OLA VERSUS UBER - INDIA'S TAXI WARS

On August 1, Uber announced the decision to merge its China operations with the dominant ride-hailing service of the country, Didi Chuxing. As part of this deal Uber will pick up a 20% stake in a combined entity with Didi Chuxing that is likely to be valued at $36 billion. Its founder Travis Kalanick will join Didi’s board, while Didi founder Cheng Wei is stated to join Uber’s board. Prior to this deal, Didi had formed a global anti-Uber alliance, which consisted of Uber’s competitors from different countries. As the ring leader of this alliance, it had invested $100 million in America’s Lyft and $20 million in India’s leading app aggregator service – Ola.

These investments were meant to prevent Uber’s total dominance of the markets. Ironically the merger with Didi provides Uber fuel to compete in the remaining markets while ending its attempt to establish an independent foothold in China. It not only makes Uber an indirect shareholder through Didi in its leading competitors Ola and Lyft; but also as part of a non-compete agreement for international market, prevents Didi from providing further funding to Uber’s competitors in various markets around the world. Kartik Hosanagar, a professor at The Wharton School, said that Uber will now be a more important part of Didi’s global strategy than India’s Ola. According to him – “That will mean a lot of strategic information being traded among the two and therefore will require Didi distancing itself from Ola and others.”

As the most valuable startup, Uber possesses a fearsome reputation of taking on competitors in every market it has entered. After spending nearly $1 billion in China, it hopes to recover its reputation by becoming a market leader in the second-most populated nation in the world. But India until now is turning out to be a different ballgame. In India, one of the markets that the anti-Uber alliance was supposed to protect, Uber currently covers 26 cities with 250,000 drivers on its platform. The market leader Ola, however, does more rides per day than any other player in the country, while providing services in 102 cities and possessing close to 450,000 drivers. Launched in 2011, two years before Uber entered India, Ola has been able to gather knowledge of the domestic market, enabling it to ramp up fast. Figuratively, Ola has a 15-20% lead on Uber in the world’s third-biggest market for ride hailing app and has steadily grown to become a unicorn, India’s third-most valuable startup after Flipkart and Snapdeal

In India, the competitors have almost similar offerings. They have cars of different sizes offering various slabs of fares. For example, the cheapest rides on Ola Mini and Uber Go (hatchbacks) cost Rs 5 to Rs 8 per km. Both retain a 20% commission and have also matched each other in innovations. On March 3, Uber started a new category of services under bike taxis and Ola announced the same within 24 hours. While Ola has its own wallet, Ola Money and also accepts cards and cash; besides digital wallets Paytm and Airtel, Uber uses cash and cards—debit & credit, to help commuters pay for rides.

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CUSTOMER DEDICATION & CUSTOMER LOYALTY

A customer is the most important visitor on our premises.

He is not dependent on us.

We are dependent on him.

He is not an interruption on our work.

He is the purpose of it.

He is not an outsider on our business.

He is a part of it.

We are not doing him a favor by serving him.

He is doing us a favor

by giving us an opportunity to do so.

Why Customer dedication?

Customers are the lifeline of any organisation! The very organisation in which we work exists only because of our customers.

Remember : No Customers – No Organisations – No employees

Building customer loyalty isn't easy, but it's worth the effort.

Service to our customers should always be our foremost and top priority.  We need to do our very best to provide the highest quality products and services at a fair price to customers. We appreciate your business and we encourage you to let us know how we can better serve you.

As part of dedication to customer service, it is important to:

1.    Make sure that all our phones are always answered by a live person during our business hours.

2.    Communicate whenever there is an issue or delay (such as unavailable product/service or holiday schedules that would affect order shipments.)

3.    Respond to inquiries, questions about orders, and other communications in a timely manner.

4.    Maintain a healthy and happy work environment for employees so they can be prepared to serve our customers in the best possible manner.

5.    Ensure the quality of our products and services through our highest standards and 100% compliance of all practices for product purchasing, post sales service, and safety.

6.    Listen to the customer’s experiences and take their suggestions for improvements on our products/services, and ideas for new products.

