My Stint with Ecommerce and Key Takeaways June 22, 2016

Increase Direct traffic to your website where in people arrived at your site directly (by typing the url) or via a bookmark by:
– Enhancing the UX/UI, easy accessibility to target.
– Offline popularity of brand; PR; catalogues; retail presence
– The best prices available online should be available on your website. Other websites and services can very well provide the same prices as well, but you should not be at a competitive disadvantage on your own website.
– Give repeat discounts and freebies

Targetting conversion rate metrics
– One single thing that would sell a product online, it’s images. People want to see what they’re getting. The more the better. Show the products from different angles, in context, make them zoomable. Ecommerce site is made up of 60%-80% of product image which are heavy and the biggest challenge for businesses is to make all images easily accessible without slowing the page loading speed. Hence image optimization is bound to be important for online stores. With multi-device on the go consumption pattern of users, if there’s anything that will drive your customers away is the slow loading speed of the website. It impacts the SEO as well. Page load time is one of the top ranking factors considered by Google, that’s why websites with unoptimized images struggle enough to reach top search engine positions.

– Product Videos: Images are good, but everything indicates that video is the future. Photos have their limitations, video is the next step before actual touching and feeling.

– Great Product copy: Product descriptions matter. The role of product copy is to give buyers enough information, so they could convince themselves this is the right product for them. Add your personal touch and recommendations – tell the customer why you personally recommend this product and how it will help them.

– Upselling related products and the offer must be atleast 60% cheaper than the product user added to the cart.

– Charging for shipping is a conversion killer. High shipping costs were rated as the number one reason why consumers were not satisfied with their online shopping experience. In fact, shipping costs are the main reason why people prefer brick and mortar to online.

– Reduce cart abandonment rate by – competitive product pricing, free shipping, reduce form filling/registration data, Return policy, live chat to address buyer’s concerns, speed up your site. Follow up by email on the cart abandonment. Make sure the first follow-up email goes out ASAP. If they complete the purchase somewhere else, it’s over. If the purchase don’t take place, send one or two more followup emails (might include a coupon).

– Add Live chat to the website in order to improve conversions, especially when it comes to asking for feedback and boosting the direct transactions.

– Time based offers or Happy Hours generate footfalls during slow periods of the day generating more traffic and engagement.

– Offer Notify me option if the product is out of stock. This will help you update the customer whenever product comes in stock and also increase your database of customer information. Something very simple but highly effective.

– Social Media Engagement channels are the obvious torchbearers of offsite engagement. Use social platforms to: Share new collections, Inform about upcoming sales and offers & run marketing campaigns

Mobile APP – ASO May 1, 2015

Given the mobile form factor there is 20 icons on the phone vying for users attention, which will be 21st icon on consumers phone? Top things that matter for the success of your App can be summarized into:

• Compelling reason for user to download your app. What is the problem that your app is solving i.e. value proposition of your app, what kind of customers/users are you targeting at – Local/Global?
• What kind of user experience and engagement your app will generate – will user open your app once/twice a day, week, Months etc.?
• If your app is a copy of existing global app then what local innovations or differentiator are you bringing out with it?
• How do you make money, how do you monetize your app? If it is content what type of ads and where you are showing ads, if it’s lead generation then how relevantly its placed and is non-intrusive to users.

Apart from above factors post your app is developed and is shipped on appstore the real test of how your app will perform on Appstore begins. What issues users are facing? You cannot test the app for all the real-world use-cases and given the diverse nature of devices, networks  and platforms there will always be some challenges. Hence live usage of your app is real test of the success of your app. It is important to measure the metrics relevant to your app and there is a range of different metrics that can be monitored and tracked. Some are more precise than others, some require the implementation of an SDK. Here I’m focusing on App store optimization (ASO) part which should be incorporated into strong Marketing Strategy and is a long term process. Since almost all users will take the final decision to download the app whilst at the store page, App Store Optimization is likely to be an essential activity, both for conversion (through optimized assets and messaging) and discovery (through careful keyword selection). Expecting to see fantastic results after tweaking a few keywords is absolute nonsense. There are some very important basic metrics that you can measure very easily to evaluate your app success in App store.

• Global and category ranking
• Ranking for specific keywords
• Number of downloads
• Number of reviews and ratings
• Global rating
• Number of in-app purchases
• Revenue generated

It is also highly important to measure and track how your competitors are doing. It can be extremely insightful to see what keywords work for your direct competitors for example. Though you can track above metrics performance yourself, however there are few tools available that can help you measure and track your app performance more conveniently and accurately and you don’t require installation of SDK.

App Annie –  The App Annie ASO tool is a discovery tool; it will help you identify high opportunity keywords and track the keywords other apps are ranking for. You can use Keywords Ranks to explore different search terms and see what apps are returned for each term, across different app stores. Keyword/ASO feature lets you see the top 30 keywords for any app.  What that means is you can select any app and then see the specific words that the app ranks for in search results on the app store. The free version of App Annie lets you monitor the app ecosystem and your competitors.

