Why Did Google Make An Ad For Promoting Search In India Where It Has Over 97% Market Share?

Very recently Google had released a beautiful advertisement telling a fictional story of how two small boys who were best friends before the indo-pak partition meet each other after 60 years with the help of Google search.

Link for the same ad is as follows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gHGDN9-oFJE

 

But what made Google advertise itself in a country where it already has over 97% of the market share?

The answer lies in threats that Google sees in the future and not at present. In future the search query starting with a browser visit to www.google.com URL itself may be irrelevant in the fast emerging world of connected smart mobile devices. As is apparent from chart below, Mobile is already 62.5% of traffic in India compared to 37.5% for desktop. So, Google has realized that more and more of its target users are on mobile and not on desktops. But even on mobile, the dominant use case is shifting towards access from smart devices rather than from features phones.

 

On smartphones & tablets, the dominant form of content consumption is via apps and not via a mobile browser. The reason being that the experience of a web service via a native app is much better than on a mobile browser, and thereby most users shift to an app usage paradigm. So, even though Google might have a 97% market share in browser search, the whole concept of "search" itself may be changing and Google is not necessarily competing with a Bing or Yahoo in this new world but with apps satisfying a vertical need or category demand.

 

So, whereas earlier a search for Restaurant for an evening-out with friends might have started with 'Restaurant in South Delhi serving Chinese food' on desktop browser, today a user is more likely to do it via Zomato app while being on the move. Similarly, a query for 'buy Samsung Galaxy Note 3' might have been easier to type on a desktop browser but on a touch smartphone, it's much more difficult to type and thus a user would prefer to open an Amazon or Flipkart mobile app and reach to Galaxy Note 3 via just 3-4 taps on small mobile screen since the experience is much more visual and faster.

 

In this new world, Google is trying to in-build as many services as part of its search engine where Google gives you the best contextual information on your home screen based on your location, time of day and previous history information that it has on you using Google Search, Gmail, Youtube, Chrome, Google+ and Google Maps. It's all part of a product called "Google Now" which Google is integrating deep into Android and is part of Google's iOS search app which users would experience more and more going ahead.

 

Even though the Google search "Reunion" ad starts with a desktop experience of Google, it quickly shifts to a mobile only experience where the younger generation kids are firing up Google from their mobile devices and are also experiencing these newer integrated services such as flight information and weather in display card forms. Eventually, the idea is to tell users that Google will take care of all their information whenever they want it and that they don't need to install or open the Weather or online travel agents like makemytrip.com or maps app on their smart phone. And hence, the need for this ad right now as Android is starting to take off big time in India and a lot of these users are mobile-first users who've probably never used desktop in their lives. If these new users start their web journeys with vertical apps instead of Google, their chances of coming back to Google would be very difficult.

 

The ad, even though has a good emotional track, is actually trying to crack Google's biggest worry , that consumers would start using apps instead of Google's services to get to their destinations on mobile. The approach is correct but increasingly it's a tough battle in which the playing field might not be to Google's advantage.

 

-Karan Gandhi | 12DM-069 | EBUS | Section-A

The growing importance of m-Commerce: How to achieve 500 million rural Indians

According to SAP Survey released on October 2013, 80% of the population makes other uses of mobile phones, other than just calls and text. 63% of the consumers access the internet once a day. 72% of the mobile users do bank transactions on their devices. From those who indulge in mobile purchases, half of them indulge in m-purchases for entertainment purposes. In fact, 30% of Snapdeal sales come from mobile. Therefore, given these statistical insights it is easy to imagine, how mobile influences today's e-businesses.

Furthermore, a recent report from IAMAI found that the number of mobile internet users in India is expected to nearly double between December 2012 and March 2014, from 87.1 million to nearly 165 million. Despite mobile network capacity limitations and a limited consumer embrace of large-screen mobile devices in the Indian market consumers overwhelmingly favour mobile Internet adoption because they value the ability to quickly access services and stay up-to-date while on the go. This dynamic will only accelerate in a country with a population greater than 1.2 billion people. 50% of whom are below the age of 26.

