E-Business 2013 in IMT: October 2013

Thursday 31 October 2013

Learning in Second/Third class : E-Bus

Dear Sir,

PFA the learning in the Second/Third sessions of E-Business.

17^th October, 2013

We discussed four key stages of e-commerce business models:

1. Value cluster and target group

2. Market space offering

3. Resources, and

4. Financial model.

The Egg Model was discussed in the class in a great detail about how its core is constant with customer decision making process and the white is revolving focusing on Values, Capabilities and Resources. The core value of the model was giving the vast variety of choice and great deals. We also discussed about the wide reach to customers through onsite marketing, CRM, SEO, SEM, portals, and other ways of internet marketing.

After that the business model of Groupon was discussed and how they are able to do business. We analyzed their model in great detail, and saw how they offer value to the customers

24^th October, 2013

We discussed the effect of external world elements like Government Regulations which can affect business models like the PCI complied gateway for all the e-retailers or the way Indian government protected Indian companies to grow and be able to compete in online market or how these policies can affect negatively like RBI's mandate for second level verification by the use of OTP caused 40 percent decline in online transactions due to the mandate of checking of 16 digit card number.

We also discussed about the strategic partnership between ICICI bank and e-bay, which leads to increasing the mind space in the specific target group.

We were told to go through the 8 key elements of business model:

1. Value Proposition

2. Revenue model

3. Market opportunity

4. Competitive Environment

5. Competitive Advantage

6. Market Strategy

7. Organizational Development

8. Management Team

Then, we discussed the Value model, which any business model should define :

· Value Created

· Value Captured

· Value Delivered

· Value Sustained

Then, we discussed the reasons of the failure of Webvan, which was an online credit and delivery grocery business that went bankrupt in just 2 years after it was founded in 1999. The various reasons for failure were discussed in the class, but the prominent one seemed to be that there was nothing wrong in the model, just that it was ahead of its time and market was not ready for it.

Regards,

Parag Agarwal

12DM-191

E-Bus, Section-B

Blog entry for E-Bus

Dear Sir,

My entry for the blog :

How the evolution of social media and e-commerce has helped SMEs.

The extent to which a business can grow is limitless. The rich and exciting way of presenting the information has helped a ton to so many industrial sectors. Everybody is looking to maximize the gains from this platform. Facebook, twitter , Youtube,LinkedIn etc are few of the major platforms that have a high degree of engagement of people.

Startups in India are focusing a lot on the potential of e-commerce and its reach. Eg: A electronic vendor at Nehru Place in New Delhi saw a surge in his business after creating an e-commercial platform for his business. In a matter of 8 years , 70% business started coming from online portal with on-shop selling increasing too.

The reasons for opting to have a social media presence are ample:

a. It enables the users and the stakeholders to reach and communicate with the target segment directly.

b. It has a large customer reach.

c. Potential customers can then be persuaded, this incurs very low cost.

d. Word of mouth also helps to create a buzz around it.

e. It helps to know how your target segment is reacting to your brand along with the response of the same segment to your competitor's brand.

f. Marketing campaigns on social media would cost a lot less for any new or small organization.

Talking about the front end of any e-commercial site, the extent to which it can keep a customer loyal to it depends on what sort of a business model they follow. The structure of the web page with the different folds having different contents helps to decide the intention of any commercial shopping site. Customizing a website according to its target customers' needs can add to the overall experience of the people. Online business or e-tailing depends a lot on the website of a particular organization looks. The features and positioning of the content on the pages are very crucial. They help in creating a good first impression. This is why it is crucial that these companies make sure the appearance is of high professional standards.

The innumerable examples that we have seen in class has helped us to understand this platform. Be it mobile, e-commerce or social media platforms, the underlying truth is that there is an immense pool of opportunity present. Entrepreneurs in India are taking advantage of this. There is huge increase in the amount of businesses that are growing online. From any new marketer's perspective it has become so crucial to see how the people behave online. Such patterns with the help of analytics will give a new dimension to way businesses market their products or services. Analyzing people's online behavior is a way which many would try to follow. Also with vast base of customers present online, surveys and beta testing of campaigns can be done at a much cheaper budget. Most of us spend half of our time on our PDAs doing stuffs on Facebook or e-commerce sites. This is a catch which many have banked upon. So I feel the startups and SMEs should further utilize this buying and scrolling behavior of the customers. Window shoppers are also present in the online world. They form the base of new potential targets. So if effective schemes and promos are meticulously framed and launched, it could help to find a new horizon of marketing.

Thanks and Regards

Ashutosh Sarkar

12IB-014

IMT Ghaziabad

Blog Entry for E-Business

Dear Sir,

PFA my entry for the blog.

Thanks and Regards

Ashutosh Sarkar

12IB-014

IMT Ghaziabad

Learning in First class : E-Bus

Dear Sir,

PFA the learning in the first sessions of E-Business.

