These days the companies have realised that success in today’s competitive market place is by providing customer service of quality and their grievance redressal mechanism. A contact centre is one such mechanism which handles customer calls and complaints. It is a third-party customer contact desk. It goes beyond call handling, and tries to establish comprehensive customer relationship management system. These services are outsourced. Many companies from abroad are outsourcing significant amount of customer contact services from India. If companies just rely on their internal resources, it may result in customer dissatisfaction. A plethora of communication devices may not be helpful. There should be a single response number customer. Contact centres are common in service industries like credit card companies, banks and cellular phone companies. Third party customer contact centres are increasingly being used by FMCG companies, consumer durable companies and insurance companies. These centres also provide telemarketing solutions. Some companies get forms filled up online, courier them to be signed, collect them with supporting documents and submit them. A call centre enters into an agreement with the company. In centralised model all calls across various cities are handled by customer service representatives ( CCSR ) in a single location. If the central location is at place called X, and calls originate from Y and Z centres, they are received at the respective local switches to be re-routed to X. In distributed option, the local centres take care of the calls. The hybrid model is a mixture of the two. Companies improve brand perception by employing the services of call centres. A company will have to advertise a customer service number.
Author: Shabbir Chunawalla
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Digital Advertising
Corporates these days seek digital narrative for their brands. Pepsico India recently launched #NaamBanteHainRiskSe for its drink Mountain Dew. Here the real life heroes are honoured when they go beyond the conventional and emerge victorious. A female amputee climbs Mt Everest. It is a short digital film. Consumers participate in this campaign. There are millions of calls for registration. There are several million views and lacs of shares. The company engages the consumers and hand over the reins of the campaign to them. These real heroes rise above fear, and break out of the ordinary. They emerge victorious. In the digital world, the consumer writes the brand story. Just a conventional ad placed in traditional media where the fuzzy logic dictates the future marketing strategy is not enough. We must learn the consumer’s neuroscience. A brand is less about what it tells people it is. A brand is more about what people tell other people it is . The companies will have to be more experimental. Mondelez has designed ‘Play with Orea ‘. The Development Bank of Singapore ( DBS ) serialised a love story Chilli Paneer on YouTube. Each episode was of 4-minutes. It explores the relationship of a Singaporean man and an Indian woman. The bank plays a mediator. The emphasis was on connectivity and building relations with the customers.
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E-Commerce and Vendors
All e-commerce sites aim at two things — acquire customers and acquire sellers who sell their wares on the e-commerce site. There is always a race for increasing the number of merchants from year to year. The more the merchants, the better. Merchants get attracted to those e-commerce sites whose brand proposition and promise is clear. Sellers are fickle, and would like to be associated with multiple sites to garner more and more business. E-commerce sites offers commissions per order and delivery charges. They may waive the subscription fees and fees pertaining to inventory storage and packaging. Some e-commerce sites are zero-commission platform, though they charge marketing fees on each sale. The vendors must be assisted by the site as they lack the digital experience. Merchants prefer seamless delivery option. Theses options must be cost-efficient. Logistics is key to e-commerce. If there is delay, the order is likely to get cancelled. Sellers prefer third party logistics partners that are tied up with e-commerce companies. It makes the process simple, integrated and cost-effective. Sellers may opt for their own courier if they operate from their site. Sellers prefer signing with those e-commerce sites that give them highest traction. It is about the trust and credibility of the platform.
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Page 3 Phenomenon
Page 3 phenomenon has swept India. Page 3 people has affected marketing, advertising and life style of people. Page 3 has touched all classes of people. Middle class cheers these people. These people are now brought to comment on cricket also. Page 3 generation is party crazy. Some of them have pin up value. Many Page 3 people one might not see in flesh and blood. But most people have heard of them. Many celebrity endorsements and launches are brought to us by courtesy of these people. Page 3 patronage has the potential of making a product successful. A favourable mention on Page 3 can put people and things in circulation. Restaurants send invitations to press in the hope that they will make it to Page 3. Liquor companies try to ensure that their brand is mentioned in the copy about the celebrity and his drink habits. Fashion designers focus on people who wear their collections.
Page 3 as such is media creation. Its genesis lies in local city supplements to attract retail ads. But it has brought about a tremendous cultural change. Mere wealth is not enough. People crave for spotlight. It is creditable to be in association with the movers and shakers of society. Readers get vicarious pleasure to know about the rich and famous. They aspire to be like them. The Page 3 events and therefore Page 3 itself is a reflection of being successful and a sign of having arrived in life. The middle classes who enjoy Page 3 subconsciously aspire for this. Some of these people are role models. They may be achievers or may not be. At times they are frivolous. Some are social climbers who organise great parties. Page 3 is about positive coverage. Here we shall talk about Armani suits, rather than dwindling profits. These people give an opportunity to the voyeur in us. They encourage gossip bringing the primitive in us to the surface. Page 3 celebrates those who are famous for being famous. It features, as Mohammed Khan put it, a new aristocracy. These are a small number of people who are horrified at the prospect of appearing on Page 3 as it portrays people as party beings lacking talent and intelligence.
