Page 99 - BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Indian Brands 2015

TOP 50 MOST VALUABLE INDIAN BRANDS 2015
In the past decade, India’s population has crossed 1.25 billion. The 356 million youth aged 10- to-24 make India the youngest nation in the world. Indian youth are coming of age at a time when Internet and mobile technology are taking their biggest leaps yet. However, growing evidence points to the capabilities of digital media going beyond building brand awareness and advocacy and taking concrete steps towards driving sales.
According to the latest report by
the Internet and Mobile Association
of India (IAMAI) and the Indian
Market Research Bureau (IMRB), the e-commerce industry in India reached a value of INR 81,525 crores (USD $13.5Billion)in2014.Howeverthereal story was online retail, which reached $3.7 billion in 2014, a 60 percent increase over 2013.
Most e-tailing players in India have latched on to ofering large scale discounts as a quick and efective means of attracting new shoppers
to their sites. Massive online lash
sales have become the norm. The benchmark of the lash sales was
set last year around Diwali when the top three players – Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal – spent about INR 200 crores ($10.6 million) to attract festive shoppers through advertising. The “Big Billion Day” sale by Flipkart recorded
a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of INR 600 crores ($31.8 million) sold in 10 hours with Snapdeal recording a GMV of INR 1 crore ($160 million) every minute as well on the same day.
E-commerce is experiencing its newest growth from Tier 2 and
Tier 3 cities in India. This growth is unsurprising as people here have limited access to brands but high aspirations. According to several e-tailers these cities have seen a 30-to- 50 percent rise in transactions.
A pilot project run by Snapdeal into the rural market revealed that while the average ticket size of purchase in urban
India was about INR 2000 ($31.50), rural was not far behind averaging at INR 1400 ($22.10) per ticket. While the potential for growth of e-commerce in rural markets exists, there are two key hindrances for growth:
1. Deliveryoptions:Ageographically vast rural India is spread out among small cities, towns, townships
and villages.
2. Payment mechanisms: E-commerce for urban customers with access
to Internet banking payment is
just a matter of a few taps on the phone, however a majority of rural India would depend on the COD (Cash on Delivery) system.
CREATIVE SOLUTIONS
The current hindrances faced by
the e-commerce Industry are small when compared with the potential
for growth. Various online retailers are inding inspiring solutions to establish presence in areas that have low Internet penetration.
For example, Snapdeal recently partnered with FINO Paytech, a company that stands for inancial inclusion of all sectors. Through this partnership kiosks are being planned
in 70,000 rural areas by the end of
this year. These kiosks will be manned by village level entrepreneurs and will serve as order and delivery centers. The potential of these oline kiosks also extends into low-income households in slums in all the major metros.
With 154,866 oices and 466,903 employees, India Post has emerged as the unlikeliest hero to turn Rural India to Digital India. With 90 percent of all post oices located in rural areas and with each oice being able to serve 21.2 squarekilometres(8.2squaremiles), India Post almost seems like a tailor- made solution for e-tailers
in India.
Several e-commerce players like Snapdeal, Flipkart, and Naaptol have already partnered with India Post. An oicial statement by a government oicial mentioned that India Post collected over INR 280 crores ($44.4 million) from customers and remitted these funds to e-commerce irms as part of their COD solutions.
Besides its wide network, India Post has another dormant asset that can revive due to e-commerce. This is its cash handling services, which include competencies like core banking services, money transfers and postal account systems. Forward thinking e-tailers are already exploring setting up e-commerce kiosks inside post oices, while other entrepreneurs have managed to convince India Post to set up booking counters on their premises.
While, business, delivery and payment models are being tried and tested, a digitalized India is ready to trigger an explosion of e-commerce in India. It won’t be long till we get back our (now nostalgic) sense of excitement upon seeing that khaki clad postman smiling at the door.
99