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  • TRA ranks Zee News as the most trusted Hindi news channel in its latest report

    TRA ranks Zee News as the most trusted Hindi news channel in its latest report

    New Delhi : Independent agency TRA has ranked Zee News as the ‘Most Trusted Hindi News Brand’ in its latest ‘Brand Trust Report India Study 2020’.

    The agency conducts research across categories, and has evaluated the news channel on brand intelligence and data insights.

    “Based on the reviews of the consumers TRA announced Zee News as the most popular Hindi News Channel. Over the years, TRA has embarked on developing the right method to quantify brand trust, and based on the attributes of trust, positive intent, and relevant competence, it has awarded Zee News as the most trusted Hindi News Channel,” the channel said in a media statement on Wednesday.

    CEO & editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary said, this award is a result of honest effort of the entire team of Zee News. “Reporting became especially more challenging in the harrowing pandemic times. The audience expected a more realistic overview of the scenario. Zee News has always taken leaps and bounds to provide a more realistic and authentic ground report every time. At this troublesome time, Zee News emerged as a winner and showcased the importance of unbiased and neutral news reporting.”

    According to Chaudhary, India has always trusted Zee News when it comes to the biggest stories. “Being one of the important pillars of the nation, media is expected to be analytical, critical, and neutral; The Most Trusted Hindi News Brand 2020 shows that Zee News has lived up to the expectations of the audience and exhibited true professionalism in its news reporting and analysis,” he added.

    It’s popular news show DNA also covers key news details and brings in-depth analysis to engage viewers.

    Zee News is one of the 14 channels that fall under the umbrella of Zee Media. “The biggest award for Zee News is the love of its viewers and their unending support, and with Most Trusted Hindi News Brand 2020 award in its list of laurels, it cements its position even stronger,” stated the channel in a statement.

  • Dell is India’s most trusted brand: TRA report

    Dell is India’s most trusted brand: TRA report

    NEW DELHI: Dell has achieved top spot as India’s most trusted brand, for the second year in a row, in TRA’s Brand Trust Report (BTR) 2020. In the second place is Mi Mobiles, which also led the mobile phone category for the first time this year. Samsung Mobiles secured the third place, followed by Apple iPhone and LG Televisions taking fourth and fifth ranks, respectively.

    Oppo took the sixth spot on the trust ranks this year. Hindi GEC Sony Entertainment Television came in seventh, featuring among the top ten for the first time in ten years. Maruti Suzuki was in eighth place, and also the leader in the automobile super-category. The ninth most trusted brand rank went to Samsung Televisions, with Vivo mobile phones finishing tenth. Five mobile phone brands made it to the top-ten list from among the twenty listed, making it the largest category in the report.

    TRA’s Brand Trust Report 2020 is the result of comprehensive primary research conducted on its proprietary 10-brand-behaviours which make up the brand trust matrix. This year’s study had 1,711 consumer-influencers across 16 cities as respondents and over 8,000 unique brands were analysed, from which the top 1,000 brands have been listed in this year’s report. The report lists 323 categories and 41 super-categories and F&B and FMCGs.

    The categories with the largest number of brands are F&B (151 brands) and FMCG (144 brands) contributing to 29.5 per cent of the total brands. LG secures a grand slam with leadership in televisions (all-India rank 5), refrigerators (All-India Rank 14), washing machines (all-India rank 26). Some other category leaders in TRA’s Brand Trust Report 2020 are Patanjali Dant Kanti (all-India rank 15) from toothpaste category which has broken the nine-year winning streak of Colgate, and Airtel (all-India rank 20) from mobile service providers.

    Other category leaders include, Tanishq (all-India rank 48) in jewellery, Euro Kids (all-India rank 52) in pre-school, American Express (all-India rank 59) in credit cards, Muthoot Finance (all-India rank 60) in financial services, Jeep (all-India rank 64) in SUV manufacturer, Zee5 (all-India rank 108) leads in OTT, Okaya (all-India rank 140) in inverter batteries, and Livpure (all-India rank 141) in water purifiers.

