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Tag: Snapdeal

  • Snapdeal appoints former HUL brand director Kanika Kalra as VP marketing

    Snapdeal appoints former HUL brand director Kanika Kalra as VP marketing

    MUMBAI Snapdeal appointed Kanika Kalra as vice president – marketing. A seasoned global marketing professional with a career spanning over 12 years, Kanika joins Snapdeal after several triumphant stints at Hindustan Unilever limited, Pepsico and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Limited.

    At Snapdeal, Kanika will be focused on making the business more customer-centric and ensuring creativity and impact in all communication.

    Welcoming Kanika, Snapdeal co founder Rohit Bansal  said, “We are thrilled to welcome Kanika. She comes with a vast and distinguished experience in brand marketing. As we look at defining more innovative solutions for our customers, I am sure she will add tremendous value and further fuel our growth”.

    Speaking about her appointment,  Kalra said, “As ecommerce continues to revolutionize the Indian economy, I am confident that Snapdeal is poised to play an even bigger and more impactful role in the coming years. I am excited to be a part of Snapdeal’s journey and to shepherd the company’s growth as the country’s most preferred retail brand.”

    During her eight year stint as the Global Brand Director for Hindustan Unilever Limited, she spearheaded key innovations in the skincare category. Prior to that she was a part of the brand marketing teams at Pepsico and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Limited.

    Kanika holds a Post Graduate degree in Marketing from IIM, Lucknow and a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Delhi University.

  • People access Facebook 2.4 times more than Twitter and 2.0 times more than YouTube: Kirthiga Reddy

    People access Facebook 2.4 times more than Twitter and 2.0 times more than YouTube: Kirthiga Reddy

    MUMBAI: It’s very easy to overlook a fundamental fact about brands: people bring brands to life – not companies. Brands aren’t to be found in the factory or in the studio and much less in the balance sheets, but in the minds of consumers, employees, suppliers and other stakeholders. In a sense a brand is a public object – and the strongest brands are those whose consumers feel a real sense of ownership: ‘That’s My Brand’. In other words, a brand exists only in people’s mind. So today what is driving people’s mind? Who is moving people? Where is it they go before they make a decision?

    How often today do we hear in our day to day conversation that ‘On my Facebook account I read this.’ Is it really one’s Facebook account, does anybody really own it? It’s just a successful evolution of a brand that someone feels her or his Facebook account is her or his?

    People today are driven by a small screen which moves along, supplies content on demand and reacts as per the personality of its owner. A personalised interactive medium called ‘Mobile’. “The world is not going mobile, it has gone mobile” says Facebook India MD Kirthiga Reddy. She shares some verified data, “More than 142 million people access Facebook every month in India through any of the access points of which 133 million log in via mobile devices. More than 69 million people get on Facebook every day, 64 million of them through mobile.”

    So there is a humongous amount of interaction which happens daily and it happens all across India. “The diversity of Facebook is also an important factor. The data confirms that Facebook has a very strong pan India reach and this perception that Facebook is only an urban Smartphone product is not true. What we found is for every urban user there are two from other parts of India which shows a very strong distribution of people,” asserts Reddy.

    Facebook in association with IMRB has done a study which shows, “63 per cent people on Facebook use 3G connections and 37 per cent use a 2G connection to access Facebook. 70 per cent people on Facebook own a Smartphone; 88 per cent use a prepaid connection.” Despite having such high numbers which are real by nature and not sampled or extrapolated, the investment on mobile, social media and digital is far from premium. Digitally born entrepreneur The Viral Fever founder Arunabh Kumar paints the scenario in the best possible way. He says, “The ad spend on a digital video which reaches to at least 15 times more number of people when compared to TV actually is equal to one meal catering spend of a television commercial (TVC) shoot.”

    Kirthiga Reddy also echoes same sentiments, but she speaks in terms of time investment of brands. “There is a big delta when it comes to how much time brands are spending on mobile and how much time people are spending on mobile” she says. As a frontrunner of the digital wave, Facebook has taken on multiple responsibilities of educating the ecosystem and the study is one of them, “Our intention through this study is to educate people about what people are doing on Facebook, on mobile, and how this information can help them move the business fast and bridge the gap between how much time people are spending on mobile and how time the brands are investing on mobile. We invest heavily on education as this new platform needs some educating. Late last year we rolled out a multi module educating program Blueprint in association with our partners,” she further adds.

