Those investors who want to dip their toes into crypto, Bitcoin remained a go-for crypto. Some new tokens have entered the sector. A loose collection of coins (dogecoin, shiba inu and Squid game) are called meme coins. It is linked to the ‘Wall Street Bets’ movement where retail traders coordinated online to pile into stocks such as Game Stop Corp. This squeezes the short positions of hedge funds.
Month: January 2022
Media Company
How do we define a media company? To begin with Facebook was a Big Tech company. Could we call it an aggregator? Or is it a media company?
Simply put, a company that looks for audiences is a media company. It seeks audiences across geographies, technologies, formats and tastes. It seeks to monetise the audience through advertising or pay revenues.
Netflix is thus a pay revenue media company. It could create stickiness for another business, say Amazon.
Binance Coin or BNB
Next to Bitcoin and Ether, the popular crypto is BNB or Binance Coin issued by crypto exchange, Binance Holdings. It is the number 3 coin in the world. In 2021, it has outperformed both Bitcoin and Ether.
BNB is widely used on Binance crypto exchange, the world’s biggest by volume. It is the native currency of Binance Smart chain, a blockchain platform that supports smart contracts for use in DeFi and other applications. It challenges Ethereum blockchain.
Alternative coins (altcoins) too witnessed major gains in 2021. Solana and Fantom coins too support smart contracts with other blockchain platforms. They outpaced Binance Coins returns in 2021.
There is flow of capital into altcoins. The momentum is seen in tokens related to metaverse and GameFi. ETH-killers target Ethereum.
Online Meat
Online meat market is estimated to be Rs.700 crore (2019). It is a miniscule 1 per cent of the total market. Major portion of the market is unorganised. In organised market, the players are Licious, FreshtoHome, Tender Cuts, Meatigo and Zappfresh. These constitute 80 per cent of the online meat market. E-commerce sites such as BigBasket hold the rest of the share.
They sell fresh meat, poultry meat, sea food. They have also introduced Ready-to-Eat and Ready-to-Cook food. RTE and RTC constitute 20 per cent of their sale.
Licious operates in 20 cities. Tender Cuts has 54 stores and plans to expand to 100 stores. Tender Cuts serve 10000 orders per day.
As the large market is still unorganised, organised players have a lot opportunities. The key value propositions are hygiene and safety. They have to establish a robust supply chain in order to succeed. They operate in metros, and tier I cities. There is potential to expand in tier II cities.
MX Player
MX Player is a video streaming platform. It is run on advertising revenue. It decided to launch a subscription-based service called MX Gold, thus giving ad-free service to its subscribers. It has 200 million active users per month. It has been downloaded 1 billion times in October, 2021. MX Player was taken over by Times Internet in 2018. Chinese Ten Cent has too invested in this platform.
It releases original shows. They were north-based. It also offers international and regional content. The content is supported by the ads. It attracts rural audience not touched by the likes of Netflix or Amazon Prime. It is video-on-demand service. In 2010, it started gaming. Its revenue model is hybrid.
Edtech
Many companies offer online and remote learning courses. In the pandemic, the schools and colleges were closed. Edtech sector received a boost. There are five edtech unicorns in India. There are many fly-by-night operators. China has become stricter in regulating this sector. China prohibits edtech companies to raise public money or foreign capital. This has benefited edtech players there.
The government has advised caution in using the services of edtech companies. The offers must be carefully evaluated. They lure the subscribers to free courses, and do not disclose the auto-debits later on. There are inordinate delays in getting refunds. K–12, i.e. kindergarten to class 12, sector is unregulated. The government has so far treated the sector with kid gloves by just offering warnings to mend the ways. If edtech behaves erratically, there could be heavy scrutiny and regulation.
However, it is so difficult to monitor this sprawling sector. Many companies follow a business model that generates revenues rather than quality education. Investors exit the sector after five years. The government must set the standards and initiate certification process. There should be a lock-in period for investors.
Proper regulation of this sector will spare financial distress to many middle and lower-income families. Education cannot be fully left to the private sector. The government should have thought about public distance learning education modules. That would have benefited large number of students during the lockdowns on account of the pandemic.
Quick Commerce (Q-Commerce)
We are familiar with e-commerce by now, as we deal with Flipkart and Amazon and other online companies. These days we come across quick commerce (Q-commerce) startups such as Zepto. It promises delivery within 10-90 minutes of order placement. It has led to remodelling of companies such as Grofers, Dunzo and Swiggy. It creates a hyper-local opportunity.
E-commerce companies have large warehouses on the outskirts of the cities. They cater to the customers which are closest to the warehouse facilities. The delivery time is a few hours, the same day, next day to a few days. Q-commerce companies create dark stores that stock essential 2000 items including groceries, OTC medicines and other daily necessities. These service urban customers in top cities.
Kirana stores were offering such services in their own localities. They had relationships with the customers and knew their credit standing. These stores held their own despite the e-commerce. They survived because of the personalization of services. Q-commerce do threaten the kirana stores. However, q-commerce work in certain localities with high density of population. They must be willing to pay for the q-commerce service. Thus they may not be a threat to the kirana stores. It is possible for e-commerce, q-commerce and kirana to co-exist.
Q-commerce can also offer services such wireman, electrician, plumber through the q-commerce platform.
Kirana stores can also tie-up with such platforms and be a part of this system.
E-Rupi
RBI-backed digital currency has been a popular idea. In 2022, it could be translated into an e-Rupi. RBI will have to decide the design of this currency. Would RBI deal directly with customers providing him e-Rupi wallet? Will e-Rupi deposits attract interest? If yes, would it affect the bank deposits? If no, what more would e-Rupi achieve than the UPI-based payment system of digital transfers is already doing? These issues have significant implications. These have bearing an digital payments, banking and financial systems.
The central-bank-backed-digital-currency is certain to come. However, the devil is in the details.
Blockchain
Blockchain, though originally associated with Bitcoin, is being adopted for B2B ecosystem and SMEs. It powers diverse applications such as Web 3.0, sharing rides, land records, inventory management, financial services, insurance, loan management, healthcare and identity management.
In sum and substance, it is decentralised ledger of all transactions across peer-to-peer network which does not require a central clearing authority.
A transaction is valid when it is recorded on the main register, as well as distributed system of registers. These registers are connected through a secure validation algorithm. If there is an change in register, all stakeholders are informed.
E-Mail Marketing
Santa distributing Christmas goodies has never become outdated. Similarly email marketing too holds its position provided we know how to use it. In fact, it is more effective than social media at acquiring new customers. Marketers send 3-5 emails a week , and there is greater enagagement with emails.
Globally, email marketing will grow to $22 billion by 2025. Across the world, there are 4 billion email users, and this number is growing.
We can maintain relationship with existing customers by keeping in touch, by keeping them in the loop. They can be updated by newsletters. Newsletters should be concise and crisp, inviting and appealing and must provoke the customers to action. They should be made mobile friendly.
Email marketing builds a rapport with the consumers. Emails are good for pitching. They can draw attention by giving alluring offers and freebies. Prospects can be converted into customers. However, all this is just nudging, and not high pressure. Aggressiveness may send you to the spam folder. Once you get attention, they can be subjected to targeted emailing.
Emails can be personalised. Customers addressed by first name feel good. You can segment the customers by their interests. An email campaign has to be creative, simple and consistent. Customers are given special offers on important days of their life, say birthday or anniversary day.
Email marketing has to be used innovatively to get the best results.