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<ul><li>In our latest interview series, we speak to a few CMOs to understand how they are helping out their organisations find the right ways to connect with consumers.</li><li>Sapna Arora, CMO, <keyword id="6360657" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="olx">OLX</keyword> shares with us how her role has changed over the last few months and walks us through the platform's combat strategy for the horrifying second wave of COVID-19. </li></ul> As India reels through a dire second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, brands are trying to be there for consumers, to help them through these testing times. Till the time the number of positive cases in India declines, it’s not business-as-usual for brands. The overall sentiment of the audience is also grim and brands are trying to be there for consumers in spirit with their consoling marketing campaigns or by donating a part of their CSR budgets. Omni-channel marketplace OLX has altered its marketing approach to be relevant today. It has updated its communication and messaging by focussing on community building and using its platform to amplify pleas on social media. <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Image"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Image"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> Sapna Arora, CMO, OLX has found her role changing as a marketer and brand custodian. Her mantra has been to be agile, resilient, empathetic, helpful and kind. The horrifying scale of the second wave has made all playbooks on marketing redundant. Last year, CMOs in India focused on shifting their marketing monies from traditional mediums to digital platforms. Now, Arora’s role at OLX has been about helping the brand adjust to the sudden changes in the macro-environment, prepare for the uncertain tomorrow, use communication tools to help out customers and address vaccine hesitancy. Arora further shared with us how the second wave has changed OLX’s priorities, what route should marketers take to and much more. Excerpts: <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Q. How has your communication changed during what is probably one of the worst calamities we've faced in recent times? What is your B2C communication all about?" text="Q. How has your communication changed during what is probably one of the worst calamities we've faced in recent times? What is your B2C communication all about?">Q. How has your communication changed during what is probably one of the worst calamities we've faced in recent times? What is your B2C communication all about?</cmsannotation> It’s true, an emergency of this magnitude, felt across all nations, and for such a prolonged time, has not been witnessed before, not in the last 100 years. Rare complications are further deepening the crisis. We are moving with caution and with empathy. Our communication has vastly changed. How we collectively arrest the progression of this disease will be the litmus test to our awareness as a society. Our endeavour is to ensure that we remain relevant to our users at all times. We have opened up our social media handles to people seeking help, allowing all users to leverage our large reach and ensure wider sharing of messages. To reach out further, we have started donation drives and have partnered with Give India to provide food to Covid-affected families. Brand messaging now shows our side of care, offering comfort, encouragement and hope, addressing vaccine hesitancy, encouraging masking, sanitising, staying home, staying safe, connecting plasma donors with recipients, warning about fraudsters, and so on. It’s no more just a transactional relationship. We have to be real and relevant and show purpose, that’s what’s expected of leading brands at this time. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Q. How has your schedule changed as a CMO during the second wave? What are some of the new tasks that you are doing? Can you draw a comparison between last year's lockdown with this year's?" text="Q. How has your schedule changed as a CMO during the second wave? What are some of the new tasks that you are doing? Can you draw a comparison between last year's lockdown with this year's?">Q. How has your schedule changed as a CMO during the second wave? What are some of the new tasks that you are doing? Can you draw a comparison between last year's lockdown with this year's?</cmsannotation> We don’t know how fast we’ll be able to bounce back from the second wave or what the next normal will be like. The buoyancy that emerged after the first wave was quickly dissipated in the second wave. We need to ensure business continuity, as well as show empathy to consumers, and also within the organisation. There’s no playbook to dip into for response planning. On the business side, among the new tasks, is to offer better content experiences to online consumers, touch more and more digital access points. We had plans that needed to be modified, and that has been the impact on my schedule. The messaging has moved to not just about updating product news, but also to show a higher degree of sensitivity and resilience. Agility, along with mission and purpose, are the reigning marketing principles now. Last year, it was all about digitising, educating people about the virus, hand hygiene, and celebrating frontline heroes. This year, it’s more about reaching out, about vaccines, medicines, oxygen supplies, and offering a helping hand. Affirmative story-telling is at heart of the new reset. Soon after the crisis is sorted, our new tasks would be to think hard about what consumers in the next normal would want. We’ll certainly have to redesign shopping journeys for our consumers, develop adaptive ecosystems, and so on, but as of now, that can wait. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Q. As a company, how are you using your advertising tools to help out people?" text="Q. As a company, how are you using your advertising tools to help out people?">Q. As a company, how are you using your advertising tools to help out people?</cmsannotation> The scale and ferocity of the second wave has altered all understood paradigms. There are heart rending stories of loss, and people are talking only about essentials, about conscious consumption. At a time when everything feels impossibly hard, there is a greater need to remain optimistic and to steer hyper-local activations. We are infusing positive content across our digital platforms. Responsible brands are expected to have a wider agenda. While social media is full of all kinds of content on the virus, reliable and trustworthy content is hard to find. We have opened up our social media handles for all Covid related queries, people can post their SOS calls, run enquiries that will help them reach wider audiences due to the vast reach of our brand, and we are helping in food supplies for affected families. We are also running campaigns on public discipline, on all our social media handles. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Q. How has your role as a marketer changed?" text="Q. How has your role as a marketer changed?">Q. How has your role as a marketer changed?</cmsannotation> With the constant change that we are all experiencing, like the shift in containment zones, virus mutations, gaps in vaccinations, and so on, our roles, tasks and priorities have also been changing. Stakeholders, consumers and employees are looking at the brand, to know what we stand for, what values we uphold. We need to be realistic in our expectations, our goals, and in our messaging. To gain trust, we need to listen to our communities, employees and customers. We are looking beyond the traditional spaces of marketing, such as advertising and market-driven campaigns, to be relevant to people. We have tweaked our social media content around Covid-related information, encouraging people to vaccinate and to remain masked. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Q. What is your goal for this quarter? How have your goals changed due to the second wave?" text="Q. What is your goal for this quarter? How have your goals changed due to the second wave?">Q. What is your goal for this quarter? How have your goals changed due to the second wave?</cmsannotation> We have recalibrated our goals, from being number centric to being centred around how our resources can help communities. The goal presently is revolving around building strong connections with our consumers, fostering emotional togetherness while remaining socially distanced, to suppress virus spread. As a brand, we have come forward, using technology to build cohesive customer experiences. We recognize the human tragedy, and also the need to keep business running. As we understand now, the situation will rise and flare up at different times in different market segments. We will be mindful enough to act accordingly, and will continue to rejig our messaging, to show resilience and empathy. One can’t think in silos, or take an absolute stance amid such volatility. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Q. As a leader, how are you trying to be there for your employees?" text="Q. As a leader, how are you trying to be there for your employees?">Q. As a leader, how are you trying to be there for your employees?</cmsannotation> At this time, CMOs need to help their organisations adjust to the new realities. We have moved swiftly to expand our digital operations. The pandemic has deeply impacted the way businesses work. We have to show resilience, adaptability and help each person in the organisation to deal with the change. It’s a volatile situation, people are anxious, jobs need to be saved. We have adopted a people-first approach. Our teams have prioritised physical and emotional well-being of all. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Q. No communication or relevant/empathetic communication? Which route should a brand take during difficult times like these?" text="Q. No communication or relevant/empathetic communication? Which route should a brand take during difficult times like these?">Q. No communication or relevant/empathetic communication? Which route should a brand take during difficult times like these?</cmsannotation> In times of crisis, governments, as well as employees and consumers look up to their brands for answers. We have to cut the clutter, come on the front foot, move in the direction of the prevailing collective sentiment. By showing compassion, offering hope and understanding, and delivering relevant and trustworthy messages, brands show purpose, and better connectivity with their consumers. When a brand has reach and voice that can impact lives, the expected course of action is to come forward and help. At OLX, we are mindful of our responsibilities, and are addressing community pain points. Purpose establishes a brand’s culture and strong ethics. It has always been part of top brand cultures of the world. Now it’s playing a central role. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Q. What are your areas of focus for now?" text="Q. What are your areas of focus for now?">Q. What are your areas of focus for now?</cmsannotation> Till the time the Covid positivity rate declines, it’s not business-as-usual. We cannot afford to drop the ball. We are updating our messaging, focussing on community building; care is central to the underlying thrust right now. Our messages are helpful and uplifting. Holding each other’s hand, we have to steer a route for recovery.

