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IMS GHAZIABAD

(University Courses Campus)

– A Marketing Management Case Booklet


JOURNEY OF BRANDS
JOURNEY OF BRANDS
– A Marketing Management
Case Booklet


Editors: Sapna Rakesh • Geeti Sharma
Komal Kapoor • Sahil Kumar Gupta

IMS GHAZIABAD
University Courses Campus, NH-9, Editors
Adhyatmik Nagar, Ghaziabad, Pin – 201015, India. Dr. Sapna Rakesh
www.imsuc.ac.in Dr. Geeti Sharma
Prof. Komal Kapoor
ISBN 978-93-90252-31-2
90100
Dr. Sahil Kumar Gupta
9 7 89390 25 231 2
`899
JOURNEY OF BRANDS
JOURNEY OF BRANDS
A Marketing Management
Case Booklet

Editors
Dr. Sapna Rakesh | Dr. Geeti Sharma
Prof. Komal Kapoor | Dr. Sahil Kumar Gupta
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CONTENTS

Preface vii

Case 1 Netflix’s Dynamic Capabilities in Global 1


Expansion: A Learning Perspective
Dr. Geeti Sharma and Aastha Sawhney
Case 2 Amazon’s Supply Chain in India: Evolution and 17
Challenges
Komal Kapoor and Dr. Alpana Agarwal
Case 3 Paper Boat: Improving Health and Reducing Stress 30
by Rekindling Childhood Memories
Dr. Kumar Saurav and Aastha Sawhney
Case 4 OYO Hotels – Disruptive Innovation 44
in Hospitality
Komal Kapoor, Nishtha Goel and Ayushi Sharma
Case 5 Case Study: Amazon Prime – An Entertainment 56
Partner (Web Series)
Aastha Sawhney, Nidhi Sharma and Dr. Sahil Gupta
Case 6 Hidesign: Crunch of Positioning in the Native Land 73
Shenki Tyagi and Dr. Sahil Gupta
Case 7 A Case Study of Maggi – Strategies and Relaunch 83
Santosh Shah and Nidhi Sharma
Case 8 Tata Nano: Dream of Millions 97
Ankit Baranwal, Ashish Kumar Srivastava and
Sheetal Malik
Case 9 Paytm: Grasping the Penetration Strategy 110
Santosh Shah and Shenki Tyagi
Case 10 Oncology: Business Model Development for Exion 123
Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Srinivasan R. Iyengar and Vivek Sharma
Case 11 Reliance Jio – Fastest Growing Telecom Company 131
Ashish Shrivastava, Ujjwal Dubey and
Shriyam Agarwal
Author Index 145
PREFACE

The global world is a transformed place today with all the stakeholders
having their own expectations from the organizations with respect to
profitability and sustainability. Successful organizations have either
done different things or do things differently. But in both the ways, they
are able to meet their organizational goals through the development
of right marketing and promotion strategies. Marketing is understood
as everybody’s business and is not restricted to only the sales people
of an organization. as said by Philip Kotler, marketing is a holistic
and integrated concept where each stakeholder has to play their role
well in collaborating the business of the organization. even the concept
of marketing has evolved to include disruptive innovative strategies
leading to high level of customer satisfaction and superior experience.
Such transformation with the integration of technology has drastically
changed the world and how it operates. The digital ways of marketing
and promotion have replaced the age old methods of the earlier world.
this is leading to new ways of marketing as consumers today have to
be attracted with very different kind of value proposition. Cost and
positioning of the brand are still the two pillars on which the entire
business is made of and help in the brand development for a long
term. But in the current business environment, creating and developing
differentiation and competitive advantage is of vital importance as
each brand needs to create their own space. This has converted into
transformational marketing strategies adopted by companies like
Apple, Netflix, Google, Paytm that has set benchmarks in the global
world of business.
To take the analysis deeper is the purpose of the case book on
marketing with a good variety of cases that provide huge learning to
the reader the student community. The collaboration of thoughts and
knowledge by the authors has provided a creative reservoir of marketing
benchmarks that would further enhance the understanding of the
readers about the world of marketing. A compilation of marketing
cases has been brought with the efforts of the faculty members and
would certainly lead to the enhancement of marketing understanding.
CASE 1

NETFLIX’S DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES


IN GLOBAL EXPANSION: A LEARNING
PERSPECTIVE
Dr. Geeti Sharma1 and Aastha Sawhney2
1
Associate Professor, IMS Ghaziabad University Courses Campus
2
Assistant Professor, IMS Ghaziabad University Courses Campus

ABSTRACT
Netflix is a company that is innovative and has changed the way of renting
movies and watching TV Shows. The basis of its business model is on
subscription service that offers home delivery of DVD rentals and film
and TV Show streaming. The business took advantage of the rapid growth
in the rental market for DVDs and the E-Commerce Portals and came
up with a service that the conventional retailers were unable to compete.
Netflix’s global growth is a crucial factor in the company’s success. The
present case analyses the way Netflix expanded globally, the issues and
challenges faced across nations, and the strategies adopted to overcome
the same.
Keywords: Disruptive Innovation, International Expansion, Issues and
Challenges, Growth and Development Strategy, Motion Pictures

CASE DESCRIPTION
The key focus of the case is on the company analysis of Netflix. The
other aspects include international expansion strategy, internal analysis
for acquiring a competitive advantage and strategic analysis in terms
of global development. Overall the case has an intermediate difficulty
level and is suitable for both undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The situation requires a 1-2-hour class for a thorough analysis.

INTRODUCTION
Netflix, Inc. – The idea which was conceived and comprehended by
two software experts, namely – Reed Hastings and Marc Rudolph in
1997, as emerged as a global player in streaming entertainment service
based on client-server technology with headquarters in Los Gatos,
California. Today, the company relishes a substantial market share
with over 167 million paid memberships in over 190 countries by
2 | Journey of Brands

disseminating services like TV series, documentaries, and featured films


in three major segments: international streaming, domestic streaming,
and internal DVD across a wide variety of categories and languages.
Netflix offers its members to acquire streaming content via a host of
Internet-connected screens entailing mobile phones, televisions, TV
set-top boxes, digital video players, etc. It can even prevail standard
definition DVDs, and their high definition successor, Blu-ray discs on
mail membership services. Thus, facilitating members to access content
without any adverts or obligations on different internet platform with
anywhere and anytime privilege.
While unveiling its story, Netflix positioned 10,000 titles from its
90,000 online film library database as a free value-added service to its
vast base of prevailing customers. These were the ones who have earlier
created their ID & passwords to access various films by promoting
on ‘Watch Instantly’ mode. Later in 2010, as the business started
flourishing, the company revamped its core business model from a
monthly subscription to a monthly subscription service for unlimited
movie and TV downloads via Watch Instantly. It also added an extra
monthly fee for unlimited DVDs delivered to the home. Simultaneously,
Netflix broadcasted the message of business expansion by increasing
the volume of the television content offered through their service by
establishing an authorized & licensed specific content organization for
syndicating content.
In the present context, the company acquires content by
collaborating with various studios and numerous content service
providers in the marketplace by entering into fixed-fee licenses, revenue
sharing agreements, and direct purchase contracts. Currently, Netflix
Inc. renders its services via different channels mode entailing online
advertising, broad-based media, such as television and radio, as well as
various strategic partnerships. As a marketing tactic, Netflix providers
free-trial memberships to new subscribers and few re-joining members
to abreast them with new features & content.

NETFLIX FOCUS
Netflix has always been an engrossed passion brand and not a do-
everything brand like Starbucks, 7-Eleven; Southwest, United; HBO,
or Dish. The company has strived to be a leading global streaming
entertainment service provider by adopting a model of a flat fee for
unlimited viewing of commercials as compared to its competitors who
are functioning on pay-per-view or free ad-supported content models.
Netflix is not a generic video selling organization that streams all types
Netflix’s Dynamic Capabilities in Global Expansion: A Learning Perspectiv | 3

of video, such as news, user-generated, live sports, porn, music video,


and gaming. Instead, the company has restricted itself to movies and TV
series entertainment networks with unlimited viewing on any internet-
connected screen for an affordable, no-commitment monthly fee. The
company reliefs its members from the complexities and frustration
that most MVPD relationships uphold with their customers. The
company establishes an extremely straightforward approach with its
subscribers, such as it provides a hassle-free online cancellation service,
which indeed is one of a lucrative aspect that leaves no stone unturned
for members to switch over to other players. Considering the future
growth plans, Netflix is focusing on the freedom of on-demand and
the fun of binge viewing with the flexibility of any screen at any time.
The company is striving to give its members a more customized and
personal experience that finds for each person the most pleasing titles
from around the world.

COMPETITION
The present competitive Scenario, which is highly dynamic and prone
to rapid changes, the market of entertainment videos is at high menace
and a big tiff between the rivalry players. New entrants can capture the
market by unveiling untapped businesses at a lower cost. Moreover,
the trends reflect that the present subscribers maintain multiple or
simultaneous relationshipswith numerous entertainment video players
in the marketplace at a given point of time and can easily switch over
from one service provider to another. In context, Netflix may face
significant competition from principal competitor comprising of:
• Multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) with free
TV Everywhere and VOD (video-on-demand) content including
cable providers, such as Time Warner and Comcast; direct
broadcast satellite providers, such as DIRECTV and EchoStar; and
telecommunication providers such as AT&T and Verizon
• Internet movie and TV content providers, such as Apple’s iTunes,
Amazon.com, Hulu.com and Google’s YouTube
• DVD rental outlets and kiosk services, such as Blockbuster and
Redbox
• Entertainment video retailers, such as Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and
Amazon.com, etc.
Today, Netflix Inc. has emerged as a pioneer in the Internet delivery
of TV shows and movies, specifically with the advent of their streaming
services since 2007. Since the inception, the company has focused on
4 | Journey of Brands

integrating an ecosystem of Internet-connected devices and strived


to syndicate licensedamounts of content for their consumers, which
enables them to watch TV shows and movies directly on their TVs,
computers, and mobile devices without any aggravation. Moreover,
these substantial efforts have led Netflix Inc. to broaden its customer
base and even have received a plethora of acceptance in the delivery of
TV shows and movies directly over the Internet.

