AaramShop Selected as a Red Herring Top 100 Asia Tech Startup

Red Herring announced its Top 100 Asia award in recognition of the leading private companies from Asia, celebrating these startups’ innovations and technologies across their respective industries.

AaramShop made it to the coveted list.  

Red Herring’s Top 100 list has become a mark of distinction for identifying promising new companies and entrepreneurs. Red Herring editors were among the first to recognize that companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Skype, Salesforce.com, YouTube, and eBay would change the way we live and work. 

Read more on this here and we look forward to taking this further by engaging with all members of the eco-system especially ISVs

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Tesco QR Code Subway Store

AaramShop is a Finalist for the 2011 Red Herring Top 100 Asia Award

AaramShop has been selected as a Finalist for Red Herring's Top 100 Asia award, a prestigious list honoring the year’s most promising private technology ventures from the Asian business region.

The Red Herring editorial team selected the most innovative companies from a pool of hundreds from across Asia. The nominees are evaluated on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their respective industries.

This unique assessment of potential is complemented by a review of the actual track record and standing of a company, which allows Red Herring to see past the “buzz” and make the list an valuable instrument for discovering and advocating the greatest business opportunities in the industry.

"This year was very rewarding," said Alex Vieux, publisher and Chairman of Red Herring. "The global economic situation has abated and there are many great companies producing really innovative and amazing products. We had a very difficult time narrowing the pool and selecting the finalists. AaramShop shows great promise therefore deserves to be among the Finalists. Now we’re faced with the difficult task of selecting the Top 100 winners of Red Herring Asia. We know that the 2011 crop will grow into some amazing companies that are sure to make an impact."

Here is a list of all the finalists and great to see that Indian companies stand tall.

Analysis of online grocery shopping in India.

As a FMCG / CPG brand marketer, you will love this comprehensive report on the Indian consumers’ online purchase behavior across FMCG categories and its related impact on brand preferences. 

In the SOGS Report: India, findings have been presented in terms of four broad parameters:

1. Who is buying groceries online? – SOGS report dives into demographic details of the shoppers including gender & age and it's impact on purchase. 

2. Where are the buyers coming from? - the current report restricted to the National Capital Region.

3. When they are shoppers buying the groceries? - time frames and order patterns.

4. What categories and brands are they buying? – Comprehensively explores categories and sub-categories and the top selling brands within them.

Data used on the SOGS report is based on actual purchase data on AaramShop covering 542 shopping bags between 1st of July 2011 to 15th of August 2011.

You can download the free SOGS report from here. 
The report is 6.25MB and in a PDF format.

State of Online Grocery Shopping Report: India

AaramShop PRO: State of Online Grocery Shopping Report: India:

Here is a comprehensive view on the Indian consumers’ behavior and brand preferences when it comes to online grocery buying.

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Unlearn e-commerce to win.

Jon Stine at the CISCO Retail Blog, in his recent post - seems to have hit the nail on the head. He writes:

"When e-commerce entered retail life in the mid-1990s, it was understandably regarded as just another channel of distribution – indeed, as just one more store. With this perspective, the key performance metric was (and generally remains to this day) site revenue. Conversion, another key metric, was defined as site transactions as a percent of site visits.


This still makes sense – but at a narrow, misleading level, because e-commerce no longer defines the connected world for retail.


In this age of Google and Facebook, the primary value today of the Internet to the shopper – and to your brand – is less about transactions, and more about search. On the PC, on the tablet, on the mobile devices, amidst the aisles.


The Internet – and the search function of the ever-mobile Internet – is now the front door of the entire brand."

Read more of this post here;

What Jon points to is what we AaramShop are experimenting with - the hybrid retail model of integrating the "zero moment of truth" of the shopper with respect to any brand (ZMOT / online research, social media engagement), with the "first moment of truth" when the product is actually bought. (FMOT)

The brands should appreciate the fact that the FMOT for the brand need not happen in the traditional e-commerce manner for them to have a overall e-commerce strategy for their CPG / FMCG brand. The huge volume to pre-purchase online research is being overlooked due to the limitations of the old e-commerce thinking.

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• If you are not searchable, (on google). You won't be found. (by your customers)
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• Free Services Available for Brands on AaramShop
• An accelerator, not a challenger.

Review: Google Wallet

I have seen the future, and it is called Google Wallet.

Note, however, that this future is just that: the future. As in, something not now. I’ve lived with Google Wallet in my life for the past week or so, and have walked away thoroughly impressed — but while Google Wallet may be launching today, don’t expect it to kick your actual wallet out of your pocket any time soon.

→ Read More

Online FMCG / CPG Retailing – it’s challenges and opportunities

Online retailing of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) / Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) has not been caught up so far, not just in India, but also across the world. It is probably the last big segment / sector that is still largely out of the online commerce ambit and represents the next big challenge.

FMCG’s (grocery / household essentials) share of wallet is not only very high, but it is also very consistent and is rapidly growing over time, and therefore there is a lot of interest in wanting to address this market.

However, there are a number of challenges that traditional e-commerce models face when it comes to FMCG / CPG online retailing. The challenges are not just logistical, but also around the consumers’ buying behavior and service level expectations.

I recently wrote an article on some of the reasons that I believe make the business of FMCG online retailing tough & a few big opportunities that make it exciting.