    TRA CEO N Chandramouli said “The Covid times have been harrowing for brands, and even consumers have been in an extended state of anxiety for multiple reasons. The impact of the pandemic is visible on the trust placed in brands, leading to a dethroning of many erstwhile category leaders.”

  • Urban India gives lockdown decision a thumbs up: TRA white-paper

    Urban India gives lockdown decision a thumbs up: TRA white-paper

    MUMBAI: TRA Research, a consumer insights and brand analytics company, today released its white-paper on the findings of its research survey conducted across 16 cities from 10 April to 22 April 2020. The white-paper titled "TRA’s Coronavirus Consumer Insights 2020", is based on research conducted across 16 cities with 902 urban citizens and delves into their perceptions, attitudes, worries, fears and expectations who have been under voluntary house-arrest for nearly a month.

    According to the white-paper, the overall effectiveness of the lockdown decision across cities was at 91 per cent, with five of the sixteen cities giving it above 98 per cent or ‘excellent’ score. However, the overall implementation of the same across cities was much lower, at 74 per cent. 

    TRA Research CEO N Chandramouli said, “The lockdown decision and implementation had a significant gap of 24 per cent in terms of effectiveness. There are also big gaps in information and knowledge about the Coranavirus transmission, especially in two age brackets, 21 to 24 years and 46 to 50 years.  The same information gap is seen across cities, barring Mumbai. The misinformation is impacting the attitudes and actions of citizens, for example, the belief that eating meat or eggs would.”

    “Consumers’ trust on India’s Health Ability to combat crisis is considerably high, at 73 per cent, which translates as ‘good’, while their trust on India’s Economic Ability to combat crisis is significantly lower at 63 per cent, showing that the fears of a long term financial and economic impact are prominent on the minds of the citizens,” added Chandramouli.

    On coping with the crisis, children were affected and data showed that this was not getting recognised and addressed by the family as the coping indices were significantly different for both. “Perhaps parents take the tantrums and confusion that children face during the lockdown as they would in normal times, often not addressing it directly. This is clearly indicated in the wide gap between the coping scores of children and the family. It is most important that parents take cognizance of the fact that children are going through extreme trauma during the lockdown, and need to take the time and effort to explain and guide their children through with empathy and love.”

    In the Family Worry Index, the highest concern across cities was that the family may contract the disease (74 per cent), Job/business loss was the second biggest concern (68 per cent), and the delayed salary was third (62 per cent). Lucknow displayed the highest Family Worry Index at 85 per cent, followed by Nagpur at 81 per cent. The survey found that the Economic Impact Worry Index was at 66 per cet, showing that the personal worries overshadowed any other worry of the citizens.

    While most cities are relatively aware of the disease symptoms, they are considerably ill-informed about the disease spread. Misinformation is highest about disease spread in Delhi followed by Chandigarh. Delhi, however, scored the highest in terms of the knowledge on symptoms, followed by Mumbai which was nearly two-third lower in this quotient.

  • Sony TV rides on ‘brandwagon’

    Sony TV rides on ‘brandwagon’

    MUMBAI: Normally, viewership plays an important role for broadcasters because that is what tells them whether viewers liked them or not. But, viewership may not be the sole determining factor in creating a brand perception among people, if the recent announcement of the ‘most desired brands 2020’ by Trust Research Advisory (TRA) is an indication. The weekly data of BARC India ratings put Sony Entertainment Television (SET) at the fourth or fifth position. However, the channel has entered the TRA’s top 20 India’s most desired brand 2020 at fourth position.

    TRA’s ‘most desired brands’ is a measure of the consumer’s perception of their expressed desire about brands they love. It lists those brands which have striven hard to woo their customers with a long-term relationship in their minds and hearts.

    The TRA’s report says: “At fourth rank is Sony TV with a small 7 per cent DI (Desire Index) difference from its predecessor. Sony TV, a Hindi GEC, makes a dramatic entry with massive jump of 594 ranks over the previous report. One of the country’s earliest Hindi TV channels, Sony TV has stayed relevant to the audience by evoking with their entertainment offering and a differentiated palette to maintain freshness.”

