App-only Strategy? Some Should Think Again

So another ecommerce player is going the app-only way. Flipkart has now decided that it will go the Myntra way, and become app-only by September this year. I had written earlier about Myntra's move in a blog post and why it makes sense for this company to be app-only. You can read the same here. Well, although Myntra reported a 10% dip in its revenue after the D-date, I am still convinced that this strategy will work for the company. One of the sole reasons for this is that Myntra is essentially a vertical ecommerce player. If someone has to buy a dress or an accessory, Myntra has got tremendous collection at good prices to lure the customer in. And frankly, there are no other players who are as good as Myntra when it comes to fashion and accessory shopping.

There have been many reasons cited by many experts when Myntra had first announced about the change in strategy, like low penetration of internet, slow internet speed in the country, trust issues during mobile payments etc. These have been revived again with the announcement from Flipkart. Though I am not refuting any of the above points, but I believe these issues are not going to be there forever and things will evolve. They always do. What I am concerned are 2 aspects which one should consider when thinking about an app-only strategy, especially a horizontal player.

1. There is a big difference between vertical and horizontal ecommerce players and a one-size-fits-all strategy may not work at all. Especially in a market like India. These marketplaces, namely Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal and PayTm, house nearly everything you have ever thought of buying. There was a time around 1-2 years back when a new wave was sweeping Indian ecommerce industry with manufacturers going for exclusive tie-ups with ecommerce companies. Flipkart had pioneered it with its announcements with Motorola and Xiaomi. Soon other players rushed doing the same, with Micromax and OnePlus choosing one ecommerce player over the other. However, this trend has slowly lost steam and companies like Xiaomi and OnePlus have put their wares in a competing warehouse as well now. One sole reason for this is to reach as many customers as possible. The fallout of this is that even the little bit of exclusivity which was available to these players is slowly fading away. Every product is available at every other site. A potential customer will buy a product from a site he is most comfortable with at that point of time. He is certainly not going to waste his time and data on downloading an app, when at the same time he can use that data in viewing another ecommerce player site and, possibly, completing the whole transaction. He is not concerned too much on the discounts (which are reducing these days anyway), but more concerned about the choices he can get at the time he wants them. Not having a mobile site and a desktop site seriously hampers a player's ability to capture that customer. It can work in a vertical player's business, like Myntra's, but an app-only strategy stands on a very weak footing for a horizontal player.

2. Despite some of the problems and challenges listed above (like internet penetration etc), the biggest challenge for Indian players can come from the ubiquitous Google. Google has already announced its intentions of bringing a 'buy' button in its search results. This same feature is already available for flight bookings in India (read my previous post on this here). Imagine searching for a product on Google, and the search results show the product along with prices and buy button from 3 players (competitors) and your site is not listed, just because you don't have a site anymore and only have an app. Let's think that even though Flipkart doesn't have a site, Google still gives the search results including listing from Flipkart along with Snapdeal and others. Still, if a customer clicks on the Flipkart link, it will prompt for either opening the app or downloading the same. That too, if the customer is on a tablet or phone while browsing. If, by chance, he is on a laptop (and there is considerable possibility for this), even the app-download option won't be there. And all the talks about 'seamless buying experience' and 'comfortable user experience' stand for nothing more than mere words. The "problem" of Google won't be gone, whatever happens in the ecommerce space. The best way for the players to tackle this is to turn this apparent problem to an asset. And that is possible when you keep open all the avenues (app, mobile site, desktop site, smartwatch option).

As I said earlier, an app-only strategy still makes sense but not for all the players. A Myntra, UrbanLadder, PepperTap, BlueStone can afford to think about the above strategy and potentially be available only as an app, but horizontal players can hardly afford this luxury anymore. It may lead to customer stickiness for a small section of buyers, a big section may totally avoid the troubles of downloading an app and instead do a Google search instead.

Please comment your thoughts below. Tweet to me at @NishantSinha88.

Outrage for the sake of outraging?

We Indians are a funny lot. We love to live life the way we want. We are not the uber-perfect nation, and frankly, to borrow a quote from Rang De Basanti, no nation is perfect. But we are happy to be in this country, despite some shortcomings, if any. We love to make fun of other nations. More so, we even make fun of people of our own country if they don't belong to our city or state. People from northeast would definitely vouch for the same. But nothing unites us more than 2 things in this world: Pakistan and Cricket. I will reserve my opinion about how Pakistan unites us in this piece but we will turn our attention to Cricket and a not-so-distant country, Bangladesh.

So, we got beaten by Bangladesh in cricket last month. Though not for the first time in cricket matches, but for the first time we lost a bilateral series. A big deal for the cricket-crazy nation, as you must have guessed. But, we downplayed the event to excessive cricket being played by our cricketers since the start of the Australian series last year, to new players trying to cement their place in the team and taking time in doing so. There were occasional praises for Bangladesh as well, and maybe the Indian fans just praised the neighbors so as to avoid being called sore-losers and cocky. But all hell broke loose when a Bangladeshi media house put up a picture of their new sensational hero, Mustafizur Rehman, fancying a 'cutter' or a 'razor' with some Indian players shown as half-bald, including test captain Virat Kohli and ODI/T20 captain MS Dhoni. How could they do it, have they not got any shame or respect, this is outrageous...these were some of the responses (toned-down) in the Indian social media and other channels. One Mumbai radio channel even went to the extreme of asking the Bangladeshi media house to apologize to Indian cricket fans, who had got 'hurt by this senseless and tasteless act of Bangladesh'.

This one incident shows how feeble our strength is when it comes to taking a joke made on us. Twitter was overflowing with outrage against Bangladesh, with people tweeting about how India helped in the formation of Bangladesh in 1971 and how India is a father to Bangladesh. It seems like a big section of us haven't really grown up. When Star Sports made the unofficial anthem of 2015 World Cup in the form of 'Mauka Mauka' ads, it was all taken in the right spirit and some even added their own twists to those ads. If the current outrage is because of sudden outburst of patriotism in the people who are outraging against Bangladesh, where was it during the 'mauka' ads? Or where was it when the same channel called Bangladesh a kid in cricket during the build up to the above bilateral series?

