BW Businessworld on Wednesday (1 July) unveiled its marquee property, BW Businessworld Marketing Whitebook 2015-16, presented by ABP Live, in association with Nielsen, and powered by ZEEL. This year the edition has taken an in-depth view into the growing significance, and the changing definition, of the ‘Connected Consumers’ in India, and how it will impact businesses. Themed ‘#iammarketer: Connected Consumers’, the book highlights key trends, supported by insights, in the top 10 sectors that include Auto, Ecommerce, Finance, Healthcare, Information Technology, Infrastructure, Media & Entertainment, Retail & Shopper, Telecom and Travel. It also takes a look at some of the focus areas for businesses such as the changing digital landscape and the approach towards the likes of sustainability. The 11th edition commemorates the 35th year of Businessworld, a leading business magazine that has continually contributed to the way business journalism is presented in India, is an essential read for business leaders across domains and companies. Mr Nitish Kapoor, Regional Director, Reckitt Benckiser South Asia unveiled the book alongside Mr Annurag Barta, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, Businessworld; Mr Piyush Mathur, President, Nielsen India Region; Mr Kamal Bali, Managing Director Volvo India and Mr Rajesh Sud, Managing Director & CEO, Max Life Insurance. Commenting on the launch, Mr Batra said, “The marketing community is very central to the causes of corporate India, the political machinery, our government and other businesses. The role of chief marketing officer, brand managers, and the other image architects of the company in the way a company communicates must become an important point in the CEO’s agenda. The BW Businessworld Marketing Whitebook epitomises winning marketing strategies for an industry in transition. The theme this year acknowledges the rapid growth of digital in India, and the initiatives that the Prime Minister is taking to further this cause.” “In a hyper connected world and with technology building with full force, marketeers need to visualise consumers watching content and buying products in the same medium at the same time...simply put consumers will buy as they watch and will lead to integration of digital advertising world with the world of e-tailing,” remarked Mr Mathur. Leading business minds from Corporate India, the marketing and advertising industry, attended the book launch and deliberated on issues such as preparing for a new consumer world, the changing paradigm in retail, the challenges of connecting with the different Indias and preparing for a consumer first world. The event was attended by over 500 industry professionals.
Read More
The revival in monsoon has had its positive impact on the sales of passenger cars in the country. Most of the car makers who have declared their numbers for June 2015 have registered growth in sales. However, Tata Motors, a company which was out of competition till 2014 has continued to post better growth than others in the passenger car segment on the back of Tata Zest and Bolt with a 44 per cent increase (8,516 ) in sales for June 2015. The growth in the Month of May was also impressive at 32 per cent for passenger cars segment for Tata Motors. The double digit growth for Tata Motors has continued since August last year. While Maruti Suzuki’s growth remained flat at 0.5 per cent (86,630), Honda posted a growth of 13 per cent in June 2015. Hyundai Motors declared a growth of 8.3 per cent (36,300) on the back of successful elite I20. The growth posted by Tata Motors has come on the back of sharp planning with the launch of Tata Zest, Bolt and Gen X Nano. The company is offering the AMT (automated manual transmission) technology in its Zest model which has a competitive price of Rs 4.64 lakh (ex showroom Delhi) for its base petrol model. Not just the technology and the pricing, Tata Motors is also aware of the role that dealership plays in the success of a car. The company has been ramping up its network in smaller towns, besides working on mobile workshops to offer customers vehicle service at the doorstep. Tata motors plans to open one outlet every day from July this year to add 200 showrooms in 2015. Back in 2014, everything was the opposite from what it is today for Tata Motors. Company’s domestic car sales fell 39 per cent year-on-year in the year that ended on March 2014 and its market share also dropped to 4.2 percent at end-June 2014 from 10.2 percent two years ago. Tata Zest, was launched in August 2014, as its first offering in four years in the passenger car segment. Is Tata future ready? The company knows it very well that only innovation will help the company survives the competition from the foreign car makers. For a large part of the past decade, Tata Motors was a mute spectator in the market as foreign companies came up with new features loaded with technology in their cars.However, with the AMT technology, Tata Motors has tried to compete with the market leader Maruti which offers the same technology in its Celerio and Alto K10 models. The company has been increasing its R&D spend in domestic operations over the past few years. The company increased its R&D from 3.3% of total sales, to 6.3 per cent of its total sales in FY-14 The average annual capital expenditure over the past three years around Rs 25,000 crore. The company expects to raise it to Rs 40,000 crore in the coming years. In the coming months, the sales of domestic car makers. Including Tata Motors may come down if the monsoon rains dwindle in quantity, affecting the purchasing power of consumers. But given the long terms strategy that Tata is working on, it looks that the company can only go up as it has already hit the bottom.