7.    Personal touch

Are you customers satisfied? That’s good, right? Well, yes for the short term.  But in the long term, it’s not necessarily enough.

Why Customer Loyalty Matters for Today's Businesses

On average, loyal customers are worth up to 10 times as much as their first purchase.

Is great customer service really worth the effort?

It might seem like a no-brainer, but many entrepreneurs struggle with this question. It’s not as clear-cut as simply looking at a sales chart to see if your service quality is in the black. To answer this question, we’ll analyze data (not hunches) from both ends of the spectrum. Specifically, we need to look at:

1. What are the rewards for providing great service?

2. What are the costs and punishments for providing bad service?

In the following section and throughout the rest of this post, we will utilize academic studies, consumer reports and proven statistics to shed light on the pros and cons of running a customer-centric business.

The rewards of great service

A variety of research shows that today’s customers place a priority on receiving great service.

A 2011 report published by American express revealed that 3 out of 5 customers were willing to give up a former favorite brand in order to have a better service experience.

Even more telling are the results of the 2010 RightNow Customer Experience Impact report, which revealed that 9 in 10 Americans are willing to spend more with companies they believe provide excellent customer service.

Eighty percent of respondents shared the belief that smaller companies place a greater emphasis on service than larger companies, meaning ...small business success is highly dependent on the satisfied customer.

The way that small business owners can beat out big-box stores isn’t to compete with them on the things they are good at (e.g., low prices, logistics, etc.); it’s far more important to out-support your competition by providing a level of service that they just can’t match.

A great service is the bedrock for creating customer loyalty, and it can come back to haunt you if your business isn’t making it a priority.

The high cost of bad service

News of bad customer service reaches more than twice as many ears as praise for a good service experience.

Will bad service really scare customers away from your business? The data presents a strong case for a resounding “yes.”

Consumer Reports surveys have shown that nearly 91 percent of customers will not do business with you a second time if you botch the first encounter. It was even uncovered that two-thirds of customers have walked out of a store when they felt the service was subpar.

The amount of customers willing to immediately abandon a business reached nearly 70 percent when it came to poor service on the phone, conclusively showing that customers are willing to shut you out if you don’t provide the quality of service they expect.

The worst part: You may not know how much of an impact your poor quality of service is having before it’s too late.

The White House Office of Consumer Affairs revealed a startling statistic on how service can silently affect your bottom line: For every customer who bothers to complain, nearly 26 others remain silent.

BOTTOM LINE : If you continue to provide subpar service, you may start losing customers without warning.

What this means for your business

By now you’ve seen that building loyalty among your customer base is more important than ever before.

Your sales team will continue to have less control in informing and guiding customers through a sales purchase. Given the “always on” nature of the web, product information, reviews, and even access to your competitors are all just clicks away from a prospective customer’s fingertips.

Top-notch companies see this as an opportunity, not a dilemma. Recent consumer data from a Peppers & Rogers study showcases how leading business are also leading the charge for great service: 81% of companies with strong capabilities and competencies for delivering an excellent customer experience are outperforming their competition.

Will you be among them?

Marketing rules & lessons from Thalaiva’s Kabali

July 22, 2016: It took me an additional half an hour to reach my office on MG Road as I happened to cross one of the numerous theatres where Kabali was released.  This set me thinking on the hype, buzz and records created as part of the marketing of Kabali !

Kabali has not only created buzz & new records in the last few weeks, new marketing rules were applied that can be learnt. Kabali has built a new style of unprecedented branding and promoting without any special tricks the moviemakers. It should be noted that there was neither an audio release nor a press conference before the movie, and yet Kabali collected INR 250 crore on the first day!  Kabali has grossed INR 400 crores within first ten days in theatres across India and abroad. The overseas collection of Kabali in the opening weekend was around INR 90 crores. INR 30 crores was the collection from USA where it was one of the top ten films watched  in the country (despite the US presidential elections, the Kabali juggernaut was just too lucrative to ignore! )

Perhaps, Rajinikanth is the only star who steadfastly had refused to endorse any label after the first and last one he did at the beginning of his career for a regional cola brand, forty years ago !