NETFLIX: COMPETITIVE STRATEGY AND COMPETITION


Netflix has amalgamated a tri-component differentiated competitive
theory focusing on spending, content, and user experience.
Presently the organization has discontinued its previous strategy
of licensing content under ownership by other studios and has laid
more emphasis majorly on the creation of new content development
annually with particular reference to the original shows and movies.
This strategy has deep-rooted to its mission of creating value by focusing
on a long-lasting content portfolio, which initially may involve huge
costs but will bounce back with growth in the long run (Bylund, 2018).
Secondly, with a heavy focus on content creation, even the
quality is given a back seat. The organization has invested billions of
dollars in content-production for absorbing industries’ best directors,
scriptwriters, and actors. They are given a tremendous amount of
autonomy, enabling them to do their jobs well. Moreover, this strategy
is appreciated by industry and has benefited the organization in
delivering high-quality entertainment platform showcasing exclusive
content to its subscribers.
The third significant aspect of Netflix, which enables the
organization to relish a competitive edge in the market arena is that
it prioritizes on delivering a rich quality user experience to all its
members (Sonenshine,2018). There interface is user-friendly, easy to
navigate, consistent across all devices, and does not merge advertising
content into its streams like Hulu or Amazon (Bylund, 2018).
Moreover, Netflix has sensed that additional advertising revenue
ultimately isn’t worth the detraction that results from viewer
dissatisfaction; anything that takes away from viewers’ focus on
content is removed from the platform (Bylund, 2018).
However, several different competitors threaten to chip away at
market share from Netflix, including Amazon, Hulu, and the other
upcoming streaming service from Walt Disney, as well as some of the
cable channels’ subscription services. Some of the major companies
that have given stiff competition to Netflix are as follows:
Netflix’s Dynamic Capabilities in Global Expansion: A Learning Perspectiv | 5

Amazon Prime
Amazon has shown a consistent growth despite stiff competition faced
in the marketplace and presently has operations in over 200 countries.
Amazon launched Amazon Prime in 2006, which has become a global
online video-on-demand service that offers a wide variety of films and
TV shows for purchase or even rent. Prime Video provides subscribers
access to thousands of titles, ranging from feature films, documentaries,
to television. The company has also saturated into different content
arrangements (one such example of the deal is with HBO, which has
been continued from years) to segregate itself from its competitors by
offering unique customer services & experience. Amazon Prime enjoys
positive word-of-mouth in the e-commerce market has, which has
leaped while competing with Google and Apple and is undoubtedly the
topmost competitor of Netflix. According to Forbes, the present trends
reflect that Amazon Prime Videos uphold about 97 million subscribers
(subject to change) and give the threat to steal the market share from
Netflix. The biggest competitive threat to Netflix is probably Amazon.
Amazon Prime has proven its worth in the E-commerce market; there
is no doubt that it is one of the topmost Netflix Competitors. If there is
anyone Netflix should be wary of – it would be Amazon prime video.

HULU
The company was incepted to provide rental DVDs but has broadened
its business spectrum in the domain of digital streaming. HULU is a
subscription-based service provider which aims at delivering video-on-
demand services in collaboration with different entertainment giants
like Walt Disney, Time Warner, and 21st Century Fox. The company
is well known for its credibility in the domain of streaming service
live on television and its services about TV production and web
syndication. As per the Forbes statistics, Hulu’s numbers in terms of
No. of subscribers are quite low as compared to Netflix and Amazon. It
possesses approximately 79 million paid subscriptions. Consumers pay
$5.99 each month for the first year for the basic service. This package
comes with ads. Subscribers who don’t care for commercials can opt to
go for the more expensive package at $11.99 every month.

YouTube
YouTube was established by Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley, and Steve
Chen in 2005 with its headquarters in San Bruno, California. YouTube
is a subsidiary of the tech giant – Google, which acquired it for 1.65
6 | Journey of Brands

billion dollars. Today, the company earns revenue mostly through


Google AdSense is Netflix’s one of the significant competitors since day
one. The site’s popularity is emphasized by over 800 million unique
users who visit the site monthly. Although YouTube has its presence
across the world, however, few countries have been restricted from
its services, namely – China, Syria, and Pakistan. YouTube is a video-
sharing website where users can view, share & upload content in terms
of audios & videos. YouTube is a subsidiary of the tech giant – Google.
Today YouTube has given stiff competition to Netflix in terms of
popularity and is ranked second as the most visited website across the
world. Moreover, with its latest live streaming services, it has emerged
as a significant competitor of Netflix. YouTube has improved itself a
lot in the last few years, including streaming of live events.

HBO Now
HBO Now is a video-on-demand service provider which is functioned
and executed by the HBO network. With HB Now, subscribers have the
freedom to access original content along with various films on different
modes like tablets, personal computers, smartphones, etc. The content
offered on this platform is the catalogue of movies and series of HBO
along with its other content partners, including Universal Pictures,
Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and Time Warner.

Hotstar
Hotstar was owned by Star India in 2015 and is based on a digital
platform in the mobile entertainment. In April 2019, the Walt Disney
Company acquired Star India along with subsidiary Novi Digital
Entertainment. This directly reflects that Walt Disney is now owned by
Hotstar, along with now owns Star India and Fox Star Studios.Hotstar
is into OTT (over-the-top) service, which has witnessed a remarkable
growth in streaming live content andinternet video-on-demand services.
The company owns a humongous content database with original shows
and exclusive movie catalogue like its major competitors – Amazon
& Netflix. Hotstar functions based on its subscription model but add
some of its content through ads for free on its platform. The primary
benefit of obtaining its membership is that it offers live streaming of
Television Channels while covering trending sports events entailing
IPL, Cricket series, and ICC event, formula one races, and lot more.
Hotstar services are rendered in 8 different languages, including Hindi
and English. In the Indian Territory, Hotstar has its headquarters in
Netflix’s Dynamic Capabilities in Global Expansion: A Learning Perspectiv | 7

Mumbai, with 100 advertising agents on its platforms with more than
50 million downloads.

Disney+
Disney+ is slated as anon-demand, commercial-free service, which is
a collection of a wide range of Disney movies along with the original
Disney TV series. It also comprises of all the titles starting from Pixar,
Marvel, features from the Star Wars enterprise, as well as covering
National Geographic options. The service also incorporates in their
library every season of “The Simpsons” and 21st Century Fox films.
There’s been a lot of hype around the streaming service offered by Walt
Disney. The major attraction for Disney+ services is that it provides
unlimited downloads to its subscribers to watch wherever and whenever
they want. Looking at the past years, Netflix and Disney shared an
exclusive relationship and bond until the studio decided to jump into
the streaming war. As soon as Disney proclaimed that the company
is soon going to launch its own streaming services, the deal between
the two got terminated as Netflix offered a number of titles from the
studio. Disney+ is showcasing a hike in functioning and absorbing
the marketplace and presently cost $6.99 per month or $69.99 for an
entire year.

Sling TV
Sling TV is an American service provider offering OTT (over-the-top)
services operated by DISH Network. Its operations are directed from
the headquarters situated in Colorado since 2015. The company has
witnessed tremendous growth over the years by grabbing 2 million
subscribers across the world and has aimed to flourish by expanding its
services offered by video-on-demand. The company is gradually gaining
in the marketplace with more and more subscribers by rendering quality
services. The Top rewarding among all is the multi-stream service, which
permits subscribers (up to three) to stream separate programmers using
one subscription account. In the present Scenario, Sling TV content is
viewed and accessible on various platforms, including Nexus Player,
Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV, among many others.

iTunes
Apple, a renowned and established brand in the market, also allows
the renting and buying of movies and other popular TV shows through
its application of the iTunes media store. It allows its users to watch
8 | Journey of Brands

the streaming media over the Apple mobile devices, and the viewers
also have the facility to purchase the entire season of a particular show.

Jio Cinema
Netflix has also been threatened by Jio Cinema as an alternative and
provides a plethora of catalogues for accessing Indian and International
content. It delivers cross-platform streaming services offered by Jio
telecom to its prime customers for free. The company has recently
entered into a venture with few of the top production houses to
showcase exclusive content on its platform. Presently The Jio Cinema
App caters to a wide variety of Movies, Music Videos, web-series in
languages entailing English and Hindi, and recent episodes of daily
soaps from different TV channels.

EXPANSION STRATEGY AND JOURNEY


Netflix.com began its life as a DVD rental company in 1998, an online
competitor to the then-popular Blockbuster Video. Hastings had said
that he had been inspired to pursue Netflix after having been fined $40
by Blockbuster for the late release of Apollo 13, but he later admitted
that the plot was a fabrication meant to help promote the myth of
creation.

Figure 1  Netflix International Expenassion


Source: Statista
Netflix’s Dynamic Capabilities in Global Expansion: A Learning Perspectiv | 9

Netflix launched a streaming model at the turn of the century,


stepping away from single DVD rental. At the same time, the first
Netflix algorithm was implemented, using consumer reviews to pick
movies that could cater to any viewer.
According to Iqbal Mansoor, 2020, Netflix rose rapidly, from
300,000 subscribers in 2000 to 600,000 in 2002 to 4.2 million in
2005.Yet it was five years later that it launched a feature that changed
everything and is now synonymous with: streaming. In the years that
followed, it collaborated with different media firms to diversify the
means of access to Netflix. By 2010, you could stream Netflix on
a PS3, Xbox360, or Apple computer.2010 was also the year of the
multinational debut in Canada. Latin America will follow in 2011,
with the takeover of Europe taking place slowly over the next few
years, followed by the Asia-Pacific region.
Now, Netflix is a genuinely multinational brand, with a complete
worldwide roll-out.
Netflix also got awarded with the first Emmy in 2012 the Emmy
Innovation Award – presented to specific people or organizations who
have fundamentally altered the way we view television.
Netflix’s rapid expansion is a crucial element in the company’s
performance. According to (Brennan Lewis, 2018), by 2017, it had
been running in more than 190 countries, and today almost 73 million
of its 130 million users are outside the US.