Affirmative storytelling is at heart of the new reset: Sapna Arora of OLX

<ul><li>In our latest series, we talk to brands about how they have been marketing during these adverse times, the things they have learnt and how they are preparing for the somewhat uncertain future.</li><li>Sapna Arora, Chief Marketing Officer, OLX India shares with us her learnings of the lockdown period, the brand’s strategy to adapt to the constantly changing environment and action plan for <keyword id="9359618" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="unlock-2-0">unlock 2.0</keyword>. </li></ul>India is slowly getting back on its feet. However, brands can never revert to their old versions again. The lockdown period has taught our marketers too many lessons that can’t be unlearned. During this adverse period, the focus shifted from growing to survival, which made Indian brands grow conscious of where they spent their marketing bucks and pushed to relook and reinvent existing business models. OLX India’s Chief Marketing Officer, Sapna Arora told us how this period taught her the importance of using your own moral compass while communicating with your target audience. Even though the times were grave, the e-commerce brand used a little humour to laugh with its customers. Arora also walked us through OLX’s combat strategy which was in tandem with the government’s four lockdown phases and shared how it found a stable corner in a fluid environment. The transition started by taking a step back, observing the consumers for a while even if it meant being silent for that period -- to figure out the correct tone. It decided to opt for a reassuring, empathetic and humorous tone to walk along with its consumers. The second wave of communication was to spread a tad of positivity by reminding consumers they can make the most of their time even inside four walls. OLX’s Third and fourth phase of marketing was all about lending a hand in adjusting to the new normal, redefining the meaning of home and moving to a stage of acceptance and decluttering. As we enter unlock 2.0 phase, Arora further shares with us how consuming from the comfort of our homes will continue trending, why it is important to feel what your consumers are feeling and draft messages to resolve those concerns every time you communicate and everything else that OLX has planned for the new world order. Q. How have the last three months been for you? It has been a ride with a heady mix of chaos, assumptions, small wins and many learnings. While we were keen to continue to communicate with our user base, we spent some time figuring out the correct tone. We went ahead using our own moral compass of how we would like to be spoken to. As humans caught in this situation where currently all seemed normal, yet, danger lurked around. We communicated with our consumers in a low, reassuring, empathetic tone in order to assuage their anxiety. We did a second wave of communication around working with our consumers in helping them make sense of what was happening around. In some way, helping them resolve their emotions and steer them in a positive direction - hence we had a series of messages around what the consumers could do while they were stuck at home. There was no hard-sell of brand OLX. In a third wave, when we gathered that people had settled into a routine and come to terms with living in a lock-down, we wanted to help them get more comfortable with their living and working spaces. Hence the idea of decluttering. This is also when we talked of brand OLX. In the fourth way, we took the idea of decluttering further and helped the consumer with decluttering ideas around specific parts of their homes. Q. Have you observed consumer behaviour changing? With such a drastic change in lifestyle, there has definitely been a change in our behaviours as well. Some very defined trends have come up: Reliance on digital/ video based solutions: Instead of asking “Is there a reason to do this online?”, we are asking “Is there any good reason to do this in person?” Even local retailers are now offering ‘phygital’ stores and live-streaming as a concept has resurfaced again, back from the good-old days of ‘tele-shopping’ networks. A stark example of digital shift is seen in the auto industry. Even though it is a high ticket purchase, almost 70% of buying decisions are now taken online. Automobile brands are experimenting with new forms of content such as augmented reality, virtual reality and more. Similarly, in other categories too, brands will increasingly create digital touchpoints to move closer to their consumers and this will enable real-time conversations between both. Reduced discretionary spending and tendency to opt for affordable or alternative solutions hence propensity for pre-owned goods has been on the rise. People are increasingly wary of their expenses and have taken a conservative approach to the same. Consumers will weigh in their options before making a purchase and most of their purchases will be digitally-driven. This has translated into a strong growth for our pre-owned auto segment. Pre-owned cars are about 10%-50% cheaper than new cars hence as consumers look to up their hygiene quotient by shunning public transportation, pre-owned car demand has seen a multifold rise. Reframed meaning of home Spending extended periods of time at home has forced people to rethink their homes as spaces for working, relaxing and exercising, among other activities. Home takes on a whole new meaning as individuals and families figure out new ways to balance their work-life needs within the confines of their space. Going forward, we can expect setups at home that go far beyond a second screen. People will bring in special equipment, machines, and advanced video/audio setups to accommodate this change in lifestyle. Policies and new insurances will need to follow. Large packages are growing at an exponential rate, and we're going to continue to iterate in the space. Q. What are some things that you think will never be the same once we resume normalcy? Needless to say, some things will be forever impacted by the new habits that we have formed as consumers and the new innovations and pivots that corporations have subsequently made. Social distancing is here to stay for a long time to come at least until a vaccine is available. Humans by nature are social yet owing to social distancing there will be a marked reduction in the way consumers or brands interact with each other. Our entire societal ecosystem and relationships are built on trust which stems largely from in-person contact and communication and hence other ‘surrogates’ for trust would have to be developed. Consuming from the comfort of our homes is also a trend that will continue in a large way. These may include remote working and home shopping, which will drive opportunities for connectivity, distance learning, video conferencing, home office equipment, e-commerce, delivery services and the like. Travel is an area which will witness a profound impact as people would question if it's necessary to travel at all especially related to work. Only essential travel would be deemed suitable by users hence there would be decline in footfall in mass travel mediums and tourism related travel. Brands will increasingly grow conscious of their marketing spends and focus more on business continuity especially as more consumers move online and reinvention of business models for adapting the new normal will continue. Increasingly, we will see more brands come online and focus on the same as their primary marketing channels. Q. As markets open up, how are you ensuring that your consumers start trusting you? In the last 10 years, OLX has become synonymous with buying and selling anything online owing to which we have built a huge corpus of trust amongst consumers. As the markets open up, we have been advocating for the need to practice social distancing and practising right sanitization protocols for consumers via our marketing communication. On our retail front with <keyword id="8083535" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="olx-cashmycar">OLX CashMyCar</keyword>, we have resumed business as per government guidelines, across India albeit in a safe manner which would involve periodic sanitization of our retail centres and ensuring a safe and trustworthy retail experience for consumers. Our team members at our retail stores have been trained to follow the best possible sanitization protocols and adhering to the government guidelines to combat the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, we have also started home inspection services where we will offer inspection and procurement of the car for car sellers within the safe confines of their homes. Q. How do you see the e-comm sector shaping up? What would its future look like? Owing to the lockdown, e-commerce and online marketplaces has seen a boost. Once the lock-down ‘stabilized’ and ecommerce companies were in full swing, with the local physical stores being closed, there was an inevitable shift of consumers from offline to online. The pandemic has allowed buyers to throng to online marketplaces in order to cater to their needs. The transition is divided into three phases now, next and beyond, according to a recent report by EY. A quantum change will come when there is an increase in ecommerce sales in tier 2 and 3 towns, where digital consumption of content has increased but digital transactions are still low. Q. Has the current situation made you innovate and think out of the box, in terms of how you communicate with your consumers? Our communication has been driven by how we felt the consumers’ fears, anxiety, concerns, needs were playing on their minds during various phases of the lock-down. Our communication in India moved in four phases, almost in tandem with the phases of the central government’s lockdown. At the beginning, we advocated and educated our users on how to stay safe, keep their hygiene quotient up via creative communication tools such as images, gifs and videos. Across the second stage, we spoke about positivity and getting comfortable at home by using one’s time in activities such as reading, cooking, spiritual well-being etc. Subsequently, once consumers had settled into a routine and given our homes had become our sanctuaries, we spoke about decluttering and how it improves one's mental wellbeing. We did this sans any brand focus on OLX. The campaign centered around how decluttering could ameliorate the stress levels amongst users. Research has stated that a cluttered environment affects our efficiency and most households often have plenty of items they no longer use. By decluttering our environment, we are addressing how it helps alleviate accumulated levels of stress related to upkeep of the same. Thereafter, we gave specific decluttering tips, educating the user on how they could make the most out of the space and possessions they had. Additionally, we have also been focusing on highlighting positive stories around how consumers are using OLX to assist the most affected during COVID-19 via short films. We recently reached out to two lovely kids and their families on how they sold off their old toys on OLX to raise money for the PM cares fund. Marketing communication needs to be simple, positive and focus on giving hope to people amidst these testing times. Q. What does your media plan look like? Which medium gets your lion's share? As a digital-first brand, we have always had a major focus on digital media and ancillary focus traditional media. We have in the past leveraged traditional mediums such as television, OOH and radio. However, as digital usage has shot through the roof we have also been experimenting with new-age platforms. Right now, our focus is primarily on digital but we are not bound to the same. Prior to any campaign, we evaluate the best possible medium to reach out to the consumers and take a call on the same. Q. What are some of the key learnings from this experience? Key learnings are: <ul><li>Marketers should use their own moral compass in how they communicate with the consumer. </li><li>Keep the dialogue on - Brands should carry on communicating albeit in a sensitive manner.</li><li>Don't veer off track from your long term strategy - Even though the situation is extremely fluid brands shouldnt lose sight of their long term strategy. Brands should stick to their original purpose unless the circumstances have led to thought-through pivot in the business operations. </li></ul>

