offers on old models and even offer faster delivery options for online purchases in a bid to curb losing business to the likes of Flipkart and Snapdeal. “It’s better to lose sales to one’s own e-commerce platform than to competition,” D Sathish Babu, CEO at cellphone retail chain UniverCell Retail, said.
UniverCell is offering maximum possible discount for online sales and has started a one-hour delivery option in some southern cities, Mumbai and Pune, utilising its back-end infrastructure of 460-odd stores.
The Mobile Store, too, has started exchange offers and discounted prices for online sales, while Videocon-owned PlanetM Retail said its e-commerce portal will benchmark prices with popular shopping sites. Future Group’s ezoneonline has started selling products at a lower price than what’s available in the firm’s physical stores, while a senior official at Reliance Retail said the company wants reexamine its online sales strategy. For more than a year these retailers, along with distributors, have been lobbying with manufacturers to stop indiscriminate discounting by Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon, which impacted their business.
While some manufacturers such as Lenovo, Toshiba and Nikon have warned consumers against purchasing from online sites without checking warranty status, most manufacturers have not been able to plug the discounts. Canon reportedly plans to offer longer warranty on products bought offline to negate online discounts. E-commerce accounts for less than 1% of total retail sales in India, but it is the fastest growing retail channel. According to Assocham, India's e-commerce market grew 88% in 2013 to $16 billion, or about . 97,555 crore.
In most global markets, online prices across products are lower than offline prices and online retailers such as Amazon are growing at a much faster clip than offline retailers such as Walmart. Now retailers, in India and elsewhere, look to make some headway in the online space. Rajan Malhotra, Future Group president and eZone CEO, said ezoneonline has to follow the rules of the online industry to survive. “Online is a new market in India and while we may have to play the pricing game now, but long-term plans are different and we want to eventually merge it with our brickand-mortar stores so that we can sell and distribute a product anywhere,” he said. Ezoneonline targets to close this fiscal with . 60-crore sales and raise it to . 150-200 crore next fiscal.
Essar Group-owned The Mobile Store offers up to 5% discount in online sales and has tied up with certain banks for additional discounts on purchases through credit and debit cards, bringing its online prices almost at par with Flipkart and Snapdeal. The company has also rolled out an exchange scheme for online purchase in Mumbai and plans to expand it into New Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai next month.
Himanshu Chakrawarti, CEO at The Mobile Store, said, “While the e-commerce price war is certainly not healthy since it cuts into the operating margins, we can’t be too far away with prices.” So, while Samsung Galaxy Core cellphone is selling at around . 13,299 in physical stores, it is selling at around . 12,729 in the online store of The Mobile Store and . 12,299 at Flipkart. The Apple iPhone5s (16GB) is selling at . 48,150 by UniverCell on Amazon.in and at . 53,500 offline. Even regional chains like Great Eastern and Vijay Sales are foraying into e-commerce either directly or through online platforms such as Flipkart and Snapdeal. Nilesh Gupta, MD at Vijay Sales, said the retailer expects around 10% of its sales to come from online in 2-3 years. Gupta, however, said his firm sells at the same price online as in the stores — a policy that Tataowned Croma too follows. Ajit Joshi, MD & CEO at Infiniti Retail that owns Croma, said, “We have also partnered with marketplaces like Amazon, eBay and Groupon.”

 

  An Article By ET

writankar.mukherjee@ timesgroup.com

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E-Commerce is the inevitable future of Indian Retail Space...

E-Commerce is the inevitable future of Indian Retail Space...

Its better than late for Indian Retail to foray into E-Commerce Space

Pegged at $ 2 Bn today, Indian E-Retail is ready to explode and targeting $ 10 Bn in 3 to 4 years. If we include online ticketing and bookings the industry is $ 12 Bn and targeting $ 100Bn in next 10 years.This space has gained confidence of Investors and funds are poring like never before to give Indian Online Retail start ups scalability and sustainability. In all there are 80 odd companies in this space majorly small start-ups but the 90% of market is divided amongst the four majors Flipkart, Snapdeal, Jabong & Myntra.
It’s high time now,  Indian Small-time Retailers must adopt Marketplace Model of online Retail for the growth of their Retail Business or simply for the sake of sustainability in coming times. The compulsive reasons for this adoption are as follows:-

1. The kind of sales being racked up by online sites, the initiative could be regarded as protection from the inevitable obsolescence of brick-and mortar retail through a click and-mortar strategy.
2. Getting into online shopping is critical for future growth.
3. Online Model  gives scalability to any offline business. Examples are small-time retailers doing business 4-5 Crs Annually from their retail outlets now clocking upto 70-75 Crs from Online Marketplace Model.
4. Adding to the exuberance is market-leader Flipkart.com saying earlier this month that it could achieve $1 billion in revenue this year itself, a whole year earlier than previously expected. When it reaches that milestone, sevenyear-old Flipkart’s sales will be almost 40% of the  15,500-crore revenue of India’s largest retail conglomerate Future Group, which has been in the business for almost 17 years and runs a nationwide network of more than 1,000 stores.

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Masterstorke from AAP: Kejriwal Leading from the Front....Hope Strategist & Marketers are Observing!!

What a fantastic strategic masterstroke display from AAP leadership....To Position Kejriwal Strongly Against Modi!!

What Congress Strategist and Rahul could not have done so far, just arrived a few days old chaps on the BLOCK, AAP did it!! Kejriwal dared MODI in his den and ensured PRIME TIME on all channels and the whole Nation followed the same.

BJP leadership blundered and gave further space to AAP to orchestrate an impactful agitation and showcase to India that if anyone can challenge Modi this moment, he can be none other than India`s Prodigy Son Arvind Kejriwal.

Outcomes will certainly follow but Kejriwal could not have positioned him better than this. Now this election clearly seems to go between Modi & Kejriwal.....Hope Strategists & Marketers all across the Globe are watching this!!

 One more C added to the agenda, now its against Corruption & Communalism. This new C surely going to pay a lot of dividends, its polarizing the biggest minority towards AAP as they also see some hopes in Kejriwal, as someone and the only one at this juncture to even stand-up to Modi`s stature and give him JITTERS!!

Good going AAP...Kejri!! ATB...

Better watch BJP before someone successfully claims your destined stage...

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Happy Women`s Day

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