    TRA research director Sachin Bhosle said: "It is the first time that we have included 50 per cent housewives and 50 per cent working women in our women's sample. And we saw a great change in top brands. You have Sony TV entering the top 10, which was never the case earlier.”

    Bhosle explained that the TRPs are made of tangible things that are measured. Brand trust or desirability is based on intangible sides of the brand. “It is how it communicates with the audience, the way it creates aspirational value, the way it has a rationale behind it, and what is the aspirational value it is trying to create. That's all what is probably more important."

    Sony Entertainment Television Business Planning and Communication head Amit Raisinghani says: “We are pleased to see Sony Entertainment Television placed at fourth position amongst the Top brands in the recently released list of TRA’s most desired brands 2020. Perhaps, the clarity that we have with respect to the purpose of the brand and for whom the brand is meant for has helped us drive relevance, engagement and desire amongst our viewers. Our brand is a manifestation of our people, culture, relentless consumer focus and the premium that we put on creative talent. We hope to continue our relentless pursuit to delight our viewers with compelling content.”

    “There is a brand perception in the market that comes from what is its brand value. In case of Sony, when the channel aired KBC and Indian Idol, they did well in the BARC data. Brand perception and viewership is different; one is the brand love and trust and the second is the viewership, i.e. from the rating perspective which is as per the kind of content the channel is playing. There is a lot that Sony as channel does from the audience’s responsibility perspective which also plays a big role in brand perception. Sony as a channel cares and connects itself to social responsibility and that itself plays from the brand perception’s perspective,” opines Havas Media Group CEO India and South East Asia Anita Nayyar.

    Carat India executive VP Mayank Bhatnagar says: “Congratulations to Team Sony! It is great to see a TV channel brand scores the fourth position and gets featured in top 50. Viewers’ behaviour, habit and preference have evolved and this has resulted in a major shift in the way people consume content. Consumers today want to consume relatable and relevant content. Sony TV has got the mix right and it has helped them build a strong connect with urban viewers.”

    Bhatnagar, however, believes that this will not help the channel in attracting more advertisements as the media planners will continue to evaluate channel performance on the basis of viewership data.

    He says: “The Sony TV viewer profile is more skewed towards higher NCCS and urban. If we see the trends for the past few weeks, their viewership and ranking at All India and Urban market level has stayed consistent. The channel has built an unwavering trust through varied content. It's important to be consistent and innovative. This will help them further strengthen the brand and go from strength to strength.”

    Joel Multimedia founder-CEO Varghese Thomas comments: “Sony TV is the favourite choice of many advertisers and agencies irrespective of the numbers being delivered by the channel. In a media plan, the channel really helps to build reach in a big way. It's dominance in the male-oriented programmes is also commendable.  So, it really does not matter whether the channel has featured in the top ranking or not. Also, beyond numbers, the channel's intend to continuously invest in new shows tells us that they are serious about what has been offered to the television viewers across all genres. This announcement about the channel being featured on the fourth rank of TRA's most desired brands is a great achievement as far as the brand is concerned and will have a chance to attract more business.”

  • ZEE5 is India’s ‘most desired video streaming brand’ as per TRA

    ZEE5 is India’s ‘most desired video streaming brand’ as per TRA

    MUMBAI: ZEE5 has emerged as ‘India’s Most Desired Video Streaming Brand’ as per TRA’s recently-released Most Desired Brands 2020 report. In today’s world, with mobile phones and connected devices driving the majority of digital content consumption, leisure binge-watching has become a norm and, ZEE5 is leading the category in its debut year as India’s Most Desired Video Streaming Brand.

    The award showcases ZEE5’s leadership position in content, reach, and distribution, as well as the enormous popularity of the variety of shows and movies available for viewing on the platform. It surpasses all the other OTT platforms who are the well-known veterans of the industry.