    Blueprint is a new education program that trains agencies, partners and marketers on how to use Facebook, so they can create better campaigns that drive business results. Combining online courses, in-person training and certification Blueprint offers training from campaign optimisation, how to use video on Facebook, to effective ad measurement solutions. The Blueprint program features 34 online courses under various categories such as Facebook pages, targeting, buying and managing your ads, campaign optimisation, insight and Instagram. “Since March 2015, more than 175,000 people have taken more than 500,000 course enrolments. India ranks as the second largest country signing onto Blueprint. The top five countries include the US, India, Egypt, Brazil and the UK,” informs the Facebook India team.

    Platforms such as Facebook are also used to target people in TV dark areas, informs Reddy. She cites a case study on Nestle Everyday Whitener. “Nestle wanted to target people from media (traditional media) dark areas of the northeast. One creative was created for smartphones and another one was created for feature phones. The creatives drove that brand association and emotion to the end consumer, which later translated to positive results. This is an example of brands leveraging benefits of Facebook’s pan India presence.”

    The brand interaction with this disrupting social media platform is also happening in India  feels Reddy, “Three years back,if we were having this conversation, I would have only spoken about global case studies. I did not have a single India example to share,” says she. “But today we have so many examples across all the verticals, so the explosion is already happening. In the past also we saw when TV came in and print was there, it took its time,” she informs further.

    As per the FICCI – KPMG 2016 report, TV witnessed ad spends of Rs 542.2 billion (Rs 54,220 crore) which means a 14.2 per cent growth from the previous year. Whereas the growth rate of digital advertising which witnessed a spend of Rs 60.1 billion (Rs 6,010 crore) is an overwhelming 38.2 per cent. The same report projects a 15.1 per cent growth of television despite all the digital disruption and OTT emergence. The projected spend is believed to reach Rs 617.0 billion (Rs 61,700 crore). Digital is set to see a Rs 20 billion (Rs 2,000 crore) more spends as the projected figure for 2016 is Rs 81.1 billion (Rs 8,110 crore) which means a 33.5 per cent growth.

    So is it TV versus mobile? “We say it’s TV plus mobile,” says the Facebook India MD. But, at the same time she believes mobile has an upper hand, “Mobile is a screen kept close to you while TV is kept far with many distractions in between. A study shows that mobile has 82 per cent higher retention rate and 79 per cent lower distraction rate than any other screen,” she asserts. On TV there is a fight amongst brands to buy a prime time slot which shoots the 10 second ad rate sky high. “People are on Facebook throughout the day which means the brands no longer need to wait for the evening prime time to connect with people they can connect throughout the day,” says Reddy. “There are definitely key advantages when it comes to mobile. Mobile is a medium of discovery, mobile is a medium of personalisation it is a one screen one person platform which allows you to target individually, send the right message to the right person. You are seeing the kind of businesses that you can get, it gives you many opportunities which TV doesn’t, be it a whole day phenomenon or targeting,” she further sheds light on the advantages of mobile.

    Facebook has a strong ethos when it comes to value for money or return on investment or ROI, “We believe whenever a client pays a rupee to Facebook, he could have paid the same for either a TV ad or print or any-other medium. So what we promise is that a one rupee spend on Facebook is the most effective rupee spent by the client, that is what we want to strive for,” informs Reddy.

    Facebook is currently working with more than 85 per cent of Kantar’s reported top 100 advertisers in India, which includes Unilever, P&G, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Amazon, Nestle, Reckitt Benckiser, Mondelez, and L’Oreal.  This also includes companies headquartered in India like Tata and ICICI Bank, India’s largest private bank, eCommerce companies like Snapdeal, Flipkart, Ola, and new companies like Craftsvilla.com. In 2014 Facebook established the Facebook Client Council to learn more and develop better ad solutions.

    The study had a few proud findings for Facebook and Reddy throws light on them, “People access Facebook 2.4 times more than Twitter and 2.0 times more than YouTube,” says she while sharing India statistics.

    Facebook is focusing on videos too, as there is no India data available when it comes to video consumption Reddy shares global figures, “Everyday there are more than 8 billion (800 crore) video views on Facebook, and more than 45 per cent of video viewing happens on mobile.”

    “We are seeing a trend, where communication is going visual and with that Facebook is evolving in terms of being a visual storytelling platform” she concludes.