I am not saying that one should keep quiet when someone says something about his/her country or countrymen. I am just saying we should learn taking fun in the same vein in which we make fun of others. And not carry a false sense of patriotism with ourselves. For starters, there is a lot to change with ourselves and our society as well. The constant discrimination against a dark-skinned person and a sudden spurt in confidence after applying a fairness cream shows the kind of thinking we have developed. Maybe the Bangladeshi ad was not in good taste, maybe our own was not either, but let's stop outraging for the sake of outraging. There may be real issues on our hand which will benefit more if we channel our attention and energy towards them.

Leading From The Front..With The Team

Things are changing fast in cricket. And it's not about the usual talk of T20 and the effect it has cast on Tests and ODIs. The point is well and truly settled that 300 is a below par score in ODIs and a run rate of 3 doesn't make you an aggressive, result-oriented test side. The change which is becoming more apparent is the aggression with which the game is being played and the captains who are coming out all guns blazing and setting an example for their teammates.

We have always had captains in international cricket who will have a great tactical and strategic head on their shoulders but will rarely be seen shouting or being over-animated in their approach on field. They would go about their tasks in a calm and composed manner and leave the aggression to some of their teammates who are willing to offer a piece or two of advice to their opponents. Remember how Steve Waugh used to go about his tasks in the calm and composed manner, which I believe has been matched by MS Dhoni only till now. Continuing with yesteryears, Ranatunga could be one more example though he used to be a little bit more animated than the above two gentlemen. I think its about 2 things which are changing in the current crop of players. One is the attitude, and the second is the willingness to show it through performance. Also, I am not saying the winner's attitude was not there earlier. It is just that it is much more visible these days than it was earlier. I will take the example of some of the prominent names here for 3 tournaments (ODIs). Let's see if we can pinpoint some other similarity which connects these captains.

1. Brendon McCullum: World Cup 2015 was a fairytale for New Zealand. They lost in the final game at the hands of their arch-rivals but not before they had shown a new brand of New Zealand cricket to the world. As much as the credit goes to the whole team for making it to the final of the World Cup for first time in their history, the same goes for the captain, Baz. You will not find him being very vocal on the field against the opposition, but his attitude and style does the talking. He is explosive at the top of the innings, be it any bowler in the world. Sometimes, it doesn't click for him and he gets dismissed cheaply as well, but when he gets going, the opposition can do nothing else but pray. His innings against the English in the World Cup game can only be described as a gem as he just tore through the English attack and would have finished the game in 10 overs had he continued. And very few words can even begin to describe the live-wire Baz when he comes for fielding. This brand of cricket from a captain is quite a different sort of phenomenon. A captain was supposed to steady and control the innings from one side when the other batsmen might be going great guns. However, New Zealanders have worked out what works for them and they are showing the world the results as well. The trust the team has on Baz and his captaincy is what taking the team forward, even when Baz himself hasn't been very consistent top of the order.

2. Eoin Morgan: The English suffered a humiliating loss against a spirited Bangladeshi side in the World Cup leading to their subsequent elimination from the group stage itself, but boy, haven't they bounced back strong in the just concluded ODI series against New Zealand. England have shown great cricket beating the Baz's side 3-2 in the ODIs and clinching a convincing win in the lone T20 as well. For me, I was mightily impressed by Morgan leadership in the 5 ODI matches than anything else. It was fearless cricket to say the least. Although the score line of 3-2 suggests a closely fought contest, I personally felt England were the stronger of the 2 sides, barring the loss of 5 wickets for 14 runs in the 2nd ODI by the English. Eoin Morgan has an air about him which has brought this team from the edge of disappointment and criticism (KP's incident is only too fresh in all our minds). His aggressiveness is shown by the way he backs his players on the field and off it. And he enjoys his time when he takes the field. Be it batting or fielding. During one of the matches in the series, a misfield by him was being jeered by the fans in the stands. When the ball next came to him, he fielded it properly and then raised his cap towards that stand and the crowd saluted its captain. This shows he is not taking results too seriously but wants to enjoy the game and take his team to new heights together. The best part of all this, the team sticks together and the players back each other on the field and off it. Exactly what McCullum does.

3. Masrafe Mortaza: If the above 2 captains believe in enjoying the game more than worrying for results, Bangladesh skipper is getting the job done in a different fashion. Masrafe's side has seen a lot of good victories starting before the World Cup 2015. Right from series win over Zimbabwe, Bangladesh evolved as a side and beat New Zealand in a home series before going to World Cup. There too they reached the Quarter Finals for the first time in their history. More than this, their biggest moments of joy would have been, undoubtedly, a Banglawash of the Pakistani side and a series win against the  neughbours, India, and hence, guaranteeing themselves a place in the upcoming Champions Trophy. Masrafe on the field is a captain, the likes of whom is difficult to find that often. He literally screams at mis-fields and keeps shouting at players if they drop a catch or don't seem giving their 100% on the field. His aggression is literally visible on the field. He is not one who will sledge the opposition, but he expects his players to keep trying even if they are in a losing position. And when he bowls himself on for a spell, there is more than 100% behind every delivery. And that too, when he has spent a lot of time undergoing surgeries. He is a man who has the confidence of his teammates and the result is there to be seen.

So what connects these fine captains and what can others learn from them? To me, the answer is two-pronged. A captain needs his aggression to begin with. And it doesn't need to be verbal banters and the like on the field. It can and has to be through performance. A player can run through a rough patch and its no different for a captain. What will make him better is his ability to still give 100% on the field and keep trying. The second most important aspect for a captain is the way he commands respect from his teammates. You cannot be right always and you have to understand it. You can't demand respect, you have to earn it. All the 3 captains listed above have both these things going for themselves. They have different ways of showing aggression and all 3 of them command respect from their teammates.

This brand of leading a side is not very new. MS Dhoni has perfected this concept long back and that's what has earned him the title of Captain Cool. As I mentioned earlier, Steve Waugh used to captain in a similar vein. Take any successful captain, and all of them will have the above 2 points. When Michael Clarke came up as a captain, he was aggressive but lacked the command which Ponting had. He has worked hard at it and now is one of the most successful skippers of the Aussies. Closer home, Sachin Tendulkar commanded (and still does) the most respect for any team he played, but his aggressiveness in the field as a captain was always missing. He had a larger devotion towards his batting and his team doing good, but somehow that didn't transform into the aggression a captain needs. Does Virat Kohli have the two facets needed to get a world class team? Is there anyone else who has this, if not Kohli? As Jeffrey Archer says, 'Only Time Will Tell'.