Marketers should use their own moral compass while communicating with consumers: Sapna Arora, OLX

<ul><li>The pandemic and lockdown period has brought many new learnings for all businesses, and e-commerce has undoubtedly been one of the sectors with the biggest takeaways.</li><li>As we enter a new year, we reached out to e-commerce platforms to understand what role it would play in 2022.</li></ul>The e-commerce segment has been witnessing a good growth over the last few years and has been showing no signs of slowing down in India. And why would it? Hasn’t shopping become so much easier now? We can buy anything, from groceries and perfumes to expensive jewellery, from the comfort of our homes. The pandemic further brought fundamental and long-term changes in the way people shop and make their purchase decisions. It has accelerated the industry’s growth in the country as historically offline shoppers also downloaded ecommerce apps onto their phones to shop from within the safety of their four walls. The past year and a half has brought millions of new e-commerce users, including from smaller cities and towns who now are comfortable with buying online. The industry has witnessed an uptick of 77% between 2020 and 2021 and Tier II, III cities are transacting more than ever, said a recent report by Bobble AI. This trend has pushed e-commerce platforms to embrace a wide range of regional brands and local sellers, which offer a compelling value proposition to consumers. With increasing internet penetration, e-commerce players are expecting new growth from Tier II, III and beyond, which will cumulatively contribute to $150 billion of e-commerce as per RedSeer Consulting’s report. The Indian market is expected to surpass the US to become the second-largest e-commerce market in the world by 2034, revealed another <a href="https://www.ibef.org/industry/ecommerce-presentation">report</a>. It is poised to reach US$99 billion by 2024 from US$30 billion in 2019, expanding at a 27% CAGR, with grocery and fashion becoming the key drivers of this incremental growth. As we enter a new year and e-commerce further expands its presence deeper into the country, we speak to a few e-commerce platforms to discuss what lies ahead, where would the second phase of growth come from and trends that would dominate the industry. Here’s what they had to say: <keyword id="1922572" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="manish-taneja" source="Orion">Manish Taneja</keyword>, Founder and CEO <keyword id="1688931" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="purplle-com" source="Orion">Purplle.com</keyword>: The year has witnessed major growth in the beauty ecommerce industry, ushering in the next year with great potential. In 2022, the emergence of virtual reality tools will fuel the industry. Offering virtual beauty experiences that seamlessly merge with an omni-channel approach will be the norm. Over the next year, we at Purplle will invest heavily in technology and data science advancements to further personalize customer experience. Natural, transparent beauty products, effortless shopping with shorter delivery times, data-based product development, and value-driven experiences, are some of the other trends that will emerge in 2022. Bharati Balakrishnan- Country Head and Director, Shopify India: The Indian ecommerce market will continue to evolve in 2022, with D2C brands taking centrestage, driven by growing consumer demand and local brands increasingly making ecommerce a priority. On the one hand, the new shopping habits formed over the past 18 months will become an important factor: consumers have embraced online shopping and are actively choosing small, independent brands. This means that D2C brands are here to stay, and we anticipate the emergence of a new generation of proudly Indian brands across food, fashion and lifestyle. Simultaneously, traditional brands and retailers who dominate offline are evolving to meet the demands of the new consumer - they are building to provide a consistent experience to their consumers across online and offline, and would like to use their own online stores to truly extend their brand promise to existing and new customers. It’s an exciting time to be a consumer brand in India Amit, CEO, <keyword id="9798181" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="olx-autos-india" source="Orion">OLX Autos India</keyword>: Rise of the prosumer: The many faces of personalisation With the majority of buyers now clearly preferring online shopping over the traditional format of in-store purchasing, the new trend is inclined towards the forward-thinking, influential and proactive prosumer. Personalisation of the products according to customers preference will be key in 2022. E-commerce marketers will need to integrate personalizing products through advanced technologies in order to provide tailor made and seamless customer experiences. In a cookie-less world, contextual marketing has reared its head in a big way. Targeting consumers has come of age - from category, to keyword, to semantic contextual targeting, now. Many more trends like crypto payments, and dynamic pricing will grow for pure-play retailers. But it is personalization for the prosumer that will chart the way forward. <keyword id="2227756" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="prabhkiran-singh" source="Orion">Prabhkiran Singh</keyword>, Founder CEO, Bewakoof: Live video commerce, Virtual trial rooms (or AR/VR driven fit assists), customized lifestyle products and 3D animated UX interactions are the key trends we expect to disrupt shopping experience in the coming year. Video or content commerce would be largely driven by influencer or user generated content. To drive scalability, there will be multiple SAAS companies launching solutions to simplify handshakes between brands and influencers in content acquisition, ingestion and performance driven payments space. Early movers in the space are Myntra Studio, <keyword id="8861782" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="trell" source="Orion">Trell</keyword> and Bewakoof Bshots. With large VC investments going into the Web 3.0 and metaverse space, a lot of the product cataloging problems around accurate sizing or fit assessment would become more trivial. We will see brands launching virtual trial rooms, 3D product shoots and fit assistants to bridge the gap between online and offline shopping experience. 3 out of 10 customers who shop on our platform would like to customize their product design and sizing. We see this as a growing trend that multiple brands will adhere to in the coming year. 3D and animated content will become a UX trend in the consumer internet industry. Animations used to be a hindrance to many designers and developers as they may slow the loading speed of websites or apps and it is data consuming. With 5G scaling up and 4G becoming a norm across the country, designers will chose to use more animations. Kashyap Vadapalli, Chief Marketing Officer &amp; Business Head, <keyword id="864887" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="pepperfry" source="Orion">Pepperfry</keyword>: ‘MarTech’, which essentially means amalgamation of marketing with technology, is the future of commerce where brands will run marketing in a digital and connected ecosystem to offer an immersive experience to their customers. With the advancement of technology in marketing, consumers are constantly looking for an enhanced buying experience. Thereby meaning, from 2022 onwards we will witness more technology integrated experiences like development of offline Virtual Reality shopping rooms for consumers. Since VR offers an immersive 360-degree perspective, products in virtual design, especially big-ticket items like furniture can be easily a luscious offering for customers who want an interactive experience with the product before making the decision, therefore, simplifying the buyer’s journey. Going forward, I believe, Martech will play a dominant role in the strategic priorities and investments of brands, pushing marketers to embrace digital operations and integrated customer experience. <keyword id="12792513" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="shubh-darpan" source="Orion">Shubh Darpan</keyword>, VP- BI &amp; Analytics, Cashify: From the trends we have seen over the past couple of years, we at Cashify believe that the demand for refurbished mobiles is here to stay. It started with the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns when having a mobile became a necessity. Refurbished devices such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc. were seen to be preferred by the Indian consumer. Mainly because of the economic aspect of it, the refurbished market has seen an upward motion in India. Moreover, with the shortage of chipsets, there have been fewer smartphone launches in recent times. This too has been a factor in pushing consumers towards refurbished mobiles. Refurbished smartphones offer an optimal and sustainable solution to today's tech-dependent world and we can see it going a long way. Gitanjali Saxena, Business Head - Global Luxury, Tata CLiQ Luxury <div type="image" title="Gitanjali Saxena, Business Head - Global Luxury, Tata CLiQ Luxury" msid="88446509" hostid="261"></div> Inherently, shopping is a social experience. As people continue to spend an increasing amount of time online and on social media, online shopping, which witnessed a huge boost because of the pandemic, is now also becoming social. Social shopping, which is already booming in countries like China, has been gaining momentum in India and will be a leading trend in the coming year. Engaging and immersive formats of selling, such as live commerce, will be at the forefront. In addition, AR and VR will play a crucial role in enhancing the online shopping experience, enabling more personalization, and targeting niche customers. Some of the biggest brands in the luxury fashion and beauty industries are working closely with social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat to leverage their capabilities of live streaming, in-app shopping, and augmented reality to offer an experience that every luxury customer desires. Snapchat has harnessed the power of technology and introduced an augmented reality lens that allows for a virtual try-on of products. Convenience, personalization, and a sense of community are some of the drivers fuelling the growth of social shopping. The advancement of technology is unlocking a slew of exciting opportunities in social shopping, including user-generated content, virtual product try-ons, direct interaction with brands and peers, and instant gratification. E-commerce platforms will reimagine their strategy to integrate social shopping elements by introducing innovative and engaging formats to bolster their reach and engagement with customers. With social shopping, e-commerce platforms can revolutionize the way people shop on their platforms by presenting a new way of shopping.