TRAI revealed that seven out of eight consumers access the Internet from their mobile phones. A deeper consumer behaviour analysis in rural India reveals that music and movies form a major source of mobile consumption, and they are willing to spend anywhere between Rs.1,000 and Rs.1,600 per month on such entertainment contents. Most people in this segment procure second-hand mobile devices for just between Rs.300 and Rs.600, but with extraordinary speaker and micro SD card facilities. They get the SD cards filled at local shops @ Rs.40/GB with songs and videos. Affording downloads to atleast 50% of these consumers at lower rates, can drive mobile internet subscriptions in this untapped market of over 150 million users.

Secondly, census 2011 revealed that there are 95.8 million cultivators, for whom farming is their main occupation; over 600 million Indians are deployed in an array of related agricultural activities. Weather and crop information will be valuable to this segment. Subsidised, reliable and customised information-on-demand can potentially replace their reliance over the comparatively cost ineffective television and radio media. More people who subscribe to such internet applications, greater the snowballing effect. Even if 20% of this population see value in it, we've targeted 120 million users.

Thirdly, for most of the e-commerce companies, around 30-40% of current revenues come from tier I/II cities. With the growing trends of internet consumption in e-tailing, mid and low socioeconomic classes are expected to drive the future growth of internet consumption. Already, 18% of the lower-income "strugglers" (whose annual household income is less than Rs 1.5 lakh) have Internet access, and 6% are engaged in commercial activities online. Targeting another 20% in this sector builds another 230 million consumers.

All in all, these three broad areas can help in strategic achievement of 500 million netizens.

-       Akshay Kumar (12DM-020) | EBUS | Section A

Developing an e-business model: Illustration of the model with eBay’s example

Developing a business model requires four key choices on the part of the senior management:

1. Value Clustering/Business Idea Generation: The target group to be addressed need to be decided and the value proposition need to be defined.
   
2. Marketplace Offering: Studying the competitive landscape in the existing target group space
   
3. Resource Systems: Alignment of resources to optimize results
   
4. Financial Model: Deciding how can the business idea be self-sustaining, and if not, how can it clear funding requirements
   

Egg model framework is used to map the value offering to the decision process

1. Need Recognition: What occasions trigger the need for my product? What tactics can simulate demand?
   
2. Search for ideas and offerings: What information would the consumer need to make the selection?
   
3. Evaluation of alternatives: What key evaluation criteria will the consumer use? What information will price, picture, product description delivery information and availability convey?
   
4. Purchase Decision: What do the peers of the consumer think of the product? Are there any unforeseen circumstances that the consumer feels as impediments to the purchase process?
   
5. Post-sale Support and Perks: How can the purchase dissonance be minimized by assuring that the other products do not satisfy what my products provide? How can consumer re-purchase be assured?
   

Understanding this with the example of e-Bay, which has a three-fold strategy: to do quality acquisition, to enhance experience, and to build relevance. eBay is achieving quality acquisition through internet marketing (SEM and SEO), forging strategic partnerships (Citibank). It is enhancing its consumer experience through online marketing, direct mailers and coupons and merchandising. Besides, it is building relevance through social media and IPL engagements.

While the proposition of eBay is to provide a fun marketplace that connects with people who love it for the abundant varieties and great deals that it offers. It's target group is primarily the young user aged between 18-45 years and uses the internet. They are largely male. The benefits it offers include emotional and rational. Emotional benefits include having fun, success, thrill of winning. Rational benefits include lucrative deals, plethora of choices and safety. eBay's personality is fun-loving, and vibrant, innovative and confident. Its voice is confident, optimistic, honest and fun.

But if it were to be studied systematically, there are four steps towards building a robust and sustaining e-business model:

Identification of Core Benefits: In eBay's case, the following four core benefits can be determined:

 

Link capabilities to benefits: For each of the core benefit identified, a capability needs to be linked up. In our specific example, "Widespread and Easy Accessibility" can be linked to capabilities like popular website, multiple contact points, wide reach to customers and strong brand name.

