Granted, one wouldn't typically expect a diehard, compulsive Mafia Wars (a social game available on Facebook) fan to be lured by a game called Karma Kingdom; a name that clearly doesn't promise the kind of adrenaline rush guaranteed by the former. Yet, rooted in Indian (Hindu) mythology — one is greeted by a genial Ganesha once you enter Karma Kingdom — the game focuses on teaching people the value of good deeds and supporting charitable causes in more ways than one. Also, it allows certain privileges that can be traded in the real world. No wonder the game has found quite a few takers. Developed by the Singapore headquartered (with subsidiary offices in Santa Monica, US and New Delhi) entertainment and transmedia, company Asvathaa, Karma Kingdom was introduced on Facebook about three months ago (a beta version which will be upgraded soon) and launched on ibibo.com this May, where it has managed to attract over 2,000 players.Although the game is based on the noble principle of earning game points for good deeds, creating healthy island communities with adequate social infrastructure required to create 'happy citizens', it isn't enough to effect a radical transformation in people's mindsets and gaming preferences, overnight. To achieve a virtual-to-real world impact, it takes more than good intentions: an optimum game plan, design and a variegated business model. To their advantage, with Karma Kingdom, Asvathaa has positioned itself to enter at that juncture in gaming where profitability is married to social awareness in what clearly seems to be a mutually beneficial process. Ashok Desai, CEO and Founder, Asvathaa Within the dynamics of the game, players earn karma points for every good deed they do. Plus, there are certain privileges that come which can be traded in the real world, for example, for discounts on a new tablet, much like credit card mileage points, reward points and discount vouchers that are availed for on the purchase of products/services. Fuelling consumerism doesn't hurt anybody. "We all are materialistic at the end of the day and want some reward, but through karma Kingdom you can do so in a way that allows you to support charities," says Ashok Desai, CEO and Founder of Asvathaa. "In our agreement with Cybermedia, for example, whenever a new subscriber member comes (through Karma Kingdom) and avails a 25 per cent discount, they (Cybermedia) will also set aside some money for charity. Thus, a player is not only getting something in return but also enabling a charitable cause," Desai explains. Following a diversified revenue stream, the money from the paid virtual goods purchased by players such as hospitals, libraries, schools etc. (out of choice rather than any mandatory requirement within the framework of the game) 100 per cent of that goes to charities such as the Sankara Eye Foundation, the Salaam Bombay foundation and others. In addition 10 per cent of all profit — from the cross portal, in game advertising revenues — also goes towards charity. The focus on social RoI as an operative strategy drives them beyond tradition CSR activities.Desai states that a big task for them lies in trying to convince charitable foundations to invest in the game. "We want to encourage foundations to put money here because karma points need to be converted into some charitable contribution, Players can vote as to which charity they want to go to; this way they are encouraging hundreds of people to play, think positive and think about other. Even if they give us hundred dollars and if players know that their karma points will convert to, they are more motivated to play, he says. In order to fins a wider reach in India, some of the virtual goods have been reasonable subsidised. Building a Sankara Eye Hospital, which costs $4 in the US costs only $1 in India. Currently over 25 hospitals have been purchased and established by players in their island communities on ibibo.com.The use of mythological characters, albeit in a manner that doesn't suggest any religious predispositions, is a somewhat deliberate medium to reach out to the Indian diaspora. The idea is that Karma kingdom should soon become a platform where we bring in other cultures since every diaspora wants to deal with its own charity, in their own geography. "With Facebook, we need to provide a menu of charities which they can choose from in their geography. We are a hardcore 'for profit business' but we want to be able to bring together individual businesses and non profit organisations to be able to work with them together" states Desai. Preparing For A ChangeoverIn the gaming industry, overall, the impact of socially responsible, educative, online games is becoming palpable. Games for Change, a New York based non profit organisation, has been playing an instrumental role, since 2004, in the creation and distribution of games that support humanitarian causes: international conflict resolution, human rights, saving the environment, health and labour issues, among others. Some of their games such as Food Force (based on the UN's World Food Programme) and We Topia are available on Facebook. Their rise to prominence can be estimated by the fact that at this year's Game Developers Conference, held in March in the US, for the first time, Games for change made its debut while administering a day long summit on their projects.In India, however, the trend of leveraging games for social cause - especially when considering