Now everyone is on sale

Holy Shit. Now we have a Social Media Exchange called Empire Avenue. It means we can all become millionaires by trading our friends and families to earn virtual money and grow our portfolio and find out our net worth on social media and stuff. Which means we're all on sale. Damn.

Now why on earth would I want to trade my friends and families for virtual money and trading them like equity shares? Am sure there are plenty of people who would do that but ewwww... why? Anyways. I have to sign in and check out to find out more, how it works. They've a detailed FAQs which explains how things work. Maybe there is something in this which will transform our future. You'll never know until you've burnt your fingers. And that's exactly what I'm going to do now. You can check out too.

Square - An apt thing for India

When you look at services like Square, you feel very optimistic and good at the future. But then you get this feeling, how can this service work in developing countries like India or Nigeria etc.? The potential of services like this are immense in India, however there are some practical concerns for a service like Square to start operating in India. So Square's India entry strategy should consider having the following points in mind:

1. 90% of India's 740mn mobile subscribers use a basic phone.

2. 70% of mobile subscribers in India use their phone only for talking and short messages.

3. 14mn is the total size of smart phones at the moment though its growing at 30% y-o-y.

4. Only 20% of urban mobile subscribers use m-banking. Though mobile banking transactions are even lower.

5. 40% of mobile subscribers in rural India are illiterate therefore regional language IVR services fare well compared to text based services.

6. 50% people living in rural town don't have access to bank account. Having a credit or debit card is still a distant dream and a luxury in life.

So how does Square overcome these barriers to enter India? This size of the market is phenomenal and growth potential is unimaginable. What are the changes that needs to be done on Square to make it India specific? Can Square tie-up with all the small mom-pop stores for cashless transaction? Can Square drive change in the buying behavior of small town Indian people? Can Square partner with local Indian banks to distribute it card readers to its bank customers?

These are very real and practical questions that needs to be answered. Innovation can often break barriers. India can become a hot seat for micro-innovations like this only if the banking sector had a long term vision of the future and took meaningful steps to make the changes take place for the betterment of people.

Honesty sells

Here's a great example rather social experiment by a brand. Not only does it capture human behavior but also brings out the brands core value out to people in the most engaging manner. They're not the only one however, Innocent did similar feats long back. But I love the way they turned an on-ground promotion into a social experiment which in turn became earned media for the brand. Now thats interesting.

Social Shopping - Will it be big in India?

After having worked with one of India's largest retail chain clients are often techno-phobic. Especially when it comes to incorporating technology and social media within the marketing mix. Marketers in India always tread with caution when it comes to using social media, user generated content etc though there are exceptions. But that old mindset of open shop, advertise, announce sale and you'll be flooded with footfalls haven't changed at all. Neither have retailers haven't changed their marketing approach to attract the techno-savvy, more discerning, experience seeking, global Indian shoppers.

My counter argument to the client has often been - its New Media, unless you experiment with it, you'll never know what's working and what's not working. The debate continued with endless hours of meetings without any consensus. After much deliberation, finally they agreed to have their own Facebook fan page. I kid you not. After one year of debate, discussion, yay, we have a Facebook fan page with more than 170470 fans. The fastest growing Facebook fan page according to AllFacebook.

The client was so excited that we were invited to a champagne party. Lol. In the party I was blunt enough to ask the client, what about engagement and involvement with these fans. Are we generating enough Return of Involvement? Obviously it wasn't a pretty question to ask in between merry making. But hey, I'm what I am. (I just made this up, anyway. Parties have stopped long back.)

Anyways. The world has moved beyond. Social Shopping and Social Commerce is the next frontier of growth and driving business for all retailers across the world. Groupon is the new lover boy of Social Media. Thousands of other Social Shopping pages are cropping up every day all over the world. So how will Indian Retailers cope with this new phenomenon? And how can retailers like Shopper Stop provide unmatched Social Shopping experience to tech savvy consumers?

"Social shopping attempts use of technology to mimic the social interactions found in physical malls and stores." Well, I maybe way ahead of the curve given urban consumers in India have just started to experience shopping in malls and spending leisurely hours hanging around in malls. Social shopping/ online shopping/ m-commerce/ e-commerce is much ahead of its time for implementation at the moment by most marketers in India. It's true however that many marketing organizations have already started experimentation but the numbers are really small. Personally I think as a marketer, I should always remain knowledgeable and aware of the changing consumer environment and be in a position to anticipate those changes about to happen. I might sound very geeky when say things like this in meetings, getting reactions hard to describe in words. The responsibility lies on the planners to inform their clients about these change points. Implementation of Social Shopping in the marketing mix depends on several other factors beyond a marketers control. Advent of 3G, increasing usage of mobile internet, increasing numbers of smart phone users, VAS and Apps, security issues, banking policies and finally Govt. of India's policy towards m-commerce etc. will together help create a conducive platform that enables the usage of social technologies as an effective marketing tool . Young India jumped on the social media platform much much later compared to the rest of the world. Computer illiteracy and low penetration were two key factors. However, things have changed now. 3G will indeed make internet access more easy and addressable in India, a very good sign. Therefore, social shopping will take its own time, exactly how Orkut & Facebook started its journey in India - slow and steady in the beginning and sudden spike afterwards. So it's important to keep tab on things about to hit us soon. Especially true for retailers who can enable these technologies in their marketing mix. They will stay ahead, desirable, driving imagery while generating more footfalls and making healthy revenues.

Here's a great example from Levi's

This is a serious subject, needs a holistic understanding and a new approach to marketing. Watch out this space for more. I would love to hear your feedback and comments though. Especially given the whole shopping environment around us is changing. Kirana stores to hypermarkets to malls to online stores to discount coupons to online shopping to social shopping. Ha.

To be continued...