In our First session, we touched upon the history of e-business, how it has evolved over the years, and how the history has repeated itself.

1996-2000: Innovation was the focus, and no monetary returns.

Catered particularly to B2C segment

Example: Britannica encyclopedia, Nabster etc.

2001-2008: Focus shifted to Cost Saving

Dotcom bubble bursted, VCs wanted their money back, and websites were getting closed. Banks were funding the transactions. This era catered mainly to the B2B segment.

2009: Focus again shifted to the Innovation and B2C segment

A different era has arrived in which intermediaries has reappeared and that was called the era of Re-intermediation. And market was not called B2E2C.

You told that 3 years in regular market is equivalent to the 1 year in online space. Mobile has evolved as a good platform of interacting online. India has become a 4^th largest market in the world where people are accessing the internet through mobile.

We discussed the success story of Yebhi.com how they penetrated the market as some shoe business with their USP as shoe size and soon achieved success and ventured into multiple segments like apparels etc. We spent a lot of time understanding the business model of popular sites like zomato, snapdeal, homeshop18, fernsnpetals.com, Phoolwala.com

We even discussed how Porter's five forces model becomes different in case of e-business, and buying power of channel partners plays a important role in the whole dynamics.

We also discussed how baazi.com started in India, copying the model of ebay and later was eaten up by ebay.com.

The concept of "Fulfillment to order" and ARIBA network was also explained in the class.

Regards,

Parag Agarwal

12DM-191

E-Bus, Section-B

E-business learning

Dear Sir,

Please find below my learning:

1> E-tailing or e-commerce is totally built upon the trust between buyers and sellers. The trust can be built upon timely delivery of quality products and timely payments. To achieve these two things there should be proper secure framework. Continuous development of online secure payment methods and introduction of quality standards for products have forged he trust between buyers and sellers very well.

2> Customization has added another dimension to the online business or e-tailing. First impressions make all the difference in the world of e-commerce. That's why it's so important to ensure that online store is as professional and high quality in appearance as possible. If a company gets it right, it can turn visitors into customers.

3> Organizations follow a particular business model which focuses on capturing, creating and delivering values to the customer. . Such a model has to be intuitive and cover all matters of interest, i.e. encompass the necessary and sufficient conditions of company operation. To make a successful business model an organization should include the following eight components:

a. Value proposition: promise of value to be delivered and a belief from the customer that value will be experienced

b. Revenue model: How to generate profit using scarce resources

c. Market opportunity: Refers to a company's intended market space and the overall potential financial opportunities available to the firm in that market space

d. Competitive Environment: other competition selling similar products and operating in the same market space

e. Market strategy: Market penetration plan or new market development plan

f. Competitive advantage: Point of differentiation or point of parity

g. Organizational development: Describes how the company will organize the work that needs to be accomplished

h. Management team: Employees of the company responsible for making the business model work

4> The ways online businesses are making money can be identified by looking at various business models present here:

a. Products: This includes such diverse items as real estate, electronics, books, music, instructional videos, computer hardware, computer software, household items, clothing, jewelers - to name a few. Portable media such as books, tapes, CD's, and videos are a natural.

b. Specialized services: Services offered by professionals like lawyers or accountants

c. Information industries: Providing information online like Wikipedia

d. Internet careers: web designers

e. Electronic publishing: Electronic magazines

f. Subscription model: Users pay to access site for its contents. May be a mixture of free and premium account

g. Virtual mall: Assortments of products online

h. Auction broker: Bringing buyers and sellers together on online auction platform

i. Personalized portal: The generic nature of a generalized portal undermines user loyalty. This has led to the creation of portals (ex: My.Yahoo!, My.Netscape) that allow customization of the interface and content.

j. Specialized portal: Here volume is less important than a well-defined user base. Such as site for arms lover.

5> Any business model can be analyzed as an Egg Model which indicates that any business is influenced by internal factors (like capabilities and partner's assets) and external factors (like government rules and regulations, market scenario). Any business model should be simply to comprehend, effective in satisfying the user's needs and consequently fill a market segment. Also, it should be possible to run the business smoothly based on the model that has been come up with.

Thanks and Regards,

Abhisek Karmakar

12IT-001

Section-B

Key take aways from E-Business Week 3 sessions 5 & 6

From the failure of Webvan which was an online credit and delivery grocery business that went bankrupt in just 2 years after it was founded in 1999, we learn that even if E-business has its own advantages associated with it, not everytime can it be successful. There are strategies that have to be formulated. Money, brand name and expertise are mostly essential for the online model to succeed.

1. Be Relevant to the consumer, value delivery: To acquire the mind-space of the target consumer, the offering has to be relevant by identifying his exact need and not just added perceived benefits that may not address the basic needs and habits the consumer has.