Figure 2  The World’s Most Popular Video Streaming Services


Source: Statista
10 | Journey of Brands

Another accomplishment was that in 2018 the overseas streaming


sales surpassed the company’s domestic sales. Netflix subscribers
numbered 167.1 million at the end of 2019. Among all, 61 million
accounts have been registered in the US, with the remaining 106.1
million (63 percent) scattered across the remainder of the globe.
Netflix is increasing its worldwide household user base at 8.96
percent of the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from 81.52
million households in 2016 to more than 114 million in 2020.
(Columbus Louis, 2018).
As of November 2019, Statista released a snapshot of the world’s
leading subscription platforms by the number of users. Netflix was
safely in the lead at this point, with more than 50 percent more users
than the closest competitor, Qiyi (i.e. not a direct rival – Netflix is
not available in China). Its nearest major competitor is Amazon Prime
Video, with an estimated 75 million subscribers.

EXTERNAL ANALYSIS: PORTER’S FIVE FORCES


Like all participants in the video-sharing business, Netflix is faced
and will consider the external factors that affect their strategic
decision-making. To achieve or retain a competitive edge, executives
must continuously adapt their tactics to match themselves with the
ecosystems in which their companies operate; external ecosystems play
a significant role in influencing the future of industries, particularly
those that are evolving rapidly like Netflix’s. It is primarily due to
the rapidly digitized nature of the environment and technological
developments that will be discussed in the subsequent external review.
Porter’s Five Forces Analysis will help to assess the capacity for the
benefit and to draw the consequences of powers on Netflix (Fig. 3).

INTERNAL ANALYSIS: COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE


Such aspects primarily determine the potential of the company to
achieve and retain a competitive edge as core competencies, and the
recognition of such inherent qualities within the organization must
precede the development of strategic advice.
The most notable capabilities in Netflix are content focused. The
business is a leader in entertainment delivery; its products have immense
brand name value, made up of hundreds of Emmy and Oscar award-
winning shows, both original and authorized, that audiences enjoy.
(Netflix 2016) The range and consistency of their original material
are one of the critical sources of competitive advantage. They have the
Netflix’s Dynamic Capabilities in Global Expansion: A Learning Perspectiv | 11

Bargaining Power of Suppliers (High)


• Content is the strongest asset; high strength of suppliers is in their
position as being able to select the content providers that they go with
• Subject to bidding wars/ownership negotiations
• Reputation vital in strong supplier relationships
• Can reduce power by focusing on profit-sharing agreements, raising the
percentage of profit, and continuing introducing their content
• Does not own rights to the original content

Rivalry Amongst Existing


Threat of New Bargaining Power of
Competition (High)
Entrants (Moderate Buyers (High)
to High) • Industry dominated by
• Low switching
a few large brands (high
• Low barriers costs
competition to capture
to entry • Low cost for
audiences)
(widelyavailable service and no
• Low switching costs,
technology, easy annual contracts
highly volatile
to emulate) • Data shows most
• Many people have
• Easily accessible consumers have
multiple accounts to shift/
from TV subscriptions to
simultaneously view
companies but more than one
• Long-term fixed costs of
can be applied streaming service.
content licenses may edge
to competing • Minimal
flexibility in planning for
streaming services consequences
or reacting to changes
as well for cancelling
in the industry and the
• Product the service (no
market segments
Differentiation termination fees,
• As demand transitions into
• First mover etc.)
instant viewing segments,
advantage • Relatively
variable costs will drop,
• New technologies inexpensive
which simultaneously
and video delivery compared to
enhances fixed costs,
are continually traditional media
making rivalry fierce, and
growing, and new outlets
less constructive.
businesses may • High consumer
• New technologies
also be investing. expectations for
and video delivery are
• Traditional price and content
continually growing, could
providers are • Large number of
be new entrants or other
entering the space. alternatives
businesses investing.

Threat of Substitutes (Moderate)


• Many substitutes (DVDs, satellite/cable TV, etc.)
• Decline in traditional medium viewing
• Reluctance to adopt new technologies (commitment to traditional TV, for
exampleaging population of critical markets)
• Threat of substitutes trending towards being diminished
Figure 3  Porter’s Five Forces Analysis
12 | Journey of Brands

technology and delivery network required for this endeavour, and their
content is consistent with the decision tree of the VRIO. In essence, it
is necessary, expensive to emulate, unusual, and structured to catch
interest.
The inner strength of Netflix is its superior data processing and
analysis capabilities. This is evidenced by their unrivalled diversity of
product choices, all of which are created and executed with a deep
understanding of customer tastes and market habits; put clearly, one of
Netflix’s greatest strengths is to provide something for all.
Another notable aspect of Netflix’s business approach is the
customer interface that has been prioritized by the company
(Sonenshine, 2018). The app is clear and compatible on all devices;
it’s easy to use, and Netflix doesn’t attempt to mix commercial content
with sources like Hulu or Amazon that seek to direct users to apps not
included with their package (Bylund 2018).

STRATEGIC ISSUES AND CHALLENGES


Although Netflix started as an American company, yet it has grown
to become a global brand. With the help of the right positioning
strategy, it was able to witness exponential growth within a few years
of its inception. Today it is not merely a DVD Rental service portal
but a company that continuously believes in innovation through up-
gradation of its Web series, Online streaming of movies, TV Shows,
documentaries, and much more. It can be said that Netflix made
optimum use of its digital space and pushed its limits to come out as a
Market Disruptor.
According to (Team, 2011) Netflix adopted an aggressive
international strategy wherein the year 2010, it started offering
its streaming services in Canada. After that, in the very next year,
it expanded to as many as 42 countries like Brazil, Mexico, Chile,
Venezuela, etc. Nevertheless, this expansion was not as unchallenging
as it appears to be. However, looking for new subscribers beyond the
US had challenges of its own.
First and foremost, there were a lot of technical and piracy issues
associated with the mammoth task of expansion (Team, 2011). Netflix
is continuously battling against online pirating items where many
online pirates are illegally showing the content displayed on Netflix.
According to Dassanayake Dion (2018), Netflix is expanding its smash
team that is fighting against internet piracy issues and downloading
of famous TV shows and videos. It has already emerged as one of the
Netflix’s Dynamic Capabilities in Global Expansion: A Learning Perspectiv | 13

significant competitors to existing Hollywood studios, with massive


investments ranging 6 billion pounds on their material.
According to MUSO, an organization that monitors the size of
internet piracy, around 190 billion visits were made to illicit piracy
websites in 2018. It has also been observed that convenience is a big
reason why viewers follow the unauthorized path while following their
popular TV shows and films, some of them give you a great dashboard
experience as well which sometimes the subscribed platforms may not
provide (Walker Chris Stokel, 2019).
Secondly, the company needed to maintain a strategy of ‘Go Global
Act Local’ where the challenge was to support an International Library
where not only the standard content is broadcasted but is also having
county specific content. For instance, in a report by CNBC, Nov 2019,
in Indian Scenario, it was reported that the availability of original
and local content along with the partnership with Airtel and low-cost
variants helped in better penetration and increase in revenue by around
700%. It is also reported that streaming of local content proves vital
when it comes to attracting new customers to streaming channels and
retaining them alive
Third, Netflix also had to face the problem of Online Infrastructure
support to stream movies concerning different countries of the world.
Not only digital infrastructure a challenge but also various countries
had different patterns of Internet plans (Allen et al. 2014). One of the
significant issues facing the organization was also the vast volume of
data it has to send over the Internet to ensure the smooth delivery of
high-quality content.
To distribute content, Netflix uses the patented Open Connect
internet distribution network, which shares direct traffic with Internet
service providers (ISPs) and can be hosted on ISP networks.According
to a research company Media Partners Asia, India’s online video
industry, estimated at over $700 million, is expected to rise to $2.4
billion in size by 2023. The credit for this boom in Indian Scenario
goes to India’s mobile data rates falling sharply. The price war started
by Jio Telecommunication changed the way people consumed data in
India.People once incredibly mindful of any megabyte they burned on
the site, currently clock 1.5 million terabytes of data per month.
Another challenge with the company was to manage their costs
and keep it low as they move to more content creation with Netflix
originals. With a fixed-price subscription model, the few options to
pull their sales apart from expanding their customer base. According to
Team 2019, Netflix’s cash spending on online entertainment has risen
14 | Journey of Brands

from under $1bn in 2011 to around $12bn in 2018, as the company’s


original programming increased.
Content consumption as a proportion of revenue has risen from 27
percent in 2011 to 75 percent in 2019.Although advertising spending
has been increased by 46 percent CAGR, over time sales, have only
grown at 26 percent. Not only this company’s total content assets and
content amortization cost also increased rapidly. While the exponential
growth of Netflix’s subscription has partly explained it’s spending
on advertising still the company needs to be more vigilant regarding
potential advertising investment, taking into account that cost per user
has also risen.
Netflix can conquer the next step of the delivery of content, but
they have to overcome barriers to do so. Historically, it should be noted
that emerging technologies created opportunities for the growth of
new businesses; as television replaced radio or cable replaced television
decades later, firms that did not constantly innovate lost their way and
were unconstitutional.

CONCLUSION
The components of Netflix’s growth plan represent a new paradigm
that can be called accelerated globalization. It is a deliberately planned
period of globalization, carried out at a rising scale, to a growing number
of countries and consumers. The strategy has allowed the company to
grow even quicker than its rivals. Netflix will face increasing pressure
not only from other major players such as Amazon Prime but also from
new competitors and national or local players. It will have to continue
to broaden its integration of global and national content in this way.

QUESTIONS
1. “Netflix’s generic strategy focuses on maximizing the competitive
advantages of high operational efficiencies and cost-effectiveness
of information technologies.”Is Netflix Model Business Expansion
Sustainable? Comment.
2. Identify the main issues/problems of the case, propose realistic
solutions and make your recommendations.
3. Today online company’s business framework implies strategic
management support for information technologies for efficient
operations and global expansion. Comment.
4. What if Netflix keeps the subscription Plan free for everyone just
like YouTube and revenue will be generated from Advertisements.
Netflix’s Dynamic Capabilities in Global Expansion: A Learning Perspectiv | 15

5. Suppose Mr. Sam runs a Mobile Cover Business if he wants to


target an audience who watches Sacred games and wants to sell
them Sacred Games Mobile Covers. What do you think?

