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Spotify to Swiggy: Do you know the people behind your favourite apps?

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Lawmakers introduced a new bill that could give peer-to-peer payment app users more protection.</li><li>The bill aims to increase banks' liability for helping consumers resolve fraud disputes.</li></ul>Consumers <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/is-zelle-safe">defrauded while using Zelle</a> or other peer-to-peer payment apps might have increased reimbursement protections under a new bill introduced by Democrats in Congress on August 2.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zelle-fraud-scam-swimming-pool-online-payment-apps-mobile-banking-2023-10">Zelle</a> partners with over 2,100 financial institutions and is used by major banks like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase to facilitate direct money transfers between accounts. Consumers and small businesses <a target="_blank" href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/zelle-soars-with-806-billion-transaction-volume-up-28-from-prior-year-302077432.html">sent $806 billion</a> across 2.9 billion Zelle transactions in 2023, both up 28% from 2022.Meanwhile, apps like Venmo — which is owned by PayPal — also provide quick ways to send money electronically. Over 2 million merchants accept Venmo, and there are over 90 million user accounts, according to the company's website.Zelle and other payment app transactions are typically irreversible, meaning if someone accidentally sends money to a scammer, they can't always get it back. Consumers reported losing $210 million to scams across all payment apps in 2023, according to<a target="_blank" href="https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/federal.trade.commission/viz/FraudReports/FraudFacts"> data from the Federal Trade Commission</a>.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/banking/zelle-scams">Fraudsters often use methods</a> like email phishing links or posing as bank employees and calling users to get them to send money via payment apps.The Protecting Consumers from Payment Scams Act, proposed by Rep. Maxine Waters, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, aims to increase financial institutions' liability for helping consumers resolve instances of fraud disputes."Fraudsters are using every trick in the book to steal money from hardworking consumers through payment apps like Zelle, Venmo, or old-fashion bank wire transfers," Waters said in a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-warren-and-waters-introduce-legislation-to-protect-consumers-from-payment-scams">statement</a>. "That's why it is absolutely critical that we move quickly to modernize our consumer protection laws to reflect the realities of today's payment systems."<h2 id="5219d26d-a9b9-41b9-8802-9395d0371e1b">Protecting consumers against fraud</h2>Under existing federal law, consumers are reimbursed for unauthorized transactions, like purchases on a stolen credit card. However, getting money back that was sent through Zelle or other payment apps is much more difficult.That's because when money is voluntarily sent, even accidentally, it's classified as an authorized purchase. For example, Zelle says to treat the service like how you would <a target="_blank" href="https://www.zellepay.com/pay-it-safe/zeller-safety-101#:~:text=And%20if%20you%20send%20money,to%20the%20money%20you%20send.">give someone cash</a>, and to only send money to people you trust.The new <a target="_blank" href="https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-warren-and-waters-introduce-legislation-to-protect-consumers-from-payment-scams">bill</a> aims to amend the law to make banks more liable for all financial transactions, whether they're authorized or unauthorized.Specifically, the proposed bill would update the 1978 Electronic Fund Transfer Act, which regulates electronic money transfer protections. It would require financial institutions to share liability when consumers are defrauded and clarify consumer protections for bank wire and electronic transfers.<h2 id="2244dc9a-dff5-4548-9183-7c93ae71e867">Zelle is coming under increased scrutiny</h2>The bill comes after lawmakers' increased scrutiny of Zelle and several banks' approach to fraud cases.In recent months, Blumenthal led a Senate investigation into how Zelle, Bank of America, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo handled fraud cases.The investigation's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/27/50/85f89a22450ca7b726b58982aaf0/2024-7-23-zelle-report-final.pdf">report</a> found that in 2023, JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo reimbursed consumers for 38% of fraud disputes, leaving over $100 million unreimbursed. That's less than the 62% of fraud disputes the banks reimbursed in 2019, according to the report.On July 23, executives from Zelle, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and JPMorgan defended their fraud dispute policies and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/subcommittees/investigations/hearings/instant-payments-instant-losses-zelle-and-the-big-banks-fail-to-protect-consumers-from-fraud/">testified</a> before the Homeland Security &amp; Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is chaired by Blumenthal.Cameron Fowler, the CEO of Early Warnings Services, the company that owns and operates Zelle, said that reports of fraud on Zelle decreased between 2022 to 2023 while the platform increased the volume of transactions.Over 99.95% of all Zelle transactions in 2023 were completed without instances of fraud, according to Zelle."Although we're proud of our efforts, we can't do it alone," a spokesperson for Early Warning Services said in a statement to Business Insider. "We encourage lawmakers to do more to support law enforcement and efforts to educate consumers to reduce financial crime."In an August 2 SEC <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://jpmorganchaseco.gcs-web.com/static-files/152bd589-94d1-4551-9f6e-8fb11cdefd60">filing</a>, JPMorgan said it is responding to inquiries from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau about payments through Zelle. A spokesperson for JPMorgan told Business Insider it was considering its options against the CFPB's inquiries, including litigation.On August 5, Blumenthal announced that he was calling on the CFPB to investigate Zelle, JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo for their practice of resolving fraud disputes."The three banks' circuitous answers to questions regarding whether they have ever had a third-party review of their dispute resolution processes further increased our concerns that, not only has such a review never occurred, but that the opaque processes applied by these banks are being used to deny rightful claims," Blumenthal wrote in a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-calls-on-cfpb-to-investigate-zelle-and-big-banks-for-mishandling-fraud">statement</a>.It is now up to the CFPB to decide whether or not to investigate. The CFPB declined to comment on Blumenthal's announcement.In the meantime, the Protecting Consumers from Payment Scams Act will go to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs for review.Have you been the victim of a scam through Zelle or another payment app? Were you reimbursed? This reporter wants to hear your story. Please reach out at <a target="_blank" class="" href="mailto:jtowfighi@businessinsider.com">jtowfighi@businessinsider.com</a>.