Ecommerce: The trends to watch out for in 2022

With the advent of digital technologies, leading brands and companies are now transitioning from traditional sales to digital marketing. This has created ample opportunities across new and emerging areas including online advertising, brand campaigning and social media marketing. Here a few of those opportunities for interested candidates. 1. LinkedIn Position: Digital Marketing Insights Analyst Location: Bangalore, India Experience: Minimum 6 years Eligibility: BA/BS Degree in Data Science/Analytics, Computer Science, Math, Marketing, Statistics, Economics LinkedIn is hiring full-time Digital Marketing Insights Analyst in Bangalore. The job’s responsibilities include analysing social media platforms, impart training on data-driven insights and data tools. To apply for the job, the candidate should have experience in SQL/ Presto/Hive/Pig/Python and knowledge of Tableau, Excel or PowerPoint. Interested candidates can apply<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/1430544270/?eBP=CwEAAAFstqRiwm6M5Iy7dvmpoiXDm9Kv5rqVJbx8YbuUyrADXThJqboUdmzCSVCUcVrw4SsoKy2xTwfqCDpMGItbILb0o8wQcYajY48mcNOHivZeuysV-3fWkKq84yvkp4PzSmcsL7R9Ec3mVWZxFxiSN04hHa_r7Ps5eOb1EsBv8QCSd-Gz_xYFWaInBhmfR7V3zJiBgAuq6ERrbT7w_WlWus26Gn33o4s4vyHu9B25wjhMfVqF5UHReZv8TQjFDi4gNpxW4YqTdEXZcONma5ooZmtFc6T-zBhDCEofHYZGY2ldLJ-x8QPiQShVrbIRiDFLcVTcYn90L_M4yU0ilrtGEFy_ksjSsGKaAi0Xdj7o9BwHImOxyXzTZjBUjXsdM5wb0Xy9Y0VvC3zBeQ&amp;recommendedFlavor=COMPANY_RECRUIT&amp;refId=0616e731-b234-4565-9d2d-dc9b5e154cea&amp;spSrc=CwEAAAFstqRi95i_b-XgqnrKXacjgioVIbCM04AYtih6pnocxs6Aw9NxJilZbPFb81FkAP3dyNmxERvSUHMyx0TDbfg&amp;trk=d_flagship3_search_srp_jobs"> here</a>. 2. <keyword id="6360657" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="olx">OLX</keyword> Group Position: Digital Marketing Lead Location: Bangalore, India Experience: Minimum 6 years Eligibility: Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Engineering degree, MBA from Tier 1 institutions OLX Group is hiring a team lead for digital marketing. The candidate will be responsible for outlining the strategy and run campaigns. He or she will also plan web, SEO/SEM, social media strategies and track conversions. Interested candidates must have at least 4 years of experience in digital marketing along with knowledge of analytics. Interested candidates can apply <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/1371626613/?alternateChannel=detail&amp;alternateCode=seturl&amp;eBP=CwEAAAFstqpDHH7AG2C2YM30P7FdzPddmnUiV_fLSCj3LKiCS9aduGD7KaW2BM9olNiPyY6ZrWzLUf5HRzClBFUlPOrnKYu4UVGXklxxsZgc4iYXrXXu2mKLljnNv-Ntf1pvjn7E6GBENvhj7KXqEKJPyWgdkkQFYmd2bSLISZaLRCzTBa0st1bb7lOClMxxK6DVzXwKyS7eb9OfhUkChpNR7YYVcTIg7sLvn71HSPODuSoqrileKSfXcQQRkIcGaO_tZTwZlfL7mQQ085dhR6-E2r4g7XLRqpJTCWR1d_HgnE2OQiG_CsB1o5cla9PDyxkDQNeogJwCbPndLwIT15w1KgPkrkU2&amp;recommendedFlavor=IN_NETWORK&amp;refId=c1eda8aa-a9e0-4cdb-b1e0-6094509c99ac&amp;trk=d_flagship3_job_details">here</a>. 3. Infosys Position: Digital Marketing Architect Location: Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai Experience: Minimum 8 years Eligibility: Engineering degree, MBA from Tier 1 institutions The applicants should have experience in marketing <keyword id="24019" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="automation">automation</keyword> and knowledge of Adobe cloud solutions, analytics and campaigns. The position requires experience in using technologies like Drupal, SharePoint and FileNet. The candidate should have skills in Big Data or Data Appliance Platform. Interested candidates can apply <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/1383153238/?alternateChannel=detail&amp;alternateCode=seturl&amp;eBP=CwEAAAFstqpDHNtAOEnzPLHO9c-ZGO4XWw4boXkUYGYsQ0ToZgWpoAXLKZV-XsF6Rb1-oBIend1CP6mBmOBZc4I0TqLmuOJRlyl9HXjwlAPgtVaD514u8A_FndSq4VWQI5JwzjChMINQMC6eBHI5ce9FM0xV1uj-pK4bpLjeUuXORkMDHYJIeWZ3gdEiVllsr8g_HLUVcOtZZAPw2w75JT01dbzKWvv32z0WlUnasfpdfGQ0FTO-piyyR4D4L05o_nSMCElTuWqeeHNZkwqd-hJ0jicSLaAE3brfD7cQzfa1xibJfzyWt7jWiI44YVhF5hEG9L_QfBRcQPbP1OZ7-6tJ_667Ewpk&amp;recommendedFlavor=HIDDEN_GEM&amp;refId=c1eda8aa-a9e0-4cdb-b1e0-6094509c99ac&amp;trk=d_flagship3_job_details">here</a>. 4. Accenture Position: Product - Digital Marketing, Product Management Location: Not specified Experience: Minimum 7 years Eligibility: Master’s in Digital Marketing, programming skills Technology major Accenture is looking for candidates for the digital marketing team. The role includes content and campaign management along with its analysis, working on advertising and promotion. Candidate should have knowledge of C-Suite, Technology Sales, Client Management, and Consultative sales. Interested candidates can apply <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/as-%E2%80%93-products-digital-marketing-content-management-7-at-accenture-in-india-1371666083/?utm_campaign=google_jobs_apply&amp;utm_source=google_jobs_apply&amp;utm_medium=organic&amp;originalSubdomain=in">here</a>. 5. WWF Position: Manager - Campaign and Communications Location: New Delhi, India Experience: Minimum 10 years Eligibility: Marketing or Communications degree WWF India, one of the leading environmental conservation platforms is hiring full-time manager for its communications team in New Delhi. The job’s responsibilities include development and broadcasting communication material and analysing data. To apply for the job, the candidate should have experience in problem solving and assessment, and management skills. Interested candidates can apply <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/1357429301/?alternateChannel=detail&amp;alternateCode=seturl&amp;eBP=CwEAAAFstrK38vAUQxEx3HYNaiW4UKZNL6wnnZo8O5h6gsV79W0X7f_PNdqdiFJqABa9fpBDTgX-G-eiQxCOeix1d2AW_M1BhUV14lPXZOsgVZUUDFQTcO4JoVK7Bf0RxtDbU0vqPnGUnXSJpelaJv8FpRrOJnV-MsKglmEn7dJFskRaM_tWiM6sHaSfqTAuLLV_w3haRAmrSuYjkTBLdUFT87Bne2EUq6G08iQdwrFI7DIIEusk3-fPgljpDhmtuoqh6TVUk8G140K_GR2UUz9B82SHklLp6QYXkbnCw8X09Cl1WoTnz8P_taBVf5asoRlWw7O2zdjfYwjxCLktNQIzhxe3Rwl0k-oH4G8NSe2RU7F7UfFDktY6xiblqGgWuZIn3-I&amp;refId=532cca77-6791-4a24-89b7-96be14860d3c&amp;trk=d_flagship3_job_details">here</a>.