• Check hourly or daily top charts as well as ranking history.
• Search keywords and featured placements for millions of apps.
• In the Detailed view (per app), you get a chart with: revenue and downloads during the date range of your choice, breakdown per country (pretty useful to evaluate the need for localization), tables with your app daily ranks, chart for your rank history, reviews written on your app and you can subscribe to receive an email update for your app stats.

MopApp –  With Mopapp, users can maximize the market penetration of their mobile applications by gaining real-time intelligence through a unified dashboard and customized reporting. Through a comprehensive dashboard of automated reports, reviews lists and comparison charts, Mopapp enables users to tailor marketing and development strategies to improve downloads, ratings and profitability. If you’re using iAd, AdMob, InMobi or Smaato you can track your earnings directly within Mopapp which can be a nice time saver. Finally, the enterprise version lets you integrate with your flurry account to track in-app usage analytics and compare them with your downloads.

AppFigures –  It is a reporting platform for mobile app developers that brings together all of your app store sales, ad data, worldwide reviews, and hourly rank updates into one intuitive and informative reporting solution. The free and paid version of AppFigures won’t let you have more than what AppAnnie has to offer.

Appstatics –  Appstatics is acquired by Appsfire and is the simplest and most powerful way to track the performance of iOS & Mac apps in the App Store rankings. The tool is easily downloadable from the Apple store and facilitates effective app analysis and discovery, making it suitable for developers of all levels. Appstatics will track the performance of any app, including competitors, in the appstore rankings to deliver intelligence about mobile marketing and performance tactics.

Digital Business Space in India April 28, 2015

The tribe of entrepreneurs in India and across the globes is growing and no longer limited to ISB’s and IITians clans anymore. Everyone is brimming with ideas and though not all bring with them unique proposition there is enough ground for each one of us to play. Technology is going to be a differentiator and core player in survival of the fittest. This is the best of period for startups to get funding as global companies are looking India as a hot market to establish their presence and growth. If you are wondering whether your business idea in digital space is having market & growth potential, below are the list of few business space that you can look at-