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Brand Experience
According to Zyman, the author of The End of Marketing, McDonald’s have got to give people a reason why they should visit it. Today it has become transactional. They have to go back where they were a few years ago, on an experience theme. McDonald’s is an experience that starts the moment one thinks about going to the moment one drives through or walk into the restaurant — one interacts, eats the food and feel really good. It is actually a good experience. That is what McDoanld’s should be all about. Starbucks stands for the experience idea.
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Discount Sales
Some customers look down upon sales and do not like the idea of wearing garments not in vogue and using things out of fashion. But many welcome a sale to get the best deal. Sales make things affordable. Goods have short life cycles. Sales result in quicker uptake of such goods. They also flatten seasonality. Sales are used to dispose of surplus or leftover stocks. Some items in sales are shoddy. But this is no longer true. Sales can be exploited strategically. Sales may offer an entire range of merchandise, rather than just redundant stocks. Sales are used to improve customer walk-ins. Sales may encourage an unnatural buying habit in the consumers. Their visits in the non-sale period are next to none. In Western countries, markups are high to the extent of 100-125 p.c., and a portion of this is passed on the customer at the time of sale. In India, the mark ups are as low as 25 p.c. , and the same practice of passing on a portion of this meagre mark up puts pressure on the retailer. The competitive pressure makes it compulsory for retailers to announce a sale. A multi-brand store has to announce a sale if a standalone brand store does so. Big brands have a grievance that a sale by them attracts the customer to the store, which then sells him their own brands to benefit from the higher margin. Frequent sales may affect the sales during the festive season. A sale has to be based on good inventory planning. In a sluggish market, discounts keep the cash registers ringing. Some companies push out sales to their factory outlets, rather than holding them at their flagship stores. There are regional variations to be seen in holding a sale, much depends on the performance of a brand in a particular region. Retailers consider a sale as an event and use it imaginatively. Some stores fear that mainstream purchasing gets adversely affected because of discounting.
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In-app Ads
Mobile ads can be either on browsers or on apps. In-app advertising is growing faster than advertising on the web. Mobile in-app ads revenues may overtake PC and mobile web advertising. In India, e-commerce firms are urging consumers to download the apps and access them through the app and not through the PC browser. They are incentivising such access. It is natural for the brands to jump into mobile apps. Previously brands had digital presence on Facebook page or Twitter feeds and display ads. Apps are a preferred platform now for mobile ads as they provide a better user experience.
Mobile landing pages are moving from plain old URLs to deep links with apps. Mobile creative were just banners. They are now becoming highly interactive. The ad is put strategically, e.g. on the check out screen.
Still it is better to remember that a large number of mobile users still prefer browsers as these offer them access to all the content they want at one place. They do not have to switch between different applications for different pieces of information. To the marketers, rather than the platform, what is more important is the reach.
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Image Search in E-Commerce
A customer likes an outfit. It is styled so well. A customer can click a picture of this outfit on the phone. An e-commerce app can search the entire catalogue using this image for the customer. A customer need not describe the outfit in textual inputs. A customer can like a colour or pattern. He wants to be shown a similar kind of product. Flipkart, YepMe, CraftsVilla and Voonik has launched this image search feature. To recognise images and show similar results, companies use computer vision. It is an upcoming discipline that uses computer power to give computers an ability to recognise images. Google, Fb and MS — all of them have invested in computer vision. Visual search is advantageous while selling for fashion. Mad Street Den, a start up in this field, which is Chennai-based has developed technology that analyses an image for colour, pattern and other attributes visually, and pulls up clothes similar to the ones being viewed by the user. In short, computer vision is a component of AI. To make this work, large computer networks known as deep neural networks are trained using a set of images.
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Grammar and Copy
Copywriters are adept in English grammar, but do take liberties. They make complete sentences by using just verbs. They start sentences with conjunctions like ‘but’ and ‘and’. They use split infinitives.
Copywriting is different from formal business writing, novel writing or journalism. In journalism, the task is divided among a reporter, sub-editor, lay-out artist, typographer and DTP operator. A copywriter’s task is an integrated one. He has to consider the entire ad copy consisting of headlines, body copy, illustration, sub-headlines, design, size and frequency from creative angle. He can be compared to a composer. His copy is a musical composition. A copywriter has to ensure that each note in it is in place, and adds to the tempo.