Are you a Digital Marketing Specialist? Here are some latest opening in leading firms

<keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> hasn’t been in the pink of health for some time now. Industry watchers will find the latest developments in the company as no surprise that it is in the process of downsizing close to 1300 employees with an eye on cutting costs. While, the move hasn’t really been confirmed by the company, it comes as almost a given with how much it has been struggling to raise funds, with its bumper Rs 200 cr image makeover last November failing to hit the mark. As a direct result of the planned downsizing in human resources, the segments which will be affected the most include the marketplace health team from which around 38 people are allegedly being let off. The company has an estimated headcount of over 4,000 employees currently. 
 
It’s not that the company hasn’t tried hard to stay afloat in an increasingly predatory environment. Last year, Snapdeal offered flat Rs 10,000 off on iPhone7 and iPhone 7 plus for American Express credit card users, amongst many other such incentives to gain loyal consumers, the key to remaining alive. You may find the company at fault for downsizing, but they’re not. According to some investors that have been closely watching this whole scenario pan out, Snapdeal has two choices: 1) Try to compete with heavier discounts being doled out by larger competitors or 2) Just ignore the competition, which can never be done. Either way they’re losing their business. So, the question then is what are Snapdeal’s real pain points and is it alone in this fight? 
 It was while digging for these answers that <keyword id="824043" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Business-Insider">Business Insider</keyword> came upon a term repeatedly thrown at it to describe the real problem ailing India’s <keyword id="138263" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="startup">startup</keyword> ecosystem- <keyword id="4055995" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Capital-Dumping">Capital Dumping</keyword>. Experts, investors and the largest startup players in India, all seem to be in unison when they point the finger at these two words to describe what is really affecting not only their margins, but overall survival in the country. 
 
So, what is Capital Dumping and why is it such a big deal? 
 
Dumping, in reference to international trade, is the export by a country or organization of a product at a price that is lower in the foreign market than the price charged in the domestic market. 
 
When we ask, 'Can markets solve problems?' we should recollect our blind trust in the idea that only good will emerge when distinctive entities fight it out in the market. Market fundamentalism can be risky particularly if a few players have an unfair advantage (money muscle in this case). 
 
During researching this story, Business Insider spoke to multiple big investors and companies in the ecosystem. However, given the sensitivity of the topic, all of them requested anonymity. 
 
This is what one experts said: “On one hand we talk about the freedom in doing business, on the other hand we’re curbing that freedom by imposing regulations and saying we want a level playing field. If you want equality-- go be a social worker and not an entrepreneur. 
 
Another expert had a totally contrarian view: “Capital Dumping is true and it’s happening and no one is doing anything about it. The government is quiet; the CCI is not saying anything. The case clearly falls in the jurisdiction of CCI. Investors will stop investing in local companies, jobs will be lost, and economy of the country will be hurt. It’s high time we regulate the market or fail as a nation.” 
 
In that case, what is really happening on the ground? 
 
Impact on India’s buzzing eCommerce sector 
 
The eCommerce sector in India is rapidly growing. The internet business market was worth about $3.9 billion in 2009, it went up to $12.6 billion in 2013. In 2013, the e-retail fragment was worth US$2.3 billion. By 2020, India is required to generate $100 billion online retail income out of which $35 billion will be through design web based business. 
 
The brick and mortar retailer community has dependably been concerned about the infusion of foreign capital in eCommerce marketplaces in India and has persistently been blaming such eCommerce players for dumping foreign capital to offer disruptive prices with a goal to diminish healthy competition in the market. However, now even the domestic eCommerce players have begun raising a few eyebrows on the easy accessibility of foreign capital to the foreign eCommerce marketplaces operating in India and the hefty discounts and offers given by such marketplaces to the customers. 
 Experts, some of whom are known investors in startups, that Business Insider spoke to while digging into the matter said, “Unregulated markets can be anti-competitive, on the grounds that it gives a few players undue advantage. Take the instance of <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> and Uber. They have entry to almost unlimited finance and have allegedly been using that very power to stifle competition by giving products and services that are economically unviable even to them in the long term. While it may appear to be a good deal for the customers, it can be a bad deal for the country as a whole. These companies are operating on negative gross margin sales in India funded by positive gross margins abroad.” 
 
The Festive sale: Where discounts count more 
 An article published by a leading media house, stated that <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword> spent about half of what rivals such as Amazon India and Snapdeal did in promoting their recent sales events. “In its October 2-6 Big Billion Days (BBD), Flipkart sold 15.5 million units and raked in sales of about Rs 3,000 crore, the executives, quoted in that article, stated—marginally edging out arch-rival Amazon India which shipped 15 million units during a blockbuster sale that was easily the biggest showdown in the history of Indian e-commerce.” 
 
So, how does this phenomenon really work? A very clear example of that would be the case of a US-based startup, Diapers.com, which was taken off the market within a few months of its existence by Amazon, in what was allegedly a case of predatory pricing by the global eCommerce behemoth to acquire the startup. 
 
Diapers.com versus Amazon 
 
Diapers.com started as a diaper selling startup. They went on building their customer base and then went to other products. The company became such a success that even Amazon started taking notice. Amazon “supposedly” reduced their diaper prices by 20%, at the same time negotiating to buy out the company. The founder refused by giving a figure that was a hell lot more than it was valued ($3 billion). Retaliating, Amazon further reduced the prices of diapers by 50-60% on its platform. Now no negotiation could happen, since the diaper market as a whole had been disrupted by these ‘low prices’. Amazon eventually brought the company right on their knees and bought them at a very cheap price. 
 
We can take a gander at our own particular economic history. Indian textiles industry, for instance. It has a long history extending back to centuries and over years it had build up a rich assortment — also a thriving economy around it. However, amid the British period the whole sector was pushed to the brinks of extinction by the machine made garments imported from England. 
 
Amazon on the other hand maintains, “We continue to work towards creating a robust eco-system for the small businesses – we today have about 150k sellers on our platform, that grew 160% YoY, and we continue to enhance this eco-system with multiple India specific initiatives.” 
 