Consumers reported losing $210 million to scams across payment apps last year. A new bill wants to help future victims get their money back.

<ul><li><keyword id="9648465" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="sima-taparia">Sima Taparia</keyword> from Mumbai is back and she’s telling fortune again. This time, it is with <keyword id="8681398" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Urban-Company">Urban Company</keyword> and the audience is loving it.</li><li>Tarun Menon, Director Marketing, Urban Company takes us behind the platform's latest influencer marketing campaign with Sima Taparia, shares the thought behind partnering with her and larger goals for this year.</li></ul>Last year, Netflix's Indian Matchmaking introduced India and the world to ace matchmaker Sima Taparia and she quickly became one of the most talked about character from a reality show. The first season ended in July 2020 but the audience hasn’t stopped stanning over Sima Taparia yet. Sima gained instant popularity among millennials and Gen Z and never faded away from the news cycle. Over the past year, brands like Burger King, Tinder, Asian Paints flocked to partner with the internet sensation, who recently starred in Big Boss OTT. Meanwhile, brands are still not over her. Recently, she featured in a campaign for home service and grooming platform, Urban Company. Before Netflix renewed Indian Matchmaking for season 2, Urban Company’s Align your Stars campaign with Sima Taparia generated a lot of chatter on social media. It helped the brand garner 4.5+ million views in less than a week. <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> Telling us why Sima was the perfect match for this campaign, Tarun Menon, Director Marketing, Urban Company said, “Sima enjoys cult-like status and is best known for matchmaking based on the stars. She was one of the most talked about people online in 2020. It was a punt – to see if the choice of influencer and content could drive engagement for the campaign.” “The videos themselves have been well received across social media with people relating, reacting and engaging with the content - and has given us learnings to bake into our next campaign,” added Menon. Its marketing objective was to create buzz ahead of the launch of Big Home Rush, an Urban Company sale property. To further spread awareness around its discounts and gain new customers, Urban Company partnered with 14 different young influencers such as Kusha Kapila, Vishnu Kaushal, Mallika Dua, to mention a few, to create content for each zodiac sign. The underlying message of each piece was to encourage consumers to join Urban Company’s Big Home Rush sale. Launched in January 2021, the Big Home Rush sale has become extremely popular with consumers. Even in the ongoing second edition, the company has already delivered close to 500,000 services, witnessing high demand from cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Pune, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad and more. Sharing why it chose influencer marketing to promote its sale, Menon said, “With other media formats driving awareness, the influencer leg sought to create engagement and conversation around the sale, in a way that’s native to the platform (Instagram). We’d observed that in the last 2 months, sun-sign based content was growing in volume, engagement and traction - as people tag their friends and conversation flows organically.” Before Sima Taparia, Urban Company’s partnership with yesteryear’s TV stars such as Rupali Ganguly as Monisha Sarabhai and Komalika also received a positive response from its audience. The idea behind casting such a unique set of stars, from Sima to Monisha, was to find women who can express shock and help open a door for them in the regional markets. “These content pieces were part of a larger campaign for Salon Classic - a newly launched category that offers salon quality services at unbelievable prices. Our intent in partnering with influencers and content creators was to integrate the key message - salon services at unbelievably low prices - into content &amp; culture. It made sense to partner with influencers best known for expressing shock – Hindi TV celebrities with a cult following for the roles they play. We further extended this concept to regional TV artists as well, to build relatability for regional audiences. We are looking to attract new customers and engage existing consumers through this campaign,” shared Menon. Due to the global pandemic, Urban Company has seen an uptick in the demand for home cleaning and hygiene services as people are becoming more health-conscious. The app had become quite popular for its home repair and salon services before the pandemic broke out. However, people have been wary about letting outsiders inside their homes lately. Urban Company rose to the challenge and tweaked its marketing strategy. It started communicating every day about the changes it introduced in its services and updated its audience regularly about the number of employees vaccinated. It tweaked its logo across platforms to convey the importance of social distancing and wearing a mask. Apart from that, it realised that people are looking for a lot of DIY videos to make the best of their time. Therefore, it started uploading beauty and wellness video tips to help its consumers surf through the challenges they are posed with. It is also conducting live sessions to engage with its consumers. <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Image"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> Telling us how the company has tweaked its larger marketing strategy after the pandemic to win consumer trust, Menon shared, “We focused on communicating every day about the changes we introduced in our services and SOPs. For example, we completely reimagined certain services, such as threading, to ensure low contact with consumers. For threading, our Beauty experts now wrap the thread around their neck, instead of pursing it in their mouth. We launched extensive campaigns to build communication on our safety protocols and how the Urban Company experience has been reimagined for delivering safe and hygienic services. Our ‘<keyword id="11886690" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="uc-safe">UC Safe</keyword> Salon campaign’ included TVCs featuring Neena Kulkarni and Shweta Tiwari aimed at communicating the safety of Urban Company’s salon at home services. More recently, in May ‘21, we ran an extension of the UC Safe campaign, highlighting how over 75% of our service professional base is now vaccinated.” Home services sector in India is largely unorganized and Urban Company is one of the few companies that is formalising it and despite being in the business for 7 years, Menon says that they are still just getting started. Sharing his larger goals for this year, Menon said, Our focus areas will be to increase market share in existing markets and increase penetration in new cities. In the past 2 years, we have expanded to 30 cities in India. Our goal is to be present in the top 100 cities over the next couple of years.”