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Report.” Cnbctv18.Com, https://www.cnbctv18.com/earnings/driven-by-
local-content-netflix-india-revenue-spikes-700-says-report-4676721.htm.
• “Netflix – Behind the Scenes.” Technology and Operations Management,
https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-rctom/submission/netflix-behind-the-
scenes/.
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2018, https://www.businessofapps.com/data/netflix-statistics/.
• Allen, G., Feils, D., &Disbrow, H. (2014). The rise and fall of Netflix: what
happened, and where will it go from here? Journal of the International
Academy for Case Studies, 20(1), 135.
• Armental, M., & Ramachandran, S. (2015, April 15). Netflix gains more
users than projected; investors cheer subscriber additions, but international
expansion crimps profit. Wall Street Journal (Online).
• Bhasin, Hitesh. “Top 11 Netflix Competitors – Competitor Analysis of
Netflix.” Marketing 91, 17 Dec. 2017, www.marketing91.com/netflix-
competitor-analysis/.
• Brennan Lewis (2018) How Netflix expanded to 190 countries in 7 years,
Harvard Business Review.
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Harvard Business Review, Oct. 2018. hbr.org, https://hbr.org/2018/10/
how-netflix-expanded-to-190-countries-in-7-years.
• Byland, A. (2018). Netflix, Inc’s Competitive Advantage. The Motley
Fool.
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giant steps up clamp down on illegal streaming.
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up Clamp down on Illegal Streaming.” Express. Co. UK, 25 June 2018,
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/979412/Netflix-
online-piracy-movies-TV-shows-illegal-streams.
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Faces On Global Stage.” Business First Family, https://businessfirstfamily.
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• Grant, K. (2018). Netflix’s data-driven strategy strengthens claim for ‘best
original content’ in 2018. Forbes.
• https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5bb796f2f4755a60eed59e31/t/5ce
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Competitors? (NFLX). Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/
articles/markets/051215/who-are-netflixs-main competitors-nflx.asp
16 | Journey of Brands

• Lee, Dave. “Netflix Feels the Pressure as Competitors Circle.” BBC


News, 17 Oct. 2019. www.bbc.com, https://www.bbc.com/news/
technology-50077673.
• Netflix, Inc. (2018). Company profile. Netflix.com
• Ramachandran, S. (2015, December 07). Netflix says the push for global
rights ‘has not been an easy road’; streaming service faces some content
hurdles to international expansion. Wall Street Journal (Online).
• Says, Pcook. “50+ Netflix Statistics, Facts and Figures (2020 Version).”
Comparitech, 14 Mar. 2019, https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-
privacy/netflix-statistics-facts-figures/.
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Harvard Business School Case 607-138, May 2007. (Revised April 2009.)
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adding 700 new and original shows this year. Business Insider.
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Its Game.” Wired UK, Mar. 2019. www.wired.co.uk, https://www.wired.
co.uk/article/online-video-piracy-is-on-the-riseIqbal Mansoor 2020,
Netflix Revenue and Usage Statistics 2020
• Team Trefis (Oct 2019), Can Netflix Manage Ballooning Content Costs
Without Hurting Subscriber Growth?
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Expansion Bigger Than Its Stomach? Forbes. Retrieved July 03, 2012,
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Hurting Subscriber Growth?” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/
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costs-without-hurting-subscriber-growth/.
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whatcompetitors.com/netflix/.
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2019, https://medium.com/@vik975/netflix-inc-competitive-position-and-
analysis-7ea89a4bb356.
• Walker ChrisStokel (March 2019) to compete with Netflix, online piracy
is upping its game.
CASE 2

AMAZON’S SUPPLY CHAIN IN INDIA:


EVOLUTION AND CHALLENGES
Komal Kapoor1 and Dr. Alpana Agarwal2
1
Assistant Professor, IMSUC, Ghaziabad
2
Assistant Professor, Amity University, Noida

ABSTRACT
The case study would elaborate upon the supply chain management
issues faced by Amazon Inc in India for developing their entire logistics
management for their e-commerce business. For global companies to
develop a competitive advantage during internationalization, it is critical
to building competencies that can develop into critical capabilities for the
organization to compete effectively. The supply chain adopted by Amazon
can be a source of competitive advantage for them in the Indian market
as the logistics and operations in the country are not fully developed.
The same undeveloped logistical support is creating many problems and
challenges also in terms of warehousing, inventory management, lack
of transportation facilities in underdeveloped regions. Thus through the
integration of data and also a vast base of vendors, this can be achieved.
For this, it is needed first to understand critically how Amazon undertakes
its supply chain, areas of differentiation, challenges, and future course of
action that can be recommended.
Keywords: Supply Chain Management, Amazon, Operations, Competitive
Advantage

MAIN ISSUES
• The case would discuss and highlight certain critical areas that
would be analyzed and evaluated so that certain questions can be
asked for the adoption of an efficient supply chain by the company.
• Understand the supply chain model adopted by Amazon for its
global outreach
• Analyze the issues and challenges faced by Amazon in its Indian
entry while establishing the value chain
• Identify the role played by stakeholders in developing the entire
supply chain for Amazon
• Critically analyze the changing nature of Amazon’s business in
India in the coming future to understand further changes needed
18 | Journey of Brands

ABOUT AMAZON’S SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT


The biggest online retailer of the world had its origin in the USA 25 years
back by Jeff Bezos that currently caters to a worldwide market in the
area of cloud computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and digital
streaming (Chaffey, 2018). It ranks amongst the Big Four technology
firms in the world along with Google, Apple, and Face Book. Amazon
is known for its disruptive technology and taking it to the masses for
serving global consumer needs. The company is the largest internet
company in terms of revenue in the world and currently employs
more than 647,500 people all over the world. Due to the nature of the
industry and the technology background, the company has been the
front runner in setting up an integrated supply chain globally through
a network of supply chain partners and other stakeholders.
The organization focuses on every aspect of the supply chain puzzle
from warehousing to inventory management so that through controlled
supervision, the company can achieve the desired outcomes for
efficiency and productivity. The company has broken down the supply
chain management process into warehousing, delivery, technology, and
manufacturing. Upon its entry into the Indian market, many issues
and challenges have been faced in the entire management of the supply
chain as there are many structural, systems-related, infrastructural,
and policy-related issues that have to be solved by the company. To
build and retain its competitive edge in the e-commerce industry in
India, the company needs to identify the loopholes, solve issues, and
build a fully integrated value chain to enhance its business presence.

INTRODUCTION
An E-commerce company like Amazon has to integrate and coordinate
both with the final customers and also vendors, needs to develop a
technology-driven supply chain system within the organization. The
company undertakes global sourcing and distributes its products in a
vast country like India that needs efforts and strategies to be developed
for warehousing, inventory management, and distributing and backend
technology support (AlhapenRuslin Chandra, 2008).
In India, the company is making exponential growth in terms
of warehouses, fulfilment centres, space for logistics, and delivery
partners. In the last two years only, the fulfilment centres have grown
from 27 to 41 along with the area under warehousing from 7.5 million
cubic feet to 13 million cubic feet with each warehouse handling more
than 25,000 packages per day.
Amazon’s Supply Chain in India: Evolution and Challenges | 19

But with this exponential growth came its own set of problems and
challenges based on certain peculiar conditions of the Indian economy.
E-commerce is in the nascent stage in India did not have laid out rules
and regulations concerning outsourcing and vendor management.
These issues have led to the purpose of the case study to investigate the
challenges and suggest a suitable course of action.

DISCUSSION
Amazon has optimized every aspect of its supply chain – from
warehousing and inventory to delivery and prices. The various activities
of the company have been modified to suit the Indian scenario.

AMAZON’S WAREHOUSING AND INVENTORY


MANAGEMENT
Till 2017, Amazon had ten warehouses of more than five million sq. ft
in which they have maintained a fully computerized system (Chandra,
2010). The company focused on satisfying its customers by increasing
availability and outbound logistics performance. Amazon always
had a background of stocking every possible item that any customer
may desire to buy as well and not compromising on the delivery
time. Amazon inventory stocking is primarily based on speculation
strategy which could lead them to face a great amount of uncertainty
also. Additionally, a large number of inventory increases inventory
holding costs and risk of possible depreciation in the inventory value.
Nevertheless, opening a new number of warehouses near to consumers
can decrease the delivery time (Chopra and Meindl, 2007).
In 2017, Amazon increased its responsiveness by building more
warehouses, resulting in a major increase in facilities expenses. Amazon
recognized that the cost of maintaining one warehouse was near to $50
million. Hence Amazon would require $500 million for ten warehouses
in the same year. Additionally, Amazon’s inventory was contributed by
distributors instead of the company itself, which further reduced their
profit margin. Hence, expanding the inventory and warehouses merely
on the point of speculation and without any strategic improvement led
Amazon at risk in 2018. Several strategic methods adopted by Amazon
for the better efficiency of inventory management are:
(a) Decrease the number of inventory based on market unpredictability,
(b) Increase the radius of product offering,
(c) Increase efficiency of logistics, deciding which distribution centre
should stock a particular inventory based on the regional demand.
20 | Journey of Brands

(d) Pick up books from the publishers instead of distributors to manage


good profit.
(e) Develop a few advanced software solutions to assist the region-
wise demand for products.
(f) Reducing split shipment by stocking the products which customer
purchase together.
Reduction in inventory size helped in decreasing the holding cost.
Moreover, an increase in the radius of inventory allowed Amazon to
increase its number of customers.
In 2018, Amazon opted for location postponement under which
inventory could be allocated at one centralized location to reach every
possible door during demand span and reducing the time of order
delivery from several warehouses.
When holding service levels are steady, the safety stock can be
reduced under location postponement (Bailey & Rabinovich, 2005).
So by considering the risk of market unpredictability and location
postponement, Amazon masters to reduce the amount of safety stock
and inventory resulting in reducing the holding cost and shipping cost.