Develop Activities and Assets: To each of the capabilities identified, we need to develop activities and assets. In the above case, the capability "Multiple contact points" can be achieved by developing activities and assets like Affiliates, Telephone and Online presence.\

 

Ability to deliver capabilities: For each of the assets and activities identified, they need to be enriched with proper abilities to reach those.

Therefore, with these sets of planned activities, designed to result in a profit in the marketplace, it forms the heart of a business plan.

- Akshay Kumar (12DM-020) EBUS, Section A

Blog for E-bus class

Respected Sir,

PFA the blog on the below topic

RISE OF TIER 2 AND 3 CITIES IN E-TAILING MARKET IN INDIA.

 

Thanks and Regards,
Retika Bhat
PGDM-Marketing, IMT Ghaziabad

E-BUS BLOG Entry (Karanveer Singh Khosa,12DCP-049)

Website Design- Award winning e commerce websites

Between customer and seller, Image of company, easy to handle,

Designing a powerful website is must for a successful e-commerce venture. The website is the interface that connects the customers with the business (connection between the customer and the seller). A well designed website adds to the image of the company. The website should be unique, in sync with the brand philosophy and above all user-friendly.

A few key things to keep in mind while designing a e commerce site are :

1.       Emphasis on products that the company sells

2.       User friendly navigation and accessibility layout

3.       Attractive homepage, if possible with constant live feed and relevant updates

4.       Building trust with the customer- placing contact information, certifications, 24 hr helpline etc.

5.       Try and make available payment modes of all types

Let's take a look at the world's best designed e commerce portals.

Check the link : http://www.creativebloq.com/web-design/award-winning-ecommerce-websites-9134610

-Karanveer Singh Khosa(12DCP-049)

Why E-commerce Is Going Through Dark Days In India

Six years ago, Flipkart, the poster child of Indian e-commerce, began to scale a new way of shopping in the country. Since then, inspired by a buoyant middle class rapidly adopting the Internet, other e-com sites have started mushrooming.

I distinctly remember placing an order on an e-commerce site in those early days and feeling excited and giddy like a schoolgirl when the order came through in one piece. But the icing on the cake was the innovative cash on delivery (COD) instead of pre-paying for the article through a credit card - something I used to do in the US.

Most of us now realise the opportunity at hand. About 140 million Indians are currently online, which will go up to 350 million over the next 4 years. A rising and aspirational middle class will possess increasingly higher disposable income. Research pegs the current size of the e-commerce industry at $1.8 billion, going up to $13.5 billion by 2017. So it makes immense business sense to start an e-commerce venture today.

Yet, at a systemic level, rare is the venture that has been able to raise Series A funding. The coming together of opportunity and entrepreneurship should have ideally made the perfect combination. Then how did we reach a stage where entrepreneurs are actually hesitating to start e-commerce companies?

Lurking in the shadows of these sites were men who controlled what matters most in developing an industry - money! Investors, seeing early adoption coming along, started funding anyone who ran a dotcom business. In fact, a couple of renowned venture capital firms had put their associates on a brief to contact and meet every founder running an e-commerce portal in the country!

Founders loved it. They were being courted by investors who, trying to follow largely western and Chinese analogies, wanted to pump in money into these ventures even though (and here comes the surprising part) they had no envisaged plan for profitability.

Hence, it became a virtuous cycle - show us customers and early traction, and take away the money. Never in the past had so many young founders (most of them without any experience in growing companies) got access to risk capital in the country. Everyone was invited to the party and everyone wanted to get in.

But by late 2011, investors started realising for the first time that the people investing with them (yes, they have bosses as well) wanted to see, at the least, a path to profitability. Suddenly metrics such as cash burn rate and contribution margins on an order have started becoming important. It isn't only about customer acquisition; customer retention impacting the bottom line has also come into the focus now.