It's a match: When Sima Taparia met Urban Company and helped the brand gain over 4.5 million+ views in less than a week

<ul><li>Jobs platform and professional network <keyword id="9861237" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="apna-co" source="Orion">apna.co</keyword> has witnessed robust growth since its inception in 2019. Today it has a consumer base of 20 million, a number it plans to double in the next 12-18 months.</li><li>We speak to <keyword id="7634738" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rahul-deorah" source="Orion">Rahul Deorah</keyword>, Head of Marketing, apna.co to understand his plans for achieving this target.</li></ul>Most people looking for jobs on different job portals have come across fake job postings but there are still many who end up falling for these fraudulent postings. Jobs platform and professional network apna.co is on a mission to ensure its platform is as clean as possible and that it is able to connect jobseekers to relevant, genuine employers. The platform brought Rahul Deorah, who was previously a part of <keyword id="8681398" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="urban-company" source="Orion">Urban Company</keyword>, on board as its head of marketing in November last year. Deorah already has his plan charted out. Deorah feels apna has embarked on a Herculean task, to solve the earth-scale problems of unemployment, poverty and upskilling. He plans to do it by strengthening the platform, giving both jobseekers and prospective employers a good experience. He walks us through his plans of ensuring apna is able to achieve the ambitious goals it has set for itself in the next few years to come. Excerpts: Q) It’s been around 3 years since apna came into being. How has the journey been so far? Let me walk you through our journey so far. We launched apna in 2019 and our job is to connect job seekers with recruiters, and vice versa. Fast forward to 2022, we have over 20 million users, with a presence in over 50 cities. We have about 2 lakh people who trust us. Last month, we facilitated close to 20 million interviews through the platform. We try to create and expose opportunities to the rising workforce of India. Everyday we hear people asking, where are the jobs? At the same time, if you speak to prospective employers, they say they’re not finding the right candidates. So this is an asymmetry of information in the market that apna is trying to bridge by firstly ensuring that people who are posting jobs are deeply verified and have the right intent. At the same time, the candidates who are applying to jobs are well-filtered so that when they are connected to the employers, both sides get a relevant lead, ensuring higher chances of conversion. That's what we do today. In the future, we are working towards building a strong professional social network for the rising workforce of India, just like <keyword id="28120" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="linkedin" source="Orion">LinkedIn</keyword> does for you and me. We also want to create upskilling opportunities for our target audience to help them move ahead in their careers. Q) The pandemic brought about a seismic change in the world around us. How did it affect apna’s business? During the pandemic, especially the second wave, we felt that we had a huge responsibility, to ensure that all with the reverse migration, people could find enough opportunities to help set up their lives all over again. And during those 4-5 months of the second wave, we grew by almost 70% because we were working overtime to ensure that everything is at the right place for the candidates to find the right opportunities and the employers to post the right kind of jobs. Q) How have you been communicating with your audience? How have you been able to grow your reach? Apna is a network effects product. More employers will bring more candidates and vice versa. And the second network effect is a professional network that you create for these candidates, where people from similar vocation can speak to each other, just like we do on LinkedIn. So the power of the product has helped us grow over the last couple of years. Secondly, we have put together some innovative marketing campaigns. We’ve worked a lot to ensure that our value propositions which we swear by and execute are communicated to the candidate. There is a lot of asymmetry of information in the market and a lot of job postings on the internet are fake. That's something we’re extremely mindful of. When a candidate comes to apna, he or she knows that the jobs on our platform won’t be fake. And that helps us. Once they find the job, they refer us to multiple of their friends and family. So walking the talk is our second critical piece. Marketing can only take you so far. If you're selling something that is not right for me, I won’t care about how beautiful your ads are. Q) Word-of-mouth has worked well for you then? Absolutely. And word-of-mouth is a function of good execution. Q) You spoke about some innovative marketing. Can you give me a few examples? Marketing has two parts. The first is what you say and the second is how and where say it. The ‘where you say it’ part has been democratized over the last 5-6 years because people are spending more and more time on their phones. So when about 30-35% of their attention span in a day ends up being on the mobile phone, that becomes a conduit for us to reach our audience. What we say becomes extremely critical because we primarily focus on our value propositions. The reality is that this is a market that is plagued by mistrust. So if you walk the talk, your audiences and consumers will absolutely love you. We ensure that we only talk about things that we can actually execute and pull off and I call that innovative because you're doing the regular things but you're doing it well. We don't discount any mediums. We use anything that helps us reach out to our audiences. Q) Where does the majority of your target audience reside? Is it metros or smaller cities? We don't really segregate it that way. We try to understand where are the right opportunities for the right candidates. Our internal data says that over 50% of people in say a city like Agra are looking for jobs in Delhi. So while we target them in Agra, we tell them about jobs in different cities. Q) Can you talk us about your growth? Where are you currently and where do you want to go? Today, there are over 20 million consumers who trust us. Our aim is to at least double this number in the next 12-18 months because you can't do enough for the country. We want to ensure that we keep working hard and delivering on what our aim and ambition is, and hopefully add to the growth of the country. Q) There are already many players in the segment who have been around longer and already have a wide consumer base. What gives apna an edge? Internally, we don't really worry about or discuss competition because if we know what the right thing to do is, we just execute on that. So what gives us the edge is, over the last couple of years, we have very deeply focused on ensuring that the experience of the candidates as well as the employers is absolutely fantastic because that would make people come back to our platform. We make sure every call is genuine. Of course, if today we’re good, in the future we want to be exceptional. So we have a long way to go. If we keep doing the right things consistently, we only have the size of our ambition to worry about. Q) Is there a community communication side to apna as well, similar to what we have on LinkedIn? Absolutely! That’s one of our core focus areas. We launched a community product or groups for Indian professionals where they can send each other connection requests and connect with each other. Some of our groups like government job preparation or beautician groups are buzzing. We have included this in our Android app. We see people sharing helpful tips to each other, they try to help each other find jobs. And it's a very safe and professional place to communicate with each other and build a professional network for the rising workforce in India. Q) How big is the team currently? How are you expanding it further? We have about 500 people across India. We need to at least double this number over the next 18-24 months if we want to hit our ambitious goals because there's a lot we want to do. Q) Going ahead, what are a key focus areas for you going to be? A key focus area for us for this year as well as for the next 4-5 years is to keep improving the platform, the candidate and employee experience and our community. We already have over 70 communities and groups for different kinds of vocations, our task is to keep improving on those so that people look forward to coming online, sharing and exploring better opportunities for themselves at all times. As a company, we believe that for the rising workforce of India, there's a glass ceiling that people around them have created for them. They are told they can’t go beyond that and they themselves start believing that. We want to break that glass ceiling. Secondly, our aim would be to take our brand story to the world. Today, how much we can help people is not very well-known within our target audience. So our job would be to take that message to the right people in the right way which will help catapult growth.