Please feel free to comment in the section below. Tweet to me at @NishantSinha88.

A Game of Thrones..of a Different Kind!

So Game of Thrones completed the airing of its 5^th season last Sunday, and speculations and spoilers have been on full swing regarding Jon Snow and other characters. By the way, nothing to worry for you folks, there are no spoilers here. Sometimes, I guess even the creator of the series, Mr George R R Martin (affectionately or due to a long name, also referred to as GRRM) would wonder at all the plot twists the TV show has, and the deviations from what is there in the books. Halting this digression of our own about the GoT show, let us turn our thoughts to another little game which has become equally exciting over the last few years, with no clear leader in sight (leave alone thinking about winning). This is the game of e-commerce in India.

The e-commerce space in India has been touted as one of the major frontiers to conquer for many companies. All the major empires are leaving no stone unturned to bleed themselves dry in order to catch hold of a bigger pie of Westeros (the consumers’ wallet). The bloodbath in the name of discounts and offers have been coming from all the players over the last few years, and although the discounts have mellowed down a bit, there doesn’t seem a clear change of strategy in order to capture the throne. Same as in the GoT series, there are 4 major players in the Indian e-commerce domain, viz. Flipkart, Amazon, PayTm and Snapdeal. Although Flipkart leads the market-share currently (Lannisters?), none of the other players are too much behind. We also have niche players, just like the smaller empires in the series, which occasionally get acquired by a bigger player and in turn, add to the arsenal of the larger empire. The 2 biggest of such M&As have been that of Myntra (by Flipkart) and FreeCharge (by Snapdeal). Did anyone mention about Tyrells’ and Boltons’ closeness (or the lack of it) with Baratheons, Starks and Lannisters? And how can we forget the dragons in this game as well. Any guesses?

I was surprised at the parallels we can draw between the two completely different subjects. I am sure a more creative mind can find many more connections between e-commerce and the hugely popular series, but let us also focus on what strategy can the different empires undertake to win this game in India. And we need to look no further than the creator of the series, GRRM. Let’s look at it in some detail, shall we?

• G - Grocery: Ecommerce in groceries is not as easy as it sounds. Period. To state the obvious, this segment has not been really cracked by the 4 biggies. We do have a few successful models in front of us which have started on really well and are gaining some good traction in their home markets. Grofers and PepperTap have been working on 2 completely different models among themselves, the former ties up with local kirana stores and hence does not necessarily own any inventory, whereas the latter has been mostly working on an inventory-led model. There are other niche players as well like LocalBanya, BigBasket and AaramShop, among others. Amazon India recently launched its Kirana Now program in Bangalore and has been piloting different models to see what systems will actually work in India. A year or so earlier, Sachin Bansal had been quoted by some sources that Flipkart will not be entering into groceries and F&B ecommerce, however, it’s a known for a fact that even the market leader won’t be able to hold onto its position for far too long if it does not crack the groceries business. PayTm has been piloting grocery retailing in Bangalore for around a month and a half now, and this business will most likely be as a separate vertical for the Alibaba-backed company. Snapdeal already has a tie-up with Godrej’s Nature Fresh for retailing groceries and it is expected to extend the presence and deliveries to other cities very soon. It is very apparent that everyone wants to crack the code of this segment, which has been touted to grow at 25-30% per annum in the major cities of the country. The biggest challenge in groceries will be the perishability factor, and control over deliveries while keeping the costs down. As we have seen Game of Thrones, help can come from any quarter if you are in trouble. The same may well happen here as well. Did anyone mention Ola and Uber?
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• R - Rural: Tier 2, 3 cities along with other parts of rural India has been witnessing phenomenal growth in smartphone usage, helped in a major part by improvement in internet penetration. Flipkart, Amazon and most of the Indian ecommerce companies have gone on record stating a major chunk of their sales happening in non-metro cities. Nearly all of them have separate teams working dedicatedly to connect India’s deep hinterlands with the commerce happening from the comfort of a shopper’s home. Amazon has warehouses on the outskirts of Bangalore, which cater to demands from towns like Belgaum and Hosur. They have employed local village entrepreneurs and assigned the task of deliveries in these towns, thereby greatly reducing the last-mile logistics costs. Snapdeal too has set up village kiosks where the company keeps its wares and locals are encouraged to order through smartphones or village desktops. The company uses this kiosks as pickup points as well, where villagers can come and receive their ordered goods, thus eliminating the last-mile connectivity in these cases. However, as much as the potential which these smaller cities and towns hold, they are still part of an unconquered frontier owing to lack of quality infrastructure and logistics in India. To succeed in rural India, companies will have to focus on simple, yet innovative, ideas. One such idea has been piloted by Amazon earlier (and now launched at full scale) is that of a tie-up with India Post. Amazon has a similar tie-up with US Post in US and has brought down the same idea to India. Flipkart and Snapdeal also have recently moved together with India Post and have begun to take advantages of nearly 500,000 post offices across the country for deliveries. The biggest beneficiary of this has been India Post itself, as this gives a chance to it to bring back its days of glory. Having strong networks and partnerships always helps, as Lord Baelish will gladly tell us. 
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• R - Returns: Returns and reverse logistics have always been areas of concerns for ecommerce companies and sellers, although they provide immense value to the end-customer, who can literally pick and choose the products s/he wants. Returns add a lot of cost to companies and it affects more severely the sellers, as most of the ecommerce companies are running on the marketplace model. Some companies have tried solving this problem in unique ways and there is a lot to learn from them. Apparel and accessories company YeBhi.com gives a choice of 5 dresses which a customer can order during purchases. The delivery person will bring the 5 dresses, which can be tried out by the customer. In the end, the customer can keep the one which is the best fit and the delivery guy returns with the other 4 dresses. This method reduces one complete trip for the delivery personnel, and at the same time, adds a bit of personalization as well. The same model, with some variations, is being followed by Lenskart.com as well, where in it brings some set of eye-wears to the customer’s doorsteps and the latter can pick and choose the one which gives the desired look. India’s largest mobile commerce company, Snapdeal, too has been working diligently on this front. It has already acquired a stake in the logistics company GoJavas and together they have launched a 90-minute return policy in 15 cities of India. That’s how e-commerce is changing how customers shop now, with same-day deliveries and 90-minute returns. Other players soon will catch-up and we might see reductions in pick-up times from 90 to 30 minutes.
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• M - Mobile: We spend a lot of time on our mobiles. We might actually be looking at photos and people more on our screens, than lifting our heads and seeing actual people. Some of us might be watching the entire GoT series on mobile. E-commerce cannot be behind then, can it? Companies have already started shutting down their websites and going app-only. A lot of companies have been app-only since their inception and have little intention of marking their presence on a desktop as well. Mobile commerce is here to stay and companies like Myntra and PayTm may well be on the path to actually define how the game will be played in the near future. With PayTm applying for a banking license as well, mobile payments and virtual cards might actually make a few ATMs shut their shops. Even Lord Varys would have to agree that technology has been moving at a pace faster than birds’ whispers.