Marketing rules have been re-written this time, with companies in metro cities booking theatres for employees and also declaring holidays!

Just Do It  -  differently !

Kabali’s only promotion from movie makers was an announcement of the movie with the release date and a 30-second teaser on social media which received 25 million views on YouTube. Kabali became the first Asian movie to have achieved those numbers. When you have Rajini Sir by your side, who needs all the other promotions like going to reality show or on a promotional tour?

Advertise - differently!

Avoid following the same old stereotyped marketing tricks!

Position your brand and product and do things differently. Show elusiveness while endorsing brands

Rajinikanth's demand as a brand endorser has risen even if he has been refusing to play into the game of endorsement. Rajini stays out of public eyes, does not endorse brands, politicians or even social causes. Brands such as Pepsi, Hindustan Unilever, India cements, ITC and Asian paints were a part of earlier Rajini movies.   

For this movie Kabali,  brands such as Muthoot, Foodpanda, Ola, Uber, Mobikwik, Air Asia, Cadbury 5 Star, Amazon, Shop CJ, Airtel  came on board and many are intending to keep their association going even after the movie goes off the screen. And it is not out of any charity but the brand Rajini has delivered value to them. While these reputed brands got associated with the movie, nowhere did the protagonist endorse these brands. In all these cases, the companies introduced new ways of associating themselves with the movie.  

Air Asia India – the official airline partner of Rajinikanth starrer Tamil film Kabali had launched a special re branded aircraft dedicated to Thalaiva Rajinikanth’s Kabali and his fans. The aircraft is bearing large posters of Rajinikanth. According to airline, the special aircraft is a sign of respect to superstar for his contribution in Indian cinema.

Air Asia Dedicated a Special Plane to Thalaiva Rajinikanth Kabali

The aircraft is painted and stickered with the Rajinikanth images and the plane has been used in few scenes in this film too. As the airline is a partner for Kabali, so it planned a special fight from Bengaluru to Chennai for Fans of 65 years old actor to watch Kabali’s first day first show.

Muthoot Fincorp joined the Kabali mania and introduced special Kabali silver coins, which has the face image of Rajinikanth embossed on the coins and pendants. The coins were made available in five, 10 and 20 grams from the date of release of Kabali - July 22.            Within a week's time from release of movie, 102 kg worth of coins were sold raking in close to INR 75 lakhs of rupees for the company.  

Special Kabali coins by Muthoot Fincorp

The eagerness of the brands to associate with a much awaited movie by Thalaiva is quite understandable but with these unique marketing strategies, the companies along with their promotions have clearly leveraged the superstar’s image which is essential right before the release of a movie.

Brand endorsements always grabs eyeballs, so next time you partner with a brand or even a movie, an event or a launch, think on how this brand endorsement can add real value to your brands and retain the elusiveness.

Unlike other Indian movie stars, Rajini Sir has never lent his name to products and campaigns. It is believed that this reclusive nature and status of Rajini makes it the unique selling point of actor Rajinikanth that delivers to his producers in the box office and thus making the companies leverage the power of his brand. Added to this is the super human status of the actor and his genuineness which are rare commodities in the world of glamour. 

Take on social media – differently!

Needless to say, social media has become an integral part of marketing these days, no matter what the product is. But Kabali has shown some real crazy use of these social media platforms.

One of the memes that did rounds in the social media!

We all know about Rajini Sir ’s jokes and memes, and these work for the product while creating awareness about the pros and cons of a product. It should not necessarily conceal the flaws as it further builds the trust on the brand and company as well as strengthens a long-term relationship with the consumer, which is essential in today’s marketing.

Producer Kalaipuli Thanu and Director Pa Ranjith only tweeted the date of release and social media, print and the electronic media did the rest, he pointed out. Kabali was a movie that was entirely driven by online marketing and social media. The marketing cost to gross sales may be the lowest for this film which could turn out to be Rajini’s biggest grosser.

The movie has set a new benchmark on what can be achieved in terms of ability to sell a movie. New styles of marketing gimmicks are unveiled every other day, but Kabali has shown certain unprecedented marketing craze. Kabali has also shown on how things are taken when you have a legendary icon by your side and then winning will be obvious!