AMAZON’S INVENTORY OUTSOURCING


By providing superior customer service and obtaining a high level of
responsiveness, Amazon managed to obtain a good position. Product
availability would lead to high responsiveness, which can make the
consumer happy as they will get the desired product (Bailey et al,
2002). However, for doing so, Amazon should increase the number
of warehouses as well as inventory. Also for stocking many items to
increase variety and availability to reduce the risk of out of stock,
Amazon should make a lot of expenses in dealing with inventory.
However, by outsourcing inventory management, Amazon can
focus on its core business and have access to inventory management
expertise, provided by its partners. Bailey et al. (2002) highlighted the
advantages of outsourcing actions such as cost reduction, quality of
service improvement, flexibility which allow organization focus on its
core competencies, access to resources such as skilled human resources
and up to date technology, and increase flexibility associated with
fluctuating demand. Other benefits of logistics outsourcing are: better
transport system, reduced cost, obtains professional logistic services,
access to technology development, flexible process, and simplification
of administration.
However, Amazon adopted a better way; it only outsourced the
products which were not popular or frequently not purchased by
Amazon’s Supply Chain in India: Evolution and Challenges | 21

customers (Pillai, 2004). Most of the popular product inventory was


managed internally while non-popular products were stocked by
distributors who deliver the product on request (Pillai, 2004). During
the demand session, Internet retailers should not allow other firms to
hold inventory in the supply chain so that the retailer can produce
optimal service to fulfill orders by locating the stock in their facilities
efficiently (Rabinovich and Evers, 2003).

DROPSHIPPING
Amazon also handled the orders by drop shipped inventory which is a
retail technique used to promote items without having any stock. As an
example, an online site sells men’s ties. When the customer purchases
a pink tie from the website, the online store purchases the tie from a
3rd party, typically a wholesaler or producer (Brynjolfsson & Smith,
2000). Then the producer ships the pink tie directly to the customer
which means the online store might never see or deal with the tie in
this transaction.
In this way, Amazon cooperated with the largest wholesale dealer
of different products and supply chain management services, to provide
logistics and fulfill the orders. An online retailer can also postpone
the location for inventory as well as ownership, to increase the supply
chain level and drop ship the products in response to customer orders
and decrease the risk of out of stock (Bailey and Rabinovich 2005).

PARTNERSHIPS
By strengthening the relationships with a partner like Ingram Micro,
Amazon was able to avoid the risk of getting out of stock as well
as managed to reduce the amount of inventory and cost of holding.
Additionally, Amazon chooses the best market players of supply
chain management services, hence it helped Amazon in getting timely
deliveries (Goat Consulting, 2018). Amazon generated profit without
even losing customer satisfaction and providing suitable services to
customers.
The crux of the above discussion is when all the popular products
are stocked in hand and at the same time the others are outsourced,
Amazon can manage to reduce the level of inventory in its warehouses.
Also, by developing a partnership with the best firm in supply chain
service, Amazon could maintain a level of customer satisfaction.
Therefore, Amazon outsourcing its inventory was the appropriate
decision.
22 | Journey of Brands

AMAZON STRATEGY OF SELLING COMPETING


RETAILERS PRODUCTS
Amazon acted as a trans-shipment enters where Amazon handled all
the orders while the inventory was handled by its competitors whose
product Amazon offers (Pillai, 2004). In such cases, Amazon opted for
an inventory postponement strategy. Under this sender can postpone
the purchase once the order is placed and reduce it holding cost
and opportunity cost from tying capital up in inventory (Bailey and
Rabinovich, 2005).
Hence, Amazon manages its cost efficiency while generating fees
from selling its competitor’s products.
Amazon gained several advantages by selling competitors’ products
on its website. Firstly, it widened the increase in the level of product
offerings, which lead to a rise in variability and availability of products.
Secondly, it permits customers to ingress move information such as
prices offered by both Amazon and its competitors.
With this, Amazon never needed to broadcast its low prices as
the customer can compare directly compare the prices on the website
(Pillai, 2004). Hence, this created an impression of reasonable pricing
on Amazon. Brynjolfsson and Smith (2000) told that online shopping
is more influenced by consumer analysis for recommended product
information contrary to reaching the items themselves.
For example, a consumer who needs to buy a book might consider
buying another item related to the book. Therefore the idea of
widening the product offering by selling its competitors turned into a
great strategy as Amazon could maintain customer delight as well as
price efficiency (Heim & Sinha, 2000).

AMAZON INDIA SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY


Amazon deals with product ownership and fulfilment methods in
supply chain management. Amazon Prime is Amazon’s one-day
shipping service that has become very popular and plays a vital role in
Amazon customer shopping decisions.
The supply chain strategy of a business affects their eligibility for
Amazon prime as well as the cost of doing business. In warehouses,
Amazon tracks important details of the product. First, looking at the
models that guide towards effective supply chain management then
will look at third party selling and fulfilment selling methods.
(a) Hybrid Logistics Model – Using this model Amazon delivers
some of the products itself while delivering some products sold by
suppliers on its marketplace using other logistics firms.
Amazon’s Supply Chain in India: Evolution and Challenges | 23

(b) Amazon SCOT (Supply Chain Optimization Technology) – By


using technologies like machine learning, data analytics, and
complex simulations. Amazon innovates to get customers what
they want when they want it.
(c) Managed Marketplace Model – By adopting this model Infused
inventory-led in a marketplace by having operational control over
seller entities like Cloudtail (Amazon). This way seller is free to
choose self-fulfilment or marketplace-fulfilment.
(d) Third-party selling on Amazon (Central seller).
Selling through seller central, regardless of the distribution channel,
the manufacturers set up their stores on Amazon, sit back, relax, and
receive orders from customers. Amazon being the mediator delivers
the orders. Then sellers receive hassle-free payments from Amazon. In
this way, Amazon help to grow Seller’s business and charge them an
Amazon referral fee.
This fee is for utilizing the Amazon channel and selling to Amazon.
in customers (Paul Simpson, 2016).
The fee depends on the product category; generally between 15 to
20% of the product’s retail value on Amazon. In this way sellers sell
fastest around the globe to millions of customers with free shipping,
adding no costs except paid at the time of selling, resulting in secure
and timely payments and gaining advantages of professional services.

WAREHOUSING – FULFILMENT BY AMAZON (FBA)


In this, Amazon sells the product directly to the customer and keeps
the possession of the product until the product is sold. Sellers send
the products to the Amazon fulfilment centre or schedule a pickup of
return items in this way Amazon stores the Seller’s products and turns
to full inventory. With Amazon FBA, the seller sends inventory into
Amazon’s fulfilment centres for warehousing and order fulfillment.
Later, customers order Seller’s product from the Amazon website.
Packaging and shipping are done at the fulfilment centre.
Amazon takes care of all fulfillment, returns, and general customer
service of the product, but there are multiple related fees in FBA service.
Amazon FBA fees are priced supported by a tier system that teams
product based on product weight and dimension. FBA works on the
philosophy – “You sell it, we ship it.” It helps to create a focus on the
seller’s business. Build trust, instant pay, etc., resulted in the resuming
back of customers with more COD payments. (Source: Amazon,
2019.)
24 | Journey of Brands

LOGISTICS AND TRANSPORTATION – AMAZON EASY SHIP


Amazon’s easy shipping allows the customer to pay using Amazon
Pay. Sellers receive bulletin of orders placed by customers through
email. Seller line-up the pickup order, packed and ready. Amazon Easy
Ship delivery associate picks up the order from Seller doorstep and
delivers at the required address (Govindarajan and Warren, 2016). The
strategic partners of Amazon are P&G’s whose warehouses are utilized
for faster and low-cost product delivery. Amazon also uses Future
Group’s strong product knowledge, large-scale brand portfolio, and
sourcing database. Amazon is also benefited by SBI’s easy & trusted
payment solutions for small ventures and customers.

AMAZON INDIA BUSINESS MODEL


Amazon has always focused on an unusual business model, starting
with searching the products to selling. The Government of India does
not permit firms with massive foreign possession to control retailer’s
business destinations by setting up their inventory. As a result, Amazon
acts as an intermediary between sellers and buyers and doesn’t sell its
inventory (Pillai, 2004). But, Amazon eases out the sellers by helping
with warehousing and shipping products.
The Government of India is planning to permit foreign firms that
can produce within the nation and sell their products to consumers on
their website.
In India, Amazon launched Junglee.com but didn’t enable any
transaction on the website. This helped it in obtaining visibility on
the e-commerce space and in building loyalty. Amazon adopted
the ‘marketplace’ model. It offered SMB’s an enormous expanding
chance without building the technical or operational infrastructure.
As an example, SMB’s sellers of clothes in Rajasthan are presently
restricted in reaching globally, which leads to a lesser development,
but by collaborating under the Amazon market place, such SMB’s can
currently reach around the globe.
Amazon Marketplace is an e-commerce platform in hand and
operated by Amazon.com that allows third-party sellers to sell a new
or used product on a fix-priced online marketplace alongside Amazon’s
regular offerings (Rabinovich & Evers, 2003). Each marketplace has
different facilities to sellers that outline onboarding, verification, tools
to provide insights and fulfilment services. Amazon also assists in-studio
services that help sellers to snapshot all their products and make them
ready for online marketing. Amazon offers inventory reports, order
Amazon’s Supply Chain in India: Evolution and Challenges | 25

reports, and trends that facilitate the sellers in product specialization


and simple ways for shipment in warehouses of the Marketplace.
Amazon targets middle & upper-class customers that have
expertise in using smartphones and have less time to try and shop
from the retail market. Keeping this in mind Amazon smartly located
itself as a Glocal (Go global Act local) e-commerce giant where one
can purchase anything and get it delivered at any doorstep (Newton,
2001).
Amazon Prime is Amazon’s one-day shipping service that has
become extraordinarily popular and plays a significant role in Amazon
customers’ shopping choices. Amazon has acquired several IT and
e-commerce start-ups like pets.com, audible.com, Junglee.com, IMBD.
com, Zappos.com, Woot, etc., to supply prominent worth to its
customers at a low price. Amazon also strategically provides discounts,
low prices, and a massive range of products for selection.
Customer Relationship Management at Amazon records
information on customer’s shopping behaviour analysis. It allows data
to pop-up and show individual items, related items or bundle them as
a suggestion, and also whenever customers access completely different
websites, such offers are on customers’ preferences demonstrated based
on purchases or items visited (Vijay Govindarajan and Anita Warren,
2016).