E-commerce has been in India for quite some time now (with sites like IndiaMart etc), however the real seeds were sown when Flipkart started up in 2007 and has been the leader sitting happily in King’s Landing since. The competition has caught up with it now, with 3 other major players vying for the coveted throne of "India’s biggest e-commerce player". From US to China (remember the Alibaba ‘Dragons’ we talked about earlier?), everyone is trying to gain a share of our (mobile) wallets.

A lot of bloodbath has happened through discounts and although things are a bit calm now, I believe the Indian pie is big enough to accommodate these 4 players (and more) along with the smaller niche ones. We certainly don’t want a 'Valar Morghulis' situation here, with each one killing the other off, do we? The key to supremacy may well lie in #GRRM (just like the TV series and the books). #GoT it?

Please feel free to comment with your thoughts. Tweet to me @NishantSinha88.

Delays and Postponements Are Not Necessarily Bad!

Delays and postponements have always been talked about in a negative connotation. A delay in making a final product or a delay in servicing your customer doesn't sound good at all, be it any industry in the world. However, sometimes delay in some aspects of business can be more than just 'good'. This delay is in the field of supply chain, more generally called as Inventory Postponement strategy.

A few of us would have read about this during our UG/PG courses of Operations and related fields. However, most of us would have come across this concept regardless of reading about it in college. I have seen it being deployed in one of my previous companies, however what sparked this current blog post is when I saw this concept being used (unknowingly, perhaps) in areas where I had not given much thought earlier. I will continue with the instances where I observed the above concept in action, but first let us get to know what Inventory Postponement is all about.

Inventory postponement is about delaying the difference in your products. The lesser the differences between products, the fewer is the cost associated with holding the inventory. The differences should appear only when it is absolutely essential, the best situation being that differences are included just before shipping the products to the customer. This way a lot of costs can be saved by companies and their supply chain along with balance sheet will be stronger every quarter. Since, a company doesn't need to store all types of intermediary or final stock keeping units (SKUs) it sells, the amount of space required for the same, the amount of handling charges, the amount of other in-store/in-plant logistics, insurance, depreciation etc, everything comes down. And since all of the above (and some more) are part of inventory carrying cost, the direct impact of this strategy is reduction in capital tied, unprofitably, in stocks. Also, think about the reduction in the stress for the person who has been entrusted with the task of ordering different SKUs, when instead of 1000s of varieties, he has to place orders for 50. These 50 with suitable variations based on actual orders will get transformed to 1 of final 1000 SKUs, whichever a particular customer will order. This particular concept is also called Assembled to Order (ATO) and has been employed most notably by Dell and automobile companies. Giving an example of cars, a company will keep a basic model of its brand ready. Now, when an actual order comes from a customer (most of the times, they work on forecasts as well), the company will fit other different features which the customer desires and finally assemble the car as per the order. Inventory postponement with ATO's best examples are seen in this industry. The other end of the spectrum sees another concept called Make to Stock (MTS). In MTS strategy, a company will keep its final products ready and ship it as soon as the order from a customer comes. Although different industries will employ ATO or MTS for their products, inventory postponement will help any company in any industry.

The above can be made more evident by real life examples which I encountered recently.

1. Recently enough, we were getting our house painted and is normally the case, every person in the family wanted a special and different color for his/her room, with the just the right shade and hue. We had chosen Asian Paints for our coloring needs and (although I had studied about them and their extensive palette) we were surprised to know of about 3000 different colors they had on offer. To be frank, I was of the opinion that all these colors will only be available in bigger, metro cities and a city of Ranchi's size may not have the entire collection which Asian Paints had on offer. When I visited a retailer with our different choices and enquired him if he would be having all the shades I wanted, he calmly said that I can have a shade which is not even listed in the catalog. Pleasantly surprised, I asked him how was that even possible, he invited me to the opposite side of his shop which had an old desktop and red-colored machine with Asian Paints written on the top. He told me that he keeps around 7-10 different 'base colors' in cans and all the remaining pigments (for different shades) are in the red machine. Whatever color a customer might choose from the catalog, he just has to enter the code for that color in the desktop, fit a can containing the base color and within 2 minutes, the shade which the customer wanted is ready. Although I had seen the concept working in a different industry altogether, seeing it in action where I had least expected it was extremely pleasing. Imagine the reduction in the amount of inventory that retailer and people similar to him have to keep because of the concept of inventory postponement. This delay in differentiating the final product till the customer places an order has created immense value, both for retailers and customers. That particular retailer also showed me a similar machine of Berger Paints, installed at his premises, serving the same purpose.

2. Strolling in the evening, my friend wanted to have an Ice Gola, which is quite a rage among some people (although I am not a big fan of it). I had read a post on LinkedIn regarding these Golas and how inventory postponement is employed by the seller, and I was reminded of the same when my friend who had earlier ordered a particular flavor, changed her mind at the last moment and ordered some different flavor altogether. Although the seller had already made the Gola with the crushed ice he had in a bucket, he simply proceeded with the new order without ever complaining. He simply put down the bottle which contained the flavor my friend wanted earlier and took up another bottle which had the new flavor. Just imagine what would have been the size of his stall and the amount of different Golas he would have to keep had he not followed, probably unknowingly, the concept of inventory postponement. That same evening we went to a theater for a movie and came for some popcorns during the interval. Although, 7-8 different varieties of popcorns had been listed on display boards, the counter had just one big machine for making the popcorns. Based on the orders from the customers, he would give them chocolate-flavored ones, or cheese-and-butter ones, or caramel ones, or caramel-chocolate-with-extra-cheese ones. Another perfect example of inventory postponement.