    ZEE5 India CEO Tarun Katial said: “It is a very proud moment for us. A young start-up at heart and being in the business for over two years, we have managed to engage with India’s ever-growing appetite for entertainment and serve them with their favourite content in 14 Indian languages. We are extremely delighted and honored to be adjudged as India’s Most Desired Video Streaming brand by TRA. ZEE5 today has become ‘Super App’ of India with a depth of offering across content types, genres and languages that is hard to beat. We believe that with our unrelenting focus on producing quality content, building a robust distribution network and technology advancements, we will endure to entertain our audience and continue being the top streaming platform in India on any device at any time.”

    TRA Research CEO N. Chandramouli said: “Desire is a longing for a brand irrespective of its need, and the success of a brand is highly dependent on the desire quotient it emanates. The brands which feature in this list have been able to exude a deep magnetic pull that impacts the consumer at a subliminal level. TRA’s syndicated research is based on our proprietary Brand Desire Matrix which measures consumers’ expressions of desire on 36 intangible attributes of a brand”. MDB 2020 lists 1000 brands across 326 Categories and 39 Super-Categories.

  • Samsung is India’s most desired brand; Sony TV fourth in the list

    Samsung is India’s most desired brand; Sony TV fourth in the list

    MUMBAI: South Korean mobile brand Samsung has topped the list of TRA’s Most Desired Brands 2020. The next spot is followed by Apple which has moved one rank up as compared to last year. Apple steadily climbed rank from 290 in the year 2015 to now being second.

    Samsung has secured its place in the list in 2018, 2015 and 2013 as well, making it a significant leader. Samsung features again at third and seventh rank in the consumer electronics category.

    While speaking to indiantelevision.com on what makes Samsung the constant leader TRA Research CEO N Chandramouli said: “Rational, emotional, aspirational and communication appeal are the four most important appeals. Rational is does it fit in a price range, does it have the complex feature that I need. I buy something because there is a logic behind it. Does it have an emotional appeal, does it communicate to you emotionally. Is it giving me a positive flavour. When a brand covers all this aspect in its highest ends only then the consumer sees it. Samsung has been consistent in its service. In a state of tough competition it has reinvented itself. These are the key reasons why Samsung is famous.”

    For the first time in history Sony TV, the GEC channel made it to the top 20 list. It made a significant jump from 594 ranks to now securing fourth rank followed by Maruti Suzuki at fifth spot.

    Dell, an Austin-based technology company is at sixth position followed by Amul in the seventh spot, Honda Activa accelerated its way to the ninth position and Hyundai in tenth rank. Spanish apparel brand Zara becomes a first-time entrant in the top 20.

    Contrary to what people assume that Chinese and Korean brands will dominate the list but the top 100 of the list is dominated by 42 Indian brands followed by 15 American, 12 Japanese, 11 South Korean, six British brands, four German and three Chinese mobile brands.

    The top ten highest rank jumpers list includes Godrej Consumer Care at first position followed by Hindustan pencil’s Apsara, sewing machine brand Singer, Reliance Trends, Nirma, Chennai-based apparel brand Pothy’s, Pantaloons, Pizza Hut, Chennai-based soft drink brand Bovonto and Mumbai based real estate brand K Raheja respectively.

    F&B category with 159 brands and FMCG with 129 brands makes 28.8 percent of the listing. From salt to software and now fashion to finance, Tata group features 29 brands with ten being category leaders. For starters Tata also owns 49 per cent stake in Zara.

    Godrej Group features 11 brands, three category leaders and Amul has nine brands listed with eight brands as category leaders.

    On being asked how researches like these helps brands Chandramouli said: “Researches like these tell you about consumer’s mindset. The age of selling is gone, consumers have more information, more knowledge, awareness, money and access as compared to 50 years ago. 60 per cent of the population is now below 30. Brands now have to understand their mindset. When I speak to 90 per cent of the brands they say they cannot understand the consumer. Then what they do is repeat the same old thing which means some of it will work and some of it won’t work. The current market is highly competitive and consumer expectations are changing every minute. Brands need to build better relationship with consumers to understand them and this is where research helps.”

