General Trade & its evolution - our take on it.

General Trade in India (and a number of other emerging economies) continues to be at the forefront of the grocery business, with as much as 90% of the business flowing thru them. 

AaramOn - blurring the difference.

However, the very nature of the general trade is rapidly changing with outlets adopting the modern business methods, be it store design, self-service, methods of stocking etc, while at the same time continuing to service their consumers with finer aspects like quick service etc. 

The change is gradual, but given the huge numbers ... even when a small percentage of 13 million retailers upgrade the impact is significant. 

Our experience at AaramShop, makes us believe that biggest change would be in the way the retailers adopt to technology in the next 1 to 2 years, and the technology that would lead would be mobile based and will help the local retailer connect with his local consumer, with ease and effectiveness. 

With this increased adoption to technology, the difference between "modern" and "general" trade seems to blur out.

The retailers now have access to an awesome solution in the form of AaramOn to get digital in a meaningful manner.

State of Grocery Home Delivery Report : India

As part of our constant endevour to understand the evolving trends & shopping behavior of grocery

consumers, AaramShop undertook an exhaustive research across 150 stores in the Delhi & NCR. The core objective was to understand the entire scope of "home delivery" within the FMCG segment and its current and future impact on brands. 

The research results are in and they indicate that Home Orders at the neighborhood retail stores are starting to become very significant indeed.  This, of course, has significant implications for brands from the following points:

a.    How to influence the customer when she is planning her monthly purchase

b.    How to influence her when she is placing the order

c.    How to influence her when she is getting the delivery

We found that 60% of the shops surveyed had more than 40% of their business coming from the Home Orders. Y-axis represents the % of business via home orders.

If you are interested to get hold of the full report, please send me an email or a tweet.

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Neighbourhood kirana shop is spiffing things up.

Business Today examines how the traditional trade stores (general trade stores) are managing the challenge posed by the large format modern trade outlets in markets like India. 

The feature examines both the initiatives taken by the owners / retailers themselves and the support that they are getting from multiple organizations like AaramShop not just to stay competitive but to thrive.

Read the full article here

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Prof Rajiv Lal on retailing in India.

Came across Prof. Rajiv Lal's interview in the recent Forbes and this brief interview with Mint. His views echo our business premise and his jargon-less logic is superb especially on food retail.

AaramShop's Mobile Coupons.

Happy to roll-out our end-to-end mobile coupon solution for FMCG brands. The solution leverages the strong network of AaramShops across the country to ensure ease in redemption. 

AaramShop’s Mobile Coupons enable brands to deliver their promotions directly to the consumers mobile, targeting the right audience with the right offer. Our mcoupons, are proven to deliver higher redemption rates and reduce operational costs in Indian retail environment.

Learn More here

Consumer activation in the traditional last mile.

As against at modern trade outlets, undertaking brand activations at traditional trade outlets is tough to undertake and even more difficult to measure for impact and ROI.

AaramShop can not just help your strategize with creation of last mile campaigns, but also undertake the comprehensive program, including reaching-out to partner retailers, rolling-out consumer engagement and measuring the impact of your marketing initiative. 

We have fine-tuned our solutions to specifically engage with independently owned, A category, neighborhood outlets. It is with these outlets that we help drive tertiary sales for your brands. Our on-ground activations are backed up with digital initiatives to ensure that your product gets into the shopping list of consumers.

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Reviews Ensure Buzz which can be tapped.

Online Consumers Reviews are a powerful but under-utilized opportunity, especially within the FMCG brands. All researches indicates that consumers listen to and believe other consumers; real people with real brand stories. 

AaramShop presents a great opportunity to generate reviews, share and help consumers acquire brands that they love. It is the last mile connect enabled by AaramShop with its unique web to doorstep model which ensures that the online consumer reviews have a higher RoI, wherein brand advocacy can be put to effective use.

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"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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Introducing AaramOffers.

For more information on AaramOffers by AaramShop, and how they can be used by retailers visit the Channel Engagement Center

AaramOffers are hyper-local offers on grocery and daily essential products, that enable consumers to find the best offers within minutes from their homes and have them delivered at their doorstep.

AaramOffers are currently restricted to retailers within India.

 

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The internet & The Local Business.

Local businesses and brands that use local businesses to market / sell themselves understand the power of "word-of-mouth" marketing. However, it is normally expected that the internet marketing is the domain of larger corporates and that your local store is immune to its impact. 

Contrary to that belief Milo, an online product locator, has put together this infographic that speaks volumes about the power of online reviews for local businesses.

According to the Small business Search Marketing Survey by American Express OPEN, U.S. small businesses can still count on word-of-mouth as a top way for shoppers to find them. Close behind, however, is the Internet. Local consumers now heavily rely on search engine power when shopping locally. 

This trend binds in very well with the AaramShop's strategy of bring the local neighborhood grocers online, thereby get them future-ready.

View the full infographic here

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• 
  

From the web to the consumers' doorstep; enabled commerce for FMCG brands.

FMCG brands are uniquely challenged when it comes to exploiting the digital boom. The in-ability to close the loop using a traditional e-commerce route has plagued the sector forever. 

Almost all digital spends undertaken by FMCG brands have resulted in an increased awareness and engagement, however, resultant transactions have been a challenge. 

Traditional ecommerce has been a non-starter in the sector due to low product cost, lower retailer margins, very high logistics costs etc. 

AaramShop’s unique model, enables FMCG brands to extend their digital campaigns to have a last mile connect. 

Connecting digital assets to last mile assets for FMCG brands

AaramShop enables home delivery of your brands to millions of households across India via its thousands of partner retailers who are strategically placed within the neighborhoods. 

View a simple example here of how a “buy now” integration can change a touch-point to an action point. 

To ensure that your next digital campaign or your existing digital assets get you a higher and a trackable RoI, do contact me.

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