     

  • People access Facebook 2.4 times more than Twitter and 2.0 times more than YouTube: Kirthiga Reddy

    People access Facebook 2.4 times more than Twitter and 2.0 times more than YouTube: Kirthiga Reddy

    MUMBAI: It’s very easy to overlook a fundamental fact about brands: people bring brands to life – not companies. Brands aren’t to be found in the factory or in the studio and much less in the balance sheets, but in the minds of consumers, employees, suppliers and other stakeholders. In a sense a brand is a public object – and the strongest brands are those whose consumers feel a real sense of ownership: ‘That’s My Brand’. In other words, a brand exists only in people’s mind. So today what is driving people’s mind? Who is moving people? Where is it they go before they make a decision?

    How often today do we hear in our day to day conversation that ‘On my Facebook account I read this.’ Is it really one’s Facebook account, does anybody really own it? It’s just a successful evolution of a brand that someone feels her or his Facebook account is her or his?

    People today are driven by a small screen which moves along, supplies content on demand and reacts as per the personality of its owner. A personalised interactive medium called ‘Mobile’. “The world is not going mobile, it has gone mobile” says Facebook India MD Kirthiga Reddy. She shares some verified data, “More than 142 million people access Facebook every month in India through any of the access points of which 133 million log in via mobile devices. More than 69 million people get on Facebook every day, 64 million of them through mobile.”

    So there is a humongous amount of interaction which happens daily and it happens all across India. “The diversity of Facebook is also an important factor. The data confirms that Facebook has a very strong pan India reach and this perception that Facebook is only an urban Smartphone product is not true. What we found is for every urban user there are two from other parts of India which shows a very strong distribution of people,” asserts Reddy.

    Facebook in association with IMRB has done a study which shows, “63 per cent people on Facebook use 3G connections and 37 per cent use a 2G connection to access Facebook. 70 per cent people on Facebook own a Smartphone; 88 per cent use a prepaid connection.” Despite having such high numbers which are real by nature and not sampled or extrapolated, the investment on mobile, social media and digital is far from premium. Digitally born entrepreneur The Viral Fever founder Arunabh Kumar paints the scenario in the best possible way. He says, “The ad spend on a digital video which reaches to at least 15 times more number of people when compared to TV actually is equal to one meal catering spend of a television commercial (TVC) shoot.”

    Kirthiga Reddy also echoes same sentiments, but she speaks in terms of time investment of brands. “There is a big delta when it comes to how much time brands are spending on mobile and how much time people are spending on mobile” she says. As a frontrunner of the digital wave, Facebook has taken on multiple responsibilities of educating the ecosystem and the study is one of them, “Our intention through this study is to educate people about what people are doing on Facebook, on mobile, and how this information can help them move the business fast and bridge the gap between how much time people are spending on mobile and how time the brands are investing on mobile. We invest heavily on education as this new platform needs some educating. Late last year we rolled out a multi module educating program Blueprint in association with our partners,” she further adds.

    Blueprint is a new education program that trains agencies, partners and marketers on how to use Facebook, so they can create better campaigns that drive business results. Combining online courses, in-person training and certification Blueprint offers training from campaign optimisation, how to use video on Facebook, to effective ad measurement solutions. The Blueprint program features 34 online courses under various categories such as Facebook pages, targeting, buying and managing your ads, campaign optimisation, insight and Instagram. “Since March 2015, more than 175,000 people have taken more than 500,000 course enrolments. India ranks as the second largest country signing onto Blueprint. The top five countries include the US, India, Egypt, Brazil and the UK,” informs the Facebook India team.

    Platforms such as Facebook are also used to target people in TV dark areas, informs Reddy. She cites a case study on Nestle Everyday Whitener. “Nestle wanted to target people from media (traditional media) dark areas of the northeast. One creative was created for smartphones and another one was created for feature phones. The creatives drove that brand association and emotion to the end consumer, which later translated to positive results. This is an example of brands leveraging benefits of Facebook’s pan India presence.”

    The brand interaction with this disrupting social media platform is also happening in India  feels Reddy, “Three years back,if we were having this conversation, I would have only spoken about global case studies. I did not have a single India example to share,” says she. “But today we have so many examples across all the verticals, so the explosion is already happening. In the past also we saw when TV came in and print was there, it took its time,” she informs further.

    As per the FICCI – KPMG 2016 report, TV witnessed ad spends of Rs 542.2 billion (Rs 54,220 crore) which means a 14.2 per cent growth from the previous year. Whereas the growth rate of digital advertising which witnessed a spend of Rs 60.1 billion (Rs 6,010 crore) is an overwhelming 38.2 per cent. The same report projects a 15.1 per cent growth of television despite all the digital disruption and OTT emergence. The projected spend is believed to reach Rs 617.0 billion (Rs 61,700 crore). Digital is set to see a Rs 20 billion (Rs 2,000 crore) more spends as the projected figure for 2016 is Rs 81.1 billion (Rs 8,110 crore) which means a 33.5 per cent growth.