    TRA has partnered with Indian Statistical Institute to curate this report. TRA’s most desired brands 2020 lists the top 1000 brands based on the detailed research conducted with nearly 1500 consumer influencers across 14 Indian cities. However, the list includes only urban India to understand brand trust and brand desire among consumers.

  • TRA ranks Amitabh Bachchan as India’s most desired personality 2020

    TRA ranks Amitabh Bachchan as India’s most desired personality 2020

    MUMBAI: TRA’s most desired personalities list has ranked Amitabh Bachchan as India’s most desired personality 2020. Salman Khan is ranked second followed by Akshay Kumar at third position among the top 25 desired personalities listed in the report. Indian National Cricket team captain, Virat Kohli, is ranked fourth in the list to become the most desired cricketer this year.  Aamir Khan is India’s fifth most desired personality in 2020 as per TRA’s report. TRA's most desired personalities 2020 is the sixth in its series, and the list is arrived at through a primary research-based on TRA’s proprietary 36-attribute based desire matrix through face-to-face interviews with 1454 viewer-influencers across 14 Indian cites.

    TRA Research CEO N. Chandramouli observed, “TRA’s Desire Matrix measures 36 attributes of Desire that get deeply embedded into the subconscious of the audiences over time.  It measures the aspirational, emotional, rational and communication aspects of desire that audiences most relate with. In this year’s list of the top 25, nineteen male and six female personalities are the audiences’ choices. Old proves to be gold when it comes to India’s most desired personalities.”

    The CEO of the brand insights and research company further added, “Desire is the most fundamental of human expressions and is generated due to subliminally embedded psycho-socio-cultural inputs that audiences receive overtime. This list of personalities is a precursor to the soon-to-be-released TRA’s most desired brands 2020 which lists India’s 1000 top brands measured on TRA’s proprietary desire matrix”.

    The research company also publishes TRA’s brand trust report currently in its tenth edition.

    South Indian superstars, Rajnikant ranked 15 all-India, Ram Charan ranked 19 all-India and Ravi Teja ranked 22 all-India are also listed among the top 25 Desired Personalities this year.

  • Marketers today don’t know their customers: TRA Research’s N Chandramouli

    Marketers today don’t know their customers: TRA Research’s N Chandramouli

    MUMBAI: The recently launched India’s Most Attractive Brands 2018 report ranked brands across categories based on an elaborate model measuring which brands the consumers desire the most. The results were calculated after thorough research that involved TRA interacting with people across the country and seeking their responses over a number of ‘attractive attributes’.

    Speaking on the sidelines of the launch event, TRA Research CEO N Chandramouli shared some valuable insights into the marketing culture of today as well. He said that many marketers today do not know their customers They have made stark generalisations about who likes what and what has a market where. While they, in many cases, might be successful in increasing the sales, they lose out on carving an identity for the brand. They fail in driving ‘customer loyalty’.

    “When it comes to ‘loyalty’, most brands rely on the customer to be loyal. They do not think that a customer has a number of options to choose from; one is spoilt for choices. Thus, the brands will have to adapt and deliver,” said Chandramouli.

    He noted that brands today employ a marketing tactic called ‘dynamite advertising’—which is similar to an old fishing technique where fishermen dropped dynamite in the sea to easily catch the dead fish after the explosion. He implied that brands today are creating a lot of noise to boost sales but this form of advertising isn’t helping them in creating a distinct identity.

    Chandramouli added, “Brands need to understand that sales and identity are two completely different things. The age of selling is dead. It’s the time to help people in buying. Thus, brands must think ten years ahead and do things that attract the customer. A brand shouldn’t be speaking about itself. In fact, the consumer should be talking about it and making it popular.”

    But in an age and time of cut-throat competition and each brand focusing on unique marketing trends; it might become difficult to stand out. To this, Chandramouli said that brands should look into the data and studies and find out its own identity before promoting itself. He also said that brands shouldn’t rely completely on agencies for the creatives but rather be involved in creating their own identities.

