ITV

Tag: Digital Commerce

  • Kantar: Consumers in India are taking up ‘offers’ faster online than offline

    Kantar: Consumers in India are taking up ‘offers’ faster online than offline

    Mumbai: Kantar, a marketing data and analytics company, has launched ‘Uncovering Consumer Decision Making in Digital Commerce’ a comprehensive report collating multiple studies done across various categories, to help marketers formulate winning strategies for digital commerce.

    The research reveals a significant difference in availing offers online and offline by consumers. 86 per cent of online consumers are willing to take up offers while the offline offer uptake stands at 60 per cent which is a wide gap. Online buyers are more price sensitive and avail more offers compared to offline buyers. Therefore, it is important for marketers to optimise discount and promotion offers (own and with partners) considering channel dynamics and to understand the psychological thresholds to pricing.

    Other key findings of the report include:

    When it comes to selecting a digital payment instrument, brand reputation dominates as the primary factor, standing at the highest (index of 100) while other parameters such as ‘interest on earning’, ‘platform Fee & charges’ and ‘cashbacks on all transactions’, lags behind at 47, 43 and 18 (indexed to brand reputation) respectively.

    While selecting the e-commerce platform for online purchases, consumers’ look for foundational needs being met and hence delivery type & delivery charges stand highest (index of 100), followed by ‘discounts’ and ‘delivery time’ (61 and 52 respectively- indexed to delivery type & charges). This gives a clear indication to brands to keep a stronghold on these basics for customer loyalty and understand consumer’s maximum thresholds for delivery charges, delivery time and minimum thresholds for discounts.

    While consumers may expect to have many services and features available on the app, they would be willing to pay only for the services and features which fulfils an unmet need or have a tangible benefit. Kantar points out that it is important to estimate consumer’s willingness to pay for each service and feature, in order to construct subscription packages and to monetize profitably.

    A key aspect of consumer decision-making on digital platforms is Priced offers vis- a – vis free service/content. The report points out that while constructing and pricing subscription packages / offer bundles and monetizing services and features in digital commerce space, it is important to consider (and not ignore) free services and content available on the web as real competition because in consumer’s mind, these are relevant options and something they can easily switch back to.  Explaining this further, the report highlights that discounts on medicines are already available on many sites and thus, willingness to pay for it in a subscription plan is very low. The same is true for services such as nutritional / diet advice which are available for free on many health-related sites and platforms.

    Lastly, the report points out that loyalty program subscribers expect higher tangible rewards in return. This can vary by category. For one category, the expectation from the conversion rate for reward points to cash for loyalty program subscribers was 1.17 times that of the conversion rate for regular users and for another it was 1.31. Kantar recommends that in order to balance between consumer loyalty, rewards payout based on loyalty programs and profitability, it is important to estimate and optimize the reward-to-cash ratio and benefit from the difference in these expectations across program subscribers and regular users (to get them onboard) by different categories.

    Commenting on the report, Kantar MD & chief client officer, insights division, South Asia Soumya Mohanty said, “India’s online shopper base is to be the 2nd largest globally by 2030, with nearly 500-600 Mn shoppers, as per Invest India*. To capitalise this massive growth and be future-ready, it becomes even more important to listen to what consumers want from your category, brand, and those you partner with.

  • WPP acquires e-commerce agency Corebiz

    WPP acquires e-commerce agency Corebiz

    Mumbai: WPP has announced that it is acquiring Corebiz, a Latin American e-commerce agency specialising in VTEX implementation. It is one of the largest enterprise digital commerce platforms in the region. 

    Founded in 2013, Corebiz employs over 600 people across Latin America, with the majority of its headcount based in its São Paulo and Franca offices in Brazil. The Brazilian operations of the company will join the VMLY&R COMMERCE global network, with further regional outposts of the business coming onboard over the course of the coming year. 

    Corebiz counts companies such as Whirlpool, Casino Group, Walmart, Carrefour, Decathlon and Estée Lauder amongst its clients. It specialises in a range of e-commerce digital solutions covering three key pillars: acquisition, from creating visuals for digital campaigns to driving targeted SEO; conversion, including CRO and full stack development; and loyalty, spanning from CRM system implementation to managing consumer data and running targeted promotional campaigns. As an implementation specialist of VTEX, the agency helps clients reduce time-to-market, reach audiences across multiple channels, and uncover new growth areas in Latin America and beyond.

    WPP said that this acquisition reflects its ongoing investment in strengthening its commerce offer for clients as consumer needs continue to change. It is aligned with WPP’s accelerated growth strategy, building on existing capabilities in the areas of commerce and technology. WPP added that it is ranked as a leader in Forrester’s global Commerce Services Wave, and already manages more than $40 billion of direct and $20 billion of marketplace GMV for clients and employs 13,500 commerce specialists across its agencies.

    WPP in Brazil country manager Stefano Zunino said, “Companies both in Latin America and around the world are looking to grow their e-commerce capabilities, having seen over the last two and a half years the impact that strong digital commerce strategies can have on business growth. Corebiz’s market-leading knowledge of enterprise commerce platforms such as VTEX will further strengthen our commerce expertise. I look forward to welcoming the Corebiz team as we expand our offer to clients here in Brazil and beyond.”