Ola versus Uber 
 
This state of existence doesn’t change much in the ride-hailing space, which has seen some of the biggest investments pouring in over the past few years. The problem, experts say is almost identical to what Flipkart or Snapdeal is facing, from let’s say with Amazon. While Ola may not face head-on competition from Uber in almost 85% of its markets, however, it faces stifling competition from Uber in 15% of its biggest markets that include cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, the biggest ride-hailing hubs for both the players. For Ola, much like Flipkart the key to continued existence has been investing in technology to make their limited resources work more effectively and efficiently. For instance, Ola introduced Select, their lighter version that runs on 2G internet and to help drivers and consumers in tier2 cities, they introduced 9 different languages on their platform. Ola has recently been on an overdrive hiring talent to develop innovative tech on their platform. However, the fear that their global competitor might throw in a few extra bucks and make a killing in hiring good tech developers always rings loud, as does the fear of what else those extra bucks can do. 
 
Is Modi’s Startup India-Standup India at risk, then? 
 
The experts that BI spoke to have a clear point to make here. They say, “Modi's Startup India Standup India initiative is probably not going to succeed and India's startup ecosystem won't ever take off, if a dumping-like strategy can be utilized against Indian startups. We're seeing a couple of self assumed economists and pundits deriding the idea of controlling the market. To make it clear very clear, this is not an employment pitch." 
 An expert from one of Bangalore’s biggest investment firms said, “If India's largest web firms flop, accordingly a huge number of jobs won't be created. It is interesting to note here that Chinese web firms have created over 2 million occupations. In India <keyword id="6360657" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="OLX">OLX</keyword> has 300 representatives to Quikr's 2,700; Uber has 1,500 workers to Ola's 5,000 (2015).” 
 
Why are Investments hurting? 
 So what is it that investors look at when pouring in the much required moolah into these internet companies? Some experts say, “Allowing a dumping-like strategy could make foreign interest in Indian-tech fall. In China after the government prohibited certain MNCs, foreign interest in web boomed (2004–2014: generally $200 billion) through investments into Chinese firms. When a big tech-company starts to flounder, investors, currently all foreign in nature, start pulling back to a wait-and-watch approach to see if the company can ride out the tough time. That is exactly what is happening in the Indian scenario today. As Snapdeal, Flipkart and Ola struggle to raise funds, all investors, even those with equity in those companies such as Tiger Global, <keyword id="270604" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sequoia">Sequoia</keyword> and even Soft Bank are choosing to sit this one out, for a clear winner to emerge, on whom then the big bets will be made.” 
 
The Vital Stats of the Big Fish 
 
<a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/earnings/amazons-net-loss-from-india-business-widens-to-rs-1724-crore-even-as-sales-jump-six-fold/articleshow/50710173.cms">Amazon</a>’s losses in India jumped up from Rs 1,724 crore in the year ago period, while revenue more than doubled to Rs 2,275 crore, up from Rs 1,022 crore in financial year 2014-15. The figures are from documents filed with the Registrar of Companies. 
 
Amazon India's biggest vendor in the country, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Amazon-Indias-biggest-vendor-posts-sales-of-over-Rs-1000-cr-loss-of-Rs-32-cr/articleshow/50392049.cms">Cloudtail India</a>, which sells around 10% of Amazon India's products posted a sales of Rs 1,145 crore in 2014-15 After Cloudtail's sales, it can be said that Amazon India garnered more than Rs 10,000 crore in sales this fiscal 
 
<a href="http://trak.in/tags/business/2016/08/27/uber-financial-losses-india-2016/">Uber</a> has already lost a whopping $1.3B in the first half of 2016! Uber <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2014/11/26/uber-is-literally-sucking-the-money-out-of-its-rivals-in-india/">raised</a> $1.2 billion in funding in June, so you might justifiably ask why it is reportedly closing in on $1 billion more less than six months later. The answer may just be an aggressive international expansion in Asia, with a particular focus on India, given how they exited their other big Asian bet-China. 
 
<a href="http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/sme/snapdeal-plans-to-layoff-1300-employees-will-assess-resources_8479321.html">Snapdeal</a> plans to lay off 1,300 employees, will assess resources 
 
Amazon India lead the loss tally in 2016 followed by <a href="http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/sme/flipkart-leads-loss-tally2016-followed-by-amazon-snapdeal_8290461.html">Flipkart</a>, Snapdeal at Rs 3, 572 crore. Amazon India spent heavily on marketing, discounts and tech infrastructure. 
 
<a href="http://www.bloombergquint.com/business/2017/02/08/softbank-records-dollar355-million-loss-on-snapdeal-ola-investments">SoftBank</a> Records $351-Million Loss on Snapdeal, Ola Investments 
 
Last word 
 
Experts say, “The lack of regulation in the marketplace can cause serious damage to the country.” Take China for example, they banned foreign internet companies to reach $1 trillion in market value. Take Europe on the other hand, they allowed internet companies to enter and do whatever they want, to reach $50 billion only. 
 Uber tried to establish its market in China, they did succeed to a limit, but when you have to run a company in China or Russia, you’ll need the support of the politburo. And the Politburo always prioritizes their own national company over any other. Investors too favoured the local ride-hailing service of ‘<keyword id="3141620" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Didi-Chuxing">Didi Chuxing</keyword>’ and it overtook Uber. UberChina spent more than $1 billion over the past three years, still government regulations and the startup community as a whole went on favouring the local company. 
 
In the case of India, experts believe that while there should be a level playing field, it is very important for India to come up with its own set of Government-owned or backed funds that will make the money available to players when in need. 
 
Alternatively, the question arises if India needs an anti-dumping law or regulation to provide governing rules in relation to dumping or utilization of foreign capital by internet companies in India? India is currently progressing towards opening-up the market further for foreign investors. Will a stage towards setting up of a regime to check or force conditions on utilization of overseas capital be dynamic or digressive? 
 
Many investors and entrepreneurs of the country are genuinely worried about the level of playing field and most of all, the capital dumped by these foreign companies in their Indian counterparts. They say, “This dumping of capital is becoming a huge factor for unemployment in the country (automation still stands the first) and in the long run it’ll be heartbreaking for the economy.” 
 
Some experts say, “There are concerns raised about capital dumping by large foreign companies to the detriment of Indian startups. It has set off an extreme debate in the Indian startup ecosystem.” Some are contending that companies, for example, Amazon and Uber had unfair advantage over their Indian competitors, for example, Snapdeal, Flipkart and Ola. Others argue that this is the way free markets work — and any intervention by the government would just make things worse for the consumer at large. 
 
Business Insider’s Take 
 
While we believe in the existence of a level-playing field that creates ‘good’ competition, the rising examples and connotations towards capital dumping in the ecosystem cannot be ignored. While foreign investors are largely to be credited for the Indian startup ecosystems’ thriving so far, what is also alternatively happening is that its single point focus on ‘winning models’ has stifled innovation that is truly required to ‘solve real Indian problems’. Should then the Government flex its muscles a little more? Well, no. The government has never done any good any time it has meddled in business. What is required is a healthy mix of foreign and Indian investors that will hedge a bet not only on models that have been tried and tested, but will also show faith in the really innovative ones that will do the economy a huge favour.

BI Investigation: Is ‘Capital Dumping’ killing Indian
Startups?

The trend started February this year with the exclusive launch of <keyword id="6374435" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Moto-G">Moto G</keyword> on Flipkart.com. The smartphone’s two versions were launched; 16 GB and 8 GB, and all 16 GB units were gone after 15 minutes of the launch all. And in few hours all 20,000 Moto G units (including 16GB as well as 8GB) were sold out. This was not technically a flash sale, though it seemed like one with phones getting sold out so quickly. 
 This ‘online only’ exclusive model was soon followed by many other brands including China’s <keyword id="874458" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Xiaomi">Xiaomi</keyword>. And unlike <keyword id="11148" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Motorola">Motorola</keyword>, Xiaomi had taken the path of flash sales. The brand launched Mi3, its first model in India on 22 July exclusively on Flipkart.com. All the units were sold in 40 minutes flat. The <a href="http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/xiaomi-flipkart-confirm-20000-mi-3-smartphones-sold-thus-far-in-india-567944">second batch</a> of Mi 3 handsets took 5 seconds, the third took just 2 seconds, the fourth batch was claimed to be sold in 2.4 seconds, fifth batch in 2.3 seconds and the sixth one in 2.4 seconds. Phew. Wasn’t this super quick? 
 