    It is imperative for brands of today to cut through the noise and come up with ideas that attract consumers. Be it creating campaigns that stand out or contribute to a social cause or sponsor programmes that reach their true target audience; brands will have to act if they want to stay relevant for the longer term.

  • Samsung Mobile leads in TRA’S Most Attractive Brands’ list

    Samsung Mobile leads in TRA’S Most Attractive Brands’ list

    MUMBAI: India’s Most Attractive Brands Report 2018 (MAB 2018), in its fifth edition, has listed the country’s most attractive 1000 brands, based on TRA’s proprietary model of brand attractiveness. The study is an annual syndicated primary research conducted with 2500 consumer-influencers across 16 Indian cities. Leading the pack, India’s most attractive brand is Samsung, the Korean mobile phone manufacturer, which also inaugurated the world’s largest mobile phone factory in Noida earlier this year.

    Tata Motors, which has shown very good market performance recently, is ranked 2nd all-India, with a phenomenal jump from 181 rank last year. Apple iPhone, ranked 3rd this year, having jumped up from the 92nd rank in 2017. Reliance Jio, the three-year-old disrupter telecom brand and already the third largest mobile phone network in India, ranks 3rd among India’s most attractive brands and tops the mobile telephony category unseating last year’s leader, Airtel. Maruti Suzuki is ranked the 5th most attractive brand in India, up two ranks over last year. The next five ranks among the top ten are Samsung (consumer electronics) at 6th, Dell (laptops) at 7th, SBI (Bank – PSU) at 8th, Nike (sportswear) at 9th and Honda (four-wheeler) at 10th.

    “Attractiveness or desire can be defined as the response to a sense of longing for anything – a product, brand, person or an outcome. When brands score high on TRA’s brand attractiveness research, they have successfully created similar subconscious pull. Such brands have intense magnetic power over the consumers. It is extremely gratifying to see that Indian brands have the maximum presence among the top 100,” said TRA Research CEO N Chandramouli, on the launch of the report. He expanded that 49 Indian, 18 American, six South Korean, six Japanese & two Chinese brands made it to the top 100.

    Chandramouli further added, “Categories of gadgetry, mobile services, automobiles, and consumer electronics have the largest average attractiveness index this year. All these categories are highly driven by individual personalities and this shows a rise in the self-awareness – a growing sense of purpose and social-worth of the Indian consumer.”

    The report lists 286 categories under 34 super-categories. The other category leaders in this report are Levi’s (casualwear), Biba (ethnicwear-women),  Siyaram (fabrics), Allen Solly (formalwear), MRF (tyres), ICICI Bank (bank-private), SBI (bank-PSU), HSBC (bank-Foreign), Visa (credit /debit card), Fastrack (branded fashion), Gucci (luxury fashion), Kenstar (consumer appliances), Samsung (consumer electronics), Symphony (air coolers), LG ((refrigerator), Samsung (washing machines), Philips (lighting), Odonil (air fresheners), Himalaya (baby products), Nippo (batteries), Coca-Cola (aerated beverages),    Kit Kat (chocolate bar), Canon (cameras), Patanjali (ayurvedic products), Moov (pain balm), Prestige (cookware), Roca (bath fixtures/sanitaryware), Taj Hotels (hotels –premium), Google (internet search), Amazon (online retail), Ola (taxi aggregation), ACC (cement), Hero (cycles), Nike (sportswear), Titan (watches),  DLF (real estate), FBB (fashion retail), Nataraj (writing accessories), Dell (laptops), Hewlett Packard (personal technology) and Jet Airways (airline – private).

  • Snapdeal takes the road less travelled…

    Snapdeal takes the road less travelled…

    MUMBAI: Be it acquisitions, deals or launches of products, Snapdeal continues to make headlines.

    While Amazon India is partnering with Future Group and Flipkart has acquired Myntra to boost the fashion retail section, Snapdeal is attempting to break the clutter by filling its basket with products from diverse categories.