2. Positioning, targeting and sustaining value in online business: Through the core benefits offered like variety and great deals and augmented benefits of fun and connection, Webvan initially started on the right path. But it should have also focused more on the targeting and not serve just everyone. Optimizing and then building a definite image is more important which is why Webvan went into a loss as it tried to serve even customers who were unlikely to stay loyal and this only added to the costs.

3. Scale of operation: The size of the company also sometimes forms the basis of whether there is any feasibility in the strategy it is following. A company with deep pockets can survive initial losses to acquire market share, but not so for smaller companies. Example, ITC e-choupal's model has not been copied so far.

4. Value capture/Differentiation: In E-Business, opportunities are there but they have to be tapped strategically. Example, an online selling portal can tie-up with ICICI bank to offer discounts or privileges to consumers holding an ICICI credit/debit card. So such consumers on other websites would be attracted to this portal and also the usage for that card would increase. The portal can get the database from the bank to send personalized emails with certain terms & conditions.

Sonam Gupta

12IT-026

Sec B

Regards,

Sonam Gupta

PGDM (IT), IMT Ghaziabad

Blog Entry - October 24 Session

The class began with a reiteration of the Egg Model that was tackled in the previous session explaining the outer (government policies) and inner (capabilities, partner's assets) components of the "egg". One of the prime learnings from last week's class was from a single slide that focused on the eight aspects that make up an effective business model. We learnt that a business model should be simply to comprehend, effective in satisfying the user's needs and consequently fill a market segment. Also, it should be possible to run the business smoothly based on the model that has been come up with.

Now, on to that single slide. Eight aspects of an effective business model were suggested. These were:

1. Value Proposition: A company's value proposition forms the core of its business model. Understanding a firm's value proposition involves understanding the customer's reasons for choosing the company suggesting the business model over any of its competitors. Value propositions are thus frequently developed by reflecting upon current market trends.

2. Revenue Model: The revenue or financial model of a firm describes how the firm plans to make money from the business model laid out. While profit generation is the primary objective, a firm must be able to generate far more greater and at times intangible long term returns on its investments apart from profit.

3. Market Opportunity: The market opportunity describes the market space that the company intends to target with its business model. The revenue potential in each of these markets allows for an assessment of how realistic and viable the market opportunity is.

4. Competitive Environment: Rival companies offering similar services or selling similar products are what comprise of the firm's competitive environment. The frequency of the competitor's operations, their profitability and market share as well as their pricing strategies are some factors that influence a company's competitive environment.

5. Competitive Advantage: A competitive advantage is identified as the "something different" that a firm brings to the table with its product or service offerings that can sway the customer's choice in the company's favor making it choose the company offering this product over other rivals in the market. Competitive advantage can either be generated on a cost basis (Walmart) or by offering differentiated products or services (Apple).

6. Market Strategy: Marketing strategy forms the execution portion of a company's business model. A company's market strategy determines how far out the business idea will reach and thus ultimately becomes the deciding factor in an offering's success or failure. There are numerous examples of superior products that have failed only because they were not marketed appropriately.

7. Organizational Development: Companies coming up with business model can grow into multi billion dollar ventures. Management of such companies in such situations must be taken into account. This is not much of an issue with organizations that are already large enough but is more of a concern with smaller startups with promising ideas that have the potential to expand into much larger business ventures.

8. Management Team: The team behind the idea eventually drives the idea to its final realization. A strong team may not be able to salvage a weak business model but it can definitely be able to change the model and redefine the business according to the evolving market trends as and when it becomes necessary.

Apart from the above points on a business model, Social Media Marketing was also discussed at length including discussions on such issues as the need for Social Media Marketing in today's digital age, its presence in India and future prospects for this field both in India and abroad.

Thanks & Regards,

Divij Sonak

12IT-006

Section B

Takeaways from Session I - II (Week 1) & III - IV (Week 2) of Ebusiness

Dear Sir,

My takeaways from previous week's class

1. From Intermediation (B2I2C) to Disintermediation (B2C) to Reintermediation (B2E2C); the evolution of channels with examples.

2. Pattern of Business cycle repeating which started with VC's and dot com boom to dot com bubble burst and if it is repeating itself now and whether the growing industry is successful or not. Also, if the industry is going towards a dot com bubble burst again.

3. Porter's 5 forces of e-business which includes Bargaining power of Channel which has become very strong whereas the Bargaining Power of Suppliers and threat of substitutes and from new entrants is fading away.

4. E-business today is going towards outlasting your rivals and consolidation will be happening; the power of e-bay and how baazi.com couldnt sustain etc are prominent examples.

5. Learned about B2B networks - ARIBA, number of buyers and number of sellers.

6. The various types of business models and ways they can be developed. Th Egg diagram and how its core is constant with customer decision making process and the white is revolving focusing on Values, Capabilities and Resources.

7. Any business model needs to define Value created, Value Captured/Differentiated, Value Delivered and Value Sustained.

8. The affect of external world elements like Government Regulations which can affect business models positively like the auditor story shared by sir or the way Indian government protected Indian companies to grow and be able to compete in online market or how these policies can affect negatively like RBI's mandate for second level verification in absence caused 40 percent decline in online transactions.