Read More
How are the marketers speaking to these different types of consumers? Shubhi Tandon reports as the 11th edition of Marketing White Book is launched There are two Indias living in extremes but there is also a strong middle class in between. There are people who use a mobile phone as a family phone and those who are experiencing the internet for the first time to those who are moving seamlessly between devices making traditional forms of media look obsolete. How are the marketers speaking to these different types of consumers? Raghav Subramanian, COO, IPG Mediabrands believes that the ‘80s concept of middle class does not exist in urban India anymore. He explains, “The urban household income is 50 lakh crore now, out of which 45 per cent comes from the so-called middle class. A large part of growth has happened not just in the metros like Delhi and Mumbai, but also in Tier II cities like Jaipur and Bhubhaneswar.” Marketers do not consider the Indian market as a pyramid now. Mahesh Kanchan, Director – Marketing, Carlsberg India outlines, “The Indian market has moved from a pyramid structure to that of a diamond – with the middle class forming the bulging middle of the diamond. This change in structure happened as the people from the bottom of the class structure moved to the middle and the some from the middle moved to the top.” Marketers are always looking to target across the whole structure as the needs of each of these layers keeps differing. Mr Kanchan explains further, “The people at the bottom are still looking at the basics – getting two square meals a day. Marketers look forward to penetrating this category – as this is the category which does not use branded items.” Highlighting the task for the present-day marketers, Mr Kanchan says, “Marketers need to work to educate and recruit the people from the bottom into the Indian market. For the middle class, the marketers need to work to make them upgrade to a higher category of products or use even more products of the same category that they are using. With the top class, the marketers need to make them consume more luxury products.” Mr Kanchan concludes, “If the marketers have not cracked the middle of the diamond in the Indian market, they cannot succeed. The middle class cannot be ignored as that is where the scale of India is.” Some marketers differ on the class divide. Balachander Sekhar, Co-Founder, RenewBuy says, “The digital adoption is breaking down the whole class barrier. There are 125 million Facebook users in India. While it is mostly used to share content and socialise, a large part of India also uses it to promote themselves or their businesses.” Mr Sekhar believes that the advent of affordable smartphones in the market has completely disrupted the class barriers. He adds further, “The traditional ways of segmenting customers is breaking down. This is not just the case in digital but across different industries, for example, there are no longer just 5-star hotels but local hotels which cater to lower classes as well. A smart marketer would be able to build on these changing dynamics.” Mr Subramanian adds, “Consumers are now dictating what they want from marketers and it is no longer the other way round. The Indian market skipped a lot of steps – Landline phones never had 100 per cent penetration, but mobile does.” Microfinancing is another concept that has helped in the growth of the bottom class, especially in the agricultural and rural areas. Sanjay Tripathy, Sr. EVP - Head Marketing, Product, Digital & E-commerce, HDFC Life Insurance, explains, “Before microfinance, financial help was only available to a select few. Since there was no certainty of income for farmers they did not get any bank support. But now in the digital age, rural people have access to information, like in agriculture they can learn the right crop cycle. This combined with microfinance for the rural areas means that now they have the support needed to make the right decision and also someone is there to back you up with finance.” The speakers were speaking at a panel discussion organised by Businessworld for the launch of its 11th edition of the Marketing White Book on July 1, 2015 in Gurgaon.
