Buy Now Pay Later - demonitization special

Demonetization led to neighbourhood retailers, especially grocery stores, been adversely effected as business volumes dipped due to lack of availability of loose cash and the mindset amongst consumers to hold on to their low denomination currently.

However, rather than getting pulled down by that, we worked with our partner retailers to ensure they leverage their years of relationships & trust within their community. 

We have enabled a great feature on our mobile apps for our partner retailers keeping in mind the scarcity of monies on account of demonitization. 

Our retailers can now extend informal credit to their known consumers, using our merchant app (AaramOn). The retailer himself decides the amount of credit extended and it’s duration. AaramShop communicates the info of the credit amount etc seamlessly to the customers. 

This informal credit line means that the consumers can shop for the daily needs without needing to worry about cash in hand. The shopping can be done not just on the app and the website, but also in-store. The customers can pay at the end of the credit term, using cards, JioMoney, cheque or even cash.

AaramShop has extended this service to all retailers at zero cost to them and their customers. This is to ensure that the pain demonitization is eased by the years of relationship and trust between the retailers and their customers. 

Blurring the offline online divide.

 

The more I interact with our partner retailers (and potential partners), the more convinced I am, that the advantages enjoyed by the offline neighborhood retailers - that of close proximity to the consumers, perfect mix of assortment & pricing, low cost delivery model and ownership of real estate; when integrated with the opportunities offered by the digital mediums, makes for a perfect commerce model. 

More so in the grocery and personal care domain. 

Neighborhood based commerce needs to be hybrid in nature, and enabled on all possible touch-points for the consumers. 

Hybrid Retail is what we at AaramShop have enabled for thousands of independent retailers - wherein we help them not just with relevant in-store technology, but seamlessly help take their inventories online via smart web-stores and mobile apps and supported by unique assisted shopping for customers. 

To learn more, please visit www.aaramon.com or write to me. 

Seamless Marketing Support from AaramShop.

AaramShop helps ensure brands can meet the marketing and sales challenges, throughout the products' life cycle, ranging from sampling to specific consumers, to selling to the same consumers and then help the upgrade them as and when the opportunity arises.

AaramShop ensures consumers can engage with brand both online and offline across thousands of neighborhood retailers. To know more talk to us.

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• History of f-commerce and the AaramShop approach.

"Call to action" on FMCG print ads.

A number of daily essential brands (FMCG & CPG) have started experimenting with integrating the benefits of the AaramShop platform into their digital assets and also in creating viable "call to action" on their traditional advertising initiatives like print adverts and product packs. However, some confusion persists and hence this post. 

Brands have traditionally been used to creating advertising & communication campaigns which are predominantly focused on increasing awareness & recall. 

While consumer durable print ads normally have a dealer panel where customers / readers can visit and buy or a website where the purchase could be done, FMCG / CPG ads are completely devoid of any "call to action". 

The assumption is that the consumer would be able to recall the advert in his / her next visit to a store and then will proceed to buy - leading to a gap between interest and action, and thereby inaction.

AaramShop now enables consumers to add brands that they love directly to their shopping lists - which can be used both online and offline. Once the brand is within the consumers' shopping list, re-purchase becomes effortless. 

Try the above mentioned example and write to us for more details on how we can help you modify your next advert into a shop and convert your reachability into shoppability.    

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• Why digital & why AaramShop
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Brand Stores on AaramShop - here is why.

Online and offline channels converge - 2013 and onwards.

Rebecca Lieb in her recent article titled 7 digital marketing trends to watch in 2013 refers to online and offline channel convergence as one of the big trends to watch out for. 

While she broadly refers to it as media becoming more digital, and that we're seeing digital messages appear in new places. Out-of-home channels such as billboards and digital signage - as well as TV screens - are hosting streaming and social media, I would like to suggest a step further. 

I would suggest the emergence of an increased seamless interoperability between the online and offline media and the blurring of the boundaries of the media formats. For e.g. a QR code on a print ad / OOH media leading the consumer to the website / mobile app with an ability to order the product via an eCommerce site or from a store. 

I had written about how we are enabling "Clicks to Bricks" integration for FMCG brands' digital campaigns.

Related articles

• Online and Offline shopping experiences are blurring.
• The future of e-commerce is both online and offline [GigaOM]
• Search Online, Buy Offline: How to Tell?
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The impact of online on offline behavior.

Nature - international weekly journal on science published a mass social-network study which shows that influence of close friends raises participation.

Just how much can activity on Facebook influence the real world? About 340,000 extra people turned out to vote in the 2010 US congressional elections because of a single election-day Facebook message, estimate researchers who ran an experiment involving 61 million users of the social network.

Einstein Simplified!!

If Einstein can be simplified, I bet digital  marketing for FMCG / CPG brands can be simplified as well.

You would have noticed that it is difficult (if not impossible) to wrap up a digital / online marketing discussion, without learning a few extra jargons and tech-speak. All the jargon has a MEGO effect on me (`My Eyes Glaze Over') :-). 

If you are into jargons pick up a few from here.

The other interesting bit in most discussions is the "evasive action" when it comes to quantifiable returns from the marketing spends. 

At AaramShop, we have taken a few steps towards addressing this challenge by creating a marketing program which converts consumer touch-points (jargon 1) into shopper action-points (jargon 2) for FMCG / CPG brands. 

Talk to us about our Simplified Online Plan for FMCG brands (in India) and sign-in for the Step-Up Program. 

You are assured of time porn (jargon 3) 

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• Un-learning Sampling : Re-learning Sampling.

Online and Offline shopping experiences are blurring.

A new research from Google & Ipsos found that 80% of shoppers will research online for holidays shopping before making a purchase this season, and they switch devices to suit their needs. 

“For example, 51% of shoppers will research online and then visit the store to purchase, while 17% will visit a store first and then purchase online. Another 32% will research online, visit store to view a product, then return online to purchase. In short, the shopper’s journey looks less like a funnel and more like a flight map, and the lines between online and offline shopping experiences are blurring.” says Google Retail Industry Director, Todd Pollak.

This integration of the online and offline experiences offers great opportunities but also brings with it risks for all brands / retailers who are focussed on any one of the two formats. It is important to have a "hybrid" commerce strategy.

Related articles

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The role of mobile in shopping related research.

At the Path To Purchase Institute’s annual Shopper Marketing Expo, Alison Chaltas of GFK shopper and retail strategy, shared a global study that revealed the future of shopping is “getting extreme.”

Chaltas said that a hard economy – with one in three barely able to meet expenses and only 15% living comfortably – is fueling the emergence of a new shopper profile. This “extreme shopper” is wired; 68% research purchases on the internet and buy in store.

While “extreme shopper” was new, the concept of ROBO (research online buy offline) has been around for a while, but the percentage was interestingly high. However, what caught my attention was the way in which the shopper was doing the research and the emergence of mobile as the research tool.

The study found one quarter are using their phone to help shop, and that they’re seeing a broadening of categories this applies to, not just consumer electronics and clothes, but also food and beverages, as well as health and beauty.

They also found a multi-dimensional aspect to mobile shopping: value seeking is the goal of 89%, 51% are using mobile to connect to social media as a shopping tool, 24% are using it transactionally, and 82% informationally.

Related articles

• Shoppers Use Mobile for Deals and Research But Rarely to Buy
• What makes the Indian shopper different and what retailers ought to do to keep them hooked
• Mindset of a Multichannel Shopper.
• Winners and losers along the digital path to purchase