Today 20 million consumers trust us, we aim to at least double this number in the next 12-18 months: Rahul Deorah, apna.co

<ul><li>In our latest interview series, we talk to brands to understand how they are coping with the new normal and their strategies towards navigating these difficult times.</li><li>As <keyword id="8681398" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Urban-Company">Urban Company</keyword> starts operating in a few selective green zones, we speak to Rahul Deorah, Vice President - Marketing, Urban Company to understand how its regaining its consumers trust, what kind of employee wellness programs it has introduced to ensure they feel motivated, and its larger marketing strategy for the lockdown. </li></ul>Urban Company (earlier UrbanClap) has seen an uptick in the demand for home cleaning and hygiene services as people are becoming more health-conscious. The app had become quite popular for its home repair and salon services before the pandemic broke out. However, people have been wary about letting outsiders inside their homes lately. Urban Company rose to the challenge and tweaked its marketing strategy. It started communicating every day about the changes it introduced in its services and SOPs. With gradual relaxations in the lockdown, Urban Company is slowly and steadily opening up its services. And after seeing a high demand for home cleaning, it has also started offering disinfection services for cars and commercial spaces. It has opened its salon services in a few selective green zones. And now that people are under house arrest and have limited access to various services, Urban Company did some social listening and mapped out a few trends. It tweaked its logo across platforms to convey the importance of social distancing and wearing a mask. Apart from that, it realised that people are looking for a lot of DIY videos to make the best of their time. Therefore, it started uploading beauty and wellness video tips to help its consumers surf through the challenges they are posed with. It is also conducting live sessions to engage with its consumers. <div type="javascript" title="Instagram" contenttype="Image"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> We caught up with Rahul Deorah, Vice President - Marketing, Urban Company to further understand what kind of precautions the organisation has taken to ensure the safety of its employees, the idea behind its latest mental-wellness initiative, UC Academy, and its larger marketing strategy. Excerpts: Q. How challenging have the last few weeks been for you as a brand? The past few weeks have been challenging for us. As a brand, we have tried to ensure that we are in touch with our consumers. We are keeping them posted about the changes in service SOPs and the complete shift towards hygiene and safety to ensure that they get the best possible service experience in the safety of their homes. Q. From your wide umbrella of services, which ones are you offering right now? Since the last month, we have been slowly and steadily opening our services. Our Home Repairs and Maintenance services - appliances repairs, plumbers, electricians, carpenters and cleaning – are available across non-containment zones. Seeing the huge request and requirements, we also launched Disinfection Services for cars, home and commercial spaces. Lately, we also opened up our beauty and salon services in a few cities. Q. Now that salon services have begun, what precautions have you taken to ensure the safety of your employees? What kind of response have you seen for the same? We have made the following changes in our SOPs: 1. All UC professionals are equipped with 3-ply masks, gloves and hand sanitizers. 2. Usage of single use products and disposables to ensure zero cross-contamination 3. All service partners have been trained according to WHO prescribed hygiene standards. 4. Sanitization of all tools and equipment prior to the services 5. All our professionals are required to undergo a daily temperature check, which is visible to the consumer on their app 6. Low contact roll-on waxing and threading for maximum hygiene We have seen really good feedback to start with. Customers are liking the way we are providing the services with utmost caution. Q. People are becoming more health-conscious and finally maintaining hygiene at their homes, so have you seen an increase in demand for your home cleaning services as well? Yes, we are noticing increased demand in cleaning and disinfection services. Q. What has your marketing strategy been during the lockdown weeks? Have you changed your media mix, investing more on platforms like Digital since a few other mediums like OOH/Print have been suffering due to the lockdown? We have been always present on digital platforms for our marketing campaigns. Although over the past few months, we have decreased our spends and pivoted towards organic modes of communication. Q. A lot of brands have started doing webinars, have you joined the bandwagon? What kind of response have you seen around it? We are participating in a few webinars for sure. We also host fireside chats with industry leaders but currently these can be attended by employees only. We haven’t yet started an in-house webinar series that’s open to all. Q. Have you seen any changes in consumer behaviour? Yes, a lot. Consumers have become a lot more aware about the issue. They are taking a lot of measures themselves to ensure safety and hygiene is maintained. The following are the changes: a. Media Consumption: Usage of TV, OTT has increased b. Self Care: People are spending a lot of time for fitness and personal care c. DIY solutions to problems d. Online Deliveries for essentials have increased e. Need for self hygiene has increased Q. How are you utilising this time to upskill your employees? Have you introduced any mental health awareness and/or health care programs? We have introduced a program called UC Academy within our company wherein the company’s leadership have been taking online sessions for upskilling. The topics are across different functions and problems. Q. How are you preparing yourself for when things come back to normal? Because we think it will not be the same. Things won’t be the same as before for sure, at least not until a vaccine or cure is found. I believe as a company we have already taken several measures with respect to partner and consumer safety, such as introducing an 8-step safety process for each service category. Apart from this, we have procured and delivered safety kits (comprising gloves, masks, eye goggles, hand sanitiser) for all our partners and will continue to invest in this round the year.