The top marketing trends in digital media & technology - 2016

Smart technology, wearable technology, Big Data and the ‘Internet of Things’ are all vying with each other for the center stage when it comes to identifying the biggest influences shaping the current year and also the next decade

We examine important digital marketing trends in 2016.

Personalization & Dynamic Customization

“All fingers are not the same” and so are you customers!

We need to take cognisance of this fact and deploy advanced and dynamic ways of personalizing campaigns. Campaigns could ask customers to select their favourite movie or TV series and then trigger messages tailored to their choice, building familiarity and a bond with the brand based on what the customer is passionate about.

Dynamic customization is another strategic tool that could be implemented in 2016 as it covers a wide area but you can use it to personalize email content according to given and observed customer data. Examples include location, weather-based content, webscrapes, personalized images, including live stock levels in your ecommerce emails. This sounds Simple but is very effective.

Automation & tracking engagement within automated campaigns

According to the 2015 Email Industry Census, 54% of marketers surveyed believed they were not coordinating email automation to their satisfaction, while 29% wanted to focus on this tool this year. At its core, automation provides a narrative that takes prospective customers on a personalized and logical journey, from showing an interest to being a satisfied + repeat customer.

Tracking engagement within an automated campaign can also help to determine where interest appears to be significant enough to warrant a call from your sales team. It could also be a way to identify and group loyal or extremely engaged subscribers and tailor your messages with the goal of converting them. You know they already open and click in every single email, test to see what would make them purchase.

Device optimization

In 2015, Google announced that mobile traffic had overtaken desktop in ten countries including the United States and Japan. Mobile is now the device of choice for both personal and business email viewing.

Device optimization is the key to reaching your customers

And according to recent census, 61% of participants are already optimizing campaigns for mobile, while 27% are planning to. How can you take mobile optimization to the next level? In 2016, think about creating specific campaign versions for mobile that automatically make them shorter and easier to navigate. Also, time your campaigns according to when your prospective customers are using their devices, to suit different times of the day and hardware.

Wearable technology & BLE Beacons

Wearable technology will be the next game changer: By 2019, analysts predict vendors will have shipped more than 168 million wearable devices! Therefore it make sense to get tech savvy now and plan the customer experience.

Geographic-specific and highly-targeted campaigns for wearable technology – For example, send an email voucher to a customer’s wearable device as they walk past your store, or as they pass by sensors like iBeacons.

BLE Beacons - a hyperlocal marketing initiative : Beacons are low-cost transmitters that use Bluetooth Low Energy to provide Bluetooth smart devices a new level of proximity awareness. Retailers or general brick-and-mortar locations can install beacons throughout their stores and venues then hyper target their audience with offers and marketing messages through apps and mobile devices.

Because of their widespread acceptance, low-cost entry point, and ease-of-use, 85% of the top 100 Retail Locations in USA will be equipped with Beacons by end of 2016; that’s about 3.5 million unique locations. Estimates for total beacon deployment continue to skyrocket, and worldwide deployment is projected at 400 million beacons by 2020.

Beacons can be used in a variety of ways including navigating users through a store map virtually via their phones, serving users pop-up notifications when they are near a retail display, acting as a virtual docent as they navigate through an exhibit hall or museum, and by providing timely arrival and departure information when they are near a bus or train stop.

Social media

Email marketing is delivering directly to the customer’s inbox, while social media platforms provide compelling content to draw the customer in. When coordinated in tandem, the outcome can be very effective. Customers often have preferred channels for getting the information they want, so you need to reward your email recipients to sign up to your social media channels and vice versa to strengthen their relationship with you.

Messaging

Messaging is huge in the digital world. Expect digital marketers to make it even bigger.

The 5 most popular messaging apps feature 3.5 billion monthly active users, according to Statista, and marketers are beginning to take notice. Facebook has integrated branded campaigns into Facebook Messenger and plans to do more of this come Spring 2016. Whatsapp is opening up their platform for business accounts. Snapchat has introduced Snapchat Discover and the option for any advertiser or individual to create their own geo filter with Snapchat on Demand.

