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Tag: Sanjeev Goyle

  • Vespa launches online store on Snapdeal

    Vespa launches online store on Snapdeal

    MUMBAI: E-commerce is slowly but surely catching the fancy of brands galore. While until now brands selling clothes, accessories, shoes, furniture, books and the likes have been active in the online market place, in a first of sorts premium scooter brand Piaggio Vespa has launched its online store on Snapdeal.com in India.

     

    Vespa’s partnership with Snapdeal is targeted towards a younger segment of consumers who are digitally active and prefer instant purchases.

     

    Piaggio Vehicles, which is an Indian subsidiary of the Italian Piaggio Group, has partnered with Snapdeal to reach out to its Internet savvy customers. The brand store, which is an exclusive in itself, will showcase the entire range of Vespa scooters. Vespa fans will now be able to book their Vespa on a click of a button.

     

    The European best seller in the two-wheeler category has been successful in creating a niche ‘premium’ audience for their scooters since their presence in India in April 2012.

     

    Vespa has launched a special offer for the first 100 customers of the store. The store will offer the entire range of Vespa models available at a booking amount of Rs 5000 and the models include Vespa, VX, Vespa S and Vespa Elegante.

     

    Piaggio Vehicles EVP two wheeler business Sanjeev Goyle said, “Today’s generation loves online shopping and prefers brands that provide buyer friendly shopping options. Hence we decided to launch a virtual store that will offer the fastest possible Vespa buying experience. Snapdeal is India’s largest online marketplace and hence it was the best platform for us to launch our first online store. Through this collaboration, we aim to take our relationship with our consumers to the next level. This initiative of ours will be an integral part of our larger marketing strategy.”

     

    “Automotive category on Snapdeal has grown at a phenomenal pace in the last 12 months. We have seen a tremendous customer response towards this category. With the Vespa Brand Store, on the Snapdeal platform, we want to create a unique shopping experience for our consumers where they have access the entire Vespa Scooters’ portfolio from the comfort of their homes,” said Snapdeal SVP electronics and home Tony Navin.

     

    The store has been created keeping in mind the nuances associated with the brand. The store enables Piaggio to manage their product selection, promotions and launches as per their need and basis the analytics shared by Snapdeal.

  • Bridging the urban-rural gap

    Bridging the urban-rural gap

    MUMBAI: It was in the early 90s that India opened up to trade and investment with the rest of the world and ever since there has been no looking back.

     

    Liberalisation has upped the purchasing power and standard of living of the middle class but it has also deepened the urban-rural divide, what with marketers focusing more on major towns and metros as compared to rural areas in the country.

     

    Initiatives such as HUL’s Project Shakti – which aims to create livelihood for underprivileged women in villages – have been very few and far between.

     

    Speaking of similar such endeavours at the Rural Marketing Forum were the likes of Avinash Oza, Ashish Tandon, Ravi Shankar, Rajendra Dhandhukia, Sanjeev Goyle, Sharad Varshney, Taranbir Singh, Vinay Thakker and Veerendra Jamdade.

     

    Part of the three-day Asia Retail Congress – a global platform to promote world-class retail practices – the forum saw discussions titled Agriculture Sector – Challenges & Opportunities, Is it possible to decode Rural Consumer Behaviour and Bus Stations – New Hub for Rural Marketing among others.

     

    According to Fullerton India Credit Company marketing and rural business head Ravi Shankar, government-introduced welfare schemes such as NREGA come with their fair share of challenges. “We have to educate people, especially youngsters who don’t want to follow their parents into farming that there are a lot more initiatives like dairy farming, poultry farming etc. that they can indulge in and earn well without leaving their villages or smaller cities,” he said.

     

    ING Vysya Bank business head for agriculture and rural banking Taranbir Singh gave the example of what Nestle did to Moga in Punjab. “The city is a perfect example of how corporates can transform lives and hopefully, more corporates will help change rural India by starting more branches, manufacturing units etc,” he said.

     

    JCB India rural GM and head Puneet Vidyarathi was of the view that citizens as a whole, need to start contributing to agriculture and work on challenges including increasing land banks, managing water resources and building on infrastructure.

     

    A majority of the participants felt that regional players would gain apart from the people in rural areas if the required importance was given to rural development by both government and corporates.

     

    On the topic of how brands can reach out to rural areas, Vritti Solutions founder and director Veerendra Jamade suggested that instead of waiting for melas, schools and pilgrims to reach out to rural consumers, bus stations should be utilised for the purpose. “Melas, schools, etc. have their own limitations whereas bus stations, if used to our advantage, can optimise the presence of the brand in that area,” he said.

     

    A key observation that emerged was: rural consumers follow a herd mentality and go by what their elders advise and hence, brands have a tough job convincing them about their products. However, mobile penetration seems to be changing that.

     

    A related takeaway was that brands need to focus on different age groups in rural areas and target them accordingly.