the gamut of issues which could be easily transposed into virtual game play- remains vastly underexplored. "We had launched a game called Yes Prime Minister last year on ibibo. It was about building a corruption free India and was launched at the height of the Anna Hazare movement, when there was a lot of angst and outrage among people," says Rahul Razdan, President - Products & Operations at ibibo web. The game captured that essence and met with a lot of traction in those couple of months, says Razdan which proves that the youth is likely to be mobilised by such experiments. The challenge however is that while a lot of games (such as Yes PM) catch the fancy of gamers for a short period, they haven't quite converted into long term engagements where people would want to play on a sustained basis. ibibo is therefore optimistic about the fate of Karma Kingdom as it is designed in a way that makes people want to do good deeds on for a relatively long term and follows a layered, free flowing architecture that would keep players interested.A few months ago, matrimonial company, Shaadi.com launched an online game called Angry Brides; an anti-dowry game with a simple enough structure where players can choose from a range of weapons: broomstick, red stiletto, football etc. and hurl them at greedy, prospective grooms. It received a lot of attention and Facebook 'likes' (around 2,72,000) initially. At the moment the game has about 8,000 monthly users on Facebook and its popularity on ibibo is clearly dwindling. Angry Brides is a classic case where people were attracted to the core issue but because of its one dimensional interaction, they participated for a while but eventually moved on, Razdan opines. "(With social games) there is a fine balance between entertainment- where people want to play games because they enjoy them- and promoting a social cause where people are left with an elevation of self esteem. They (social causes) need to be woven beautifully into the game because if that doesn't happen, only committed activists and not people at large will end up playing the game," he says. In that respect game developers in India still have a long way to go and there is a wide arena to survey.According to Facebook statistics, in India there are about 40 million people who use Facebook among whom about 4 million people play social games. The target demographic is between the ages of 18-30 with two third of the population being male. Approximately 3 million people among this group have expressed an interest in contributing towards charities, which gives Asvathaa a lot to look forward to. Even as multiplayer games such as Teen Patti, Rummy and cricket games, for instance, Howzzat continue to be the most popular choices on ibibo, one of their top social games has been Mumbai Underworld; where players assume dark characters in a crime infested city's underbelly. The standard joke in ibibo these days is that Karma Kingdom can help balance out the 'bad karma' acquired from Mumbai Underworld with the emphasis on good deeds. Perhaps, forgoing the commission earned from the sale of virtual charitable goods on Karma Kingdom is ibibo's first step in that direction.
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HealthKart, launched in March 2011, is an e-commerce company focused on consumer healthcare products. Within a year, it has grown to become India's largest e-health store, where consumers from all parts of the country find a large variety of healthcare products under one umbrella. The company sells over 12,000 products across fitness, health and personal care categories such as nutrition, diabetes, home devices, eye and personal care. HealthKart also sells various health services, such as preventive health packages, diagnostic tests and gym memberships, to provide one-stop solution for all consumer health needs.On Monday, Healthkart announced acquisition of MadeInHealth, a premier online fitness and body-building community and supplement store which targets bodybuilders and fitness-enthusiasts (Read: Healthkart.com Buys Madeinhealth.com). Here, Sameer Maheshwari and Prashant Tandon, Joint MD, Healthkart.com, share with BW online's Poonam Kumar the idea behind Healthcart.com What made you start this e-commerce portal? What is unique about your health portal? HealthKart (www.healthkart.com) is an e-Commerce company focused on consumer healthcare products. We sell over 12,000 fitness, health and personal care products across various health categories such as nutrition, sports & fitness, diabetes, home devices, eye and personal care. We started HealthKart when we realized that internet/e-Commerce was on the cusp of growth explosion, and it presented a viable medium of distributing thousands of consumer health products in a country, where organized retail such segment is mere 3 per cent. HealthKart's objective is to become go-to online destination for consumers for all their healthcare needs, we offer three-fold benefits to consumers - a) Authenticity – given the large counterfeit / grey market of healthcare products in the country, assurance to get genuine products, b) Assistance - proper education about the available products before purchase, and c) Access – one-stop-shop for getting maximum product range from any part of the country.How many registered and unique visitors does your site have?We have approximately 50,000 registered users and get approximately 600,000 unique visitors every