Over the past 2 years, as an advisor to start-ups in the Internet sector, I have noticed how raising risk capital has become increasingly difficult. Many founders still banked on the easier ride leveraged by their predecessors, but they had been unable to come up with viable ventures. One entrepreneur, who recently contacted me for advice, kept insisting that he doesn't need to show early traction to raise capital. When I protested, he duly named many entrepreneurs who had, perhaps, raised capital in an easier environment and how he was better than them.

But investors today are wary of anything in e-commerce. In fact, one investor with a leading VC firm confided in me his firm's efforts to stay away from this sector. As a result, it will be challenging for founders to raise capital until about the end of 2015.

But all is not bleak. There is no dispute regarding the opportunity. While North America, Europe and China have e-commerce websites with significant scale, India is seen as the last bastion. With more people coming online every day and consumption patterns changing, the growth potential is, indeed, immense and entrepreneurs can still start e-commerce ventures that will attain significant scale in the next decade.

This offers immense opportunity to create viable, inherently profitable ventures, which can deeply differentiate themselves from competition. In fact, the heavy adoption of mobile in India presents the greatest opportunity in this respect. So much so that it may be wise to gravitate towards mobile-first strategies, figuring out how to appeal to consumers whose first screen to discover this digital world will be a low cost smartphone.

These are the ventures that will not only find it easier to raise capital but can also develop viable businesses in the next 36-48 months. Innovation around this space and cross-pollination of the changing reality with traditional e-commerce principles could be the need of the hour.

Vineeth R Tengse

12DM-169

EBUS-B

Ebuss_blog entry_6

Online services are big business for portals like Flipkart, MakeMyTrip, Snapdeal and Myntra

As disposable incomes steadily rise, young Indians are preferring to access services from within the comfort of their homes. Numerous ventures are jumping onto the opportunity, giving consumers the convenience of ordering food, renting apartments and planning holidays online.

Such online ventures also face fewer operational challenges and require lower investments than e-tail sites, such as Flipkart and Snapdeal, as they carry no inventory of their own and typically only function as links between service providers and consumers

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/26542489.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

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Astha Gupta

12DM-041

Invitation to connect on LinkedIn

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Status of NBFCs in India by Amit Kumar Verma, 12IB-006, EBUS-C

NBFC

A Non Banking Financial Company (NBFC) is a company registered under the Companies Act, 1956 of India, engaged in the business of loans and advances, acquisition of shares, stock, bonds purchase, insurance business, or chit business: but does not include any institution whose principal business is that includes agriculture or industrial activity; or the sale, purchase or construction of immovable property.

A non-banking institution which is a company and which has its principal business of receiving deposits under any scheme or arrangement or any other manner, or lending in any manner is also a non-banking financial company (residuary non-banking company).

 

NBFC Vs Bank

Difference between a NBFC and a Bank is that NBFC's cannot accept demand deposits whereas, banks can accept and also NBFC's can't issue cheques to its customer.

 

RBI & NBFC

It is mandatory for every NBFC to be registered with RBI

There are three different types of NBFC's registered with RBI. They are as follows:-

Ø  Asset Finance Company (AFC) - AFC could be defined as any such financial company which as a part of its objective finances physical assets like tractors, automobiles, lathe machines, generator and material handling equipment.

Ø   Investment Company (IC)

Ø  Loan Company (LC)

Key Notes

Ø  All NBFC's cannot accept public deposits, only those NBFC's who hold a valid certificate can hold/accept public deposits

Ø  They can accept deposits only for a period of 12-60 months and these deposits are not payable on demand

Ø  NBFC's can offer a maximum of 11% interest rate as per ceiling declared by RBI.

Ø  Deposits in NBFC's are uninsured

Ø  RBI doesn't guarantees repayment by NBFC's

Ø  NBFC's are not authorized to offer any gifts or promotional offers as a part of account opening

Ø  List of all the registered NBFC's can be found on the website of RBI

Ø  Like the banks NBFC's, also offer nomination facility

Ø  Unrated NBFC's except certain AFC's cannot accept public deposits

Ø  If a NBFC defaults in its payment of deposits then consumers can knock the doors of Company Law Board or can go to Consumer Forum or can file a law suit

Ø  Till date there is not any Ombudsman available for hearing of complaint against NBFC's.