This concept can be seen everywhere in today's world. Whether you are out shopping or getting something to eat, whether you are in your office or on the beach, inventory postponement can be seen in one form or the other.

Please post your thoughts in the comments' section below. You can describe if you also have encountered this concept in action. Reach me on twitter as well at @NishantSinha88.

New Frontiers for Ecommerce

Ecommerce has taken the world by storm. Its not-so-new 'sister concern', m-commerce is turning a new page in online buying, with Myntra, India's largest online fashion and apparel company, going app-only last month. However, we might be on the verge of seeing new platforms, which most of us didn't think of going the ecommerce way, changing the way we shop online. Some prominent among these, in the very near future, will be Google, Twitter and Pinterest.

1. Google: Google recently initiated talks of featuring a 'buy' button in its search results, thus enabling a customer to buy from the search page directly. Google's most important service to the world has been its ability to organize the world's knowledge and the company makes big bucks through advertisements on its search page and AdWords. But, this side of the business could very well be witnessing its biggest competition so far, shopping apps.

Nearly, every company has moved over to promoting its app for buying anything and everything available on its portal. Taking example of India, its ecommerce market is slated to touch US$ 300b by 2030, according to a recent report by a global bank. If consumers go to native apps of ecommerce players for searching and shopping, it could become a huge opportunity lost for Google if consumers bypass its services. All the AdWords and other features won't do much good to Google if people don't really go to its site for their shopping needs. And this is why, Google is planning to incorporate the Buy feature in its search results. They already have put some aspects of this feature while searching for flights in India (on google.co.in). Currently, if you search for a flight on Google India, it will give you details of the prices and timings and button for booking the flight. Clicking on the button takes you to the site of the airline, with another option to look for other prices on Goibibo (only aggregator listed as of now). So, although payments and other options have not been provided currently by Google, but they sure are going to focus on this now. With mobile wallets slowly picking up (courtesy PayTm, MobiKwik, Airtel Money etc), Google Wallets won't have to work too hard for customer acquisition, when you can use the wallet for any purchase across categories. Ecommerce players like Flipkart, Amazon will be wise to see this happening sooner rather than later. They can buy slots on Google search pages for their products, with consumers getting all different options to buy a product of his choice without having to download a lot of apps. Also, the recent Google I/O conference talked about how the company is planning to use its biggest weapon in its arsenal, Android, by allowing the OS to read the user data from all the apps installed on a phone and tailoring the search accordingly. Google is increasing the bar and defending its territory, for sure.

2. Twitter: Any company which is focused on serving its customers has taken the twitter route. This platform has helped them be in touch with their customers to solve their concerns, launch new products, launch new campaigns and do just about anything. How about enabling the companies to sell on Twitter as well? Twitter did come up with a plan to introduce a Buy button in US last year, it hasn't seen much traction there, or any other markets globally. Imagine buying stuffs directly from tweets, with just a few clicks. An artist just launched a new song and the music company has tweeted about it. Along with the RT and Favorite buttons, there is a Buy button as well alongside the tweet, from where you can legally buy the new song without the need of an iTunes or other such service. Or think about buying the newly launched book for your Kindle, without leaving the Twitter interface. Extend the idea to any product you see these days. This service will be a pure-play marketplace as Twitter is not going to hold inventories and sellers can sell any item they wish. Combine this with customized offers through the 'big data' which gets generated on Twitter, brands and companies can target their customers with pinpoint accuracy. Some months back, ICICI Bank, India's largest private sector bank, introduced transfer of funds through the use of tweets and DMs. With Indian ecommerce growing at the pace as it is currently, a lot can be done in products and services through Twitter. As such, the potential of Twitter is immense for a market like India, which has one of the fastest growing user base who tweet day in and day out.

3. Pinterest: User-generated and curated content has been garnering quite a lot of talk lately, with some startups in the 'Silicon Valleys' of US and India already grabbing VCs' attention and (more importantly) money. Although this is still at a nascent stage for India, Pinterest is not for brands. A lot of brands have very active accounts on this website (a prominent example being Myntra). Pinterest, however, is monetizing now. It has begun testing and piloting 'Buyable Pins' in US, where customers can buy an item while just browsing pics. The logistics is handled by the sellers themselves and (currently) payments are handled through PayPal and other leading services in the US. Pinterest is still to gain a lot of traction in India, but going by the trend of other platforms, a focused approach towards India can make it one of the fastest growing and leading markets for any platform (prominent examples being LinkedIn, Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter and more recently, Amazon). Pinterest through its Buy buttons (or pins) in the Indian market can aim for the disruption that it might be seeking. Indians, most often, don't really shop when they have to. For apparels, people keep browsing (window-shopping, a few years back) and buy a dress when something suits the eye. This nicely mimics how people interact on Pinterest as well (apart from the buying part). They browse through images and post or pin the ones they like. Pinterest can ideally up the game a little bit by adding that 'buy' button next to the 'pin' button.

In one of my earlier posts (read here), I had talked about how the app-only strategy is here to stay and why Myntra's latest move deserves appreciation. I still believe most of the other players will try going this route sooner rather than later, as it can result in customer stickiness. However, the 3 platforms explained above, can be the shot in the arm that the (current) offline players need. A Bharti Retail or a Future Group might get more interested in selling through Google or Twitter than an Amazon or a Myntra. This will give them a lot of traction right at the beginning of their game, and not worry a lot about customer acquisition and discounts.

The ecommerce game has only begun for India and other countries, and a lot of new chapters are yet to conceptualized and written. Sit back and witness the changes and uncertainties. One thing which is certain, however, is that the end-customer will be the final winner.

Comment your thoughts below or on twitter @NishantSinha88.

The Evolving Automotive Space in India

The growth story in India is a story with few parallels in the world. Not long ago, in late 90s and early 2000s, India was just a kid on the block staring at an already-developed West and its Northern neighbour starting to move very fast in terms of GDP growth. Mid-2000s saw the pace of growth accelerate for India as well and today, we are a force to reckon with. The reason for this, apart from the policies and governments, is the rising income levels of the middle class consumers. So much so, that now there is a very distinct upper middle class and a lower middle class of them.