month.How do you plan to increase your sales?In addition to improving our product portfolio, which already contains over 12,000 products, we plan to grow by leveraging online marketing channels, such as Google, Facebook, and social media. We also have a referral programme which helps in customer acquisition through word of mouth. Additionally, we focus a lot providing best of the breed customer service, which drives repeat purchases.Who all do you consider competition?There isn't any comparable healthcare focused eCommerce player, but we do have category specific competitors, such as firstcry.com, babyoye.com etc in baby and health categories.Who are your potential target customers for health products?We target different age groups for the various categories. Fitness products are targeted largely towards males in the 20-40 age group, audience for health products is 50+ males / females; and personal care and beauty products are largely focused at females in the 18-40 age group.Do you have any tie-ups? Also, how do you ensure quality of the products?We have strong tie-ups with several brands such as Abbott, J&J and Roche, for procurement. Ensuring authenticity of products is one of our core value propositions; we procure either from authorized distributors or from manufacturers directly to deliver 100 per cent genuine products to our customers. We also have strong partnerships with almost all the premium logistics companies, such as BlueDart, DTDC, FedEx etc, which enables us to provide timely delivery of orders to customers. What is your revenue model? When do you expect to break even?We are a virtual retail store and our business model resembles any offline retailer's business model, but with superior economics. Revenue is generated by selling goods to consumers online and profits accrue via margins received from distributors / brands that sell through us. Our margins are typically higher than offline retailers, since we don't incur any real-estate costs. We further derive additional margins by procuring goods directly from manufacturers or authorized distributors, eliminating the middlemen in the process. In the early stages of e-commerce industry, we are currently investing heavily in customer acquisition and marketing, once that tapers off, we will break even, likely in 2-3 years. What are your future plans? What is your projected revenue for the coming year on a half-yearly basis?We wish to scale up the business at a sustainable pace. We are investing a lot in processes, analytics and automation, which will allow us to use capital efficiently, as we grow. We will likely do 20Cr of revenue in next 6 months. What payment systems do you use?We offer both prepaid options, such as credit / debit cards, NEFT etc, and Cash on Delivery options to our customers. We have partnered with Techprocess and Citrus payment gateways to enable payment options on our website. Is this your first e-commerce foray? Are you involved in offline business too?Yes, this is our first e-commerce venture and the journey has been an incredible one thus far. We spent significant amount of time in the US and left very comfortable jobs to pursue entrepreneurship. But excitement to build something from scratch, which has a fair chance to redefine the distribution of health products in the country, has kept us going. We currently don't have any offline business.Read Also: Healthkart.com Buys Madeinhealth.com
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Indians are known for their love of the good things in life and their appreciation of finer nuances. While wines have always struggled to find appreciation under the umbrella of Indian liquors and alcoholic beverages, they have readily found acceptability across the niche' echelons of the country. However, with changing times and rising disposable incomes, wine has started to gain acceptability across masses and has now become one of the lead consumables in the Indian alcohol market. Though the per capita intake of wine is still low among India's rapidly expanding middle and upper classes, wine drinking and an understanding of the subject has become the latest craze and somewhat of a must-have or must-know are of interest in the current scenario.Over time India has steadily emerged as one of the fastest growing wine markets in the world wherein the per capita consumption of wine has topped 10 million litres, which shows the immense potential that this still nascent market has in the country. Rising at a phenomenal growth rate of about 25 per cent and currently being valued at approximately 2700 crores — up from a modest 800 crores in 2008— the wine market in India has seen unparalleled augmentation in the past decade or so wherein the wine consumption in India is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 25-30 percent by 2014. It is imperative to quote the recent report by (International Wine and Spirit Research)IWSR, on the Indian Wine Market which expects the it to gradually mature and reach a consumption level of 2.4 millio nine-litre cases by 2020.Rocketing over time from 45 million cases in 2001 to at least 135 million cases in 2011, industry experts say that for the wine consumers in the country, 'the good times are here to stay.' The reasons for this could include: favourable governmental policies, openness to wine culture, augmenting disposable incomes, growing tourism sector and changing perception of the society, have helped in