Video and Live streaming

Facebook Live, Periscope, and Meerkat, are rapidly becoming more relevant – people want their information in real time.

What does this mean for marketers? A timeless piece of advice: go where your audience is. If your audience is hooked on Periscope, find a way to personalize your brand by creating interactive content. You need to be engaging with your audience more and more on these platforms.

Regardless of new technology in its various avatars, customers would always want that personalized touch! You might need to even go beyond personalized and mobile-compatible content and respond to a customer’s environment and behaviours.

Knowing your prospect’s online habits and social preferences – even their location – can enable dynamic, real-time marketing strategy geared to giving that personalized touch.

Ultimately, it is all about establishing the real bonds between customers and your business, brands!

The business of Selfies - #Selfie as part of marketing

Selfies are almost a necessity if a person or business wants to create a "unique and personalized online presence. Critics call selfies as narcissistic. But narcissism sells and for businesses, this is another powerful tool for smart social media marketing. 

In case you are thinking that this is just another passing trend, think again: “Selfie” was named the 2013 word of the year by Oxford English Dictionary.  Selfie is an approved Scrabble term, Time magazine considered selfie one of the “top 10 buzzwords” in 2012 . The word "selfie" has now become ingrained in English vernacular, thanks to millennials snapping photos of themselves doing everything from sipping a cappuccino to riding their a car or posing with friends at an exotic location/event. This trend was strengthened by social media sites, like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

According to Brand Growth Management, this word has been around since 2004 when the #selfie hashtag first appeared on Twitter. With introduction of a front facing camera on its iPhone by Apple, taking self-portraits or selfies became easy!

Some powerful #Selfie statistics:

• Selfies comprise 30% of the photos taken by young adults ages 18–24.
• Instagram has over 53 million photos with the hashtag #selfie.
• Selfie was included in Facebook posts 368,000 times during a one-week period.
• The hashtag #selfie was used in more than 150,000 tweets on Twitter during a one-week period.
• According to ON's data it's not reality stars, but rather users in the medical and legal fields who post the most selfies on its platform.
• Selfie - the most tweeted picture: On Oscar night, Ellen DeGeneres snapped a selfie with a group of movie stars which became the most tweeted picture with over 33 million retweets across the Web. Other high-profile selfies are the ones of Pope Francis and President Obama who have already embraced selfies.

How can you use selfies in your marketing strategy?

Since visuals continue to drive customer engagement, businesses need to take advantage of the selfie phenomenon. Sharing these types of photos can help a company connect its brand identity to customers. We will examine how selfies can be used for marketing by businesses:

Show personality. Customers traditionally rank authenticity as a top trait they seek when doing business with any company. Selfies by their very nature are personal. Their content usually says a lot about the people who work at the company & are much more effective for connecting to customers than posed photographs. A selfie of employees at the office or a related event can be a powerful message that says, “We like to work here, and we support the company’s mission.”

Showcase the personal side of your business - Become human: It is much easier to connect with a person than an abstract concept like a company. Posting employee selfies shows that there are real people behind the brand. This helps create a powerful emotional connection for anyone considering the company’s product. Customers value transparency, and selfies can accomplish this. Nextiva posts selfies of its service team & customers know they are talking to real people. Also prospective customers buy from people whom they know , like and trust. Selfies can strengthen such factors and establish a familiarity between your clients/potential clients and your team!

Give social proof to customers: When customers post selfies with a company’s product, this is the social proof or recommendation that other prospect customers look forward to. This in turn becomes a powerful advertisement, since it's not from the company. Logically, customers do not pose with products they do not like.

Allow clients to "see" what your company does: Proof of an organisation in action also helps prospective customers to get a quick overview of the business activities including products, services. It is about provideing a creative outlet to display your products & services to prospective customers

Share humor - Share a laugh: Show the fun side of your company: Humor can be used to promote any brand, and funny photos have a greater chance of spreading around the WebEncourage customers to submit selfies by having a contest and rewarding them with prizes. Tie these photos to a Twitter or Instagram hashtag or have a specific Facebook page or Pinterest board for the contest.