But, according to me, no factor can highlight the above in India than the purchase patterns of 4-wheelers (4W). 4W have always been more about social status for families in India rather than for transportation purposes. A car in home means that you are well-off. Period. It doesn't matter if you take out your car every day or once in 15 days. Car purchase has always been one of the 2 most aspirational purchases of an Indian family, the other being their own house. But this purchase of a car has seen a lot of evolutionary trends.

Not long ago, there was a distinct difference between a hatchback and a sedan. Late 90s and early 2000s had a lot of compact car models. The prominent among OEMs was Maruti Suzuki, with brands like Maruti 800, Alto and Zen ruling the roads. Other players were not behind, and Santro from Hyundai and Matiz from Daewoo were quite popular among car buyers. One of the lesser popular models was Fiat Uno in the compact car segment. Distinctly above this segment in comfort, size and luxury were the sedans with cars like Honda City, Honda Accent and Hyundai Sonata being among the top choices for buyers. Many of the foreign car makers had not tried to explore the Indian market aggressively till this time and the only prominent American brand was Ford Fiesta. Very rarely, one could also see an occasional Mercedes being driven on an Indian road.

However, things started to change suddenly during the second half of the first decade of the century. Different car manufacturers had started to take notice of the fast pace of growth in India and companies like GM, Audi and Mercedes started to put more investments in the country. One of the most important trend was identified by Maruti Suzuki in the Indian market during these years. This was the aspiration of an Indian buyer who was not very satisfied with just a compact hatchback and wanted something more. However, he was not able to afford a City or a Civic as well. This insight led to the development of Swift, which is one of the most successful cars in the Indian automotive space. This car was longer (around 3800 mm) than the ubiquitous 800 or Alto and offered similar comfort levels of a sedan, although with a limited boot space. The success of this model opened new doors for other companies as well and thus was born a new segment called 'premium hatchback'. Hyundai launched its upgraded version of i10 in the form of i20 for this segment, Honda came up with Jazz. But none were able to catch Swift in the race of ever increasing sales. Jazz lost the battle quite early due to its high price and i20 was always the 2nd choice after Swift. However, the line had started to blur in the Indian automotive space in terms of hatchbacks and sedan.

Currently, the biggest competition to entry level sedans are the unexpected premium hatchbacks. Hyundai has launched i20 Active and i20 Sportz in this segment which compete with a Swift Dzire and a Honda Amaze, both in terms of price and looks. The Hyundai models are actually priced higher than the 2 sedans mentioned above. Toyota also has launched Etios Cross, which competes with so-called entry level sedans like the 2 models mentioned above. There are still takers for compact hatchbacks, with Hyundai Eon, Maruti Alto 800, Maruti Celerio, Ford Figo, Datsun Go, Nissan Micra working hard to capture the markets in Tier 2 and below.

So, what will be the next big change in the Indian market? We are already seeing compact SUVs being positioned between a sedan and a full fledged SUV like those from the Mahindra's stables. Models like Nissan Terrano, Ford EcoSport, Renault Lodgy, Renault Duster have become very prominent on Indian roads and companies like Maruti Suzuki are going to bring these "crossovers" very soon as well. With more foreign brands slated to come to India in years to come, and with frequent updates in designs to suit the status and luxury needs of the Indian middle class, we are set to see more models in newer segments in the Indian automotive market.

Comment your thoughts and suggestions in the section below.

@NishantSinha88

Cricket is for batsmen AND BOWLERS!

So the season of test cricket starts. Brendon McCullum and some of his countrymen have left the Indian shore and are already playing against the English at Lord's. And this time, the play is not only for batsmen. This time, its test cricket, or as the purists say, the highest form of competitive cricket.

Hang on a second there. What made me say 'this time, its not only for batsmen' for T20 cricket, the Indian version of which has reached the playoffs by now. But, isn't that the case with cricket all along? It has always been more about the batsmen than the bowlers. And this has been like this since the advent of one-day cricket.

The reasons for starting a limited overs version of cricket were simple. People were not turning up for test matches in the huge numbers they used to in the 50s and 60s. They were getting bored by the 'slow' and 'drawn' games lasting for 5 days. Everyone wanted results and quick and fast cricketing action, like boundaries being hit on a regular basis and results coming out after a day's play. The ICC wanted cricket to stand up to other sports and we gradually shifted to ODIs and other limited overs domestic tournaments and leagues. Time moved on and even the ODIs started to seem long enough to search for even shorter formats and we have T20 on our hands now, which has really caught the attention of the crowd with towering sixes of Gayle and AB de Villiers and with some small bowling marvels once in a while.

But somehow, during this whole transition, we forgot about our bowlers by constantly limiting their armoury. There have been many debates over a lot of points on how to bring more 'equality' in the game of cricket. One of the major ones being allowing 1-2 bouncers every over (depending on the format being played). But a lot of benefits still are in the batsman's favor. He can go for a switch hit whenever he wants, but a bowler has to tell the umpire before delivering which side he wants to bowl from (over the wicket or round the wicket). A batsman can shuffle in the crease all he wants, but a bowler can't be an inch outside the bowling crease, otherwise he runs the risk of conceding a 'free hit', which in turn, again gives the batsman an edge. These points have been discussed over and over again by the pundits and it cannot be outrightly denied that some of these batsmen-friendly rules have helped the shorter version of the game.

The point which I want to put across is regarding the over limits for bowlers. Test cricket gives a batsman and a bowler to play to his strengths and keep going on. A batsman can play one whole day in a test match and similarly, a bowler can keep bowling as long as he wants (by taking appropriate breaks in between). But when we shift focus to limited overs cricket, batsmen still have the license to keep going for the entire duration of the innings, whereas the bowlers just can't. Every year we are seeing new boundaries being breached in cricket, the highest individual score or the fastest 50/100/150/200 and so on. The latest world cup itself saw 2 double hundreds, one from Chris Gayle and the other from Martin Guptill, where they single handedly took the game away from the opposition by batting for 40-50 overs (Guptill actually batted through the entire 50 overs - watch https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NGkG6-02yHg). But do the bowlers ever get such a chance even when they are bowling well. Take for instance Wahab Riaz during his game in the QF against the Aussies. The spell he bowled to dismiss Michael Clarke and literally terrify Steve Smith and Shane Watson has been dubbed as one of the most lethal bowling spells in the history of modern cricket. Even the greats of yesteryears, like the Akrams and the Chappels and the Bothams hailed it as one of the best spells ever (watch https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zmkBKY7CAjE). But even though that contest was a great one to watch, how many overs would it have lasted for, at the maximum? 10 overs and that's all about it. Do we ask the batsmen to retire after they have scored a century or played, say 150 deliveries in a one day match? No. Then why do we limit the bowlers who might be really bowling well in a particular match. Why can't we allow, say, 2 bowlers who won't have the cap of 10 overs (ODI) or 4 overs (T20)? This will give the bowling side something to play for when a Gayle or a McCullum is going all guns blazing. I believe this would definitely tip the scales a little bit towards the bowlers in a match. Also, it would be adding another exciting feature in the game and keep the batsmen wondering if they can really play out a bowler by just defending him.