    So is it TV versus mobile? “We say it’s TV plus mobile,” says the Facebook India MD. But, at the same time she believes mobile has an upper hand, “Mobile is a screen kept close to you while TV is kept far with many distractions in between. A study shows that mobile has 82 per cent higher retention rate and 79 per cent lower distraction rate than any other screen,” she asserts. On TV there is a fight amongst brands to buy a prime time slot which shoots the 10 second ad rate sky high. “People are on Facebook throughout the day which means the brands no longer need to wait for the evening prime time to connect with people they can connect throughout the day,” says Reddy. “There are definitely key advantages when it comes to mobile. Mobile is a medium of discovery, mobile is a medium of personalisation it is a one screen one person platform which allows you to target individually, send the right message to the right person. You are seeing the kind of businesses that you can get, it gives you many opportunities which TV doesn’t, be it a whole day phenomenon or targeting,” she further sheds light on the advantages of mobile.

    Facebook has a strong ethos when it comes to value for money or return on investment or ROI, “We believe whenever a client pays a rupee to Facebook, he could have paid the same for either a TV ad or print or any-other medium. So what we promise is that a one rupee spend on Facebook is the most effective rupee spent by the client, that is what we want to strive for,” informs Reddy.

    Facebook is currently working with more than 85 per cent of Kantar’s reported top 100 advertisers in India, which includes Unilever, P&G, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Amazon, Nestle, Reckitt Benckiser, Mondelez, and L’Oreal.  This also includes companies headquartered in India like Tata and ICICI Bank, India’s largest private bank, eCommerce companies like Snapdeal, Flipkart, Ola, and new companies like Craftsvilla.com. In 2014 Facebook established the Facebook Client Council to learn more and develop better ad solutions.

    The study had a few proud findings for Facebook and Reddy throws light on them, “People access Facebook 2.4 times more than Twitter and 2.0 times more than YouTube,” says she while sharing India statistics.

    Facebook is focusing on videos too, as there is no India data available when it comes to video consumption Reddy shares global figures, “Everyday there are more than 8 billion (800 crore) video views on Facebook, and more than 45 per cent of video viewing happens on mobile.”

    “We are seeing a trend, where communication is going visual and with that Facebook is evolving in terms of being a visual storytelling platform” she concludes.

     

  • PayU’s Saranjeet Singh: The growth of the payment gateway market is inevitable

    PayU’s Saranjeet Singh: The growth of the payment gateway market is inevitable

    MUMBAI: Be it Snapdeal, Flipkart, Shopclues, Jabong or Myntra,  most of the successful eCommerce merchants in the country are at a strategic investment phase and haven’t still broken even. The Indian e-Commerce business is not yet at a point when the players can think of profits, the players are still focused on the customer delight factor. Besides price, a huge part of this customer delight factor directly depends on the ease with which customers can pay for their purchases. Therefore, payment gateways facilitating such transactions have become crucial to the digital age and the businesses of this era.

     
    Though various digital wallets such PayTM, Mobikwik and Oxygen enable online transactions, businesses would be literally crippled without payment gateways.  In order to understand this emerging market better, Indiatelevision.com  spoke with PayU India digital marketing head Saranjeet Singh.
     
    “The growth of the payment gateway market is inevitable,” says Singh. “More people are using the internet beyond just social media and have discovered the joy of doing business online. Soon they will understand that it is important for the ease of business to accept money online as well, and that is where payment gateways will come in.”
     
    Currently PayU India commands a lion’s share of the market with 80 out of the top 100 eCommerce merchants subscribed to its PayU Biz product.  Apart from the premium clientele, the brand also caters to small and medium enterprises in the country through PayU Money. At present, its SME clientele  base is  about 1.5 lakh strong.
     
    Where effective marketing for a product like PayU is concerned, Singh reveals that he is focusing on B2B communications through  digital media that allows him to identify potential merchants who could benefit from online payment and then showcasing the service to them.
    “There are several online merchants who are unaware of their need for a payment gateway. Our job is to identify them and observe and learn where they can apply our services. Unlike several other payment service providers, we don’t believe in the cash back formula. We’d rather concentrate on developing a credible and wholesome product that caters to all the clients’ needs,” Singh reveals.  
     