This September, Xiaomi announced its second model Redmi 1S and have had 3 flash sales of the model till date. Every time the products went out of stock under 5 seconds. These flash sales have created quite a buzz but not everything is good about it. Let’s take a look and understand what’s happening at this flash sale where products are getting sold in less than a few seconds. 
 
Great features for steal price or the ‘lottery’ factor Both Xiaomi Mi3 and Redmi 1S models offer great features at a very competitive price. After the success of Moto G, <keyword id="2206516" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Moto-E">Moto E</keyword> and Moto X the Indian consumers started looking at online as a serious platform for buying phones. When Xiaomi’s Mi3 was launch, consumers compared the features and eagerly lapped up the product and this was quite a surprise for the company too. News reports claim that the company had less than 10,000 units for the first sale on 22nd July, 2014. Thus, the product getting sold out completely in 40 minutes was encouraging yet not a very big deal. 
 
The industry reports claim that the Mi3’s first flash sale had 1 lakh unit registrations. The other flash sales have had similar numbers about 20,000 units of Mi3 were on sale against registration of 2, 50,000 for the sixth Mi3 flash sale. 
 
With such a huge gap of demand and supply, there is a lottery factor involved. Getting a Xiaomi phone makes consumers feel like winning a lottery and make many desire it. This lottery factor has certainly pushed the demand for Xiaomi smartphones in India. 
 
Angry customers and black market sales: Threat to the brand 
Well, the lottery factor certainly pushes the demand for Xiaomi phones further and makes the product more desirable in consumers’ eyes. But unfortunately, this flash sale model leaves consumers angry, dissatisfied and disgruntled, which is not good for the brand. Just look at the Xiaomi phone registrations and number of units sold; the gap is so huge. 
 
Some competitive handset manufacturers and experts are calling Xiaomi’s strategy nothing but a PR stunt to get attention. What’s unfortunate is that it may actually create buzz around the brand, but with so many angry and disgruntled customers the brand has a lot more to lose. 
 
What’s even worse is that the demand and supply gap is also leading to black market sales. Several people are just buying these smartphones only to resell them at a higher price. Check out OLX. The re-selling prices are often Rs 1,500-2,000 higher than the original. This again will have a bad impact on the brand in the long run. 
 
Lack of supply: Truth or just a gimmick? 
In several news reports, the company has quoted that it is trying to meet the demand. What we can’t comprehend is that if they have sold about 95,000 units of Mi3 in just one and a half months, what stops them from selling the same amount in two to three sales. 
 
For instance, the company got 40,000 units of Redmi 1S as against 2 lakh registrations in first flash sale in September first week. Next week again, it brought 40,000 units against a registration of three lakh consumers. And in the third week of September they again sold just 40,000 units. Now, if the company can get 1, 20, 000 units in three weeks, why can’t they bring all in one go to ensure demand is met. 
 
The question of losing credibility 
Contrary to this, Motorola that sold Moto G (16 GB) units in 15 minutes in the first sale in February, focused on demand forecast and ensuring that appropriate inventory is available. The company got ample units for the much-hyped Moto G second generation that was launched earlier this month and the product is available on Flipkart since then. No crazy flash sale approach. That’s what gives credibility to a brand, unlike a ‘flash sale’ model; consumers can associate it with unreliability. This unreliability and loss of credibility becomes even worse if the product is available in black market for sale. 
 
If Xiaomi wants to succeed in future, it should reconsider its ‘flash sale’ strategy or else get ready to face the repercussion.