9. Webvan - the biggest failure regarded by many, the articles on it in Forbes magazine and by Stanford were insightful and the probable causes for its failure but at the same time it was discussed that may be there was nothing wrong with its business model and it was just an idea ahead of its time.

10. Strategic partnerships and Positioning affects like ICICI collaborating with e-bay creating a win win situation for both.

Thanks & Regards

Apoorv Soni

12DM-190

Regards,

Apoorv Soni

PGDM (Marketing)

Member CRICKET committee

IMT Ghaziabad

Alumni

Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad (2010)

Re: EBusiness - Interesting Numbers about Online Businesses

Contributed by ,

Viswanathan SP M

12DM-181.

On Thu, Oct 31, 2013 at 3:09 AM, Viswanathan Muthu <viswanathan.spm@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Sir,
Please find the blog entry as below.

--------------------------

Interesting Numbers about Online Businesses:

The crux of online business is to make people buy online. So if we can understand where and when people are online and what they do online, we can tweek our marketing campaigns and the ad spends accordingly to suit the target customers. People used to come review products offline and then go to shops to buy them. Now, with the evolution of social awareness, people have started reviewing online and mostly the origin of a sale comes from a random keyword search, which then ends up in a sale. Let's see some quick facts and their implications.

97% of purchasing decisions begin on the Internet:

"Google Think Insights" studies show that consumers have become very much dependent on web-accessed info about anything. This also applies to the kind of information that has to do with marketing that companies ferret out to lure people into their offerings. What people decide on buying first begin by having themselves well-informed with regards to product/service package specifications, price range, payment terms, discounts, delivery schedules and warranties.

The primary method starts with potential customers typing out certain keywords in search engines on the net that they perceive to be suitable or applicable to the kind of requirements they have in mind. The moment web users successfully initiate the online interaction, so begins the decision making as they ponder about the web choice available to them from one product/service to another; or what brand offers this and what other brand offers that. This is the era of web search and very few people actually hop from one store to another to canvas around about such above-mentioned info.

95% of consumers use smartphones to find out about local businesses:

While it has become moot and academic that web search is the primary method of canvassing, new online tech developments are just as quickly changing consumer ways with regards to getting web access. Mobile devices have become more and more prevalent as opposed to desktop PCs as tools for looking up local businesses online. There are a number of compelling reasons why this is so such as:

§ People have become more mobile as workers as matter of professional preference.

§ Mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and phablets function as well as PCs for web access.

§ Retail apps in mobile devices make purchasing online doable even while you're road-bound.

§ It is convenient to do so and adds to the overall user experience of mobile devices and virtual shopping.

49%- of the time is spent by people on media consumption using various devices:
People spend almost half of their time, either for work or play, glued to various online devices consuming various media like blogs, games, websites, social media, videos, and search engines. This effectively explains why brands and companies are making the exodus to online media because of its large concentration of consumer attention and interest. Channelling those to potentially convert to favourable decision making and online retail action is naturally a beneficial one that could translate to profitability and growth for online businesses. If you own one such online business, these percentages would definitely mean a lot.

----------------------------------

--

Cheers,
Viswanathan Muthu,
PGDM (Marketing) | IMT Ghaziabad
Mobile - 75031 39490

Cheers,

Viswanathan Muthu,

PGDM (Marketing) | IMT Ghaziabad

Mobile - 75031 39490

EBusiness - Interesting Numbers about Online Businesses

Dear Sir,

Please find the blog entry as below.

--------------------------

Interesting Numbers about Online Businesses:

The crux of online business is to make people buy online. So if we can understand where and when people are online and what they do online, we can tweek our marketing campaigns and the ad spends accordingly to suit the target customers. People used to come review products offline and then go to shops to buy them. Now, with the evolution of social awareness, people have started reviewing online and mostly the origin of a sale comes from a random keyword search, which then ends up in a sale. Let's see some quick facts and their implications.

97% of purchasing decisions begin on the Internet:

"Google Think Insights" studies show that consumers have become very much dependent on web-accessed info about anything. This also applies to the kind of information that has to do with marketing that companies ferret out to lure people into their offerings. What people decide on buying first begin by having themselves well-informed with regards to product/service package specifications, price range, payment terms, discounts, delivery schedules and warranties.

The primary method starts with potential customers typing out certain keywords in search engines on the net that they perceive to be suitable or applicable to the kind of requirements they have in mind. The moment web users successfully initiate the online interaction, so begins the decision making as they ponder about the web choice available to them from one product/service to another; or what brand offers this and what other brand offers that. This is the era of web search and very few people actually hop from one store to another to canvas around about such above-mentioned info.