creating a varied wine market in the country.Mumbai accounts for approximately 30 per cent of the total wine consumption in the country, Delhi and Goa account for approximately 20 per cent each along with Bengaluru which accounts for about 15 per cent. They are all expected to add into their quotas which will, by the turn of this financial year, see significant value additions to the coffers of the wine industry of India.Cultivating A Necessary Luxury Industry stalwarts point out that while favourable factors, such as the country having a good climate for grape growing and increase in urban youth population who crave for an alternative to hard liquor, has added to the growing acceptance of the medium, other factors like emergence of supermarkets as basic wine distribution infrastructures, linear supply chain, effective business branding and rising domestic disposable incomes have helped the genre of wines become more of a necessity than a luxury. Thus, realising the need to create a favourable trend of drinking wine, wine makers are not leaving any stone unturned to attract new wine drinkers and have been continually organising vineyard visits, factory tours and tastings sessions to entice them in. These sessions while imparting the basic know how of appreciating a wine along with informing them about the correct way to enjoy it lets the enthusiasts create more familiarity with the brand. While the positives are many, negatives also abound with regards to the wine market of the country. State level taxations and policies, logistic &supply chain, storage facilities &under developed infrastructure and retail system act as some speed breakers in this growth story. Another major hindrance is the lack of knowledge about the beverage from both ends,the seller and the buyer. But with evolving state regulatory policies, which are expected to change over the next decade as India's population constituent becomes more youth centric, aided with favourable factors, the wine industry in India is sure to augment in the future as well.When it comes to gender segmentation, over time, Indian women are beginning to prefer wine as a more socially acceptable form of drinking. India today is majorly a still wine market wherein the popular varietals are Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Chardonnayin the whites and Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz in the reds. Having said that, consumers today have not only started experimenting with new varietals such as Sangiovese, Riesling and Cabernet Franc but also with different types of wines such as rose, sparkling, sweet wines across old and new world.The wine boom of the country has benefited both domestic and the international players. In terms of volume the imported wines have roughly a 14 per cent market share; however the same doubles up to 28 per cent in value. French, Italian and Australian wines have dominated this segment. In the domestic segment, the past decade has seen a dramatic increase in domestic Indian wineries from a meagre six wineries in 2000 to approximately 65 at the latest count. Between the top five wine producers of the country, the productivity has augmented to approximately 1,700,000 cases a year. The serious Indian wineries (though few) are aiming for consistency in quality and a product that not only competes in the domestic market but also in the international market. India is currently going through a process of evolution wherein the industry expects India to be one of the top wine producers in the world by 2050. With a positive future outlook fuelled in with factors such as evolving consumer base, quality production, and government support, India is on the verge of fulfilling its wine dream. The economic impediments notwithstanding, the Indian wine market has only one destination: up.While the numbers point towards the suitability of the sector, it is time to sit back and rejoice in the advent of the industry and revel in the emergence of it. Kapil Sekhri is the director and co-promoter of Fratelli Wines
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Hedge funds are becoming more "institutionalized" as they respond to greater demands for transparency and due diligence from pension funds and other institutional clients, according to a new survey by KPMG and global hedge fund association AIMA, the Alternative Investment Management Association.The new global report called "The Evolution of an Industry" found that among the 150 responding hedge fund managers, 88 per cent reported demand for greater due diligence and 82 per cent for increased transparency. It found that hedge fund management firms have improved their operational infrastructure in areas like investor transparency and regulatory compliance as allocations from institutional investors have increased.KPMG also found that the sizes of hedge funds and their clients are becoming increasingly correlated, with large investors allocating to larger hedge funds. Hedge funds of funds and smaller investors are more likely to allocate to smaller hedge fund mangers. Europe has been the weakest region globally when it comes to raising hedge fund assets since the 2008 crisis.It found managers who had taken in new money from Europe since 2008 (53 per cent of the respondents) were roughly equalled by those (47 per cent) who had not. In Switzerland the balance was worse, with 56 per cent of managers reporting less business from there since 