WORKING OF AMAZON MODEL


Firstly, a list of sellers dealing in the portfolio product is shown on
the customer’s portal while searching on the website. Once the duo
is matched, it generates attractive discounts, and subsequently, the
customer places orders for the specified product following which,
the product is delivered to the buyer (Zhu & Kraemer, 2002). If the
customer is satisfied with the product, the seller receives his negotiated
price of the product after deducting the commission charged by Amazon
for its services. Therefore in nutshell “X% commission is charged on
the total sale price given to the seller”.

AMAZON’S STRATEGIES TO ACCUMULATE SELLERS


In 2013, Amazon developed a program to recruit a military of
suppliers and convince them that it was a trustworthy partner and
would rather facilitate them to extend the market for their products.
Amazon came up with an initiative “Amazon Chai Cart”. These were
the mobile tea carts that navigated through cities and towns, serving
26 | Journey of Brands

refreshments to small scale industry entrepreneurs and spreading


awareness about the benefits of e-commerce. During the tour team
reportedly covered ‘9,400 miles’ across 31 cities and involved more than
‘10,000 sellers’.
Another strategy that Amazon opted was ‘’Amazon Tatkal’’,
meaning “studio on wheels” that provides a bunch of services, like
registration, imaging, cataloguing, and sales training. Tatkal allows
SMBs to move online and to begin selling with Amazon.in in less than
an hour. Beginning with New Delhi, Amazon Tatkal extended across
the nation, involving hundreds of businessmen, craftsmen, makers,
and sellers and facilitate selling on the website at the same time (Yu
et  al., 2016).
Also, the company conjointly introduced—“Easy Ship and
Seller Flex”. Amazon’s delivery service picks up packed products
from a seller’s area of operation and drops at the customer’s place
(Govindarajan and Warren, 2016). In seller flex, sellers registered
underneath Amazon, assign a part of their warehouses for products to
be sold on the website, and Amazon coordinates the delivery logistics.
This region-system provides a stepping stone in decreasing the time of
shipment of products.
Amazon has agreements with the major courier services within the
nation, as well as India Post and cargo airline Blue Dart (Govindarajan
and Warren, 2016). Amazon started a subsidiary, Amazon
Transportation Services private limited, to enhance shipment and avail
cycles and bike delivery services for last-mile deliveries in urban as well
as rural regions.
India has a fleck of small outlets; over 14 million of them are less
than 600 sq. feet.
These are named as ‘mom-and-pop stores’(Govindarajan and
Warren, 2016). These generally, appear high priced with restricted
inventories but play a major role in several rural areas. Amazon has
included these ‘mom-and-pop store’ owners as partners in its delivery
service.
In rural areas, few individuals have internet connectivity, people of
these areas can visit their nearest store and use the internet connection
to search and select products from the website. Owners keep a list of
orders and notify the customers once their orders are received at the
owner’s shop. The owner handover the price of the product to the
Amazon associate after deducting the handling fee (Chopra and Sodhi,
2014).
Amazon’s Supply Chain in India: Evolution and Challenges | 27

CHALLENGES FOR AMAZON IN INDIA


Amazon in India follows a combination strategy of utilizing
technology, an extensive network of warehouses, multi-tier inventory
management, and transportation modes to deliver efficiently and in the
best possible manner. Over the years, the focus has been to integrate
cloud computing and data warehouse about consumers and products
into the final business model of the company into the system. Being
a developing nation, India poses many logistical and infrastructural
challenges to Amazon along with ambiguity in the government rules
and policies related to the E-commerce sector. Also, there are many
transportation and technology concerns linked to Tier 2, Tier 3 cities,
and rural areas where the infrastructure is not fully developed.
A large number of retailers and sellers on the Amazon platform also
face many challenges in serving the customers along with management
of the returns that have to take place. Inventory management issues
linked to under stocking and over stocking are still being solved
along with having concerns about payment gateways (Sanders, 2014).
Automation is being widely used by the company to integrate the
various supply chain concerns like robotics at their fulfilment centres
along with drones for delivery, but the challenges are far too big to
be easily catered to. The pace at which the e-commerce industry and
sales are growing, there is an urgent need of reforms, infrastructure
along with technology adoption of a higher order in the country that
can be innovatively used to solve the problems of Amazon (Ellram and
Cooper, 2014).

CONCLUSION
Amazon is an innovative company that continues to produce new ways
of getting the product to customers. Ecommerce has discontinued the
ancient brick and mortar shop; hopefully, there will be new business
models and fulfillment and inventory strategies that will disrupt the
present sales and distribution strategies. Many initiatives like ordering
through voice-activated devices just like the Amazon Echo, simply walk
out grocery store Amazon Go, and drone delivery through Amazon
Prime Air. Hopefully, new ways of obtaining the product to customers
will continue to grow.

QUESTIONS
1. Discuss and evaluate the supply chain adopted by Amazon in India
from a strategic perspective and how it can become a competitive
advantage against its rivals?
28 | Journey of Brands

2. Keeping in mind, the vastness of the country, what kind of changes


are needed to have a more efficient supply chain in the country?
3. Using the conceptual frameworks in supply chain management,
suggest possible solutions to Amazon that can be implemented in
the country to improve the productivity of their business in the
country.

REFERENCES
• AlhapenRuslin Chandra (2008). An Investigation of Amazon’s Supply
Chain Management Strategy. http://repo.polinpdg.ac.id/318/1/516-512-
1-PB.pdf
• Bailey, J.P. & Rabinovich, E. (2005), ‘Internet Book Retailing and
Supply Chain Management: An Analytical Study of Inventory Location
Speculation and Postponement’, Transportation Research, Part E, vol. 41,
no. 3, pp. 159-177.
• Bailey, W., Masson, R. & Raeside, R. (2002), ‘Outsourcing in Edinburgh
and the Lothians’, European Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management,
vol. 8, pp. 83-95.
• Brynjolfsson, E., & Smith, M.D. (2000), ‘Frictionless Commerce? A
Comparison of Internet and Conventional Retailers’, Management
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• Chopra, S & Meindl, P. (2007), Supply Chain Management Strategy,
Planning & Operation, 3rd edn, Pearson Prentice Hall, New Jersey, USA.
• Chopra, S., and Sodhi, M. (2014). Reducing the risk of supply chain
disruptions. MIT Sloan management review, 55(3), pp. 72-80.
• Dave Chaffey (2018). Amazon.com case study – 2018 update, Smart
Insights, Accessed online at https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-
marketing-strategy/online-business-revenue-models/amazon-case-study/
• Ellram, L.M., and Cooper, M.C. (2014). Supply chain management:
It’s all about the journey, not the destination. Journal of supply chain
management, 50(1), pp. 8-20.
• Goat Consulting (March 2017). Amazon Marketplace Strategy.
Accessed online at https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57e99ddc8419
c2d1fa85c7a8/t/58d4120917bffca14f9c78f8/1490293262352/
GoatConsultingAmazonMarketplaceStrategy.pdf
• Heim, G.R & Sinha, K.K. (2001), ‘Operational Drivers of Customer
Loyalty in Electronic Retailing: An Empirical Analysis of Electronic Food
Retailers’, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, vol. 3,
no. 3, pp. 264-271.
• ICMRINDIA (2017), Amazon’s Foray into India: Competing in an
Emerging Market, http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/
Business%20Strategy/Amazon’s%20Foray%20into%20India-Case.html
• Dr. Bharti Wadhwa, Dr. AnubhaVashisht and Ms. Davinder Kaur
(2017), Business Model of Amazon India – A Case Study, https://www.
researchgate.net/publication/319626623_business_model_of_amazon_
india_-_a_case_study
Amazon’s Supply Chain in India: Evolution and Challenges | 29

• Kumar, S., Tiffany, M., and Vaidya, S., (2016). Supply chain analysis of
e-tailing versus retailing operation – A case study. Enterprise Information
Systems, 10(6), pp. 639-665.
• Paul Simpson (2016), The secrets behind Amazon’s success, https://www.
cips.org/supply-management/analysis/2016/february/the-secrets-behind-
amazons-success/
• Pillai, P. (2004), Amazon.com’s Inventory Management, ICFAI Center for
Management Research (ICMR), Hyderabad, India.
• Rabinovich, E. & Evers, P.T. (2003), ‘Product Fulfillment in Supply Chains
Supporting Internet Retailing Operations’, Journal of Business Logistics,
vo1. 24, no. 2, pp. 205-236.
• Sanders, N.R. (2014). Big data-driven supply chain management: A
framework for implementing analytics and turning information into
intelligence. Pearson Education.
• Stevens, G.C., and Johnson, M. (2016). Integrating the supply chain…
25 years on. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics
Management, 46(1), pp. 19-42.
• Vijay Govindarajan and Anita Warren (2016). How Amazon Adapted Its
Business Model to India. https://hbr.org/2016/07/how-amazon-adapted-
its-business-model-to-india
• Yu, Y., Wang, X., Zhong, R.Y. and Huang, G.Q. (2016). E-commerce
logistics in supply chain management: Practice perspective. Procedia Cirp,
52, pp. 179-185.
• Zhu, K. & Kraemer, K.L. (2002), ‘eCommerce Metrics for NetEnhanced
Organizations: Assessing the Value of eCommerce to Firm Performance in
The Manufacturing Sector’, Information Systems Research, vo1. 13, no.
3, pp. 275-295.
CASE 3

PAPER BOAT: IMPROVING HEALTH AND


REDUCING STRESS BY REKINDLING
CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
Dr. Kumar Saurav1 and Aastha Sawhney2
1
Associate Professor, IMS Ghaziabad University Courses Campus
2
Assistant Professor, IMS Ghaziabad University Courses Campus

ABSTRACT
Paper Boat, a beverage company, believes in the notion that “if you
could make people taste memories, you should” by collecting memory
of people and associating that memory in the form of providing them
ethnic beverages of various tastes. Paper Boat has a wide proliferation
of ethnic beverages that not only gives different tastes and flavours but
also improving health and reducing stress by rekindling their childhood
memories. At one side when PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are compromising
on the health of consumer by providing them carbonated or aerated
beverages, a new entrant Paper Boat has come with a new variant of
so-called ethnic beverages in the form of Thandai, Sharbat-e-Khas, Rose
Tamarind, Panakam, Chilli Guava, Neer More, Aam Panna, Jal jeera and
many more not only to make consumer healthy but also stress-free. At one
side when beverage giants like PepsiCo and Coca Cola are spending crores
of rupees on promotion and not giving any traditional or so-called ethnic
beverages, Paper Boat is giving proliferation of beverages by engaging their
consumer through childhood memory and proving that how consumption
of beverage is not only reducing stress but also improving health condition.
Paper Boat believes in protecting traditional home serving beverages from
extinction and making it to contemporary fashionable brand for younger
generation. This case is all about understanding the role of engagement
and emotions in the consumer buying decision.
Keywords: Consumer Buying Behaviour, Consumption, Customer
Engagement, Emotional Appeal, Ethnic Beverages, Memory

INTRODUCTION
“If you believe in powerful emotions, then the money is not required
for success of business rather you need consistent work to live up to the
expectations of your consumer.”
– Mr. Neeraj Kakkar, Founder & CEO, Paper Boat
Paper Boat: Improving Health and Reducing Stress by Rekindling Childhood Memories | 31

A person who dismantled the old rule of business and established a new
one by proving that a company can be a market leader in their respective
area by just understanding the emotions of people and providing them
value. On one side, when beverage leaders like PepsiCo and Coca Cola
are spending billions of dollars on advertisement with limited varieties
of beverages, a newly entrant beverage company Paper Boat spending
less amount on advertisement but providing proliferation of beverages
by connecting consumers with their childhood memory.