    Given the competitive market, the three things that every online merchant, (especially the bigger eCommerce players) wants the most from a payment gateway are: highest rate of successful transactions; largest coverage by all the modes of payment; and the most number of banks. Online payment opens up a whole new vista for merchants operating digitally, right from an addition to a ‘call to action’ feature on their portals/ websites, to the measurability factor. “All our clients put a heavy emphasis on the online transaction data and analytics that we provide them. It works as a strong consumer behaviour insight for them which they can later use in marketing or even product or service development,” Singh informs.
     
    In spite of a strong demand for payment gateways, there are several factors that prevent their penetration in the market. Singh feels that there is still a lot of room for improvement. Elaborating, Singh explains, “The industry is in a dire need of behavioural change. People are more used to cash, and therefore merchants, especially SMEs are taking a while to adapt to accepting money online. But just like how people had once migrated from cash to credit and debit cards, they will soon migrate to online payments as long as there is a value.”
     
    Another drawback is the lack of ease of transactions led mainly by poor and erratic internet coverage that sometimes forces consumers to put off a purchase.  Added to this is a very complicated government security procedure that every payment gateway must comply with. “We understand the shortcomings that come from the current uneven internet coverage throughout the country. Considering that, we have launched PayU One Tap for our high end clients that lets their consumers go through the transaction in one go by saving their card details for future payments to the same merchant,” says Singh.

    Wouldn’t that jeopardize security of the cardholders and make their information vulnerable to hackers? Singh reassures that the new OneTap product is Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) certified, which is an RBI security clearance certification that every Payment gateway must undergo to enter the market.  
     
    He says, “While we understand why people crib about the heavily secure payment gateways in India that can make consumer upset, it is necessary to protect them. I guess it depends on how your market is placed. If you compare the Indian market to that of a developed country’s market, the Indian market is still very immature. Therefore a sense of security needs to be built first if everyone is to adopt digital money transactions”. As far as incomplete transactions are concerned due to over complicated security process, OneTap allows users to continue their payment right from where they left off with the use of powerful algorithms.”

    Continuing further, Singh speaks about another general concern that is often raised by users and in turn by PayU’s clients – the inability to complete transactions through international cards. Acknowledging the importance of setting up an inclusive payment structure that welcomes foreign business, Singh shares that currently there are restrictions on foreign card holders to purchase from Indian eCommerce merchants. But the issue is being looked into, with the eCommerce players increasingly insisting that their payment gateways also cater to international customers. Singh says that PayU  has several clients that accept international payments. 

    Going forward Singh foresees a surge in online traffic thanks to 4G networks coming in in 2016, and more people taking to the Internet to shop for products and services. Payment gateways will not only be the first choice for new age businesses, but through a gradual transition most SMEs and old school businesses will also adapt to payment gateways.

     

  • PayU’s Saranjeet Singh: The growth of the payment gateway market is inevitable

    PayU’s Saranjeet Singh: The growth of the payment gateway market is inevitable

    MUMBAI: Be it Snapdeal, Flipkart, Shopclues, Jabong or Myntra,  most of the successful eCommerce merchants in the country are at a strategic investment phase and haven’t still broken even. The Indian e-Commerce business is not yet at a point when the players can think of profits, the players are still focused on the customer delight factor. Besides price, a huge part of this customer delight factor directly depends on the ease with which customers can pay for their purchases. Therefore, payment gateways facilitating such transactions have become crucial to the digital age and the businesses of this era.

     
    Though various digital wallets such PayTM, Mobikwik and Oxygen enable online transactions, businesses would be literally crippled without payment gateways.  In order to understand this emerging market better, Indiatelevision.com  spoke with PayU India digital marketing head Saranjeet Singh.
     
    “The growth of the payment gateway market is inevitable,” says Singh. “More people are using the internet beyond just social media and have discovered the joy of doing business online. Soon they will understand that it is important for the ease of business to accept money online as well, and that is where payment gateways will come in.”
     
    Currently PayU India commands a lion’s share of the market with 80 out of the top 100 eCommerce merchants subscribed to its PayU Biz product.  Apart from the premium clientele, the brand also caters to small and medium enterprises in the country through PayU Money. At present, its SME clientele  base is  about 1.5 lakh strong.
     