Read More
What are the changing trends in retail? Hita Gupta reports on what experts have to say at the launch of the 11th edition of the Marketing White Book E-commerce is the new fad in India and the advent of smartphones is expected to change the landscape which will enable marketers to make the experience seamless and invisible. Industry experts echoed the sentiment at the launch of 11th edition of the Marketing White Book that commemorates the 35th anniversary of BW Businessworld. Aloke Bajpai, Founder of ixigo, expressed how the travel industry in India can be accredited for innovation and development in the ecommerce industry. “It is the impact of mobile phones that has lead to consumer demanding a personalised experience,” he said. The explosion of the food industry in the last one year has further pushed the urge for personalisation. Sahil Jain, Co-Founder of DineOut pointed, “Convenience has emerged as the key and is powering the ecosystem as 80 per cent of the transactions are taking place through the application when the consumer is on the go.” Navneet Rai, Co-Founder of Tolexo has seen an interesting convergence between the consumer behaviour and technology in India. He detailed three key observations that he has seen in the industry – convenience, ability to discover products, and integration of financial history onto the platform. Digital wallets deserve unarguable mention when discussing evolution in retail. Saurabh Srivastava, Chief Marketing Officer of Mobikwik helped further describe the phenomenon. “Wallets help make day-to-day transactions seamless. It is the acceptance of wallets across the domain that will increase the need of wallets,” Mr Srivastava added. Over the course of next 3-4 years, predictive computing and customised experience is going to define retail in India, according to Mr Bajpai. He added that marketers must leverage data to make the experience personalised for the consumer. Meanwhile, Mr Srivastava seeks to find an intersection between the consumer and his financial credibility which will make payments invisible. Financial history of the consumer and altering the platform’s technology to suit his needs will define the next stage of modern retail, the panel reiterated in conclusion.
Read More
What the market currently requires is a few success stories (great post-listing returns) to prompt people to look at the IPO market seriously, says Paramita Chatterjee Investors and policymakers can breathe a sigh of relief. Well, at least for now! The primary market which was subdued at the start of 2015 is suddenly bustling with activity with three companies filing for draft papers with the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) this week itself. This is despite the current volatility in the Indian bourses owing to the Greek worries. InterGlobe Enterprises, which owns the country's biggest airline IndiGo, plans to raise about Rs 1,250 crore, while staffing firm TeamLease and E-retailer Infibeam are in queue to raise about Rs 450 and Rs 500 crore, respectively. That is not all. Other companies that have joined the IPO bandwagon and have filed their offer documents in the past few days with the market regulator include coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day, international SIM card provider Matrix Cellular and RBL Bank, formerly known as Ratnakar Bank. This sudden flurry of activity in the IPO space is definitely good news for the industry, especially since the IPO market has been sluggish for the past 3 years. In the first two months of the current fiscal, as many as four IPOs were launched with companies raising Rs 1,880 crore, as per data available with Prime Database, the country's first database dedicated to the capital markets. These are by transport firm VRL Logistics, UFO Moviez India, a digital cinema distribution network and in-cinema advertising platform, the Agra-based PNC Infratech and toll management company MEP Infrastructure Developers. In the previous fiscal, the total number of IPOs stood at 8 with companies raising a meagre Rs 2,770 crore. “In the year gone by, expectations were very high, given the hope generated by the new government and a buoyant secondary market. However, the year did not see too many IPOs,” said Prithvi Haldea, Chairman at Prime Database. The reasons behind were manifold. For one, the revised SEBI’s eligibility norms had limited many potential issuers. Two, greater disclosures and higher due diligence by the investment bankers was taking much longer time. Companies which are now looking to tap the market have actually been planning for long. Going forward in the current fiscal, India is likely to see quite a quite a few IPOs if the market and the sentiments continue to be bullish. Also, with Sebi announcing an alternative institutional trading platform for start ups to list with ease, many more promoters may be willing to tap the capital market. But what will determine the fate of the IPOs – whether the big ones or start ups -- is the pricing. Besides, the corporate sector has to start reporting better numbers and until that happens, the stories would be weak and hence valuations would be low. Also, what the market currently requires is a few success stories (great post-listing returns) that will automatically prompt people to look at the IPO market seriously. Investors continue to believe that there is still an upside available in the secondary market, where risks are comparatively lower and therefore are putting their money there directly or through the mutual funds.
Read More
The eleventh edition of the Marketing White Book is launched, reports Monica Behura from the Leela, GurgaonThe much awaited Marketing White Book (MWB) was launched by BW|Businessworld Editor-in-chief and chairman Annurag Batra and Nielsen India president Piyush Mathur on Wednesday (1 July). The packed audience roared approval to quotes from famous marketers and excerpts read out from the MBW. Talking of the future and power of marketing in the launch event, Mr Batra said: "We own an economy where we don't know who owns the future." He said a performer is a marketeer too." Every individual is tweeting, sharing, broadcasting about brands and experiences. Everyone is a marketer, said Mr Batra. Talking of the new consumer power in the digital age, Mr Mathur quoted excerpts from the MWB- "Computing power in your mobile phone is much more powerful than a NASA scientist on the Moon." He went on to say "computing power in a chip in a singing card in much more powerful than the power of the armed forces of 1945". He also said "efficiency plays a very important role in the world of marketing.