Read the article here @ iamwire.

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And just when we thought we got it.

Love the rigor and depth - The algorithm is changed as often as everyday and at times twice over.

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Ticketmaster & Facebook for next stage of social commerce

The next stage of social commerce, a mock-up of an arena seat map indicating where a customer's Facebook friends were sitting. 

Live events are inherently social, buying tickets should be, too.      

Starting today, you can see what the fuss was about. In hopes of spurring word-of-mouth marketing to reduce the estimated 40 percent of live event tickets that go unsold, Ticketmaster is launching this enhanced Facebook connectivity.

Read more here:

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The integration of the Moments of Truth.

The First Moment of Truth (FMOT), coined by P&G, refers to the few seconds that it takes a consumer to choose a product on a retail shelf – from amongst the wide array of products on display.

The logic of FMOT is indisputable and has prompted brands to re-evaluate the traditional marketing funnel approach (AIDA and it’s various versions), and design their marketing plans based on the FMOT.

I understand FMOT works well in the Modern Retail Formats (MRFs), but it is difficult to see it working seamlessly in traditional neighborhood retailers (in India) where space is limited and the shopping environment is not geared up for a DIY format. This is important as 90% or more of the FMCG sales are still via the traditional retailers.

Recently and based on changes in the consumer’s usage of the Internet for shopping, Google came up with the concept that it called “The Zero Moment of Truth” (ZMOT), which refers to the pre-buying online research that the consumers undertake prior to hitting a store. 

Data made available by the research undertaken by Google, makes it imperative for the CPG / FMCG brands to have a comprehensive strategy to ensure they have a relevant & prominent positioning in the online space. 

Most brands are starting to address the two moments of truths and tend to consider these to two separate silos, which need to be addressed with strategies specific to the silo. 

At AaramShop, our belief is that for the brand marketing to be effective and for it to result into sales the two silos need to be intertwined. That’s the AaramShop offer to FMCG / CPG brands. 

AaramShop brand listing (along with advanced optimization) enables a brand to be “found” by consumers and also enables the brand to leverage itself on social networks to create relevant buzz. The brand could also use integration tools like Aaram Widgets or customized QR codes to further invigorate its social media presence.

AaramShop also enables the consumers to place an order for the CPG / FMCG product immediately – thus bringing the FMOT seamlessly close to the ZMOT. The order, when placed online is fulfilled by the independent neighborhood retailer (AaramShops as we call them). The product / brand is delivered to the consumers doorstep within hours.

It is this seamless integration of the ZMOT with the FMOT that makes AaramShop a unique platform & interesting enough for the FMCG / CPG brands to engage with.

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An accelerator, not a challenger.

In the various discussions over the last one month of AaramShop presence one question has been a constant. How is AaramShop different from the other e-commerce portals - of which there seem to be quite a few for every need?

The answer is quite simple, AaramShop is not a portal, it is a platform. AaramShop is not designed to complete with the neighborhood retailers - rather it is designed to enable them and enhance their competitiveness.

As a hybrid retail platform, AaramShop integrates the ubiquitousness, vastness and choice of brands of the web-store with the hyper-local capability to deliver of the independent neighborhood retailer.

The services of AaramShop come free to all member of this complex retail eco-system - that includes the consumers, brands that are consumed and retail channel that enables that consumption.

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AaramShop Pro: Free Services Available for Brands on AaramShop

AaramShop Pro: Free Services Available for Brands on AaramShop: "FMCG / CPG brands can now use the various powerful and unique features of the AaramShop platform to ensure an enhanced presence of their brands"

QR code opportunity for CPG / FMCG products.

QR = Quick Response.

Having said that, the implementation & integration of the QR technology for FMCG / CPG brands in most markets (including India) has been very limited and for good reason. Even if you were to get the consumer to use the QR code on the product pack or shelf - what do you do next? A customer's visit to the website for more product information, usage tips etc are great possibilities and should be exploited, however, sales has not been very high on the agenda.

Now AaramShop adds another dimension to what a brand owner can do with the simple QR code - your consumer can now order your specific product / brand and have it delivered within hours to his / her doorstep; and all this without any escalation in the costs.

Re-ordering of your product, just when your customer is about to run out of it has never been easier.

Try it.

Most smart phone either already have a QR reader or the same can be downloaded free from any of the App centers or download from here;

Also try this;

Official Google CPG Blog: The Zero Moment of Truth

Official Google CPG Blog: The Zero Moment of Truth: "Posted by Jenny Liu, Industry Marketing Manager, CPG The term ' First Moment of Truth ' (commonly called FMOT) was coined by Procter & Gam..."

Googland: [G] Creating a “Zero Moment of Truth”: Maximizing ...

Googland: [G] Creating a “Zero Moment of Truth”: Maximizing ...: "Official Google CPG Blog : Creating a “Zero Moment of Truth”: Maximizing Search Opportunity in CPG Posted by Ali Manning, Industry Analyst ..."

We are now LIVE.

AaramShop is now live.

It is still in it's BETA phase and we are sure there are going to be a few glitches in both the offline and online transactions. If you are in the AaramShop coverage areas in New Delhi, please give it a shot and keep us informed of your experience.

If you are currently out of the coverage area, suggest you browse around and also help us create an AaramShop in your area.

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