    Where effective marketing for a product like PayU is concerned, Singh reveals that he is focusing on B2B communications through  digital media that allows him to identify potential merchants who could benefit from online payment and then showcasing the service to them.
    “There are several online merchants who are unaware of their need for a payment gateway. Our job is to identify them and observe and learn where they can apply our services. Unlike several other payment service providers, we don’t believe in the cash back formula. We’d rather concentrate on developing a credible and wholesome product that caters to all the clients’ needs,” Singh reveals.  
     
    Given the competitive market, the three things that every online merchant, (especially the bigger eCommerce players) wants the most from a payment gateway are: highest rate of successful transactions; largest coverage by all the modes of payment; and the most number of banks. Online payment opens up a whole new vista for merchants operating digitally, right from an addition to a ‘call to action’ feature on their portals/ websites, to the measurability factor. “All our clients put a heavy emphasis on the online transaction data and analytics that we provide them. It works as a strong consumer behaviour insight for them which they can later use in marketing or even product or service development,” Singh informs.
     
    In spite of a strong demand for payment gateways, there are several factors that prevent their penetration in the market. Singh feels that there is still a lot of room for improvement. Elaborating, Singh explains, “The industry is in a dire need of behavioural change. People are more used to cash, and therefore merchants, especially SMEs are taking a while to adapt to accepting money online. But just like how people had once migrated from cash to credit and debit cards, they will soon migrate to online payments as long as there is a value.”
     
    Another drawback is the lack of ease of transactions led mainly by poor and erratic internet coverage that sometimes forces consumers to put off a purchase.  Added to this is a very complicated government security procedure that every payment gateway must comply with. “We understand the shortcomings that come from the current uneven internet coverage throughout the country. Considering that, we have launched PayU One Tap for our high end clients that lets their consumers go through the transaction in one go by saving their card details for future payments to the same merchant,” says Singh.

    Wouldn’t that jeopardize security of the cardholders and make their information vulnerable to hackers? Singh reassures that the new OneTap product is Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) certified, which is an RBI security clearance certification that every Payment gateway must undergo to enter the market.  
     
    He says, “While we understand why people crib about the heavily secure payment gateways in India that can make consumer upset, it is necessary to protect them. I guess it depends on how your market is placed. If you compare the Indian market to that of a developed country’s market, the Indian market is still very immature. Therefore a sense of security needs to be built first if everyone is to adopt digital money transactions”. As far as incomplete transactions are concerned due to over complicated security process, OneTap allows users to continue their payment right from where they left off with the use of powerful algorithms.”

    Continuing further, Singh speaks about another general concern that is often raised by users and in turn by PayU’s clients – the inability to complete transactions through international cards. Acknowledging the importance of setting up an inclusive payment structure that welcomes foreign business, Singh shares that currently there are restrictions on foreign card holders to purchase from Indian eCommerce merchants. But the issue is being looked into, with the eCommerce players increasingly insisting that their payment gateways also cater to international customers. Singh says that PayU  has several clients that accept international payments. 

    Going forward Singh foresees a surge in online traffic thanks to 4G networks coming in in 2016, and more people taking to the Internet to shop for products and services. Payment gateways will not only be the first choice for new age businesses, but through a gradual transition most SMEs and old school businesses will also adapt to payment gateways.

     

  • Kanika Kalra quits Hindustan Unilever; to join Snapdeal

    Kanika Kalra quits Hindustan Unilever; to join Snapdeal

    MUMBAI: Hindustan Unilever’s  executive vice president for marketing Kanika Kalra has put down her papers and is set to join ecommerce giant Snapdeal as its marketing head, as per media reports.  Kalra was brand director for Hindustan Lever’s biggest skin cream brand Fair & Lovely. Kalra will focus on gaining deeper customer insights, making the business more customers centric, driving creativity and ensuring quality in all communication at Snapdeal say sources.

    Delhi-based Jasper Infotech, which owns and operates Snapdeal, has shortlisted Kalra as replacement for its marketing SVP Srinivas Murthy, sources confirmed to a leading business daily, though Snapdeal  refused to comment when approached. 

    Prior to joining HUL eight years ago and working as global brand manager and global brand director, Kalra was a senior manager at Pepsi. She has also worked with Glaxosmithkline Consumer Healthcare Limited and Genpact.