95% of consumers use smartphones to find out about local businesses:

While it has become moot and academic that web search is the primary method of canvassing, new online tech developments are just as quickly changing consumer ways with regards to getting web access. Mobile devices have become more and more prevalent as opposed to desktop PCs as tools for looking up local businesses online. There are a number of compelling reasons why this is so such as:

§ People have become more mobile as workers as matter of professional preference.

§ Mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and phablets function as well as PCs for web access.

§ Retail apps in mobile devices make purchasing online doable even while you're road-bound.

§ It is convenient to do so and adds to the overall user experience of mobile devices and virtual shopping.

49%- of the time is spent by people on media consumption using various devices:

People spend almost half of their time, either for work or play, glued to various online devices consuming various media like blogs, games, websites, social media, videos, and search engines. This effectively explains why brands and companies are making the exodus to online media because of its large concentration of consumer attention and interest. Channelling those to potentially convert to favourable decision making and online retail action is naturally a beneficial one that could translate to profitability and growth for online businesses. If you own one such online business, these percentages would definitely mean a lot.

----------------------------------

Cheers,

Viswanathan Muthu,

PGDM (Marketing) | IMT Ghaziabad

Mobile - 75031 39490

Wednesday 30 October 2013

Blogpost: Trends in e-commerce, Interesting Facts

Contributed by:

Varun Manglik

12DM-158

I am currently involved in some research work on e-commerce, its trends and growths in India for some personal assignment.

Would love to contribute by adding some interesting facts and findings that you could some time use on comparison basis.

This issue, there are two things covered that i came across this week.

The major issues which the ecommerce companies face are as follows:

1. The challenge of having a good distribution network but many ecommerce giants are developing their own distribution networks as delivering charges form a major component of the product cost – ranging between USD1.0–4.0 per item.

2. The huge investment made in ecommerce ventures has the potential to give beneficial returns in the long run only if the customer base increases.

3. The turn around time for delivering a product can be reduced to 1-2 days only if the distribution system is improved and this also will help retain old customers and add to the list of new customers.

4. Retaining an existing customer is more profitable for a company since acquiring a new customer; on average costs USD15.0–20.0.

5. Only the ones who can face these issues and retain customers and survive online can get a piece of the pie of the online market as fundamentally weaker companies would lose out to established players . Hence a focus on improving the distribution system and retaining the existing customers is the key to ecommerce success.

On an average day on eBay in India:

Source: http://blog.webpro.in/2013/09/indian-e-commerce-industry-emerging.html

E Business in India and brief Analysis of prominent players in India

"The alarm clock hasn't even gone off yet," Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive of global e-commerce behemoth, Amazon, says of the US e-commerce market, about 20 years after it came about in that country. By that yardstick, the market in India isn't even a speck, considering only 11 per cent of the country's population uses the internet. But there are definite signs soon, Indian e-commerce, pegged at $9.5 billion (Rs 47,349 crore) last year (including online travel bookings) according to a study by the Internet & Mobile Association of India and KPMG, would be a force that would take onphysical retail head on, possibly forcing the closure of many brick-and-mortar stores.

That the market stood at just $3.8 billion (Rs 19,249 crore) in 2009 and is projected to grow to $12.6 billion (Rs 62,967 crore), according to the study, by the end of this year shows the potential in this space.

In India, the category took off with a deluge of portals, including those focused on travel, media and jobs, at the turn of the century, building into a bubble that burst systematically in ensuing years. Now, just a handful of serious players are left in this sector.

THE CLICK MARKET

E-commerce in India has grown from
Rs 19,249 cr in 2009 to
Rs 47,349 cr in 2012
expected to grow to
Rs 62,967 cr in 2013

Expected to contribute around 4% to GDP by 2020
Online travel, which grew 30% last financial year, makes up for 71 % of e-commerce in India
E-tailing segment has increased 59% from last year; share in e-commerce rose to 16 per cent in 2012 from 10 per cent in 2011
Internet reaches 11% of India's population against 34% world average

While another round of shake-out is imminent, e-commerce, which includes online travel bookings, e-retail and financial transactions, is set to grow, as consumers in non-metros and smaller towns embrace this concept, many on their mobile phones. Recently, Mukesh Bansal, chief executive of Myntra, a site focused on fashion and lifestyle, said the company expected 20 per cent revenue from mobile phone transactions by 2013-end and 40 per cent in the next two years. Against a mere 137 million internet users in India, the number of mobile subscribers is 951 million. The study projects mobile commerce would account for a quarter of the e-commerce pie by 2015 and non-metros would be the biggest driver in digital consumption.