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Banks in Mobile Wallets and E-Commerce
Payment services such as Paypal and Alipay compete with the established banks. Non-banks erode the banking revenues. Payments contribute about 25 per cent of bank revenues. There are many start ups who are entering this field. The disruption is putting pressure on the banks. Alipay does everything a bank does faster and better. It allows people to keep their savings, earn returns, transfer money and make investments. Though Alipay started as an e-payment system, it is emerging as a destination app and website on its own.
Indian banks see the writing on the wall. They too have launched apps. HDFC has launched Payzapp, a mobile app. Several banks are moving into e-commerce space by a tie-up with existing players, though the banking act prevents them doing so directly. Axis has also entered into this space. ICICI too has an app. Kotal bank keeps its peer-to-peer application open to anyone with a bank account. They are trying to offer a universal payment application. Banks already have a captive user base. They should be innovative to make their application score over non-bank companies. They should be able to match the ease of use of mobile wallets of non-bank players. Banks enter into this unchartered territory to engage the customers. Banking as a function is not very engaging. A customer is after the products/ services. He considers a bank just as an intermediary, a necessity. Banks realise that the customer traffic is not for the bank but for the real things out there. They have to be there where things are happening. That is the way they will remain relevant in a customer’s life. Payment banks are permitted by the RBI. Corporates can operate a marketplace whereas banks cannot. They are thus disadvantaged right at the start. It is now a competition between banking and non-banking entities.
Mobile wallets have increased their advertising spend to reach the customers. New entrants take the freebie route to lure them. As a result, discounts and cash back are very common. Still, customers do not remain loyal as they do not store balance in the wallet, and are free to switch over from one company to another. There is a constant churn. Paytm is yet to break even. It is too early to talk about profits. The model is not sustainable in the long run.
To stay relevant, mobile wallets have become service providers too. They provide check out service in which a customer’s credit/debit card is linked to mobile wallet and so there is no need to store money digitally. This service earns them 1.5 per cent of the transaction cost as revenue which is greater than the revenue earned if consumers transact from the digital wallet.
There is an opportunity in the unbanked population. They can build a niche in the rural areas. They can facilitate mobile remittances. Payworld and Oxigen operate in this area. As all of them do not have a smart phone, such remittances can be effected through the retail outlets.
Mobile wallets are used as people avoid using cards for small ticket payments. Transaction through wallets for cell recharges, taxi-cab etc have worked well.
Banks will be at an advantage as they have a wide customer base. Still, there is a long way to go before mobile wallets replace cash altogether.
As almost 60 per cent transactions of e-commerce are on the basis of cash against delivery, this could be replaced by mobile wallets or mobile payment gateways. The only way a payment company can survive is by roping in more customers and merchants, both online and offline. It is necessary to tab the unbanked population. Wallet companies have retail touch points where consumers hand over cash to an agent who loads the money in the customer’s digital wallet. A wallet company earns commission on transaction value. It works on wafer thin margins. Out of these small margins which is their revenue, they have to offer discounts and cash backs. That leaves them almost nothing. Discounts are essential as here we are changing consumer habits. A consumer benefits from discounts offered by the vendor site, as well as the discounts offered by the wallet. Some download the app only to get discounts and cash back, and later delete it, or keep it unused. The cost of acquiring a customer is very high. There may be a shake out with the acquisition of smaller players by the bigger or more successful ones.
Technically, mobile wallets are stored value accounts which can store cash, debit-credit card details or even loyalty card details. You can identify these with a few known credentials — your mobile number and a mobile pin. Essentially, two types of wallets are in use:
- Wallets with card details stored in. These are used as surrogate while doing the transaction. The transaction is carried out by using mobile number and PIN.
- Wallets stores cash equivalent called stored value account. It is just like a savings account, but with no interest. Your mobile number serves as account number. This prepaid wallet could be used to the extent of money stored in the wallet account. You have to replenish the account by loading money on you wallet as and when money gets exhausted. Alternatively, you can use credit-debit card details for loading.
Instead of using several cards, it is convenient to use a wallet account. As it works as a pseudo account, it is safer. The transaction as authenticated only with mobile PIN and OTP.
India moved from paper money to plastic money, albeit at a slow pace. Since then, India is moving from plastic money to no money, albeit at a fast pace. This is due to the mobile wallets which enable payments through smart phones. The real revolution is yet to happen. When the PoS or Point of Sale terminal will facilitate the payment from mobile wallets at retail shops, it will be a huge step forward, and will benefit both the consumers and merchants. A system has to be developed where all transactions, with or without mobile wallet, are recorded at single place in the billing system. Yes, at present off-line transactions with mobile wallets are made by using customized solutions, but these are not standardized.