12DCP-061 -15 Apps Every Entrepreneur Should Use

Whether you have a tech question or a fashion concern, there's probably an existing app that can help you out.

But frankly, with all the apps out there, it's easy to get stuck with the same icons on your home screen — and never so much as click on the newer ones that would benefit your business most.

1. Lift

We all know our habits ultimately determine our lives and destinies. The same is true in business. Our businesses are what we repeatedly do. My business partner and I use Lift any time we want to make a new habit stick. This could be anything from writing a thank-you note every day to something as simple as checking in to Basecamp. Since we both follow each other on Lift, it's easy to hold each other accountable and make critical habits stick.

- Jonathan Mead, Playbook

2. WinStreak

If productivity and growth are important to you, Strategic Coach's free iPhone app WinStreak is helpful. You identify three "wins" you accomplish each day and set three wins to achieve tomorrow. This app helps you focus on what's important and the steps you need to accomplish to move toward your goals.

- Charles Gaudet, Predictable Profits

3. CloudMagic

Until Apple decides to make the search function useful for iPhone users, CloudMagic is an indispensable search engine for all your data. CloudMagic lets you search across Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, Dropbox, Evernote, etc., through one simple search box.

- Patrick Vlaskovits, The Lean Entrepreneur

4. Venmo

The most under-utilized app right now is Venmo. The peer-to-peer payment system has yet to be solved, and Venmo provides frictionless transactions. We use it at the company. It's free, it's easy, and I'm surprised it hasn't completely caught on.

- Rameet Chawla, Fueled

5. Brook

My favorite app is Brook (currently in beta). I love Twitter but don't have time to sift through all of the superfluous posts. Brook helps me focus on the most important updates.

- Brant Bukowsky, Veterans United Home Loans

6. Fleksy

Fleksy is a fantastic app that allows you to type without looking at your smartphone screen. It saves me so much time, and every entrepreneur should be using it.

- Brent Beshore, adventur.es

7. Full

Full just came out, and I'm already obsessed! It helps me set goals and track my progress. I've been using it for both my business and personal life.

- Kelsey Meyer, Contributor Weekly

8. TripIt

TripIt gives you the ability to organize your travels just by forwarding your booking confirmations to an email address. I don't know how I ever knew where I was supposed to be before I discovered this app.

- Ioannis Verdelis, Syntellia

9. Flowdock

Flowdock is a chat-meets-inbox tool that runs on most browsers and mobile platforms. The greatest aspect of Flowdock is its ability to allow my team to collaborate instantly on projects and emails. Flowdock also has team inbox features such as drag and drop, file uploads, activity streams that allow team members react to changes on projects immediately, message tagging, instant notifications and more. I'd recommend this app to any entrepreneur wanting to stay organized, especially as your team scales.

- Doreen Bloch, Poshly Inc.

10. Gliph

Gliph allows you to safely send private messages across a variety of platforms. It's perfect for confidential negotiations that must be handled electronically. It comes with document storage and encryption features as well.

- Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

11. Refresh

Refresh crawls social networks to provide users with a dossier on anyone before you meet with him. In 30 seconds, I know the person's spouse's name, where he or she went to college and when we last met.

- Adam Root, Hiplogiq

12. Audible

As an entrepreneur, you should always be learning and reading books. It's really hard to find the time to actually focus on a physical book. I've found Audible extremely helpful to listen to books while on the go.

- Ryan Shank, Mhelpdesk

13. Box

The ability to edit files and securely them send to customers or staff anywhere in the world is truly priceless. With our Box subscription, we are able to see the progress of projects and give feedback to our staff from anywhere in the world using a tablet, phone, laptop or desktop.

- Derek Capo, Next Step China

14. Wunderlist

I use it to capture ideas and tasks for myself. It's gorgeous and performs well on both the iPhone/iPad and Web version. The Chrome plugin is very helpful as well. Whenever I have an idea, I save it to Wunderlist. I use it for personal tasks and ideas.

