Archive for December, 2011
Flipkart – Initial Challenges for e-Commerce / Online Selling – How did they Overcome ?
We are all fully aware that Indians do not buy much online due to trust issues regarding fulfillment of transaction, quality of goods & services delivered and secure payment methods for the transaction to complete.
In 2010, Flipkart started offering cash on delivery which became a huge success as much as 50% of its sales were from cash on delivery operation. Another key success factor has also been its migration from consignment model to warehousing model that ensures better consumer experience (80% of all deliveries today are from warehouse).
Logistics of Flipkart: It employs over 4,500 with majority of them (>2,500, in our view) in blue collared jobs Read the rest of this entry »
What are the Challenges for 3G Adoption in India ?
We have already written on why Indian Consumers are not ye jumping to the 3G Signal 
Summarizing, here are the key challenges for adoption of 3G in India.
2.5G / Edge Data Connection Good Enough – Did you know that Accessing social networking sites such as Facebook.com drives a major chunk of demand for mobile internet in India. Since such websites can be accessed using 2G/EDGE networks reasonably well, demand for 3G would remain subdued until the gap between 2G and 3G tariffs is narrowed substantially. Indeed, we worry that the 3G story could be similar to that of VAS over the last decade, as both VAS and 3G are not essentials like voice, have cheaper substitutes and have smaller addressable markets compared to voice. Industry is consistently bridging the Gap of tariffs between 2.5G EDGE and 3G Data Services.
Mobile Device eco-system – 3G speeds are primarily useful when viewing videos, downloading applications, games, content, etc. However, availability of handsets that can truly leverage such speeds and enhance user experience with wide screen displays has been limited to > 8,000 price points. As handset availability in the country increases, 3G demand is expected to pick up. Industry Read the rest of this entry »
How InMobi is Competing Apple & Google on Mobile Advertising Turf ?
Late last month we reviewed the Business Model of a startup from India InMobi – competing with Global Technology Giants in the mobile Advertising Vertical. WE would like to peek into how the company is staying competitive to wade off competition from Google and Apple and continue to grow stronger in the space.
InMobi has seen a favorable environment between 2008 and now, the world has changed in terms of mobile internet. Devices have become cheap, internet speeds are increasing, costs are coming down, application ecosystem is growing at a rapid pace, and user patterns have changed.
Global Competitors in Mobile Ad Market – Google is the largest with adMob [Acquired Company]. InMobi is the second largest in the world. Then, there is no other global player worth speaking of and there are just few smaller regional players. Compare this to 800+ Web based Advertising Networks alone in the United States InMobi is not Read the rest of this entry »
How to get Free Mobile Recharge with Way2SMS Social Ads ?
Way2SMS is a really good FREE Web to Mobile messaging Platform in India [ Disclaimer - We use it regularly and are quite surprised by the Speed @ which they deliver our messages] Way2SMS has launched an innovative Advertising Platform and offering consumers Free Mobile Re-charge. [90% of Mobile users in India are on Pre-paid and hence Re-charge is applicable to them]
How Way2SMS Free Mobile Recharging Works ?
Based on Data Analytics of your Way2SMS Account, Way2SMS Algorithms push 2 Ads from its pool for you to look at when you log-on to the website. Now, you can share these Ads on Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn for your social network of friends. If your friends find that interesting and click on the same, then your account gets credit for the click. This way you can go on accumulating credits and Read the rest of this entry »
Are Telecom Tariff Wars Back with Reliance Mera Pack + Uninor’s iGain Plans ?
Despite incumbents raised Voice Call prices in India, Uninor took a dare devil step to reduce tariffs with its iGain series of Special Tariif Vouchers. Just yesterday, Reliance Communications launched bucket plans (fixed number of minutes for a certain price) – Reliance Mera Pack targeted at heavy users across nearly all circles and on both GSM and CDMA platforms.
What will Reliance Gain out of Mera Pack Offer ? Back of the enevelope calculations suggest that RCOM is offering 500 off-net minutes in the Rs148 pack for an incremental Rs100 over the Rs48 on-net pack. Now, if a subscriber utilizes all these 500 off-net minutes, RCOM’s termination cost at the current Rs0.2/min works out to Rs100, leaving Rs 48 for the company.
Why did Reliance Launch Mera Pack Offer ? RCOM’s “mera Pack” launches may have been spurred by Uninor’s success with such plans. Uninor has seen solid minutes and revenue growth in the past few quarters on the back of its ‘low price’ offerings, including such bucket. We Read the rest of this entry »
Airtel Posts100% m-o-m increase in Dongle Sales – EDGE vs 3G for Internet
Airtel and other old telecom players Idea / Vodafone have embarked on a strategy to push under-utilized 3G networks. They are probably pulling a business strategy leaf out of developed markets where there is no disparity between EDGE and 3G-based data pricing.
One interesting thing we observed is 2.5G (EDGE) data uptake has started to gain traction given the increased subscriber awareness due to heavy 3G promotion. One key reason behind this could be the disparity between per MB rates on EDGE vs 3G. The company has been trying to wean away subscribers from 3G by reducing the perceived gap i.e. they first slashed 3G rates by 50% and followed it up by increasing EDGE rates by 100%. The operators will need to further reduce this arbitrage to help 3G gain traction, in our opinion.
Airtel 3G active users is at 27% of the total subscriber base and it witnesses a 100% m-o-m increase in dongle sales. Read the rest of this entry »
Internet Proliferation to drive Online Advertising + Classifieds in India
There has been a secular shift in the ad-spend mix, from traditional media to new media such as the internet. The resilience in online advertising growth is evident from the fact that internet advertising continued to grow during the 2008-09 slowdown in global economic growth, despite a global ad-spend decline.
Internet advertising is under-penetrated in India. In fact, internet advertising accounts for ~4% of ad-spend in the country, compared to 15% globally. The following Chart Shows how India Compares with the Rest of the World in Internet Advertising. Read the rest of this entry »
Comparison of 3G Android Phones – Vodafone Smart vs Idea Blade / ID-280 SmartPhones
As Indian Telecom Operators penetrate the 3G Market from Cities towards Rural Villages, they want every Indian to get a taste of High Speed Data. Idea Cellular disrupted the 3G SmartPhone market by launching Android Devices late last month. Today, Vodafone accelerated the War with launch of Vodafone Smart 3G handset.
In order for the consumers to make faster purchase decision, we present a Side by Side comparison of Idea Blade Vs Idea ID 280 vs Vodafone Smart 3G Handsets. Read the rest of this entry »