Risks from selfies: Pictures can get posted that a company might not want to get associated with its brand. While you can edit selfies posted to your company's site and social media pages, you cannot control what other people are posting to their sites. Your best defense is to be aware on what is happening on the web.

Instagram for selfies:     Selfies For Business Growth?

Instagram, a social media site is exclusively based on photo sharing where in users can simply upload a picture, add a filter and share it with their followers, along with a short caption.

Business owners can learn to harness the potential of this photo sharing site and channel that into business growth. This is not to say that business owners should upload selfies to Instagram and hope for business growth, but it can be beneficial to understand more about this social media forum often overlooked by marketers and business owners. One of the biggest benefits to using Instagram as a marketing tool is that it is completely free and very simple. In just a few minutes, users can create a user account, connect with their existing Facebook account and begin sharing photos with the world. This offers the opportunity for a business to do any or all of the following to attract new clients.

Many businesses use Instagram as a storefront to "display" new products and ideas. You can share the "story" of your company or share the passion that you have for your business through photos. It is a free way to visually portray to your potential clients why they should consider your company. It is fast, free and has unlimited potential, in terms of the amount of people you can reach. While Instagram may have been built on the popularity of the selfie, you can understand how to use this site to springboard your business to the next level, connect with a new clientage and use picture to tell your story. Instagram is not just for selfies, it's for smart business owners, too!

Emerging tech trends  - Selfie stick, Belfie stick, From 2D to 3D & from 3D to big business

In order to capitalize on this explosive trend of selfies and make taking selfies easier and more flattering, camera and smartphone manufacturers developed 2D technology enhancements, such as selfie sticks and the ability to preview your selfie photo before snapping the pic. There is a Belfie Stick, which was created by the team at ON for those rear-view images.

But what do selfies have to do with 3D scanning and 3D printing? The definition of what a selfie is has evolved over the last few years. Today’s selfies aren’t limited to you snapping quick 2D photos of yourself using a smartphone and sharing them on social media. Instead, you can be quickly and easily scanned by another person using a 3D scanner, or even scan yourself, and then produce your likeness in three, physical dimensions on a 3D printer.

The explosive increase in awareness and use of 3D printing has certainly contributed to, if not driven, this trend. Additionally, both 3D scanners and 3D printers have independently become far more affordable while their technical capabilities have expanded, making it easier and more accessible than ever to capture scan data that is 3D printable.

The introduction of sub-$1,000 USD, highly portable 3D scanners, such as StructureIO, Kinect, Fuel3D, David Scanner – not to mention smartphone 3D scanning apps – most of which can capture colour, combined with affordable, photorealistic colour-capable 3D printers, have transformed the concept of selfies.

From 3D to big business

When people first learned that the 3D scan-to-print capability for producing 3D selfies exists and is affordable, it was largely used just for personal amusement. However, in the last few years, entrepreneurs quickly saw the opportunity to develop profitable full-time businesses around 3D selfies thanks to lower cost, colour-capable scanners and affordable photorealistic colour 3D printers. After all, keepsakes and other products centered around weddings, babies, pets, and children never go out of style.

In a recent article, Steve Heller of The Motley Fool, explored whether the 3D printed selfie is just a gimmick or has true, long-term business potential. His premise is that the operating cost of the printer, and therefore, the cost to produce the 3D printed selfie and the cost charged to the consumer, must be in the $20 to $30 dollar range in order to create viable businesses around 3D printed selfies. There are a few reasons for this. Heller believes that, like 2D selfies, 3D printed selfies will be an impulse purchase and most consumers are unlikely to make $200-$300 impulse purchases. In addition, the cost of the floor space required for this offering at retail is high and necessitates high revenue. Lower cost selfies will reduce the barrier to entry for most consumers and therefore increase revenue to offset the floor space dedicated to the offering.

Linkin Park, an American rock band has found a special way to keep their fans happy. The band has partnered with Staramba USA Corp., to offer fans a line of 3D printed figures of each band member.

#Selfies are here to stay, so start taking them – seriously!

Resources: mcortechnologies, americanexpress