    VMLY&R COMMERCE global CEO Beth Ann Kaminkow said, “Bolstering our creative commerce offering to drive conversion every day for our clients is an essential ingredient to creating connected brands. The team at Corebiz are not only experts in this field, but also share our philosophy for building a thriving company culture alongside business growth. We’re thrilled to get our collaboration underway across our client base.”

    Corebiz founders and co-CEOs Felipe Macedo and Renan Mota said, “Over the last few years, we have actively participated in the acceleration of the ecommerce market in Latin America. Now, our goal is to take this expertise to the rest of the world. This will only be enhanced by joining WPP and the VMLY & R COMMERCE network, and we are excited to strengthen ecommerce enablement for VMLY & R COMMERCE’s global clients.”

  • By 2022, hyperlocal commerce shoppers to grow by 52% to reach 214 mn: WATInsights

    By 2022, hyperlocal commerce shoppers to grow by 52% to reach 214 mn: WATInsights

    Mumbai: WATConsult, an Isobar Company and the globally awarded hybrid digital agency from dentsu India, has released the fifth report of WATInsights – digital commerce series. Titled ‘Digital Commerce in India – Hyperlocal Commerce’, the report is by WATConsult’s research division, Recogn. The report shares insights on the demand for hyperlocal delivery, the effects of the pandemic on the hyperlocal usage and captures the benefits & challenges of the model.

    The hyperlocal space has seen a rise in the number of niche brands across categories like home décor, home services, groceries, essentials and pharmaceutical sectors. Since the country has witnessed growth, traditional brands have shifted their focus towards hyperlocal and direct-to-consumer business models. This transition has been accelerated further due to increased internet usage and evolved consumer behaviour.

    It is pertinent to note here that the hyperlocal approach enables the brands to reach out to their target customers directly, removing the middlemen and retail stores as part of the traditional business model. This provides customers with a better shopping experience as it offers convenience and quick delivery, especially in the areas of logistics, food, pharmaceutical and groceries. Some examples of hyperlocal commerce include Dunzo, 1mg, UrbanCompany, BigBasket, to name a few.

    According to the report, this format of e-commerce has seen a huge surge of customers in both metros and beyond. Currently, there are around 141 million hyperlocal commerce shoppers in India, which is 48 percent of all e-commerce users. This number of hyperlocal commerce shoppers will increase by 52 percent to reach 214 million by the end of 2022.

    The report further reveals that while Zomato tops the list of the most used hyperlocal apps, SwiggyGo, Amazon Fresh & BigBasket are some of the popular choices among consumers. This is followed by 1mg, Grofers and UberConnect.

    The report additionally sheds light on the consumer demographic of the hyperlocal commerce users. While most females have used services from Zomato, BigBasket and Grofers, some males have used services like Zomato, SwiggyGo, BigBasket and 1mg, highlighted the study. On the other hand, the majority of young customers belonging to the age groups of under 18 years, 18 years to 24 years and 25 years to 34 years, have been seen using Zomato, SwiggyGo, and Amazon Fresh.

    Commenting on the latest issue of WATInsights – Digital commerce in India – Hyperlocal commerce, Isobar India group CEO Heeru Dingra said, “Hyperlocal businesses have been rapidly growing with the potential of expanding exponentially. There has been an increase in the number of brands emerging in this space and it will consolidate even further, over the next few years. Hyperlocal’s collaboration with local stores and the connection they build with their customers digitally is benefitting all the stakeholders as now they are all connected to the supply chain model.”

    The hyperlocal space has seen a rise in the number of niche brands across categories like home décor, home services, groceries, essentials, and pharmaceutical sectors. Since the country has witnessed growth, traditional brands have shifted their focus towards hyperlocal and direct-to-consumer business models. This transition has been accelerated further due to increased internet usage and evolved consumer behaviour.

    WATConsult managing partner Sahil Shah added, “Businesses, more than ever, are leveraging digital channels to reach out to consumers with a faster go-to-market, controlled brand perception, and increased direct-to-consumer (D2C) interactions. The pandemic has impacted many sectors and as a result, India’s retail market has gone through many changes; the biggest change being the adoption of technology in enabling more digital touchpoints. Amidst this shift, hyperlocal has been one of the top priorities for all D2C brands as well as marketplace-heavy businesses. This new model of hyperlocal has enabled local retailers to increase their market share. Especially the FMCG brands have been able to push their inventories and effectively scale the business.”

    It is pertinent to note here that the hyperlocal approach enables the brands to reach out to their target customers directly, removing the middlemen and retail stores as part of the traditional business model. This provides customers with a better shopping experience as it offers convenience and quick delivery, especially in the areas of logistics, food, pharmaceutical, and groceries. Some examples of hyperlocal commerce include Dunzo, 1mg, UrbanCompany, BigBasket, to name a few.