PROBLEM AREA
According to an article published in Healthline Magazine dated August
29, 2018, on “Is Carbonated Bad for you,” it has been proven through
a study that consumption of carbonated drink increases calcium loss,
tooth decay, irritable bowel syndrome and weight gain which could
further reduce the immune system to fight with diseases. Another
report published in The Telegraph dated December 24, 2015, on “11
reasons to renounce your fizzy drink habit,” scientists issued a warning
over consumption of carbonated beverage and blamed it for the death
of 1, 84,000 adults.
This story portrays a glimpse of how an unfamiliar and trivial fruit
pulp-based beverage brand succeeded in carving a niche by aiming to
bring back traditional drinks of India into the modern context. With
its tagline “Drinks and Memories,” and by using traditional Indian
ingredients paper boat not only managed to give good competition
to giant international carbonated & other fruit beverage brands with
a financial froth & marketing muscle but also bought a revolution
by deploying nostalgia-triggered storytelling communication strategy
on the social media. This strategy enabled the Paper boat to blow
the trumpet of success by creating content which not only builds
brand awareness by indulging people into conversations but boosted
customer loyalty by developing a special emotional bond with their
targeted prospects. Moreover, the fundamental phenomena that
worked well for the brand enroot from the very essence of the brand
and its philosophy.

ABOUT PAPER BOAT


The idea of Paper Boat to was comprehended by Neeraj Kakkar, Suhas
Misra, Neeraj Biyani, and James Nuttall, during one of the office lunches
that the co-founders had together in their early years. Remembering
the childhood days where Misra’s mother would pack him a flask of
32 | Journey of Brands

Aam Panna every day and once while reaching out the drink as they
were thinking over a novel business plan. While visiting back into the
memory lane, an idea stemmed from producing ethnic drinks that were
until now unavailable in the market, and that was the dawn of Paper
Boat into the Indian beverage industry. Paper boat is under the umbrella
brand of “Hector Beverage,” which initially captured the marketplace
by introducing their first protein drink named “FRISSIA” in the year
2009. The Hector Beverage company then entered the assessment of
fruit drinks as a fruit pulp-based brand, and its main focus was over the
ethnic drink segment. Paper Boat was introduced to the Indian market
in the year 2013 and had already captured hearts in the marketplace,
specifically in the beverage segment. The brand was originated in India
and established its headquarters in Bangalore. In the year 2016, after
an increase in the house of consumption, it launched 500 ml of Tetra
Prisma Aseptic (TPA) packets and entered into the food segment by
launching “peanut Chikki” as healthy snacks.

PRODUCT PORTFOLIOS
• Aam Panna: Paper Boat started its business by introducing aampana
in India. Aam Panna consists of green aam, lemon, a little bit of
sugar, water and natural spices. It helps in curing gastrointestinal
disorders like diarrhoea, dyspepsia and dysentery. It is also rich in
Vitamin C (because of unripened), which works as an excellent
antioxidant and helps in preventing scurvy diseases.
• Jaljeera: Jaljeera is a perfect combination of cumin, lemon (8%),
black pepper, rock salt that combined functions as an electrolyte,
good for dehydration, especially during summer. Cumin (jeera)
alone works as an excellent antioxidant helps in cleansing vocal
cords. Lemon juice, full of vitamin C, helps in reducing weight loss.
• Anar: Anar is also known as a powerhouse of nutrients. Anar juice
consists of 60% pomegranate juice, a little bit of sugar, water and
a few natural spices and condiments. Functional benefits of anar is
in the form of reducing ageing, solving the heart-related problem,
reducing weight because of the presence of fibre and improving
immunity power of the body.
• Aamras: Aamras consists of 45% mango pulp, sugar and other
natural spices and condiments. Mango is known as the king of
all fruit, and because of the presence of beta carotene, selenium,
potassium and vitamin E, it is good for the heart. This fruit also
helps in building the immune system, improving digestion, and
Paper Boat: Improving Health and Reducing Stress by Rekindling Childhood Memories | 33

controlling blood pressure, preventing anaemia and, above all,


reminding summer vacation.
• Thandai: This particular beverage originated from the oldest lanes
of Lucknow and Varanasi and well known for its super cooling
effect during the summer season. This beverage not only strengthens
mind-body relations but also improves the immune system. It
consists of natural elements like almond, cardamom, melon seeds,
milk, fennel powder, black pepper, sugar and khuskhus. It is an
instant energy booster drink full of protein, vitamin E and iron for
all kinds of people. It is also rich in antioxidants and known for
its special digestive properties because of the presence of pepper
and cardamom. Every year company launches this beverage on the
occasion of Holi for a shorter time.
• Sharbat-E Khas: This particular drink is one of the oldest drinks
on earth made up of water, apple juice, lychee juice, sugar, grape
juice and citric acid. Every year company launches this product for
a short duration on the occasion of Ramzan, a festival when the
Muslim community breaks the days fast with a bite of date and sip
of sharbat.
• Rose Tamarind: Rose Tamarind is a combination of rose along with
its fragrance and imli, a mouth-watering delicious fruit generally
stored in matka (earthen pot). Rose itself works as a cooling agent
of mind because of its fragrance; tamarind works as excellent
digestive property. Originated from Syria, this particular drink has
been positioned as tangy, sweet, refreshing and timeless.

MAJOR COMPETITORS
Paper boat has mainly four competitors Patanjali, Dabur, PepsiCo and
Coca-Cola. Patanjali and Dabur are known for its providing ayurvedic
products mostly in India (although available in more than hundred
countries); PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are providing both carbonated and
non-carbonated drinks in almost all parts of the world. Paper Boat is
providing proliferation of beverages linked to both health and stress.
Almost all beverages of Paper Boat are claiming reducing modern health-
related problems like hypertension, heart failure, digestion, asthma and
many more. Except for Paper Boat, no other competitors are claiming
to reduce health-related problems just by drinking cold drinks. Paper
Boat is connecting ethnic drinks with the modern consumer and trying
to quench thirst by rekindling memories of childhood.
34 | Journey of Brands

PepsiCo
Pepsi was first made in New Bern, North Carolinian, USA in the
early 1890s by pharmacist Caleb Bradham. Pepsi was named after the
digestive enzyme Pepsin and Cola nuts, which were used in the recipe
for making cold drinks. The overall portfolio of PepsiCo consists of
Pepsi Cola, Frito Lays, Pepsi Food International, Pizza Hut, KFC and
Taco Bell. The three most important and most profitable business
of PepsiCo is a beverage, snacks, foods and restaurant. PepsiCo’s
beverage portfolio includes twenty-two brands that generate more
than $1 billion each in annual retail sales. PepsiCo has four categories
of cold drinks in the top ten beverages in the world. These are Pepsi,
Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi and Diet Pepsi without caffeine. One of
the famous tea brands of PepsiCo in the US and Asia is Lipton tea.
PepsiCo India’s portfolio includes beverages like Pepsi, 7 UP, Miranda,
Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Nimbooz, Slice, hydrating and nutritional
beverages such as Aquafina drinking water and Tropicana 100% fruit
juices. PepsiCo has opened 36 bottling plants in India, of which 13
are company-owned, and 23 are franchisee-owned. In addition to this,
PepsiCo’s Frito Lay foods division has 3 states of the art plants.

Coca-Cola
Doctor John Pemberton invented the world’s number one beverage
‘Coke’, a pharmacist from Atlanta, Georgia, in the year 1886.
Bookkeeper Frank Robinson gave Coca-Cola’s name to John Pemberton
as a suggestion. Frank Robinson first scripted ‘Coca-cola’ into the
flowing letters, which have now become the famous logo of Coca-
Cola. Generally, the company makes four different types of beverages,
the sparkling beverage, also called carbonated beverage; still, the
beverage also called non-carbonated beverage, water and flavoured
milk. Sparkling beverages include Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Thumps Up,
Sprite, Limca, Fanta and Kinley Soda. Still, Beverages include Maaza,
Minute maid pulpy orange, nimbu fresh, minute maid 100% juice of
various fruit flavoured drinks. Water contains Kinley and Bonaqua. In
the year 2016, Coca-Cola, along with the collaboration of Schreiber
Dynamic Dairies Pvt. Ltd, Pune came with the flavoured product “Vio”
in two different flavours Kesar Treat and Almond Delight.

Patanjali
An initiative was taken by Baba Ramdev and Aacharya Balkrishna to
manufacture ayurvedic medicines for treatment and research purposes
Paper Boat: Improving Health and Reducing Stress by Rekindling Childhood Memories | 35

in Haridwar. Patanjali came with revolutionary products with a


combined approach of Yoga and Ayurveda. In India, credit goes to
Baba Ramdev for launching Yoga and curing dreaded deceases with
the help of ayurvedic products. Portfolio of Patanjali includes various
health drink beverages like mango Panna, amla juice, bel sharbat,
gilloy juice, khussharbat, karela amla juice and many more either in
500 ml, 1000 ml and 1500 ml with price ranging from ₹85 to ₹200.