Marketing in the times of COVID-19: Urban Company

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New Delhi, May 7 () Home services marketplace Urban Company has urged the government to allow barbers and beauticians to "deliver home services" in all areas, except containment zones.In a letter to the Home Secretary, Urban Company Co-founder and CEO Abhiraj Singh Bhal lauded the Ministry of Home Affairs on allowing resumption of beauty and barber services in green and orange zones. "However, the vast majority of this industry is based in red zones. We humbly request that this list be expanded to include at-home beauty and barber services (including through online aggregators facilitating such at-home services), in all areas excluding containment zones," he said in the letter dated May 6.Like most businesses, salons and grooming services providers have also been adversely affected by COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown. Given that social distancing is becoming the new normal, these services - which involve physical contact - could continue to remain affected for some time. He said the beauty industry provides livelihood to nearly 60-70 lakh people across India, and self-employed women beauticians form a large part of this workforce."Many of them are single breadwinners for their families, and the ongoing COVID-19 crises has adversely impacted their livelihood. Depriving these individuals of incomes for extended time will lead to forced migration and disruption of families," he said. It will also deprive the industry of trained workforce built with years of effort and investment, Bhal noted.Drawing parallels with the food delivery industry, he said allowing salons and barber shops to deliver services at home will minimise crowding and congregation. "This move will allow both salon chains and individual service professionals to cater to consumers while also earning livelihood," he said.Bhal outlined a comprehensive set of protocols for beauticians and barbers that can be followed while delivering services at home, and said professionals on its platform are following these guidelines."These protocols specify usage of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as masks and gloves, mandatory use of Aarogya Setu app, daily temperature checks, single use sachets and disposables, sanitization of all tools before the service delivery, no services in containment zones, health and safety training of self-employed professionals, and payment via digital means," he said. SR RUJRUJ

COVID-19: Beauticians, barbers be allowed to deliver 'home services', says Urban Company

<ul><li>Despite it being a year when people are social distancing and staying away from socializing or meeting friends and relatives, Urban Company has managed to convince people about the safety of its services, thereby resulting in people welcoming them into their homes.</li><li>It is this focus on safety and also the brand's continuous reiteration of its safety protocols in its communications that has won people's trust. It is already witnessing a resurgence in demand in most of its services categories.</li><li><keyword id="2144064" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tarun-Menon">Tarun Menon</keyword>, Director-Marketing, Urban Company spoke to us about all that the brand has been doing to get back into the hearts and homes of its consumers in this difficult year.</li></ul>Home services marketplace Urban Company (UC) has a good run so far this year. Not only has it seen good recovery in business during the various unlock phases, the platform also expects to see its revenue double in the current fiscal over last year. While the first few months of the lockdown meant that there was a complete shutdown for its business, owning to the fact that it offers in-home services, things are slowly falling into place now as consumers are again opening up to the idea of letting people into their homes. What is helping the brand get back on its feet is the fact that it has been focusing on offering safe at-home services and has been using its marketing campaigns to convey messages around how safe its services are. With the help of a brand ambassador like <keyword id="6354535" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ayushmann-khurrana">Ayushmann Khurrana</keyword> who people connect with instantly, the brand has been able to win over its consumers’ trust and is already seeing positive results. In a recent conversation with Ad &amp; Media Insider, Tarun Menon, Director-Marketing, UC walked us through all that the brand has been doing to get back into the hearts and homes of its consumers. The year so far The year has been challenging for most businesses across the world. However, what differentiates the ones who have been able to bounce back from the ones that are still struggling to find their footing is their agility and the rate at which they were able to adapt to changing consumer sentiments and demands. Owing to the fact that UC offers in-home services, it meant that it would take the platform some convincing before people opened up their doors to the platform’s partners. However, things have been moving in a positive direction for the past few months as the brand has been witnessing consistent growth. Urban Company Co-founder <keyword id="3012564" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Varun-Khaitan">Varun Khaitan</keyword> stated in a recent interview that despite the months of lockdown, they are already crossing their pre-COVID peak by more than 30%. He also shared his optimism about seeing 2X growth in FY21 over FY20. On how things were right after the lockdown, and during the early phases of Unlock, Menon told us, “The first 2 months were quite a struggle, like all other businesses. However, the first categories that started to pick up were the ones that could be deemed as essential services, like plumbing, electricians, carpenters and subsequently appliance repairs.” Across the width of categories that UC is present in, there are some for which the pandemic provided tailwinds to and there were others for which the negative consumer sentiments acted as headwinds. UC had launched men’s grooming and haircuts at home in the last quarter of 2019. “That is a category that has seen tremendous growth in the past few months and its actually buoyed our business significantly,” Menon added. However, the platform has had to work tremendously hard on categories like Salon at home, owing to the fact that it is a high proximity service. That’s where its advertising has helped it win its consumers’ trust back. The brand launched its ‘UC Safe Salon campaign’ which comprised TVCs featuring TV actors like <keyword id="166349" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Neena-Kulkarni">Neena Kulkarni</keyword> and <keyword id="27383" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shweta-Tiwari">Shweta Tiwari</keyword> who had themselves availed UC services. The aim was to spread the message about how safe its salon at home option was. “Following the launch of the campaigns, we've seen resurgence across all categories, some obviously moving faster than the others. And it's a function of sentiment and maturity across categories. To give you a sense of where we are relative to July, our salon category has grown by about 50-56% and that's been on the back of structural problem-solving, to deliver on the core quality of experience and safety. We’ve re-skinned the way we talk about ourselves in our communications,” he explained. The team built video communication for each of its services on its app to assure people about their safety protocols. And all these videos featured Tiwari. People responded to the videos, owing to the fact that Tiwari as a brand is relatable and trustworthy. The effort has also been towards coming up with offerings that drive value for consumers in the salon category. “Initiative like Super Saver Week and Salon Spree have helped us meet our monthly targets for the salon category,” he added. He also added that the pandemic provided tailwinds to the men’s grooming category which has seen around 57% growth since July and is coming close to the salon category in terms of volumes. Of new users and markets While the salon at home category had been a winner for UC, it launched its Men’s grooming services right before the lockdown. And owing to the fact that salons had to be shut for a long time, once the unlock process started, the brand saw a lot of demand for the men’s grooming services. And all of the people using these services are new users. It is also witnessing good demand for other services like painting and professional cleaning. And is the platform witnessing more demand from smaller cities? “A significant portion of our business still continues to remain in urban cities. However, our focus has also been on building demand in Tier II cities. We have tried to build relevance at a regional level through our influencer marketing programs, specifically in the salon and men's grooming business. On the salon business, through the month of September, we've worked with about 165 micro-influencers who have a following between the range of 5000- 50,000 but are locally relevant. The aim has been to drive resonance of salience on the message that UC salon services exist in your city, to reiterate our safety protocols and to introduce our roll-on waxing,” explained Menon. UC has also been trying to talk to the slightly older audience, to again assure them about the safety of their offerings, however, the demand is still being driven by the younger audience. Marketing strategies during and post lockdown Usually during the times of crisis, marketing budgets are the first to be cut off. For UC too, the marketing budgets were put on hold for the first two months of the pandemic. “However, once we saw some supply return to the platform, and there was a certain demand to supply ratio where demand was lagging, we activated our marketing budgets. It's been about tracking our numbers and coordinating with the rest of business to identify moments, categories and regions, in terms of building where demand needs to be built,” he explained. It is also spending its marketing monies in a phased manner. “Today we might be slightly below par to where we were pre-pandemic in terms of our marketing spends and that’s a conscious choice. We are spending and have invested on IPL. However, right now its more about optimizing our spends with a view of what the cost of conversion is, and build that based on the structural changes we’ve made to our business, to focus on quality and safety. The larger belief is that if we get these two things right and are able to drive it in a credible, demonstrable way when it comes to experiences, that in turn will lead to repeat business, and even word-of-mouth,” said Menon. TV and Digital continue to be the biggest spends for the platform. During the IPL, the brand launched a campaign with its brand ambassador of 2 years, Ayushmann Khurrana. The vision for Urban Company UC, which was formerly known as UrbanClap, was founded in 2014 with a handful of service professionals. In the last 6 years, the platform has diversified its business and has also expanded to global markets like Australia, Singapore, and the UAE. So where will the next phase of growth for UC come from? “There are several things we have been discussing, like introduction of new services within each category or the tier-ization of services to appeal to different price points and consumer sets. The company's ethos is to pilot, learn, iterate, fail fast, and then deploy. So there are active pilots across each of these, whether it is service expansion, depth of service or segmentation exercise,” shared Menon.