    In the last few weeks, the e-tailer is ventured into selling homes, two-wheelers and four-wheelers, gourmet food. It has also inked some exclusive tie-ups with electronics retailer Croma and television manufacturer VU Technologies among others. Snapdeal is also one of the sponsors for the famous reality television show, Bigg Boss 8.

    “We offer a platform where anyone can come and sell or buy anything that can be sold. We are trying to replicate the offline market place in its most democratic manner possible online,” says Snapdeal offlibe marketing senior VP Maneesh Goel.

    “The intention is to try and cater to every single consumer,” he adds.

    Snapdeal, as a strategy, is trying to capture the entire wallet share of Indian customers and has been quite successful so far.

     “Snapdeal has been one of the sites which is constantly evolving with newer ideas both in terms of products on offer and marketing strategies”, says Team Pumpkin co-founder, Swati Nathani.  

    According to Trust Research Advisory CEO, N Chandramouli, “This approach is done to get involved in every aspect of a customer’s purchase. All products are the same in the purchase – one pays and the other sells but with the degree of purchase involvement and the price changes. If Snapdeal is successful in smoothly operating the entire purchase cycle, they will definitely grow in terms of the bond that they share with their customers and thereby increasing trust.”

    Snapdeal has managed to raise over $233 million (over Rs 1,400 crores) this year from investors including Premji Invest, Temasek and eBay Inc. Industry veteran, Ratan Tata also invested in the site, giving it his stamp of approval.  According to media reports, Alibaba is also said to have forayed into the Indian e-commerce space with Snapdeal as its partners.

    With its ‘bachate raho (keep saving)’ tagline and focus on unbranded products sold by small manufacturers and retailers, Snapdeal has established itself as a mass-retailer, with over half of these 50,000 merchants selling fashion and lifestyle products that account for 60 percent of its orders.

    “Most categories which are generally sold on the urban arena involve middlemen and hence their value is rising. With Snapdeal foraying into the sections, the involvement of middlemen is reducing leading to fall in their value,” Goel added.

    Snapdeal recently crossed $1 billion (or Rs 6,000 crore) in sales (called gross merchandise value in the online world) taking on rival Flipkart, which had achieved the target a few months ago.

    The new categories such as real estate, gourmet foods and automobiles are critical for the portal. For both Tata Value Homes and the new Mahindra Scorpio, the site let users pre-book online for an amount (Rs 30,000 Tata Value Homes and Rs 20,000 for the new Mahindra Scorpio) that is much lower than required through traditional mediums such as at a car dealer’s or property sales office.

    Tying up with Tata Value Homes, the e-tailer announced 85 homes, worth Rs 40 crore, were sold in six days. It also introduced a new gourmet section on the site in partnership with Sanjeev Kapoor.

    According to Nathani, “Gourmet is the section which should bring the next level of revolution in the e-commerce space. After Books, Electronics, Fashion and Home, Gourmet has been one section which everyone wants to explore. The category has also been a little underplayed in the offline space and therefore, we think that this can be the game changer in the e-commerce space.”

    With Diwali coming soon, the online portal is planning a huge campaign for its customers. But more than that, they are concentrating on the marketing of it.

    “The campaign will last around 40-45 days. The intention is that, depending upon day to day we will be clocking around 1000-2000 ads slots everyday, the campaigns will peak on several days, overall targeting around 50,000-60,000 slots,” Goel reveals.

    “Intention is to double the revenue through Diwali sales,” he added.

    Jasper Infotech, which runs Snapdeal.com, has recently reported a loss of Rs 264.6 crores for the year ended March, compared with a loss of Rs 120 crores in the previous year.

    “In terms of numbers and reach, currently we would say Flipkart is the winner but with its constantly evolving strategies, we will soon see Snapdeal getting into the top spot, “Nathani opines.

    The battle is a close one for now. The company is venturing into various brands from auto, electronics, mobile phones, home furnishings, kitchen appliances, beauty, footwear to clothing to get them online.