Bringing e-commerce to the centre stage is the government's drive to open the sector to foreign direct investment (FDI), after being inactive on the issue for long. Not just Amazon and eBay, even brick-and-mortar players such as Walmart have made it known e-commerce is the future and FDI must be allowed in this space. Walmart Asia president and chief executive Scott Price is learnt to have written to Finance Minister P Chidambaram, saying "several other sectors stand poised for exponential growth and are ripe for foreign investment; foremost among them is e-commerce". During his coming visit to the US, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to discuss it with US President Barack Obama. Domestic companies are seeing action, too. The Kishore Biyani-owned Future Group has just announced a big-bang e-commerce initiative. Others are also betting big on it, and quite timely, considering Amazon has entered India. Flipkart's recent fund-raising exercise nearly turned on its head the argument investors were moving away from Indian e-commerce. The company raised $200 million from existing investors. Experts said investors weren't throwing good money after some bad money; they felt investors still had faith in Indian e-commerce and that business models would soon turn viable. Sachin Bansal, chief executive and co-founder, Flipkart, said, "We hope to be one of the largest companies from India on the global map."

Snapdeal, too, sounds positive. Chief executive Kunal Bahl said nearly every year, the company raised funds from external investors. Even niche e-tailers such as Healthkart have successfully raised funds. Healthkart has raised about $22 million through three rounds of funding from Sequoia Capital, Kae Capital, Omidyar Network and Intel Capital. The redBus platform, recently acquired by South African media giant Naspers through its Indian subsidiary ibibo Group for about $120 million, is creating ripples in the industry. While profitability remains a dream for most companies, these are swiftly changing business models. Flipkart is shifting from being an inventory-led business to a marketplace player. Though the move may have had to do with complying with the Centre's FDI norms, chief executive Bansal reasoned, "The range of products and prices that one can offer a consumer through the marketplace is, by itself, an argument in its favour." Three months ago, Amazon, too, was launched in India through a marketplace model, though globally, it operates through a 60:40 mix, where majority of its business volume comes from inventory-led sales.

Myntra offers a mix of inventory and marketplace, though the inventory-led model is the dominant one. Snapdeal, closely modelled on the Chinese Taobao of Alibaba fame, has been a marketplace player for long. There are other changes, too. Most online retail companies offer free shipment, only if the value of transaction is at least Rs 500, against Rs 200 earlier. Myntra, which may well be among the first online retailers to turn profitable, follows a model through which unsold inventory is returned to the vendor. It's also trying to perfect its one-hour delivery pilot in some cities, modelled on eBay in the US. There are payment innovations, too, including cash on delivery.

During the peak of the debate on FDI, Arvind Singhal, founder and chairman of Technopak Advisors, had said the government was missing the point, fussing over conditions while permitting FDI in multi-brand retail. "E-commerce, not FDI in multi-brand, would be the major cause of disruption for traditional retail."

Submitted,

Praveen Kartha P

12DCP-082

EBUS Luxury ecommerce in China - 13FRN310

Luxury ecommerce in China

By Joanne Rabenarisoa, 13FRN-310

Regarding the crave of the Chinese people for luxury brands (second luxury market with 27% of the global consume –first is Japan), I decided to make an article about the ecommerce of luxury products in China. China, even with its 1.4 billion inhabitants, is still not the first nation to buy online but it would not take very long before it happens. It is said that in 2015, China would have overtaken the United States who is currently the leader in ecommerce.

According to a study published by the giant Chinese website Alibaba, 52% of the Chinese online consumers declare that the main reason to buy online is that the price is lower than in physical shops. This fact is particularly true for luxury brand which are much more expensive in continental China than in Hong-Kong or anywhere else.

As a consequence, only one third of luxury products are bought in the country. At the same time, Chinese consumers fear that if they buy luxury items on Chinese website, at a very low price, they will get a poor quality product or a counterfeit. So online retailers have to highlight the fact that the quality and value are the same but only the price is different.

Many brands have tried to get into the Chinese online market through online luxury retailers. Nevertheless, many of them have failed. For example, LVMH who decided to sell its products through Tmall.com had to quit after only 6 months, with a thousand of pages seen but no purchase made.

Why it did not work out? In one part, it is due to license problems, price controls and instability of the offer. In another part, Chinese consumers have to feel the "touch" of the product which must justify its high price, something that online retailers cannot provide. In addition, ecommerce in China has been related for a long time to cheap products and counterfeit resellers. Logistics has also a big role to play: customers who can afford these products prefer to travel to the main cities rather than receive a damage parcel at home.

Facing this challenge, luxury brands have to innovate to make people buy online. 5lux.com, which is a multi brand luxury online store, has decided to open an "experience store" in Beijing. It consists of a place where clients can experience several products through activities and marketing animations. This tendency of "online to offline" (O2O) aims to make the customer confident before he or she makes a purchase.

Nowadays, the Chinese market represents a huge opportunity for luxury brands, the latter have to adapt even if they fail because it can be used to collect information. For example, Armani succeeded to reach its goals through its website generated by Yoox, an international luxury multi brand retailer.

FRN-303 article n°2

Dear sir,

Please find attached my second article

Mathilde Noizet

Google lauch its own label for e-commerce: "Reliable traders"

Trust is in the center of the relation between e-storekeeper and Internet user-customer. The consumer can choose by making its purchases on renowned sites or to rely on a certified labels for quality of service and for safety.