How Urban Company’s continued focus on safety and targeted communication is making people open their doors to the brand

<ul><li><keyword id="6354616" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="twitter" source="Orion">Twitter</keyword> tests ‘CoTweets’ to allow users to co-author tweets.</li><li>Currently, the feature is available for limited accounts in the US, Canada, and Korea.</li><li>With this new feature, Twitter explores new ways for people to collaborate.</li></ul>Microblogging site Twitter has confirmed that it has started testing a new feature -- Co<keyword id="6354904" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tweet" source="Orion">Tweet</keyword>s -- that allows two accounts to co-author a tweet and both to be tagged in a single tweet. The platform said that this new feature is now live for some users for a limited amount of time after the company started experimenting with the idea earlier this year, reports The Verge. "We are continuing to explore new ways for people to collaborate on Twitter," Twitter spokesperson Joseph J. Nunez was quoted as saying in a statement by the website. "We are testing CoTweets for a limited time to learn how people and brands may use this feature to grow and reach new audiences, and strengthen their collaborations with other accounts," Nunez added. In a tweet from the Twitter Create account, the company confirmed the feature is available for select accounts in the US, Canada, and Korea. Several Twitter users have been testing this feature, and the experience allows the main tweet author to invite someone else to be tagged in the tweet and discuss the contents over DM, the report said. The second account needs to approve the co-authored tweet, and the resulting tweet shows it is co-authored by two people, but replies appear to only be directed toward the main author of the tweet, it added. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/toyota-urban-cruiser-hyryder-vs-hyunda[%E2%80%A6]son-of-features-and-specifications/slidelist/92744997.cms">Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder vs Hyundai Creta: Features and specifications compared</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/blockchain-projects-around-web3-0-lost-over-2-b[%E2%80%A6]rst-6-months-of-2022-says-report/articleshow/92745294.cms">Blockchain projects around Web3.0 lost over $2 billion to hackers within first 6 months of 2022, says report</a>