  • Kanika Kalra quits Hindustan Unilever; to join Snapdeal

    Kanika Kalra quits Hindustan Unilever; to join Snapdeal

    MUMBAI: Hindustan Unilever’s  executive vice president for marketing Kanika Kalra has put down her papers and is set to join ecommerce giant Snapdeal as its marketing head, as per media reports.  Kalra was brand director for Hindustan Lever’s biggest skin cream brand Fair & Lovely. Kalra will focus on gaining deeper customer insights, making the business more customers centric, driving creativity and ensuring quality in all communication at Snapdeal say sources.

    Delhi-based Jasper Infotech, which owns and operates Snapdeal, has shortlisted Kalra as replacement for its marketing SVP Srinivas Murthy, sources confirmed to a leading business daily, though Snapdeal  refused to comment when approached. 

    Prior to joining HUL eight years ago and working as global brand manager and global brand director, Kalra was a senior manager at Pepsi. She has also worked with Glaxosmithkline Consumer Healthcare Limited and Genpact.

  • Not sacked, going back to handle different responsibilities: Kenny Shin

    Not sacked, going back to handle different responsibilities: Kenny Shin

    MUMBAI: The Home shopping business in India which has major players Home Shop 18, Shop CJ, Den – Snapdeal, Naptol and the latest entry Best Deal TV, was rattled by reports of two senior officials of Shop CJ Network moving. There were rumours of CEO Kenny Shin and CFO Ramakrishnan N being sacked by the top management. 

    “Not sacked, just going back to handle different responsibilities” says Shin in an exclusive interaction with Indiantelevision.com. “We have performed better than we expected and hence sacking for underperformance is beyond question,” he adds.

    “Rs 850 crore was our estimate and we have had sales of Rs 900 crore which shows we over performed. We re-branded ourselves, we transformed from Star CJ to Shop CJ, launched two regional channels. So it has been an action packed year for us,” explains Shin.

    A few months ago, in an interview with Indiantelevision.com, Shin had shared a different number for sales estimates. He had said, “We are poised to cross Rs 1,200 crore turnover this year, recording a 40 per cent growth over sales of Rs 850 crore achieved in the last calendar year. Our channel reaches to more than 6.5 crore households in India and currently caters to about 40 per cent of the market.”

    Costs incurred by the company have also gone up significantly this year. As per information from a source close to the development, Shop CJ spent around Rs 70 crore last year (2014 – 15) which skyrocketed this year. “We were looking at spends of Rs 200 crore from the very beginning, as I told you earlier, we were looking ahead at this year to garner maximum reach and sales and hence higher spends were done to have better marketing and distribution,” asserts Shin.

    What about the CFO Ramakrishnan N? Has he also been moved to take on other responsibilities? “No!” exclaims Shin. “He has two daughters and a family in Bengaluru, and since the past one year he has been traveling a lot to and fro, which was getting difficult for him. So he decided to step down as the CFO and will now move back in with his family. He has done a wonderful job as the CFO and we wish him best of luck,” Shin adds.

    “I am headed back to Korea by this month end and it was a great four year journey in India” Shin concludes.

    Meanwhile the network has announced SR Yoon as the new CEO of Shop CJ India to replace Kenny Shin, and in an official letter to its employees mentioned it is looking for a new CFO.

  • Not sacked, going back to handle different responsibilities: Kenny Shin

    Not sacked, going back to handle different responsibilities: Kenny Shin

    MUMBAI: The Home shopping business in India which has major players Home Shop 18, Shop CJ, Den – Snapdeal, Naptol and the latest entry Best Deal TV, was rattled by reports of two senior officials of Shop CJ Network moving. There were rumours of CEO Kenny Shin and CFO Ramakrishnan N being sacked by the top management. 

    “Not sacked, just going back to handle different responsibilities” says Shin in an exclusive interaction with Indiantelevision.com. “We have performed better than we expected and hence sacking for underperformance is beyond question,” he adds.

    “Rs 850 crore was our estimate and we have had sales of Rs 900 crore which shows we over performed. We re-branded ourselves, we transformed from Star CJ to Shop CJ, launched two regional channels. So it has been an action packed year for us,” explains Shin.

    A few months ago, in an interview with Indiantelevision.com, Shin had shared a different number for sales estimates. He had said, “We are poised to cross Rs 1,200 crore turnover this year, recording a 40 per cent growth over sales of Rs 850 crore achieved in the last calendar year. Our channel reaches to more than 6.5 crore households in India and currently caters to about 40 per cent of the market.”

    Costs incurred by the company have also gone up significantly this year. As per information from a source close to the development, Shop CJ spent around Rs 70 crore last year (2014 – 15) which skyrocketed this year. “We were looking at spends of Rs 200 crore from the very beginning, as I told you earlier, we were looking ahead at this year to garner maximum reach and sales and hence higher spends were done to have better marketing and distribution,” asserts Shin.