2008. In all other regions - North America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East - a larger portion of managers increased business than lost it.Institutional investor clients provided 57 per cent of respondents' assets under management; that proportion has "grown significantly since the financial crisis," according to the report.Among all respondents, who have a combined $550 billion in AUM, 76 per cent said their pension fund assets had increased since 2008, while 70 per cent said "other institutional" assets increased. Among the largest firms — defined here as having 100 or more employees — those figures rose to 87 per cent and 80 per cent, respectively. Institutional investors as a whole, including funds of funds, accounted for a clear majority (57 per cent) of assets under management. Andrew Baker, AIMA CEO, said the 'institutionalisation' of hedge funds was defined as much by these attributes at funds, as by their receiving more money from the world's largest investors.Larger hedge funds — those with assets in excess of $1 billion — were more likely to have demands for greater due diligence and transparency, and were more likely to have added one or more compliance staff members.The report finds that the increase in institutional investment has led to more thorough due diligence and greater demands by investors for transparency, with 90 per cent of respondents reporting an increased demand for due diligence since 2008. Eighty-four percent of all respondents indicated they had increased transparency to investors since 2008, which is reflected by the fact that the majority of firms have taken on multiple members of staff to respond to these increased investor demands. The report also found that hedge fund management firms had almost universally increased investment in regulatory compliance since 2008, with 98 percent of firms hiring additional staff in this area. "Institutionalisation has been described as the continuing inflow of new institutional capital into the industry, but as this report demonstrates, it is also about the increasing sophistication of operational infrastructure with respect to transparency, compliance and due diligence," said Andrew Baker, AIMA's CEO. Robert Mirsky, head of hedge funds at KPMG in the UK, commented: "The combination of an increase in regulation, the changing nature of the investor base, and the natural evolution of the business has made the industry nearly unrecognisable from only five years ago." The new report is the second of a two-part series by AIMA and KPMG on the state of the global hedge fund industry. The first, published in April, looked at hedge fund industry performance, risk and volatility.
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I heard this fascinating story about Sanjay Kirloskar, Chairman of Kirloskar Brothers Ltd (KBL). This is the flagship company of the $2.5-billion Kirloskar Group. When Sanjay was checking-in to a hotel in an African city, the clerk at the counter giggled after reading his name. When Sanjay asked him why, the clerk had simple answer. "Sir, in our language your name Kirloskar means a pump." Sanjay smiled. It was a symbol of his group's success. For the last few years, water pumps made by KBL have become so popular in some African countries that Kirloskar is a generic description of the appliance. Much like Xerox is for a photocopier. Sanjay's group discovered the potential of the continent much before many others in India and the world. The economic growth in African countries is now rewarding companies that invest in the region. The traditional strategy of petty trading for quick gains is not paying much dividend now. Here are some facts about Africa countries that can surprise. Mobile devices are likely to be used for internet browsing in African countries than in any other region of the world. The region's middle class will treble over the next two decades. Half of the continent's billion plus population is under 20 years.Unfortunately, more bad news is reported from the continent than good news. But here is the fact that the world is realizing with delight. Over the last decade, the continent was home to six of the world's 10 fastest growing economies, and the outlook for the region remains bright at a time when the rest of the world is facing major political and economic challenges. "In 2012, Africa's projected growth rate of 6 per cent will be driven by improved macroeconomic and political stability, an ongoing resource boom and a growing consumer base. In addition, deepening links to fast-growing emerging economies and an increasing appetite of global and regional champions for long-term investments in Africa's frontier markets are fuelling a renewed optimism about the continent's future," says a World Economic Forum paper, ahead of its summit in Addis Ababa next week. The capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa is among the most exciting cities of the continent. The city boasts the headquarters of African Union, the multilateral body that is playing an increasingly important role in bringing peace and deepening democracy of the continent. With stable politics and welcoming attitude, Ethiopia is emerging as travel and investment destination. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is working hard to drive foreign investment into sectors like power, agriculture and railways. Another country that has emerged as an economic dynamo is Rwanda. It is among the smallest countries of the continent, but is recognized as the Singapore of Africa. President Paul Kagame wants to make Rwanda a middle income country by 2020, putting behind the Hutu-Tutsi conflict. Rwanda was named the world's top reformer in the World Bank's Doing Business Report 2010. African countries are reducing their dependence for trade and investment on developed countries. Exports to BRIC countries have risen to be equal to its exports to Europe. And this is an opportunity that India is building on. Last year a $5 billion line of credit was announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. This is being executed through the Exim Bank of India. Tata International's Syamal Gupta who is also Chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry's Africa Committee is confident that India and Africa's bilateral trade will rise to $90 billion by 2015.There are 54 countries in Africa, more than in any other continent. There are over 30 regional trade agreements across the continent. Some of the more successful ones like the East African Community are working toward a customs union. Many problems and challenges remain. Especially with regard to transparency, governance, ethnic conflict and human rights. But these problems are on the decline. As the political leadership matures, so does the prospect of a prosperous Africa. (Pranjal Sharma is a senior business writer. He can be contacted at pranjalx@gmail.com)
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Mobile phones have come a long way from a simple instrument which was just an easy method of connecting people to a device which answers every beck and call of its master a.k.a user, like the mythical genie. Far more than just making and receiving calls while checking out text messages, the mobile genie of today, especially the smartphones have become a necessity. From checking out live stock updates to weather patterns; from high definition movie playback to remote controlling other appliances, smartphones of today can intuitively do everything that a human mind can think of. Replacing all other gadgets which were designed to make life simpler and help with artificial intelligence engineering, the mobile phone of today brings the world right at your fingertips. Bringing all the information to help make quick and potentially life-altering decisions, these smartphones of today have become the mythical genie which could be used to fulfil any wish a human can potentially make.While in India, the mobile revolution joined in quite later after the domino effect in the world, the surge of mobile revolution has been phenomenal to say the least. Gone are the mid nineteen nineties when mobile phones were considered the sign of prosperity and marriages were decided on whether the groom owned a mobile phone or not.However scratchy was the inception of the mobile technology in the country, in the past decade or so, India has embraced the mobile culture. A country which has covered roughly 80 per cent of the complete geography in the past decade or so, shows great potential and reach of the medium. With a mobile phone connection range estimated to touch 700 million by the end of 2012, the prospect in the market is humongous. Gartner Inc. which undertook a research to understand the reach of mobile phones in the market says that with an estimated increase of 8.5 per cent, the number of mobile phone devices in India is expected to reach 231 million units by 2012 which against the 213 million units sold in 2011 is a big add-on. With the number expected to surpass 322 million units by 2015, the future is already shining for the mobile phone industry. With a considerable chunk of the increasing mobile market being dominated by smartphones, the future definitely belongs to the smarter phones. The Internet and Mobile Association of India which projects the mobile VAS market to reach Rs 67,100 crore by 2015 will contribute 31 per cent of overall wireless revenue, driven by the surge of smart features. Smartphones in the market will signal the next mobile revolution in the country. Making life simpler for the Indian population, this smartphone genie will bring news, views, sports, entertainment and social networking closer to people who with a surge in 3G, 3G+ and impending 4G mobile network will bring technology to every Indian and shall help in the economic, social and political development of the country. Riding on the evolving mobile system eco-spheres like Android, Windows Mobile and iPhone, the smartphone market is surging ahead for the country. Today stockists relay stock prices on mobiles, youngsters connect to each other through social networking, deliveries happen via route locator through GPS mapping and restaurant and movie bookings happen through live check in counters. With the growing acceptability of mobile technology through the length and breadth of the country, even middle aged farmers in far flung areas of the country watch the trailers of upcoming movies through a popular video sharing website, Youtube. Google has become the lifeline of the country and more and more users are connecting over live chat applications and are connected 24/7 with each other. With the future looking bright for the smartphones segment of the country, the time is not far when we shall see the neighbourhood taxi driver saving your precious travel time by consulting GPS maps for free ways, your bank operator updating your account balance while you query over-the-air and your hairdresser sending your new hairstyle pictures direct from the global fashion runways. While the Indian mobile world has made tremendous progress, the time is not far when your personal mobile genie will take care of all your wishes and will say, "Wish… and it shall be done, Master." (The author is Chairman, Karbonn Mobiles)