There are already many labels but Google also intends contribute to e-safety with its own baptized approach ' Reliable traders'.

After a launch in the United States, the engine launches this label in France, and test it first in with 5 brands: Spartoo.com, Shoes.fr, Maisondumonde.com, Tati.fr and Wanimo.com. After the first returns, the principle will be spread to all the cybertraders in 2014 (those who realize at least 200 orders a month, a figure susceptible to evolve).

Concretely, this label appears under the shape of a badge shown on the homepage of the on-line trader.

In passing the mouse on this badge, the Internet user reaches diverse informationsupposed to illustrate the quality of service and the performances of the site : percentage of orders delivered with no problem at all, average time to prepare a command, respect for deadlines, resolution of problems... Other information can be shown, the purpose always being to inform at best the buyer.

But Google goes further than the simple label by offering a free protection of the purchase. At the time of the validation of the order, the buyer can activate this protection which is validated by e-mail

In case of problem with the trader, the Internet user can then reach a dedicated interface of contact which allows Google to play the intermediaries. The engine promises a help and even in certain cases a refund of the purchase which can go to 1000 euros.

This new offensive of Google in the universe of the e-commerce where it is already very powerful raises nevertheless some questions, the most importa,t one being: how will be verified the quality information of service?

Google explains that the reliability of the data will regularly be verified. In a automatic way by recutting the data with the carriers for example and the manual worker by making orders. In case of negligence, the badge can be removed.

Blog article submission for e-business

'eBay' on a 'Shutl'

It's an obvious paradox that while the online buying is convenient and fast, not so is the acquisition of the goods by the buyer. Online retail giants may be at war with each other, but they do agree on one thing: They could never get ahead of the brick-and-mortar stores unless they provide "instant service". Appreciation of the fact by these players has made the race to lead the future of the same-day-delivery getting more intense day by day. The front runner has undoubtedly been Amazon with eBay close at its heels, trying to get ahead. There are other giants of e-commerce also that are in the race. In September 2013, Google started its same-day delivery service in the Bay Area. The third week of October saw Walmart expanding its same-day service Denver. On a smaller scale, with limited resources but innovative models, startups like PostMates, Deliv etc. are launching their on-demand delivery services in select cities.

The acquisition of London based same-day-delivery startup Shutl by eBay (for a yet undisclosed amount and terms of deal) is an attempt by eBay to get on to top gear and expand its same-day-delivery service from the current four regions (namely Chicago, Manhattan and Brooklyn, NYC Queens and Peninsula) to 25 cities, including London, by 2014. The announcement came on 22-oct-2013 by none other than eBay president Devin Wenig, showing the importance of the same-day-delivery model to its business in future. eBay is hoping, through the service, to bring in new/more buyers and expand its ability to let a user buy whatever he wants.

So, what is it that makes this acquisition special? Would the multi-million dollar acquisition payoff? Would this acquisition be able to complement eBay's overall strategy? Answers to numerous such questions are behind the veil of the future for the time being which would make themselves obvious in time, but one thing is clear from this move– eBay's intention.

Currently, eBay offer the same-day-delivery service through "eBay Now" (http://www.ebay.com/now/ along with apps for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android device) charging the customer $5 per store with a minimum order of $25 – and not accepting cash. A customer can choose items from hundreds of retail stores, Guitar Center, Babies R Us, Free People, Best Buy, GNC, Target, Home Depot, Office Depot, Radio Shack, and Toys R Us to name just a few – "The eBay advantage" of a plethora of sellers and easy returns.

So what does Shutl bring to the table? Well, expertise for one. Consider this. Shutl connects e-shoppers, retailers/sellers and package couriers towards delivering the orders to the shoppers not just within the same day, but within the same hour. Shutl's record of 15 minute delivery, a few months before the acquisition, is clearly analogous to Sir Don Bradman's with no one else in fray.

Within 3 years from its first completed transaction in March 2010, Shutl raised close to $9million. Shutl's initial growth rate of about 50% month-on- month is a testimonial to its success. By mid-2012, Shutl was operating in 50 cities and towns of United Kingdom, serving 70% of UK shoppers.

With all these positives where do the challenges lie? A part of the answer lies in the fact that the delivery model of Shutl is completely different from that of eBay Now. Shutl doesn't own and operate any fleet of trucks/vans or drivers. Rather, it works through an algorithm acting as a middleman focusing on the matching and coordination of delivery of orders with local couriers. Shutl does so as per the following parameters based real-time - price, performance history, quality ratings and customer feedback. Bringing in the concept of lean operations, it tries to keep the operations cost low. eBay Now employs couriers who get dispatched to stores to buy the goods ordered by the buyers and delivers them to the buyers. While eBay is not showing its cards (if there are any) as to how it is going to integrate, with synergy, Shutl to its model, such a transition would definitely not be easy.