- Jeff Fernandez, Grovo Learning, Inc.

15. focus@will

I started using focus@will a few months ago to help me really zero in during times when I need to be productive. The app uses specially formulated music to boost productivity by way of increased focus. I don't know if it actually works or if it's simply the placebo effect, but since I've been using it for the last two months, my productivity has gone through the roof.

Learnings form E-Business class held on 14th Nov

Blurring lines between Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon

Every big player in market is trying to become one stop shop.With these ever expanding service/product portfolio, Porter's concept of core competencies seems to becoming irrelevant. Google and Amazon is encroaching into the apple's space with its "Nexus" and "Kindle" respectively, Facebook has recently started the option of gifting, Apple always had IOS against Android.

So what is the truth? Are these big mighty giants actually defying the concept of core competencies or this is just a case of diversification into different business or is this debate is fundamentally wrong and Mr Porter is infallible because concept of core competencies apply only to mature markets and markets which we are talking are still far from maturity.

Or can there be an all-encompassing view that core competencies is a dynamic thing as these companies have expanded their portfolio they have moved from individual products to PLATFORMS. They are just connecting people and in an attempt to do that they are providing everything which they can....

Dr Varun Jain

12DM-157

Blog on Learning from previous class

Respected Nilanjan Sir,

PFA the blog on learning from previous class.

Thanks and Regards

Ramit Malhotra

12DM-113

PGDM (Marketing)

IMT Ghaziabad

+91 7503139507

Praveen Kartha's invitation is awaiting your response

Praveen Kartha would like to connect on LinkedIn. How would you like to respond?   Praveen Kartha Student at IMT Ghaziabad Confirm you know Praveen You are receiving Reminder emails for pending invitations. Unsubscribe. © 2013 LinkedIn Corporation. 2029 Stierlin Ct, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

Responsive Web Design For E-Commerce

The customers are increasingly using multiple devices for communication today and it is only necessary that the website experience should also be integrated across all devices. With this comes in Responsive Web Design. Responsive Web Design is aimed at creating websites which provide optimum viewing experience with minimum variation across all devices while keeping the same website address. This means doing away with m.dot and t.dot type urls. But like every new technology it has its own advantages and flip-sides which need to be weighed before we draw any conclusions.

The Case For

1. Unified Approach
One single URL and one single HTML code. Besides improving the customer experience it also eases the maintenance and upgrade of website. One set of URLs also carries SEO benefits — all back links will point to a single domain, and your "mobile site" can leverage the link graph your domain has acquired.
 
2. User Experience
It provides a user experience like never before. Seamless integration and automatic adaptation to the device in use ensures a user friendly experience.
 
The Case Against
 
1. Page Load Speed
The website is heavier to load and cause serious concerns over mobile devices. The improving internet speeds and processing power of mobiles and tablets this may not be a concern in the future.
 
2. Cost
Complex Design and this being a new concept, the cost of building a responsive website is significantly higher.
 
3. Process Change
For many organizations, going responsive will require organizational and process change. Design and development can't work in silos any more. Outsourced teams need to find a way to work together, or an in-house team must be adopted.
 
4. Design Constraints
Sites that use advertising to monetize can find it challenging to fit standard ad units into responsive designs, but it is possible.
 
Verdict : It is only a matter of time when we will witness a mass movement towards Responsive Web Design. The important question however, is not if but when an e-commerce company should move to this new platform.

--
Thanks & Regards
Sameer Doda,

12DM-126

Rakuten – Can E-commerce be personalized?

Rakuten is the world's third largest e-commerce marketplace and has often been called "Amazon.com of Japan". But if you ask its CEO, Mr. Hiroshi Mikitani, he would emphasize that Rakuten is very different from Amazon. Rakuten has a clear focus on the shopping experience – providing the customers high quality personal service. By adding an extra dimension beyond the product and customer, Rakuten has successfully created a personalized, bazaar like experience for the customer.

