
Monday, March 28, 2011
Enabling Social Shopping on AaramShop

Friday, March 18, 2011
Mobile applications to re-define the demography and modus operandi of Retail Industry
Mobile apps are the latest fad in the techno savvy world today. Search for mobile apps in any search engine, and you will be surprised by the sheer number of search results. Development of mobile apps is almost like a cottage industry today and everyone wants to hitch on to the bandwagon that Steve Jobs pioneered.
But few industries had a tectonic shift with the advent of smart phones as Retail industry, as this industry is so much intertwined with the end user and now to the end user’s logical alter ego, the ubiquitous mobile phone.
So why Retail industry is the avant-garde of the mobile app revolution, and what makes it so alluring to the retailers of all hue, gravitate towards mobile apps. Turns out very many reasons are responsible for this trend.
Read more here;
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Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Social networks lead to social shopping.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Online research prior to purchase.

Why digital & why AaramShop

"As an FMCG/CPG brand why should you invest into digital marketing strategies, when you seem to get known (& decent) results from mass-media strategies? And further why should you consider AaramShop as part of that strategy?"
Online Population Explosion.

Saturday, March 12, 2011
Calculating Shoppers & Extreme Shoppers
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Listing on AaramShop is open to all FMCG national brands.
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5 reasons why people follow brands on Twitter

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- 10 Reasons Your Company is Losing Fans on Facebook & Twitter (hudsonhorizons.com)
- Reasons people 'Unfollow' Brands on Twitter (penn-olson.com)
- Most People Leave Twitter Because it's Pointless (marketingpilgrim.com)
3 things for FMCG brands to consider when using social media
When it comes to FMCG brands, social media mostly consists of having some kind of Facebook or a Twitter presence to raise brand awareness and spread word-of-mouth.
Taking social media on a step further, here are 3 things for FMCG brands to think about as part of their social media activity:
1. Social media discount vouchers
2. Identifying influencers online
3. Using real people to engage online
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- Is Your Brand Too Integrated With Social Media? (personalbrandingblog.com)
- Marketers as Movement-Makers (gauravonomics.com)
- Tips On How To Gain More Impact In Social Media (mindjumpers.com)
Who Wins? Modern retail chains or Mom and Pop stores?

Here is a insightful post by Manoj Vishwasnath on the classic clash of modern vs traditional retail outlets / formats in India.
Modern trade arguably accounts for 50% of all retail grocery and consumables business in the developed markets but this has been achieved over a period of 40 years since the first organized retails stores made their appearance in the country. India has a long way to go before it reaches this juncture, probably longer than the political careers of most of the protagonists who are trying to make a livelihood by pitting the Davids against the Goliaths. Today the contribution of modern trade is merely 4% of the total retail trade in the country.
Modern trade bashers also do not have a realistic understanding of the competitive advantages that kirana stores have at their disposal. Kirana stores offer the customer convenience at several levels i.e., proximity, credit facility, home delivery etc which organized retail stores find difficult to replicate.
Unlike the Americans, Indians do not have the culture of driving down several miles to a retail outlet to accomplish grocery shopping. Most customers shop at a mom & pop store that is a stone’s throw from their homes – a luxury that can never be provided by their organized counterparts.
Neighbourhood kirana stores also offer customers short-term credit facility, which is possible because of the close relationship that the shop owner enjoys with the customers. Organized retail stores cannot provide credit since they don’t know the customers as well.
Read the full article here;
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- Foreign ownership in India retail seen on gradual path (reuters.com)
Traditional Outlets vs Modern Trade , the scales tilt again.
- fresh stocks , due to lower pipelines
- Better merchandised
- Very high CRM , due to personal interaction of the outlet owner/manager with the customer
- Increased margins are given by the companies which are getting passed on
- ease of "touch and feel"
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- 3 things for FMCG brands to consider when using social media (freshnetworks.com)
- The growing consumer market in India (ibef.wordpress.com)
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Indian Consumers Are Crossover Shoppers: Nielsen Study
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- How people respond to brands in shopping centres (mumbrella.com.au)
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
16 to 24-year-old men and women