1. Travel -With increasing tourist inflows over the past few years, it is a significant contributor to Indian economy as well. As per forecasts by the World Travel and tourism Council its total contribution to GDP is expected to witness a growth rate of 12% per annum during 2013–2023. Online Travel planning/booking has grown on single factor i.e “Convenience”. Indian consumers view the concept of package tours more as a sign of luxury & availability of more information on packages and deals empowers a consumer and increases the horizon of his research, planning and buying options.There’s still enough headway for growth in the future owing to the Internet and smartphone penetration. Digital travel business offerings facilitates from being an aggregator, booking engine, travel planner, blogs/reviews and package deals, destination & hotel/bed n breakfast search, visual travel discovery, social/group travels for women or like minded individuals.
2. E-commerce — E-commerce has lately become a keenly watched sector in India, especially with a handful of home-grown successful ventures being valued at billions of dollars. While domestic players Flipkart and Snapdeal rule the market, the sector has also caught the fancy of global giants like the US’ Amazon and China’s Alibaba — all are competing hard for a bigger share of the cake. Indian leading Venture Capital firm Accel Partners has released an in-depth study of Indian ecommerce space, according to which Indian ecommerce will quadruple from a $2 billion Industry in 2013 to nearly 8.5 Billion by 2016 at a CAGR of 63%. At the same time, the number of Indian shoppers online will grow from 20 million to 40 million by year 2016. Note: These numbers do not consider Travel, ticketing and online food ordering — only physical goods commerce. Interestingly adoption of eCommerce is much faster in Tier 2 cities as compared to Tier 1. By 2016, half of all online shoppers will be from Gen Y category (19–24 years). The increase in disposable income levels has led to bigger online order sizes, and changes in lifestyle. Shoppers prefer online channels to physical ones, for saving time and wider variety. Ecommerce exist in every domain that you can think of and is the integral part of every business only its nature has changed, for example — physical goods, Leads, coupons, recharge, and so on.
3. Food — Food has always been one of the greatest passions for Indians but never has it been trending hot in the startup circle like now. With global food service industry valued at $2.6 trillion in 2013, food tech startups across the world are grabbing investor eyeballs. This space is getting aggressive and competitive; a few predict that a lot of consolidation will happen in years to come where bigger giants would eat up the small fishes while some say that one still can’t predict how food tech market would shape up. The flourishing Indian food service industry is expected to reach US $ 78 billion by 2018. This means that we will see more restaurants, cafés and even caterers mushrooming across the country. Food business offering is spanning from — Restaurant Locator, Deals & Coupons, Digital presence and marketing, Food SAAS etc.
4. Health & Beauty — The Indian healthcare industry size is expected to touch US$ 160 billion by 2017 and US$ 280 billion by 2020 which will contribute eight percent of GDP. The Indian pharmaceutical market has emerged as the 10th fastest growing pharma market. With all stakeholders including providers, payers, pharmaceuticals, and patients changing, the Indian market place is becoming very unique. Patients continue to contribute about 85 percent of healthcare expenditure out-of-pocket. The Healthcare space in India can always use an infusion of technology and many new startups are coming up to fill this void and bring the ecosystem upto global standards. Seventy per cent of the healthcare infrastructure is confined to the top 20 cities of India, and e-health technology will play an important role in extending reach across India. Changing demographics will also contribute to greater healthcare spending; this is likely to continue with the size of the elderly population set to reach 168 million by 2026. With India’s ‘youth dividend’ riding the mobile Internet and social media boom, the prospects look promising for retailers to get into the e-commerce sector in this space as well.
5. Media & Entertainment — India’s entertainment and media sector is expected to grow steadily over the next five years as per CII-PwC’s report, titled ‘India Entertainment & Media Outlook 2014’. The industry is expected to exceed US$ 36.49 billion by 2018, growing at CAGR of 15% between 2013 and 2018. Internet access and internet advertising have been the fastest growing segments with annual growth rates of 47% and 26%, respectively. Significantly, with the increased penetration of smartphones and expansion of 3G network in India, the country is likely to see around nine billion mobile application (apps) downloads during 2015, which is five times more than 1.56 billion in 2012, as per Deloitte’s India Technology, Media & Entertainment and Telecom (TMT) Predictions. This uptick in app-downloads is also expected to increase the revenue from paid apps to an estimated over Rs 15 billion (US$ 241.16 million) as against Rs 9 billion (US$ 144.7 million) in 2014, Deloitte said. Additionally, industry estimates reveal that video games industry net worth rose to US$ 277 million. A recent study revealed that 77% of Indian smartphone users have an average of 30 apps on their phones. Mobile subscribers in India are also more likely to consume mobile video than their counterparts in North America and Europe.18 Lower data subscription tariffs and increasing customer awareness are driving the market for these mobile apps, with music and social networking the most consumed. Here again consumption in India is dominated by Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns, which account for 73% of India’s urban consumption. Mobile TV adoption is expected to grow: The use of streamed mobile TV services is increasingly popular among Indian audiences, with the recent Cricket World Cup and the Indian Premier League driving uptake. Indians are 64% more likely to consume mobile TV than the global average. India’s large mobile phone subscriber base and active mobile content consumption are providing exciting opportunities for radio and music companies to extend their reach. Increased wireless broadband and smartphone adoption is allowing radio and music companies to develop mass market music streaming services on mobile devices. Radio and music companies can stream content directly to consumers on 3G (and eventually 4G) networks through mobile apps. Music companies are exploring subscription, advertising and hybrid-based services that will allow users to stream, search, share and recommend content from their extensive libraries.Cricket is the most popular spectator sport in India, and follows movies as the second-biggest form of entertainment. The recently formed Indian Premier League (IPL) is already one of the most valuable sporting brands in the world, currently valued at US$3.7 billion.Interest in other sports has increased since India hosted the 2010 Commonwealth Games, challenging the notion that it is a single-sport country. This momentum, combined with a young population and a rising propensity to spend on leisure, presents the sports industry with a number of growth opportunities.
6. Education — The future of online education in India seems to be bright with more and more educational institutions and individuals adopting technology based learning, in-turn making life easier for students and educators. The e-learning market in India is estimated to be around $3 billion. The central government’s efforts to make digital learning available to students in every corner of the country is also aiding the sector. Gartner predicts that from 2013 through 2017, $4 billion will be spent on cloud services in India where SaaS is the largest overall cloud market segment. Simultaneously, according to a report ‘Education in India: Securing the demographic dividend,’ published by Grant Thorton, the primary and secondary education, or K-12 sector is expected to reach US$ 50 billion in 2015 growing at an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14%.Smart classes as aid to classroom faculties, is already an accepted reality, especially in K12 segment. Gamification/ simulator kind of concept learning initiatives are very popular in K12 segment. A lot of start-ups are already setting their foot in what they think will be the next big thing in India after e-commerce. While some companies look to generate content, especially aiming at mid-level professionals, others plays more of an aggregator role. Whether it is at school or while doing homework, software is playing an increasing role in ensuring the next level of learning is reached only when the child is ready for it. The entrepreneurs behind the education software are trying to make even something as hated as homework fun. According to the 2001 Census, 30 languages are spoken by more than a million native speakers. Of the literate 74%, only 10% read English while the rest consume content in the vernacular medium. A big opportunity for developers to build apps to provide local content to everyone in the mobile-first country.