    What about the CFO Ramakrishnan N? Has he also been moved to take on other responsibilities? “No!” exclaims Shin. “He has two daughters and a family in Bengaluru, and since the past one year he has been traveling a lot to and fro, which was getting difficult for him. So he decided to step down as the CFO and will now move back in with his family. He has done a wonderful job as the CFO and we wish him best of luck,” Shin adds.

    “I am headed back to Korea by this month end and it was a great four year journey in India” Shin concludes.

    Meanwhile the network has announced SR Yoon as the new CEO of Shop CJ India to replace Kenny Shin, and in an official letter to its employees mentioned it is looking for a new CFO.

  • ASCI upholds complaints against BBC, ET Now, Snapdeal, Ola, Airtel and Uber

    ASCI upholds complaints against BBC, ET Now, Snapdeal, Ola, Airtel and Uber

    MUMBAI: In December 2015, The Advertising Standards Council of India’s (ASCI) Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) upheld complaints against 42 out of 79 advertisements. Out of the  advertisements against which complaints were upheld, eight belonged to the Healthcare category, nine to the Education category, followed by seven in the E-commerce category, three in Telecommunications and broadband category and fifteen advertisements from other categories.

    Here below are a few of the ads against which complaints were upheld by the council:

    In the case of television the following complaints were upheld:
    British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC World News): The claim in the advertisement, ‘BARC says we are India’s No.1 English news brand’, violates the Guidelines of BARC under Measurement & Comparison and also contravenes the ASCI Code.

    Times Broadcasting Ltd (ET Now): The advertisement claims, ‘No.1 Now an Undisputed leader’ and ‘No 1 Week after Week’. ET Now has used weekly data to claim leadership position. This is in violation of BARC India Ratings – Principles of Fair and Permissible Usage, which state that ‘The period of comparison must cover at least four consecutive weeks of data’. Thus, the advertisement promo also contravened Chapter I.3 of the ASCI Code.

    In the ecommerce category, as per the council, the line ‘kahan se kharchega paise, baniye ka jo poot hai, aadhe khakhe diya dhaba jisme dry fruits hai’ used in an OLX India Pvt Ltd (OLX India) advertisement was deriding a certain caste of people (baniya). In another OLX India ad, the visual of ‘a police inspector riding a bike without a helmet’ as shown in its ‘Sell Scooter Buy bike’ advertisement promotes an unsafe practice.  On the other hand Snapdeal’s claim of ‘free delivery’ advertised in its commercials was not deemed sustainable by ASCI.

    Another ecommerce brand that failed to stay true to its advertisement claim was Uber India. The claim in the advertisement, ‘Switch to Uber @ Rs.9/-per km period’, was not substantiated and was also misleading by omission of any disclaimer that other additional charges are also being charged per minute/per trip.

    Koovs advertisement which was also its first brand campaign displaying global fashion titled ‘Step Into Koovs’, also came under the radar. The scenes in the advertisement – ‘a girl jumping from a top floor of a building to a shirt which is hanging in the air, a girl jumping from a balcony and falling down a few floors down across the staircase, a boy jumping down from the balcony straight into the outfit’, without justifiable reasons show and encourage dangerous practices, manifest a disregard for safety and encourage negligence. Regardless of the disclaimer, the advertisement contravened the ASCI Codes due to the objected visuals being shown, shared ASCI.

    In the telecommunications category, three complaints against Bharti Airtel were upheld.

    The advertisement by Airtel showcasing a girl urging users to internet on their phone in the night because they will get 50 per cent cash back the next day, regardless of the disclaimer, the word ‘Cash Back’ in the claim ‘50 per cent cash back on night interne’” was upheld as incorrect and misleading.

    Similarly, the Airtel advertisement that claimed ‘unlimited song downloads for free on Airtel’, is misleading by ambiguity as the data plan is required to be purchased and the ‘download activity’ for the unlimited music is also not free as there is an applicable data charge.

    Another ad was the one from Airtel that claimed ‘50 per cent data offer’ during night time from 12am to 6am. The language of the super in the advertisement was not in Hindi and the hold duration of the disclaimer in the TVC was less than 4 seconds. Thus, the TVC contravened the ASCI Guidelines on Supers.

    To see the full list of complaints upheld by ASCI in December 2015 click here.