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Walmart may be the largest company in the world in terms of revenues, but its global e-commerce websites are lagging far behind. Walmart e-commerce is facing tough competition from local e-commerce firms as well as Amazon, the largest e-commerce website in the world. Walmart's websites in China, UK, Brazil, Mexico, Canada and the USA are all sitting isolated and need a focused strategy to deliver a global view for Walmart. Consolidating all that data of shoppers is becoming more complicated and is not giving Walmart a full view of what its customers want on an e-commerce site. "We are creating a global platform so that these e-commerce websites can be integrated, there will be one world view for all our shoppers and we will cater to local needs too," says Anand Rajaraman, Senior Vice President Walmart Global E-commerce. He says that this strategy was to enable better consumer experience and ensure real time knowledge sharing with different countries. This platform is going to be built from scratch in Bangalore and is going to have over 200 people working on it by the end of the financial year 2012-13. This will also be the first time that Walmart is ramping up its R&D operations through Walmart Labs. This is a clear signal to take on Amazon because not only has Amazon entered Indian operations in the form of a market place called junglee.com, but its R&D centre in India has over 500 employees. "This should not be a problem for Walmart because they have all the experience for the last three years by working with Bharti," says Devangshu Dutta, CEO of Third Eyesight, a retail consultancy.Coincidentally, Anand Rajaraman sold junglee.com to Amazon in the late 1990s for $250 million and is now involved with Walmart after it acquired his analytics company called Kosmix for $300 million.Why a global platform? "The global platform is going to be created because we can easily ramp up in emerging markets as part of our new strategy," says Jeremy King," Chief Technology officer of global e- commerce.Analysts say that Walmart's e-commerce revenues are small because the numbers add up to less than 3 per cent for a $425-billion company. This new strategy is being created for taking on the likes of Amazon which is the largest online retailer with revenues of $34 billion, and other home grown e-commerce retailers in emerging economies. Walmart's e-commerce revenues are $10 billion, which is larger than any retail business in India. FDI rules do not permit Walmart's e-commerce unit to come in to the Indian market, but its global platform can be ready because Walmart's back-end work of tying up with suppliers is already on through the cash and carry business. It has a 50:50 JV with Bharti retail, although 100 per cent FDI is allowed in B2B operations.Walmart has created a business unit called Global.com to study and understand how its products could be bought online globally like Amazon. "We will focus on mobile apps because shopping is becoming social and people are collaborating real time. Our apps are in the top twenty lifestyle app downloads on the Apple store," says King. He adds that new platform will help Walmart analyze inventory, in shop research and allow shoppers to access Walmart anywhere, anytime. Cloud computing to scale up operations is being implemented at Walmart's own private cloud; it runs its own data centre. "In any e-commerce business it is important to offer a large assortment of products at the right price and deliver it efficiently," says Pinakiranjan Mishra, Partner at Ernst and Young. He says that e-commerce was becoming firmly rooted in India as a big business and when FDI opened up, big global brands will be eager to set shop in India. Today Indiaplaza.com and junglee.com are market places that have tied up with 1000s of vendors. "India has so many vendors that one can tie up with for the e-commerce business, global brands will wait for FDI to open up while they develop their local sourcing arms," says K Vaitheeswaran, CEO of indiaplaza.com.Analysts estimate the e-commerce business in India to be around $7 billion and growing at 50 per cent year on year, but markets like the USA and Europe have an e-commerce market of over $200 billion each. Therefore for a Walmart with only $10 billion revenues from its online business, it is important to scale up, as brick and mortar retail is showing only single digit growth. "India is going to be helping the global R&D business for e-commerce," says King of Walmart.com. While Walmart closely watches emerging markets and the way local businesses function, they would be treading carefully.The homegrown online businesses in China have given American brands such as Amazon a run for their money. Similarly, India seems to have the likes of flipkart.com use the Amazon model to become big in India. But Walmart has the cash in an age when countries struggle to repay foreign debt. It would certainly take on the likes of Amazon, may be the battle for India could be the one to watch out for.