Embracing Shutl's model means forgoing the existing model of eBay Now in the existing places with all the incurred spending becoming sunk costs. Continuing with eBay Now's existing in some places means not taking the full advantage of Shutl's technology, talent and expertise through its successful model. But, at the same time, a model which was working successfully in UK cannot be the guaranteed to work in a completely different market -The US.

Studies of consumer behaviors in US have shown that the shoppers, buying the types of things that eBay offers, are more concerned about getting accurate deliveries, rather than speedy ones. After all it's not a pizza delivery – best served when hot. But eBay, along with other major e-sellers, thinks otherwise about the direction in which the market would move in the future. Is the same-day-delivery, which the eBay is trying to convert to same-hour-delivery, just a fad among online sellers or a trend stretching years ahead remains to be seen.

Thanks and Regards,

Rajesh Singh

12FN-101, Section - A

PGDM- IMT Ghaziabad

Social media marketing has evolved businesses in India by Amit Kumar Verma, 12IB-006, EBUS-C

Social media marketing has evolved businesses in India

What is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing can be referred to the process of gaining attention through social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. It utilizes the social aspect of web by creating attractive content which encourages readers to share it with their social networks and hence helping the firm increase brand exposure and broaden its customer reach.

Social Media Marketing strategy can be as simple as having a Facebook page, a Twitter handle, a blog or a YouTube channel but framing the right mix of strategies to leverage the wide-ranging benefits of Social media is very critical.

Why Social Media Marketing?

Provides relatively inexpensive platform for organizations to implement marketing campaigns.
Enables to create buzz using word-of-mouth promotion.
Enables you to manage your reputation by keeping an eye on what others are saying about your brand.
Enables to reach out to a larger audience.
Provides a platform that gives power to reach and engage with your audience directly.
Provides permission based marketing tool rather than intrusive marketing.

Hence, Social media marketing is a great way to Listen, Engage and then serve your followers to drive business and to attract new followers.

Social Media Marketing in India

Social media marketing is evolving from a 'nice-to-have' to a necessary strategy in India with 83% of the firms agreeing that without social media activity, marketing strategies cannot prosper.

According to a survey, in 2010, 52% of Indian firms acquired new customers through Social Media and it reached 61% in 2011.
64% of Indian firms use social websites to connect, inform and engage their customers.
According to a study in 2013, around 95.7% of Indian organizations use social media to build communities and advocates while 76.1% uses it to highlight information and brand news.
83% of the Indian firms have used social media to promote a contest or increasing brand awareness.

Indian organizations use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Blogs as key social media channels and use analytics to measure the success of social media spending.

Few examples where in Indian customers came across social media marketing:

Secret Diaries: Dove launched its new hairfall treatment product via real women sharing their experiences with the product through videos and blog posts, in the Dove Hair Fall Rescue Diary.
Thunderbird500: Royal Enfield used teaser videos on YouTube to create pre-launch buzz for its Thunderbird 500
Save with Subbu: Kotak Mahindra Bank launched "Save with Subbu" campaign where users can co-author a "Smart Saving Book" by sharing their saving tips through Facebook or Twitter.

Future Ahead:

Indian organizations indulged in Social media marketing are very optimistic about its role in enabling them to Listen-Engage and Serve the customers. And, firms have realized that it has helped them to create their own communities of followers, customers, prospects and advocates. Hence, in near future Indian organizations can be seen indulging more and more in social media marketing.

As rightly said by Scott Cook, Co-founder, Intuit:

"A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is – it is what consumers tell each other it is."

Refrences:
http://en.wikipedia.org/
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/
http://www.ey.com
http://lighthouseinsights.in/

Social media marketing has evolved businesses in India

Social media marketing has evolved businesses in India

Provides relatively inexpensive platform for organizations to implement marketing campaigns.
Enables to create buzz using word-of-mouth promotion.
Enables you to manage your reputation by keeping an eye on what others are saying about your brand.
Enables to reach out to a larger audience.
Provides a platform that gives power to reach and engage with your audience directly.
Provides permission based marketing tool rather than intrusive marketing.

According to a survey, in 2010, 52% of Indian firms acquired new customers through Social Media and it reached 61% in 2011.
64% of Indian firms use social websites to connect, inform and engage their customers.
According to a study in 2013, around 95.7% of Indian organizations use social media to build communities and advocates while 76.1% uses it to highlight information and brand news.
83% of the Indian firms have used social media to promote a contest or increasing brand awareness.

Secret Diaries: Dove launched its new hairfall treatment product via real women sharing their experiences with the product through videos and blog posts, in the Dove Hair Fall Rescue Diary.
Thunderbird500: Royal Enfield used teaser videos on YouTube to create pre-launch buzz for its Thunderbird 500
Save with Subbu: Kotak Mahindra Bank launched "Save with Subbu" campaign where users can co-author a "Smart Saving Book" by sharing their saving tips through Facebook or Twitter.