Twitter's new feature may soon allow multiple users to co-author a tweet

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Sen. Sherrod Brown urged Americans to be wary of <keyword id="11898487" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="fintech" source="Orion">fintech</keyword> <keyword id="11903585" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="banking" source="Orion">banking</keyword> apps. </li><li>He says that consumers are vulnerable to losing access to their money through the services. </li></ul>Americans should beware of using banking services offered by fintech companies, US Senator Sherrod Brown told Insider. Brown, who is the chairman of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, warned that fintech companies that provide online banking services — sometimes called "neo-banks" — are potentially dangerous, and make users vulnerable to losing their money. "Fintech companies that want to act like banks – but without the consumer protections and safeguards that actual banks must adhere to – put people's hard earned money at risk," he said. "Consumers shouldn't be getting locked out of their accounts, leaving them with no way to access their money to buy groceries, pay their bills, or make rent." Brown's warning comes on the heels of a recent <a href="https://www.click2houston.com/news/investigates/2022/04/13/kprc-2-investigates-what-customers-should-know-about-neo-banks-such-as-chime/">investigation</a> by Click2Houston.com's Amy Davis, which found that some users lost thousands of dollars through <keyword id="13626242" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="chime" source="Orion">Chime</keyword>, the <a href="https://www.insiderintelligence.com/insights/neobanks-explained-list/">most popular</a> neobanking app in the US by far. Users lost their money through suspensions due to deposits marked as "unusual activity" that locked them out of the app, as well as a refusal to reimburse some people for hacking. Click2Houston also reported that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has received more than 2,267 complaints about Chime since 2020, with many users complaining about frozen accounts and fraudulent transactions that Chime refused to reverse. "Given the important role we play in helping our members manage their money, we take our responsibility in the areas of regulation and compliance very seriously," a Chime spokesperson told Insider in a statement. "Chime products are designed and delivered in close partnership with our partner banks, The Bancorp Bank and Stride Bank. Thus, unlike some fintechs, Chime member deposits are held in FDIC insured accounts at our partner institutions, which are subject to oversight by the FDIC and the OCC. Chime is also subject to the jurisdiction of CFPB, the FTC and the DOJ." Brown also said that privacy breaches, fraud, and hidden fees are also threats to be wary of when using these services. <h2>Neobanks are growing in popularity, but operate under limited regulations</h2>Although neo-banks offer checking and savings accounts, they aren't necessarily chartered like traditional banks. Chartered banks are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which provide a guarantee to depositors that they won't lose their money if their bank fails. Neo-banks have surged in popularity during the pandemic. Bankrate.com <a href="https://www.bankrate.com/banking/what-is-a-neobank/#:~:text=Neobanks%2C%20sometimes%20called%20challenger%20banks,and%20do%20not%20have%20branches.">estimates</a> that there are about 23 million neobank customers, a number that is expected to more than double, to 50 million, by 2025. The appeal of neo-banks is that they offer low or no fee structures, early deposit access to consumers no matter how much cash they have, and complete digital access. Brown's statement this week isn't the first time that he's urged caution about fintech banking. Last July, he wrote a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21016570-letter-to-cfpb-re-chime_final?responsive=1&amp;title=1">letter</a> to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on behalf of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, asking them to investigate the neo-banking companies, which they <a href="https://www.regulatoryoversight.com/2021/11/lawmakers-and-regulators-scrutinize-the-nascent-neobank-industry/">did</a>. Several state regulators have been investigating neo-banking services in the last few years as well. In 2019, for instance, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation began investigating Chime, and concluded that the company was violating state law by describing itself as a bank. Chime later <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/05/chime-has-agreed-to-stop-using-the-word-bank-after-a-california-regulator-pushed-back/">agreed</a> to stop using the word to describe its services.