If we analyze other team sports, we don't see a limiting feature on certain teammates, like the way it exists in limited overs cricket. We don't see a pitcher getting only 10 pitches in a baseball match. We don't see a goalkeeper in a football match being replaced by someone else after he has saved 5 goals. It just doesn't exist in competitive sports. Its time that the ICC and other national boards look into this matter and some of the other long-standing points which have kept the bowlers as second grade citizens in a game of cricket. They can probably look at instituting the above modification in domestic tournaments and see how it goes there. If successful, we can take this to the international arena and enjoy the gentlemen's game a little more.

Comment in the below section as to what you think. The more the discussions, the better it is for the sport.

App-only Strategy: Here to Stay

A lot of chatter happened this week on apps and ecommerce. Myntra, which had decided to go app-only, executed its plan and on 15 May shutdown its website. Some of other major ecommerce players were asked what did they think of this move and if they too will take a similar road. The answer was a resounding NO from the likes of Snapdeal, Jabong and Amazon India.

So what exactly is going on here, with one player betting everything on an app-only approach, whereas others summarily rejecting this move in the near future? For starters, its a very bold move by Myntra in an industry which is still in its infancy and none of the players are yet to show sustainability in cash flow and profits. There are 2 major aspects why this move can be called a bold one. Every company has been going all guns blazing for the past couple of years for acquiring new customers and thereby increasing sales. No one wants to leave any stone unturned in customer acquisition, be it through websites, apps, social media interaction. You name it. Given this relentless push for customers, some have argued as to why force the customer to go to the app, and why not get them coming through website as well.

The 2nd reason is Myntra's product groups i.e. apparels. Shoppers do get a better experience on a larger screen of a laptop when buying clothes and other apparels. An image on a 5-inch or so smartphone will not give a laptop-type experience to shoppers especially while buying the above kind of items.

Let's analyze the above from an objective eye. The largest customer chunk for any established player in India is coming through its app, and not its website or mobile-site. Each of these companies has been doling out special offers on app since the beginning of last year and before. So, its safe to assume that every company wants its sales to go through its respective app. If that's the case, a hue and cry over closure of Myntra's website is on a very weak footing. If every company is betting high on apps-based shopping, there is no place for halfhearted efforts. One has to see the larger picture and go all-in and that's why, Myntra's move is not just a small change in strategy, its a move towards the future. More so, its a move towards creating the future, just as what its parent Flipkart did when it pioneered ecommerce in India in 2007. And we already have examples of services which are app-based solely, rather than having a website (eg, Uber, although one can argue its a completely different model and industry).

The 2nd point as has been mentioned above about small-screen shopping of apparels can also be looked more objectively. We all agree that ecommerce is here to stay. However when it had all started a few years ago, people used to argue that shoppers need to have a 'touch and feel' experience before buying and ecommerce seriously lacks in this. Fast-forward to today, and there is hardly anything which people are not buying through ecommerce. Similar analogy can be drawn for the above argument as well. Small screen or not, mobile and wearables are the future and merely talking about it won't cut the ice. We need companies like Myntra who believe in walking the talk. And those who still want to stick to argument of no-small-screen, they should take a look at Apple Watch and some other companies who are already developing apps for smart-watches.

Skeptics will always be there, but as I said Myntra's move is bold and a very smart one towards building a new future. And I haven't said a word about leveraging customer data and personalizing the experience. There will be hiccups along the way for sure. Myntra will probably need to provide an app-experience which is more than just 'browsing-selecting-paying'. But kudos to Myntra and I believe this move is a potential game changer and I won't be surprised if other players too join the bandwagon.

Please feel free to pitch in with your comments.

A More Meaningful Cricket World Cup

The one event all the fans of the cricket playing nations wait with bated breath. The one event which comes every 4 years. Yes, the 50-over World Cup of cricket. Currently, the 11^th edition of the World Cup is being played in the beautiful grounds and locations across Australia and New Zealand. 14 teams started the competition on 14^th February 2015, and one of these 14 will be crowned the World Champion on 29^th March on the historic ground of Melbourne, the MCG.

The format of the current tournament is similar to the one played 4 years back in the last edition in the Indian sub-continent. The teams have been divided into 2 pools of 7 teams each. Each team in a pool plays every other team and the top 4 teams from each pool proceed to play the knock-outs, consisting of 4 quarter-finals, 2 semi-finals and 1 final. That makes a total of 49 matches to be played over a span of 44 days. The teams reaching the final have to play a total of 9 matches, and only then one of the 2 finalists is crowned as the winner. Comparing this to the FIFA world cup, the two teams which play the final have to play a total of 7 matches (including the final). By this data, a cricket world champion seems a more deserved champion of the world, playing and beating more number of teams than even the ‘Beautiful Game’s’ champion.

When we are talking about football and cricket world cups, we can look at some more basic data as well. Football world cup features 32 world-class teams which have qualified after beating a lot of teams in their respective confederations. These world cup qualifier games generally run for around 2.5-3 years eventually producing 8 pools of 4 teams each. These 32 teams vie for 16 spots in the pre-quarter-finals, with the winners advancing to play quarters, semis and the final. This whole event generally runs for around 30-35 days and is one of the most-watched and most-followed events in the world. Around 200 nations worldwide start their campaigns, the better of the lot keep advancing forward, and the best wins the Cup. There have been cases when even the best of the teams have failed to qualify for the mega-quadrennial event.