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All eyes have been on Research In Motion, Canada-based makers of the Blackberrys you fondly fondle everyday to keep in touch with your friends and family and co-workers. That the company is in deep trouble is no secret and you don't need to look far to see chronicles of bad BlackBerry news on every front.The BlackBerry top brass took to the stage at the BlackBerry World developer conference in Orlando, Florida, to showcase whatever they've got on their upcoming BlackBerry 10 operating system and in so doing, convince the world that the company has a bright future, filled with vision, innovation and opportunity. No one expected miracles, but whether the event boosted confidence in the company's ability to deliver in face of aggressive competition from Apple and Samsung, is difficult to gauge. Their stock certainly took a 3 per cent dip, but this is not enough to go by.So, let's see what we've got. First, we have CEO Thorsten Heins delivering his first big public keynote. He doesn't have an enviable job, as the world watches to get a sense of who he is and whether he has it in him to steer the company out of its troubles. Or rather, to reinvent it altogether. Because that's what it needs, even if it is around its existing base of strengths. Questions remain on whether Thorsten Heins can back up what he said in a message to employees when he first took over earlier this year: "we always think ahead" and "We're always innovating" with some action. It's evident from his keynote that he is thrilled with the direction that BlackBerry 10 is taking and believes firmly that it isn't just another platform.We finally got a glimpse of BlackBerry 10, which took a long time coming. Meant to be the operating system which will make mini-Playbooks of future BlackBerry smartphones, it's got messaging as its DNA. Actions used when you talk to the device are all natural flicks and wipes and taps. It's got speed and multitasking at its heart and apps work in the background and are easy to access rather than making you exit out of one thing to get to another. Developers are being handed out a free BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha prototype device so they can go develop some apps that will excite users. It has a 4.2-inch screen with a resolution of 1280×768, micro HDMI port for displaying video on a television or monitor. It has Bluetooth and WiFi radios and is cellular ready. But it's not the final device you'll see, which RIM should come out with before October if it wants to survive.On the prototype device, showcased in a video on the net as well, you see a few features that will be part of the final product. One of these is a virtual keyboard (because the device is all touch) that looks like an old style one and still allows for two-thumb dexterity because of the predictive text and swiping and flicking involved which is meant to increase your input speed. There is also an innovative camera which lets you tap anywhere on the screen to take a photo and then lets you go back in time, as it were, to see a frame before and after the photo, just in case someone blinked.These are great touches and the naturalness of the UI is intuitive and impressive. But many of these features exist in current devices and apps to begin with. Admittedly not all satisfyingly in one place, but somewhere out in the wild for sure. An Android app called SwiftKey, which costs next to nothing, adds an alternative keyboard and input to devices and learns what you write, including from your email and SMS. It goes on to predict text most cleverly becoming even faster than Swype (the finger tracing text input) and even voice since that always has errors).Now no one yet does messaging quite like BlackBerry, and if they bake it into the device more and more, it will be a further addiction, but messaging is meanwhile getting more prevalent on competing devices. Although RIM sems to be looking at a system in which information "flows" freely and seamlessly from one usage point to another without the user having to think about it or even about whether he or she is connected or not, it's the timing that matters. The competition is anything but static and RIM has to either move fast or move with impact if it's to regain its place.There's also the question of confusion over the exact target segment in BlackBerry's future. Enterprise is its strength, consumers are its numbers. How one brand is to ride these different segments successfully while all the time standing for one powerful thing, is key to whether a BlackBerry moment can set the stage for many years of growth and success in that cut-throat fast-paced world of smartphones.
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