Following are part of the finding of the Forrester Consumer Technographics and while it is a few years old and Europe centric, we believe the logic still holds good for online advertising for FMCG and probably is more universal than before and it becomes more relevant with the increased usage of social networks over the years.
- FMCG organisations can tap into another key audience, 16 to 24-year-old men, particularly those with an interest in health and in male grooming. This audience is 45% more likely to be online than the average European and over a third of their media time is spent online - well above the average of one quarter.
- They also watch less TV than the average European, read less print newspapers, and listen to less radio.* When online, they are highly engaged by community and collaborative web activities – for example, blogs, wikis, reviews, and social networks.
- And it’s not just the men. For young women, the internet is a source of trusted and reliable opinion. Around 56% read online consumer reviews, and 36% visit the manufacturer website before making a product purchase.*
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- Social Online Shopping - What Men Prefer and Women Don't (smedio.com)
- How Facebook Has Changed Sex (cloud10ideas.com)
Social Breakups: Why Friends, Followers Leave Brands
Facebook users have become more discriminating in their relationships with brands:
- 55% of surveyed Facebook users say they have "liked" a brand on Facebook, and later "unliked" the brand.
- 71% of Facebook fans say they've become more selective over the past year about which brands they “like" on Facebook.
Typically, Facebook fans who end brand relationships do so most often by "unliking" the brand (43%) or removing the brand's posts from their Facebook news feed (38%):

Monday, March 7, 2011
E-tail Marketing: Is Social Media Worth the Cost?
Only 5% of online shoppers surveyed say they are primarily influenced by social media to visit a top retailer's website. Most (38%) cite existing familiarity with a brand, followed by promotional emails (19%) and search engine results (8%).
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Key FMCG audiences from Microsoft Advertising
While FMCG online advertising covers a wide variety of audiences, perhaps the backbone audience is mums. Through their management of the family and home they are responsible for a broad range of FMCG purchases.
- Microsoft Advertising research conducted in both the UK and France illustrated that the web helps mums in four key areas: keeping in touch, family organisation, personal fulfilment, and entertainment. Advertisers can use these findings to target specific digital solutions at mums, based on the different mindsets they adopt when engaged in these activities.
- Faced with organising most aspects of family life, mums are increasingly dependent on the internet for information, advice, reassurance, idea generation, and transactions. Convenience, freedom from dragging reluctant children around shops - as well as time and money savings - all played a key role in the popularity of online purchases made by 78% of mums.
- Money was managed online by 68%, while 94% turned to the web for information, ranging from advice on health and nutrition to planning days out and children’s entertainment. Marketing solutions and branded advice often played a key role in delivering this information.
- The research in the UK stressed the central role that mums take in key household decisions, from organising finances to social events and holidays.
Related articles
- 3 things for FMCG brands to consider when using social media (freshnetworks.com)
- The growing consumer market in India (ibef.wordpress.com)
- Marketers as Movement-Makers (gauravonomics.com)
Marketers Up Spending on Digital, Social in 2011
Among the 80% of surveyed marketers planning increases in digital, 26% say they plan a significant increase and 54% plan a slight increase. Only 5% plan a decrease in their digital work in 2011.
Here are, other findings from the 2011 Digital Marketing Outlook Survey conducted by the Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA) and AnswerLab.
Social Sign-In Favored Over Traditional Web Registration

Consumers are frustrated with online registration: When required to register or create an account at a website, only 25% do so, whereas 75% leave the site; 66% say social sign-in would be a good alternative, keeping this in view, AaramShop uses social sign-in option.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Affluent Gen-Y Hooked on Social Media, Brands
Gen-Y affluents are 27 years old on average, and they are on a path to earn over $100,000 annually in the short term, and double that income within the next five years, according to the study.

Friday, March 4, 2011
The future of FMCG in India.

Fast moving consumer goods will become a Rs 400,000-crore industry by 2020. A Booz & Company study finds out the trends that will shape its future
Consider this. The anti-ageing skincare category grew five times between 2007 and 2008. It’s today the fastest-growing segment in the skincare market. Olay, Procter & Gamble’s premium anti-ageing skincare brand, captured 20 per cent of the market within a year of its launch in 2007 and today dominates it with 37 per cent share. Who could have thought of ready acceptance for anti-ageing creams and lotions some ten years ago? For that matter, who could have thought Indian consumers would take oral hygiene so seriously? Mouth-rinsing seems to be picking up as a habit — mouthwash penetration is growing at 35 per cent a year. More so, who could have thought rural consumers would fall for shampoos? Rural penetration of shampoos increased to 46 per cent last year, way up from 16 per cent in 2001.
Read the Business Standard report here;
CMOs: Budgets Shifting; Social Spend, Optimism Up

YouTube Tops Facebook, Twitter in User Satisfaction

Although Facebook is the most widely used social networking site in the US, users of YouTube are more likely to recommend that site than users of other popular social media websites—including Facebook and Twitter—are likely to recommend those sites, according to a study by Netpop Research.
Read more here;
Nestle's Facebook Page: How a Company Can Really Screw Up Social Media

Chiquita site high on social media usage.
How P&G is mixing traditional and social media.
Procter & Gamble: Social Media for Beauty Brands, presented by Anitra Marsh from GasPedal on Vimeo.