Read More
Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of the holding company of India's Tata conglomerate, has bought a stake in online taxi-hailing firm Ola, the company said on Wednesday (1 July). Tata, a respected business leader who was the chairman of salt-to-software Tata Sons for more than two decades, has previously invested in start-ups ranging from online retailer Snapdeal to Chinese phone maker Xiaomi. Ola did not disclose financial details of the investment, but said Tata had taken a stake in his individual capacity. In most cases, analysts say Tata's investments have not been big, but are considered valuable for startups because of the validation and mentorship these endorsements bring. Ola, which competes with Uber in India, is the country's biggest online cab service. Backed by Japan's Softbank, Ola bought TaxiForSure in March for $200 million in one of India's biggest e-commerce deals as the company plans to see off its domestic rivals and the emerging challenge of fast-growing US-based rival Uber. Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO and Co-founder, Ola said, "It is our honor to have Mr. Ratan Tata onboard as an investor. This is a huge endorsement from one of the most respected business leaders of our times and reflects Ola’s commitment towards the future of mobility in India. We look forward to learning from Mr. Tata’s experience that will help us build a world class organisation from India.”
Read More
To put it in a nutshell, smart city will have smart physical, social and economical infrastructure while ensuring the centrality of citizen in a sustainable environment, says Krishna GuptaWith the steady growth of population in India, we face a number of significant barriers that continues to hamper the development of physical and social infrastructure, thus holding India back from a revolutionary change in economy and development. This problem is aggravated by expert’s report, according to which the population of India will get nearly doubled by 2050. Therefore, we immediately require an exponential mechanism that can effectively handle the ever growing population rate and provide solutions to deploy employment and economic activities besides better quality of life.In this context, Indian government came up with a convincing and powerful solution of Smart Cities that are intended to satiate the needs by offering economic and employment opportunities to its wide section of residents, regardless of their level of education, skills or income level. The description of a smart city may vary person to person but according to me, in a wider perspective it is indubitably conceptualized and executed to develop the so required institutional, physical, social and economic infrastructure and to attract professionals and investors around the globe.Not only this but also the good quality infrastructure coupled with sanitation, high quality education, enhanced security, smooth mobility, entertainment and high speed interconnectivity will surely advocate entrepreneurs and professionals to establish and run their enterprise in an effective manner. Additionally, as per to the statistics the current urban population is around 31 per cent of the total population and it is contributing over 60 per cent of India’s GDP. It is expected that with the concept of smart cities urban India will contribute to 75 per cent of national GDP in next 15 years with the workforce of 270 million workers. Because of the very same reason they are referred as harbinger of economic growth and need to be operated carefully as they are critical to our economic development.Now, since we are still a developing economy, we have the opportunity to choose the path of development we want to take. Clearly, we should take the low energy path, especially in view of environmental sustainability as well as in view of the fact that for becoming globally competitive we need to be efficient in terms of energy utilization. Similarly adequate availability of the required skills in the labour force is a necessary requirement for sustainability of a Smart City. Besides smart housing, high level health care, safety and security are the basic amenities expected for every resident.Also a total of 98,000 crore has been approved by the Cabinet for development of 100 smart cities and rejuvenation of 500 other cities. However, managing and organizing urban space for augmented liveable standard has proven to be difficult over times due to accelerated rural to urban migration which again calls to administer the concept of Smart cities. Smart city plan must implement a comprehensive, supportive policy framework for new urbanization that establishes key, guiding principles and identifies the enablers like technology, financing and talent attraction as that will be crucial to the implementation of new, live-able and sustainable urban spaces.To put it in a nutshell, smart city will have smart physical, social and economical infrastructure while ensuring the centrality of citizen in a sustainable environment. In this aim to transform urban and rural areas into smarter cities, a collaborative approach between government, industry and civil society is required to pave the way for attainment of this dream. When every individual (including professional, entrepreneurs and others) will help in developing nation then the utopia of India being a developed country will be achieved manifold faster as compared to now.The author is founder & CEO of Propterry.com.
Read More