Senator Sherrod Brown warns Americans to be careful about putting their money in 'fintechs that want to act like banks'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>I spent two weeks commuting in New York on the Gocycle G4i+, a $6,000 folding electric bicycle. </li><li>Riding a bike that folds up small and gives an electric boost was a game-changer for NYC commuting. </li><li>The G4i+ made two-wheeled commuting super convenient, and looked great doing it. </li></ul>The pandemic has given rise to plenty of habits we're all too eager to leave behind: masks, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/airline-mask-requirements-mandate-flight-unruly-behavior-faa-tsa-travel-2021-6">fistfights over masks</a>, awkward elbow bumps, and more.But it's also sparked, dare I say, positive additions to people's hobbies and routines amid an otherwise terrible 18 months. Some were blips during the early, frenzied, this-is-going-to-be-a-tough-three-months stage of the outbreak - like baking sourdough bread. Others have stuck around, as evidenced by the huge number of people who <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cycling-boom-us-streets-infrastructure-bike-lanes-history-united-states-2020-12">started biking</a> when <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reviews/out?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fnew-york-city-subway-is-low-risk-for-coronavirus-transmission-study-says-11601388000">public transit got scary</a> and never stopped. You can count me in that camp. I always rode around New York for exercise and transport, but Covid kicked that into high gear. Even with a vaccine coursing through my veins and the virus beginning (hopefully) to recede soon, my bike has remained my default way of getting most places. I'd like to keep it that way. But moving through the city by bike has its downsides. Even with a beefy lock, you can never be certain that your bike will be where you left it. You're always committing to riding home, lest you become that person jamming their bike onto a packed subway car. And, unless you're Lance Armstrong, you're going to arrive places tired and sweaty. This all may be fine for some people. But I know that if I want to make two-wheeled commuting a daily routine, I'm going to need to consider options aside from my trusty road bike. <div type="image" title="Gocycle G4i+ folding e-bike" height="2000" width="3000" msid="85689494" hostid="261"></div>I figured a folding e-bike - compact, maneuverable, and with plenty of electric oomph to aid my puny human legs - would solve these problems and make the perfect long-term commuter. <a href="https://gocycle.com/">Gocycle</a>, a British maker of high-end folding <keyword id="11963830" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="e-bikes" source="Orion">e-bikes</keyword>, loaned me one of its new <a href="https://gocycle.com/us/webstore/gocycle-g4iplus/gocycle-g4i-carbon-wheel-red-fbl/">G4i+</a> models so I could put that hypothesis to the test. I spent two weeks in July commuting from my apartment in Queens to Insider's downtown Manhattan office - and now I never want to go back to commuting on a normal bike. <h2>High design, peak convenience</h2>Having a bike that folded into a tidy little package when not in use was a game-changer for a host of reasons. And the $5,999 G4i+, Gocycle's latest and greatest model, collapses quickly and effortlessly.All you need to do is unlock two sturdy main latches: one that lets the handlebars fold downward and another that allows the frame to fold in half down the middle. It's all cleverly held together by a little elastic band that hooks the handlebars to the frame. <div type="image" title="Gocycle G4i+ folding e-bike" height="4500" width="3000" msid="85689496" hostid="261"></div>Every time I got to work, I folded the bike up in a matter of seconds and wheeled it into the office using its seat as a handle. The office building doesn't allow bikes, but the staff didn't seem to pay much mind when I would roll or carry the neatly folded-up G4i+ through the lobby. Being able to easily bring a bike inside wherever I went was huge - especially when that bike was a flashy, expensive machine that didn't belong to me. Theft problem, solved. The bike's compact folded size was a blessing the one time I wound up wanting to take the subway home after a tough workout, but that's not something I'd do every day. While the Gocycle is miles easier to take on the train than a conventional bike, it's a bit cumbersome to carry and lugging it up and down subway steps is no walk in the park. At 35.9 pounds, the carbon-fiber, aluminum, and magnesium G4i+ is lighter than many e-bikes, but it's not that light.<div type="image" title="Gocycle G4i+ folding e-bike" height="2065" width="3000" msid="85689499" hostid="261"></div>The G4i+ can fold up even smaller when needed. Removing the seat and a pedal - both of which have their own spots for storage in the frame - gives the bike an even more compact footprint. At home, the folded-up G4i+ could comfortably fit in a corner and stay out of the way, making it loads more apartment-friendly than some of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rad-power-bikes-radmission-1-review-best-affordable-e-bikes-2021-1">bulkier</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/super73-s1-review-electric-e-bike-post-lockdown-commuting-cycling-2020-7">e-bikes</a> I've tested. Plus, the bike's thoughtful enclosed drivetrain eliminates the risk of smearing chain grease on a pant leg or piece of furniture when maneuvering it around. <h2>Folding e-bike vs. New York streets</h2>All that convenience doesn't come at the expense of ride quality. And the G4i+ has everything you'd expect from a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/serial-1-e-bike-review-harley-davidson-electric-commuter-cty-2020-12">high-end e-bike</a> and then some. A top speed of 20 mph was plenty for getting places fast, passing slower bikers, and keeping up with cars on less bike-friendly streets. The bike's petite front-hub motor made getting up and over steep bridges a breeze. If I ever showed up to work sweaty, it was because of the 90-degree heat, not because I was huffing and puffing on my ride over.An estimated range of up to 50 miles was more than enough for my 20-mile round-trip commute. And although I never fully tested the Gocycle's battery capacity, I never came close to running out of energy by charging overnight regularly. <div type="image" title="Gocycle G4i+ folding e-bike" height="2000" width="3000" msid="85689500" hostid="261"></div>The G4i+ has both pedal-assistance and a twist throttle. I stuck with the pedal-assist most of the time. Like many pricier e-bikes, the G4i+ delivers power using a torque sensor, meaning that the more effort you put into pedaling, the more electric assistance you get. That makes for a natural-feeling ride. The bike also automatically shifts between three gears depending on the effort a rider puts in. That took some getting used to, but I eventually got the hang of it. I liked having a bit more control over shifting, so I tended toward changing speeds manually using a gear selector on the handlebars. Pairing the G4i+ to Gocycle's app allows riders to choose from a few different ride modes or create their own, though I never felt the need to switch out of the default "City" setting. Turn your phone on its side, and the app doubles as a dashboard display that shows speed, battery level, miles traveled, and other key data, which was a nice touch. The bike comes with an elastic phone holder on the handlebars that's surprisingly secure. <div type="image" title="Gocycle G4i+ folding e-bike" height="2000" width="3000" msid="85689501" hostid="261"></div>A person riding a folding bike sometimes looks like a bear on a tricycle, and I came in concerned that the small-looking G4i+ wouldn't fit me. But I found the Gocycle remarkably comfortable, even for a tall person. I could ride for long distances without feeling fatigued in my wrists or neck. <h2>The ultimate urban commuter</h2>The Gocycle G4i+ is a fantastic, well-made e-bike that made moving through New York exceptionally quick and convenient for the two weeks I spent with it. It folded up easily for storage in the office and at home and alleviated many of the inconveniences that keep even the most enthusiastic bikers from riding more. Plus, it looks great and is packed full of clever touches that show just how much the company labored over every detail. There's an allen wrench slotted under the seat for on-the-fly adjustments, for example. And the center stand is contoured to the underside of the frame so it folds out of view. A slick LED light bar up front with multiple brightness and strobe settings made me feel safe riding at night.<div type="image" title="Gocycle G4i+ folding e-bike" height="2000" width="3000" msid="85689502" hostid="261"></div>The main downside, of course, is the bike's cost. $6,000 could buy you a fleet of decent human-powered bikes, and more than a few solid battery-powered ones. But if this $6,000 bike is the one that gets you to ride daily or drive less, it could be well worth the money in gas savings and other <keyword id="11894924" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="transportation" source="Orion">transportation</keyword> costs. Plus, Gocycle offers a <a href="https://gocycle.com/us/webstore/">full lineup</a> of folding bikes, and although they're all expensive, some can be had for thousands less than the G4i+. The Gocycle G4i+ was, sadly, more of a blip in my pandemic routine than a mainstay. But once commuting becomes more of a thing and there are more places to go, I may just have to pick one up. Or at least, something like it.

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