Rakuten essentially has a B2B2C business model where merchants from across the globe can come together and form an internet shopping mall. Each seller can customize his page layout and promotions and communicate directly with the customer through e-mail or SNS (Social networking services). Rakuten receives revenue through fixed fees from merchants and fees per transaction/service. 

Rakuten also offers consultancy services to merchants so that they can increase their users and sales through the website.

This business has expanded to Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia  Indonesia, Germany, UK, and Brazil, US and France by 2012. As of June 2013, they had 41,000+ merchants for 13.53 million buyers. Rakuten overtakes Amazon in sales of all categories except books and electronics.  Rakuten merchants sell 10% of the wine sold in Japan! This goes to show that for certain product categories, personalized selling is effective in e-commerce.

An interesting story is that of a merchant who wanted to sell fresh eggs through Rakuten. He believed that eggs at a supermarket are generally weeks old and that people would prefer organic, fresh eggs delivered overnight, even at a price premium. Once he opened a store in Rakuten, he would maintain a 'chick diary' to let customers know how his chickens were doing. He would post photos of quality checks and write stories about his experiences. This made people more interested in buying from the egg merchant, although the eggs were priced on the higher side.

So we see the power of the merchant as an influencer of customer decisions in this business model. Rakuten is however not stopping there. It incorporates new technology going beyond data analytics. It is currently testing new software that lets customers search for clothes using photos. So one may upload a dress worn by a celebrity and immediately see its related items on sale. It is quite easy to see why Rakuten is considered a front runner in e-commerce in terms of innovation and customer centricity. 

--

Regards,

Soumya Sreekumar

IMT Ghaziabad, Batch of 2012-14

+91 7503139797

Rakuten – Can E-commerce be personalized?

Rakuten is the world's third largest e-commerce marketplace and has often been called "Amazon.com of Japan". But if you ask its CEO, Mr. Hiroshi Mikitani, he would emphasize that Rakuten is very different from Amazon. Rakuten has a clear focus on the shopping experience – providing the customers high quality personal service. By adding an extra dimension beyond the product and customer, Rakuten has successfully created a personalized, bazaar like experience for the customer.

Rakuten essentially has a B2B2C business model where merchants from across the globe can come together and form an internet shopping mall. Each seller can customize his page layout and promotions and communicate directly with the customer through e-mail or SNS (Social networking services). Rakuten receives revenue through fixed fees from merchants and fees per transaction/service. Rakuten also offers consultancy services to merchants so that they can increase their users and sales through the website.

--

Regards,

Soumya Sreekumar

IMT Ghaziabad, Batch of 2012-14

+91 7503139797

E-commerce – Enabling businesses

There is no doubt, e-commerce has come a long way since its inception, enduring slow dial up connections as well as customer apprehensions along the way.  Companies like Napster forced companies to transform their traditional business models and Amazon built the biggest bookstore in the planet. Even after the dot com bubble burst, a rebound was sure to happen.

The release of Web2.0 enabled innovators and entrepreneurs to connect to their customers like never before. They saw the potential for e-commerce to open new opportunities for overseas markets. They also saw cost efficiencies through lower internet transaction costs and disintermediation. Not to mention the instant access to customer data and insights that can be incorporated into the product and marketing strategy.

Consider in India where e-commerce is growing at a fast pace, even though internet penetration is low as compared to other countries. In early 2000, just a few names in the e-commerce business were operating – Fabmart, Rediff, Sify, apnaloan and some others. Now there are companies like Shopnix which allow individuals to set up an e-commerce website in minutes. Shopnix is proud to enable more than 300 stores ranging from mass e-tailers to city focused online stores such as SapnaOnline, Kiranawalla and Freshbazaar.

Also worth mentioning is the Indian version of Cyber Monday – "Great Online Shopping Festival (GOSF)". In December 2012, Google India partnered with major e-commerce players like Myntra, Jabong, Snapdeal, MakemyTrip and Flipkart to offer tremendous offers and discounts for a single day. It proved to be successful with Myntra realizing 150% jump in sales; traffic grew by 300% for Homeshop18 but majorly GOSF succeeded in creating a buzz for online shopping.

