One of my professors during my MBA has made this statement like
his own- ‘Learn the rules; master the rules; break the rules…’ – not to mention
his context was related to photography and the same line echoed in two other colleges
where he taught. Strangely, this was very much applicable to any business
entity or anyone who was looking to make a breakthrough in their field.
I don’t think I need to reiterate my fascination with online
retailing and the sheer pace at which this is transforming the business
dynamics. I wrote a blog last month about how distinguishing between two online
retail sites is turning into various shades of grey. Almost anything and
everything is now going on to an online selling model and while success and
longevity of their success are the key areas I question, I will agree that it
is making an impact for sure against traditional retail.
In the last one month, I have purchased customised T-Shirts,
green groceries, electronics and even furniture from online sites. I have
pushed by spending envelop to almost 10K ticket size at one time and I must
say, I am getting increasingly satisfied with my experiences. The reason-
increasingly, online sites now are going all out towards customer delight.
I was lured into buying groceries on greenkart.com simply to
buy 250 gms of cherries for Rs. 25 bucks. To make sure I didn’t pay for the
delivery; I added in veggies and other processed foods to get the ticket size
cross Rs 400. All the stuff was delivered to my door step the next day at a
prescribed time band which most suited my folks at home, something even the
regular local baniya never adhered to. Sorted vegetables and fruits of good
quality and well packaged along with prices lower than MRP for packed foods was
definitely a surprise. So what was the winner here- Quality and Convenience.
I am not ashamed to say that even if I’m not a member of
their loyalty circle; I admire Flipkart. In a matter of 4 hours on a particular
day, I placed an order for a sound bar, two cell phones and a memory card. The
sound bar and memory are delivered in 14 hours of the order booking and the
cell phones within 36- all on standard delivery. Not to mention that I was in no
haste for any of them, but the Speed of Delivery is a complete delight.
In comparison, Snapdeal was more on the assigned delivery
time and Fabfurnish was delayed but within their timelines which talks of
working days (the site has no mention if a week is 5 or 6 days).
What has been fascinating though is the kind of
differentiators coming up the market every day for these sites so as to build
that ‘Wow’ factor and score more customers. Like for instance; Groupon is a ‘Deal-of-the-day’
site but has always come up with areas of making its presence felt in the uncanny
manner. Last year, at the peak of the onion crisis, Groupon gave away a kilo of
onions at Rs.9; this year they are offering a Rs. 100 cash back for booking railways
tickets on Spice Safar.
Amazon is not left behind; as they have introduced eGift
Cards as a means to eliminate the need for thinking your brains over for giving
someone a gift. Innovative; well Amazon always give vouchers in case of a make
good; but now they are roping in customers through their existing customers.
Lastly, I got an emailer in my box today from a site called
trophykart.in which is an online portal to sell trophies, mementoes and medals
through an online site. This many not be a mass consumer product category; but
has huge potential as for business units and corporate houses. I have
personally worked on projects where I was expected to get some kind of trophies
for people to be felicitated. The problem was that even in Mumbai there are a
few reputed suppliers doing the job and as a result, it is more of a sellers’
market. Payment terms and deliveries were never up to the mark for meeting
expectations and overall it was a convincing game people had to play to
negotiate. This site has the potential to overcome these hassles as payment
over a card of bank transfer is possible. One area I feel will not be addressed
samples- as there are at times multiple levels of approvals and physical appeal
required to get the design across.
What will work, what will not- it is still unclear to me. But
at present one thing is for sure; everyone is looking to build that edge on the
competition as the battle for survival intensifies. This is one game where ‘this
is not the way things function’, is a taboo. The Master here is one who will challenge
the rules and break them to surge ahead to forge new rules.
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