Coming to cricket, it’s a well-known fact the game is played by a handful of nations across the globe. There are many leagues and divisions in which these handful of teams compete in and eventually 4 out of around 20-25 teams gain the 4 spots available for Associate nations in the World Cup. For the 2015 edition, the 4 teams that made the cut are Ireland, Afghanistan, the UAE and Scotland. It is also known that traditionally there are around 7-8 teams only which are given any chance of winning the Cup (or even coming close to reaching the semi-finals). The cricketing super-powers are so strong that in most of the cases the Associate nations hardly stand a chance of creating a dent and making their presence felt, barring an upset or two sometime in the month-and-a-half-long tournament. Ireland is one team which has always created headlines in all the 3 World Cups it has been a part of (2007, 2011 and 2015). Apart from that, there are hardly any team whose name comes to mind when we talk about world cup success (Kenya in 2003 sprung a surprise, although it was mostly due to non-cricketing reasons than the cricketing ones). And quite frankly, the small lot of cricket fans like us around the globe care little about UAE defeating Scotland or Bermuda putting up a brave show against Ireland. No offense to any of the teams mentioned above.

In a World Cup, for which we wait for 4 years, we want to see meaningful matches and close contests. We don’t want an Australia putting up 400+ runs on the board against an Associate nation and then bowling them out and winning by 250 runs. This doesn’t do justice to the sport and certainly not to the morale of the Associate nation, whom the ICC wants so much as it looks to expand the reach of the sport. We want matches in a World Cup between evenly-poised teams. And we want a good number of these matches, not just 7 (4 quarter-finals, 2 semi-finals and 1 final). The format for the World Cup should be such that the nation which comes out as the Champion should have beaten most of the world-class teams in its wake and emerges as THE team to beat in the world of Cricket.

A Solution In Sight?

There have been many calls during the past few months on overhauling the format of the competition for the 2019 World Cup and include just 10 teams. Equally strong have been the voices which have sternly opposed this idea by voicing their concerns for more international exposure to the Associate nations for the ultimate betterment of the sport. At the end of the day, ICC has to propose a solution which takes care of both the concerns in world cricket today. One, the ultimate championship should feature meaningful games, and two, the Associate nations and other smaller cricketing powers should get more exposure on the international platform for them to develop. The question is how do we accomplish this task.

I don’t think we need to look too far away for a probable solution and football and FIFA, once again, can serve as a benchmark for cricket and ICC to make the World Cup more relevant. We can start by dividing the cricket playing nations (big or small) in zones or confederations. Currently we have around 10 Full Members of ICC in cricket which can be said that they compete on equal footing when they meet. Given this, we can have 5 confederations and ensure that 2 of these 10 teams are in each confederation. So, we can have something like the following:

1. Oceania: (Full Members) Australia, New Zealand
2. South and East Asia: (Full Members) Bangladesh, Sri Lanka
3. Central Asia and Sub-Continent: (Full Members) India, Pakistan
4. Africa: (Full Members) South Africa, Zimbabwe
5. Atlantic: (Full Members) England, the West Indies

Each of the above confederations can be divided into 2 tiers or divisions, one main league and a feeder league. Based on the geographical location of a country, it would be put in one of the 5 confederations listed above and play the other teams in the same confederation. The main league of the confederation which will serve as the World Cup qualifier will constitute of 6 teams (2 full members as listed above and 4 Associate nations). The top 4 teams of the feeder league will join the 2 full members and play the qualifier games for the World Cup. In other words, say in the Oceania confederation there are 10 teams in the feeder league (or Division 2). These teams will compete against one another and the top 4 teams will qualify to meet Australia and New Zealand for the Oceania World Cup Qualification Championship. Finally, the top 2 teams from the Confederation World Cup Championship will eventually play the World Cup finals. This is essentially on the same lines as FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and Finals and it solves one of the 2 problems of Cricket currently, that of Associate nations getting more exposure. The final round of Qualification matches can be evenly spread out by ICC and national cricket boards by making necessary adjustments in the international calendar.

Coming to the 2^nd problem plaguing the Cricket World Cup, that of more meaningful matches to be played between equally matched side, we can have a look at the 1992 World Cup. This was played in Australia and New Zealand and was won, deservedly, by Pakistan. Most of us know these details, but something which we don’t know much is the format of the 1992 World Cup. This edition initially featured 8 teams and they were slated to play each other during the course of the tournament, thus totaling to 28 games in the group stage. South Africa was later inducted in the World Cup after the nation freed herself from Apartheid and hence the World Cup featured 9 teams which were supposed to play each other (36 group stage games). The important thing to note is that this World Cup did not divide the teams in Pools and each nation was supposed to play the other at least once. This same format can be inducted in the next World Cup along with the above Confederation system.

The top 2 teams from each Confederation will make a total of 10 teams qualified to play the quadrennial event. These 10 teams can be pitted against each other, thus ensuring each nation plays the other in the 1^st round (round-robin). The top 4 teams from this round will qualify for the next round and the rest 6 will be eliminated. In the format which is being followed in the IPL for the knockouts, the teams placed 1^st and 2^nd will play a qualifier (Q1), with the winner earning a place in the Final. The teams ranked 3^rd and 4^th will play an eliminator (E1), with the loser bowing out of the tournament and the winner to meet the losing team of Q1 (the match being called qualifier 2, Q2). The winner of Q2 will meet the team already in the Final and the winner of the Final will be crowned the World Champions.

The total number of matches in this particular tournament will be 49 (45 matches in the 1^st round, Q1, E1, Q2, Final), the same as the current edition of World Cup being played in Australia and New Zealand (42 matches in group stage, 4 QFs, 2 SFs and Final). The foremost benefit of this new method will be to the audience and fans who will get to see meaningful contests between top teams, who have made the cut after a rigorous Confederation Qualification championship games.

And as is the norm, more interesting games for the fans means more revenues to the host countries, the organizers, the media and ICC.

The Cricket World Cup has seen a lot of changes in the format since 1987. It is high time we try to concretize our way this grand event is conducted. As cricket slowly becomes more global, the number of teams in the Confederations can be increased and we can re-look our strategy for our two issues: One, to keep the World Cup interesting, and two, give Associate nations more exposure to international level action. Hopefully, ICC and national boards will take some steps in this direction soon.

Nishant Sinha

Comments are welcome.
Twitter: @NishantSinha88