Flash Sale Strategy Is Suicidal In The Long Run

<ul><li>While the ad industry has a lot of womentoday, many drop out by the time they reach mid-management levels, primarily due to the lack of flexible hours, or the flexibility to work from home.</li><li>The women leaders we spoke to believe organizations need to prioritize training more women, to prepare them for leadership roles, and this should be a part of the company’s culture.</li><li>There is also a need to relook at the way employee’s performances are evaluated, coming up with newer ways of assessing talent in a time where the way of doing business has seen a complete overhaul.</li></ul> In late 2019, a report by Credit Suisse stated that women’s representation in boardrooms in India increased only by 4.3% between 2014 and 2019. The report further stated that the current female representation on boards is only 15.2% which invariably led to dialogues around the conspicuous lack of women leaders in the upper rungs of the corporate world. Having said that, the world of advertising, marketing and media is one industry that has seen a lot of women in roles of leadership. While we are still far from an equal man-woman ratio in the industry, it is heartening to see more and more women take the top spots. Conversations with most women leaders from the industry led us to believe that this is an industry that welcomes women to be a part of the workforce. However, it is during their mid-career levels that a lot of women drop out of the workforce, leading to a dip in women who take up higher positions. We reached out to some of the most influential women in the industry currently, to gauge what are the reasons for these drop-outs, and what needs to be done, as an industry as well at individual organizational levels, to ensure that women are retained, and even if they drop-out, are encouraged to rejoin the workforce. We received an overwhelming response to our queries from across the sector from women who made some really compelling points. These women who feel passionately about the subject laid their hearts bare, telling us ways they think the industry can evolve, to become more inclusive. Here are some of the most prominent voices. Building a culture of inclusivity It is often noticed that while a lot of women are joining the workforce, many of them take the decision of quitting once they decide to get married or decide to have children. Many find it difficult to come back, due to the lack of flexible working hours at their workplaces, or even due to a certain amount of judgment where people look at them a little differently after they come back from a long break. Most of the women leaders we spoke to believe that the work culture needs to evolve a little, to make way for such women, giving them the flexibility that many of them need, once they start a family. <keyword id="4356726" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="srija-chatterjee">Srija Chatterjee</keyword>, Managing Director, Publicis Worldwide, India shared that while a few corporates have started giving some assistance to women, the ad industry hasn’t yet started doing that actively. “As an industry, we have woken up to women leaders and we are trying to make things happen for women, to make sure that they don't jump off from the workforce. However, there's still a long way to go. The biggest reason women stop working is when they get into that life stage of having children. A lot of corporates are today providing strong support, through office crèches or flexi-timing options. That has not yet happened in our industry. From a business perspective, the size of our agencies might not be that big, which makes implementing this a bit of a challenge. But the more and more we get into a group structure, and offices become more centralized, it will enable organizations to look at shared resources to help women pursue their passion. This is something that could be done, but has not been done yet.” A lot of times, there is also a lot of judgement involved when women come back to work after a long break. Delving deeper into the need for a change in attitude, Pallavi Chakravarti, Executive Creative Director, Taproot Dentsu said, “You’ve been out of the scene way too long - you can’t expect the salary that you do after the kind of leave you’ve taken - but won’t your attention be divided now?” These are just some of the things women hear when they are seeking to make their way back into the workforce, post a long gap. Of course, this is not a blanket statement - times are changing, mindsets are changing, as are corporate policies. But if companies truly want to be gender-neutral then statements and questions like the ones I’ve cited above would never be heard again. Additionally, flexible working hours, working from home, working on time-bound projects are all steps that more and more organisations can adopt to ensure equal opportunities. And when I say equal, I mean that these options should be made available to both men and women. Shedding some light on how OLX is working on retaining some of its women, Sapna Arora, Chief Marketing Officer, OLX India said, “Setting the right example of favourable work culture much suited to women, not just in terms of facilities and infrastructure, but also in terms of broadening our thinking within an organization across various levels, is the key to inspire women working population to join the workforce and perform better. OLX, as an organization, is working on taking baby steps in creating empowering workplace for women. A couple of years ago, we at OLX embarked on a journey to evaluate the gender diversity ratio and actively worked to encourage more women in roles such as data scientists, engineers, front line sales and more. This is a conscious choice we have made under our global diversity and inclusion programme which seeks to improve the gender ratio across STEM and leadership roles.” Talking about the need to prioritize diversity in leadership, Emrana Sheikh, Enterprise HR Head for India and South Asia – Johnson &amp; Johnson said, “Today, companies are increasingly equating their C-suite diversity to competitive advantage for their businesses – and rightly so, it leads to robust dialogue, richer decisions and the empathy to design good, and human-centered solutions. For organizations looking for a paradigm shift in their work cultures, C-suite diversity sets an example for the rest of the team. At the basic level, it can be a source of inspiration that resonates down to the front-line staff. This is only possible when diversity in the leadership is prioritized and its long-term implementation is ensured at all levels through intentionality and focused talent management. Internal platforms such as Diversity &amp; Inclusion Council and Employee Resource Groups further drive culture strategies from a variety of lenses, championing inclusivity as a collective goal across levels. An inclusive culture transcends barriers, bias and bureaucracy, and makes the employees truly feel that they belong. All around, women are a critical mass of consumers, influencers, stakeholders and communities. Hence, reflection of the same in organizations is a business imperative.” Sharing a similar sentiment, Neena Dasgupta, CEO and Director, Zirca Digital Solutions added, “Organizations need to ensure that women in the workplace are respected and recognized.For women to thrive in the workplace, organizations need to ensure an environment that is rooted in equal opportunity and a culture that is geared to assist women achieve their goals.” Sharing some tips on a few things that can be done at the organization level to help women continue to be a part of an organization, Ayesha Ghosh, General Manager, Taproot Dentsu added, “Younger women need to see older women in positions of influence. Flexible working hours and working from home might be a challenge in an industry that’s made a virtue of unreasonable working hours but we ought to be non-negotiable about starting early, cutting idle chatter, short lunch breaks and everything else that helps finish work early so that parents (and everyone else, really!) get to spend some time with their families. Ingraining fundamental values will go a much longer way than making token gestures. Enforcing paternity leave, for instance, so that the onus of child-rearing is not on the mother alone. When a parent, regardless of gender is expected to manage time such that they are responsible for their work as well as for their families, everyone will automatically spend less time on idle chatter and work a lot more efficiently.” An organization's culture also needs to have empathy at its foundation, shared Oindrila Roy, Head of Strategy, India, Essence, to make a difference. "As with any type of workforce integration, empathy should be the edifice on which workplaces are designed to integrate and retain both women and men more seamlessly. For women, it starts with stepping into her shoes, evaluating challenges from her point of view and arriving at solutions which are conducive. For example, an online survey conducted by JobsForHer found that 38% of women do not return to the workforce after giving birth, due to the lack of good day care for children. If that is the challenge, companies need to think of solving this problem innovatively - can the organisation collaborate with a nanny service provider to avail reliable childcare options to its employees? Reassured and empowered parents are likely to stay in the workforce longer." Modifying existing performance benchmarks Rubeena Singh, CEO, iProspect India believes that there is a need to relook at the performance benchmarks on which employees are evaluated. “In the middle years, I often see that we are trying to evaluate people on certain benchmarks. The criteria for these performance indicators have been put in place years ago when it was a largely male-dominated workforce. Things like 8 hours of work, or work in office, or if you want a senior position, you should have worked in different geographies etc. But sometimes, for women, it becomes very difficult to be mobile and move to different parts of the country, especially once they get married. As an industry, we really need to re-evaluate the criteria. We should look for quality now, if people are curious, if they are team-players, how innovative and out-of-the-box can they think. If these changes are brought about, a lot of women will find it easier to catch up from where they left, even if they are coming back after a long break.” Treating both men and women as equals at the workplace A lot of women leaders feel that there is an immediate need to start looking at both men and women as equals in the workspace and not differentiate on the basis of gender. Lara Balsara Wajifdar, Executive Director at Madison World said, “We need to look at women leaders as leaders first and not as women leaders. Don’t differentiate us on the basis of our gender, but differentiate us on the basis of our work! Our industry is always hungry for good talent and if the talent is good, the agency will always accommodate personal requests as long as the work is not affected.” Many also feel the starting point is to start a conversation, where both the genders are treated as equal participants. “<keyword id="6372584" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="gender-equality">Gender equality</keyword> is not just a women’s issue, it’s a human rights issue – that extends to all realms, including the workplace. To encourage equality across all lines of command in the workplace and have more women leaders, we need more men to be equal participants in the conversation around gender equality. Having the male workforce as partners can bring empowerment and equal respect among all genders. Global change-making initiatives like the UN’s ‘He for She’ Movement, of which I am a strong advocate, have been setting strong examples for people of all genders to take bold steps in solidarity and are working towards a gender-equal world,” said <keyword id="235731" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nadia-Chauhan">Nadia Chauhan</keyword>, JMD &amp; CMO, Parle Agro. Pointing out to some things that need to be done at an organizational level, Rishika Lulla Singh, CEO Eros Digital at Eros International said, “There needs to be a cultural shift and change at workplaces to eradicate gender inequality and retain women employees. It is about time that companies consider deserving women for higher level positions and evaluate their performance sans bias. If there are more women leaders out there at the top positions, it gives a sense of confidence to the global sisterhood with strong role models. It is essential that companies organize mentorship programs to break the stereotype of what a man and a woman can or should do. There are several ways to retain a woman employee at work, but we also need to encourage more women to join the workforce. Equal pay, ensuring all voices are heard and feeling valued, creating safe work environment, etc. are all the least we can do.” Pooja Jauhari, CEO, The Glitch put it rather succinctly in her three-point recommendation on how to retain women. She said, “Firstly, treat your entire talent base with gender blindness. Best person for the job. Without over-thinking their family, marital, ‘emotional’ status. Just get the right person for the job. Secondly, allow your talent to align personal and professional goals and build a support system for them to come back to the same position at work after a break (marriage| child birth) and lastly, stop saying a certain gender matters more, prove by example by showing gender balance across functions.” Training young employees to think of themselves as leaders There is also a need for seniors to build an environment of motivating young women while also making them aware of their potential as future managers, shared Sujata Dwibedy, Group Trading Director, Ampilifi India. She said, “This question is asked to mostly senior women but ideally, both senior men, women and the entire team should be equally responsible to motivate the young, efficient women. The entire organisation gains if they can train and then retain competent women leading up to a management role. It is critical to show them advancement opportunities and their growth path. Policies might have to be tweaked but if it benefits all, it should not matter. Building an inclusive workplace, an organisational environment that values diversity not just for the sake of appearances but for the competitive edge that comes with access to multiple perspectives would make a difference.” There are a lot of internal barriers that women have to cross and training them to believe in themselves could help in ensuring they make it to the top. <keyword id="346168" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lulu-Raghavan">Lulu Raghavan</keyword>, Managing Director, Landor Associates said, “Even before thinking of getting more women leaders, we have to think of how we can create a better working place holistically. Secondly, you have to ensure that women at the top, doing good work get the visibility. It starts with the leadership, company philosophy and culture. You’ve got to find them and put them on the top because deserving women do exist. You can’t give us an excuse that there aren’t any women relevant for the top positions. A lot of training has to be done with women themselves; there are a few external barriers such as company policies, work environment, how other people behave towards you, and there are internal factors, which we women have set up through the years. It is the lack of self-confidence, self-doubt and imposter syndrome. We women have to be trained to be leaders. It should be different from the overall management chain because it is decades of social conditioning that companies have to break when women join them. “ Anita Kotwani, Senior Vice President, New Business, Mindshare added, “The industry needs to first acknowledge that Woman leaders can deliver as well as their male counterparts for senior-level roles. The grooming required should be done for the role and not the gender. If that happens you will see the necessary shift with more woman leaders leading the mantle.” Sharing her optimism about the future where she envisions more and more women to be on the top, Kranti Gada, COO Shemaroo Entertainment said, “A few years ago, I participated in a program called ‘Tanmatra’ organized by IIM Bangalore, to help develop and groom fellow women counterparts for about 9 months and the stories I heard about the differences in opportunities shocked me a little. I was happy to be at Shemaroo, where we have seen women in key roles leading from the front and managing the core business with ease and expertise. While the ratio of women is a little skewed in the industry, the gender gap is narrowing, and we will see more women taking charge in future in every field.”

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