The latest trend in India is that of local e-commerce and m-commerce.  With Justdial going in for an IPO and Quickr expanding rapidly, merchants are looking into the local e-commerce space with much zeal.  According to a study by SAP, 97 percent of consumers are asking for more mobile interactions with banks, telcos, retailers, utilities, and other businesses, which imply a steady shift towards mobile commerce. The opportunity is huge and the barriers immense. It is just a matter of time to see where businesses will be heading in the coming years. 

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Regards,

Soumya Sreekumar

IMT Ghaziabad, Batch of 2012-14

Project Loon

Project Loon

 

In June 2013, Google launched the pilot project of its project loon which aims to provide internet access to rural and remote areas. As part of their pilot project they launched 30 balloons in New Zealand in coordination with the Civil Aviation Authority from the Tekapo area in the South Island. After this initial trial, Google plans on sending up 300 balloons around the world at the 40th parallel souththat would provide coverage to New Zealand, Australia, Chile, and Argentina. Google hopes to eventually have thousands of balloons flying in the stratosphere. Also since this project involves utilizing the unlicensed spectrum, Google does not have to go through the regulatory norms to provide wireless communication networks.

Charles Nimmo, a farmer and entrepreneur in the small town of Leeston, was the first person to receive internet access through Project loom. He received internet for 15 minutes before the balloon flew past. The project was so secret, no one would explain to him for what product he was testing for!

This project has the potential to improve digital progress in the developing nations. Citizens of these countries would receive immense benefits, from educational to social inclusion of the downtrodden. The debate is still ongoing about the role of internet towards increased consumerism, adverse health effects and degrading ethical and moral practices. Hence this project by Google is being looked at with mixed reviews. It is indeed left to see how practical this project is going to be.

Recently this week, talks of Project Link have caught media attention. The project aims at providing high speed reliable internet to certain parts of Africa that are off the coast of the continent. Uganda has been chosen as a test city for this project by installing a fiber network faster than broadband.

 

 

 

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/next-stop-googles-high-speed-fiber-uganda-2D11632724

 

Regards

Akhil Midha

12DM-017

Latest on google search

Read this latest article on the advances on google search

Google Inc. has introduced yet another feature to their vast range of
search utility arsenal. They have introduced a search feature that is
designed to get consumers more quickly to the information they seek.
Google will now serve information based on the behavior of other
searchers and predict what the consumer is ultimately looking for.

Google is calling this smart feature Knowledge Graph, offering
consumers options along the right side of the page that reflect
variations of search terms. If a consumer is searching for a
particular search term, variations of the term will show on the
right-hand side of the search results page. This is roughly where
Google map depictions for the search would go along with links for
popular searches associated with the searched term.

Google's Knowledge Graph section may also include a Wikipedia-like
summary about the search term. This would include biographical
information, say for a person and his or her spouse or associated
persons. For example, if one searches for a singer of a known band,
the section will also display information about the person's fellow
band members.

Other search results would appear as they normally do along the
left-hand side of the search page.

Geographically, the Knowledge Graph is a great addition. It enables
you to search for things, people or places that Google is aware of,
with landmarks, celebrities, cities, sports teams, buildings,
geographical features, movies, celestial objects, works of art and
more, offering you the information instantly. This is the new
generation of search – offering the main sub sections immediately.

According to Google, this new feature is based on its analysis of what
its users ask about particular items, with results that are tailored
around the findings. This will help them answer the seeker's next
question before it is asked. Google says that the new feature can draw
from 3.5 billion facts about 500 million objects.

Google says that is rolling out the new search features for
English-language searches in the United States and to mobile and
tablet search users as well.

the article can be found here:
http://www.etailingindia.com/google-new-search-feature-help-increase-relevancysurfing


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Apaar Gupta
+919999733125
PGDM (Marketing) 2012-2014
IMT Ghaziabad