Dabur India
Dabur is India’s most trusted brand with the market capitalization of
₹48,800 crore and world’s largest ayurvedic and natural care company
with a portfolio of more than 250 herbal and ayurvedic products.
Dabur’s FMCG portfolio includes five flagship brands with distinct
brand identities, Dabur as a master brand for natural health care
product, Hajmola for digestive, Fem for a skincare product, Vatika
for personal care product and Real for fruit juices and beverages. The
different product portfolio of real juice includes juices in the form of
orange, litchi, mango, guava, pomegranate, mosambi, tomato, grapes,
plum, pineapple, peach, cranberry, apple, mixed fruit, apricot, Jamun
and amla. Dabur real juice has an excellent and widespread distribution
system through which the company is monitoring real-time availability
of fruit juices in the market.

KEY REASONS FOR SUCCESS OF THE COMPANY


Following are the key reasons for the success of Paper Boat
1. Ethnic Beverage (Natural Ingredients)
2. Emotional Connect
3. Customer Engagement
1. Ethnic beverage: Company has come with the proliferation of
beverages having natural spices and condiments. The company is
also trying to connect traditional Indian beverages with the modern
consumer. Aam Panna is one such example that consists of green
mango, lemon and natural spices. It helps in curing gastrointestinal
disorders, which people used to use during the old days, especially
in summer.
2. Emotional connect: Everybody having an emotional connection
with their childhood days. Paper Boat is connecting its beverages
with what the thing people did and what game they played during
their childhood days by printing childhood memories on packaging
and website.
36 | Journey of Brands

3. Customer Engagement: Paper Boat is continuously engaging


its customers through the various social media platform. On
Facebook, Paper Boat having a social page named ‘walk down
through a memory lane’ and ‘Life is still beautiful’ through which
the company connects with its consumers by telling them to write
and share their childhood days.

THE MARKETING APPROACH


The marketing strategy of Paper Boat spindles around walking down
the memory lane and reflecting modesty in the storytelling campaign.
The campaign targeted the urban population who grew up in the 1990’s
era between the age bracket of 20–40 years. The market targeting was
done in a way to focus on groups that have shifted to other parts of
the country from their native places in search of livelihood, and their
taste buds miss the tempting home recipes & flavours. To reach its
customers’ paper boat used poetry to narrate the tale of their childhood
memories through the combination of animation in their television
advertisements, social media and also book publication. Thus, their
marketing strategies basic essence strategizes on old childhood
memories music that matches a quaint, old-worldly charm.

THE SOCIAL MEDIA APPROACH


Paper today enjoys an active social media presence through its key
platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for
storytelling. Having a huge fan following about 340K on Facebook
18.8K on Instagram, it directly interacts with its customer by
stressing on their philosophy, “Life still is Beautiful”. The campaigns
premeditated for these platforms caters everything from the bygone
days like flying kites to catching auto rickshaws to making Paper Boats,
hopscotch, and the top classroom favourite game Flames became a
point of conversation. The Paper Boat sailed its boat, ensuring that
their conversation remained docketed around childhood memories and
waters of nostalgia.

6 P’S:A WALK DOWN THE MEMORY LANE


• Product: The brand, at its inception, launched Aam Panna and
Jal Jeera drinks and later added a wide range of ethnic drinks to
its portfolio, including Aam Ras, Chilled Rasam, Kokum, Jamun
Kala Katta, Chilled Guava and Neer More and many more. In
the present scenario, Paper Boat offers 12 ethnic drinks while
Paper Boat: Improving Health and Reducing Stress by Rekindling Childhood Memories | 37

effortlessly trying to augment 35-40 new products shortly. The


brand integrates only natural ingredients and with no preservatives
or added colourings plus and offers value-added benefits to it.
With its sweet and salty flavour, the paper boat company is able to
capture the diabetic capital as well. The drink is not only tasty but
also healthy as compared to the carbonated drinks in the market
(Aam Ras, one of the brand’s most popular drinks, contains 45%
mango pulp and is made from naturally ripened mangoes).So
basically, the company is targeting people who have moved out of
their native places to other parts of the country and who miss their
childhood and traditional drink that they used to consume. Hence
Paper Boat believes in ‘Making People Taste Memories.’
• Price: The price strategy of the paper boat is to gain customers so
that the Indian customers can find it affordable. It has its 250 ml
packet at the price of ₹30 and 1L at ₹80. Also, at malls like Dmart,
it provides special discounts.
• Place: Hector Beverages is presently having its manufacturing
facilities in Mysuru and Manesar and can produce up to 10 million
pouches per month. The Manesar plant has a production capacity
of 80 pouches per minute, while the Mysuru plant has the ability to
produce 380 pouches per minute. The distribution of the products
of paper boat is focused on the retail outlets by providing 5% more
margins to the retailers. Paper boat is also associated with Indigo
airlines to be sold in the planes. It has targeted schools and college
students as they are the youth and are more conscious about health
and taste. Paper boat has a 2 – Level of the distribution channel-
Manufacturer – Mysore and Delhi and Distributors – All metro
cities.
• Promotion: Paper Boat has mounted and nurtured an emotional
connection by revisiting & reviving childhood memories of its
customers. With the tagline Drinks and Memories’, Paper Boat
evoked the marketing strategy around nostalgia and innocence
of the childhood memories. The television advertising campaign
consisted of simple and expressive ads that reflected the idea of
childhood nostalgia. The ads were set to an adaption of the music
of RK Narayan’s Malgudi Days. Apart from television ads, the
brand has released short films which include – ‘Ride down the
river of memories, ‘Waiting for Ma,’’Hum HongeKamyab,’ and
all short films aimed to bring out the child in you and don’t let it
die. A short film released in 2016 ‘Rizwan Keeper of the Gates in
Heaven’, which attracted 2.2 million views on YouTube, connected
38 | Journey of Brands

the viewers the most. It narrates the story of an old man named
Rizwan who reminisces about his childhood and is a celebration of
innocence, love and bravery. The video used animation, narration
and strong characterization to tell a moving tale. Social sites aren’t
only used for getting feedback but also for asking its customers to
share their memories to make an even better connection with the
customers. It has also started its ventures by publishing books like
jungle books and 3 men in a boat and is provided as a gift with a
paper boat.
• People: Paper Boat possesses a team of conversant, receptive and
intellectual marketing communities. They are in constant touch
with the consumers. Answering their queries through various social
media platforms, not only that but also involving them in various
activities like inviting them to share a memory later, which are later
published on the social networking pages. It engraves a positive
brand image in the minds of the customers.
• Packaging: The packaging says a lot about the product, likewise a
spout pouch with a unique shape. This packaging was the best way
to stand out because spout pouches, when filled with liquid, gave the
feeling of squeezing an actual fruit. These are not environmentally
friendly, but it has less impact than glass and PET bottles, they
have only 10% carbon footprint. The pouches are light in weight
and save a lot of transportation costs.

CONSUMER BUYING DECISION MAKING PROCESS MODEL


Consumer Behavior or Buyer Behavior is referred to the behavior that
is displayed by the individual while they are buying, consuming or
disposing of any particular products or services. It involves the mental
search for a product, evaluation of product, purchase and consumption
of the product and post-purchase behaviour. It helps to understand
how a consumer makes the buying decision and how they look for a
product and service.
There are generally five stages of consumer buying decision-
making process, which tell how consumers follow all the five necessary
stages typically (depending upon the nature of the product and how
well product is positioned in the market). Generally, all the steps are
involved by the consumer in case of a new product only. Decision-
making process starts with need generation, followed by information
search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post-purchase
behaviour. According to Neeraj, CEO, Paper Boat, most of the
consumers are still not aware of the company and its beverages. The
Paper Boat: Improving Health and Reducing Stress by Rekindling Childhood Memories | 39

Figure 1  Consumer Buying Decision Making Process


Source: Pearson Education

company also spends very less amount on promotional activities in


comparison with Pepsi and Coca-Cola.
In terms of need generation, Paper Boat tries to position its
beverages as not only a health drink but also a stress booster. In the
present scenario, these two (health and stress) has become an essential
part of need generation, and the company is fulfilling need by giving
kind of beverages which improves health and reduce stress. To quench
thirst consumer start searching for information related to beverages
that will not only quench thirst but also does not create a problem
with the health of the consumer. As various competitive products
are also available in the market, consumers also go for alternatives,
depending upon the type of consumer and nature of the product they
are associating with him or herself.
If consumers are young (16-30 yrs) and they have junk foods at
regular intervals, they go for Pepsi or Coke. Consumers do not have
even options because already, these two beverage companies have been
associated with Burger King and Dominos, respectively, as a part of
the co-branding strategy. If consumers are above thirty, they generally
ignore carbonated beverages and select those cold drinks, which not
only quench their thirst but also improve health. It has also been
proven through research that as people grow in terms of age, they
want to rekindle their childhood memories. Research has also proven
that going deep into childhood memory or seeing anything related to
childhood memory reduces stress level. This is the reason that Paper
Boat has given its name ‘Paper Boat’, a boat made up of paper which
we as a child used to sail during the rainy season.
40 | Journey of Brands

KEY ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FOR PAPER BOAT


Consumption of beverages in various forms on various occasions is
not only a culture of India, but the pattern is also spreading all across
the globe. People consume beverages either to quench thirst or to cool
their minds and body. Most of the carbonated beverages are made
up of sugar and carbon dioxide. In the present scenario, science has
proved that high consumption of sweetened beverages directly linked
to weight gain and nutrition-related dangerous diseases. Although
both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have positioned its brand as a youth
and family bonding, respectively, the same consumers are getting
away from these two famous brands because of its negative impact on
health. Research has proven that consumption of carbonated drinks in
a certain quantity can also lead to osteoporosis, where there could be
chances of tooth decay and bone degenerations.
Non-carbonated drinks of both cola majors also could not live
up to the expectations of consumers because of the presence of sugar
and unnatural chemical ingredients. Non-carbonated beverages also
could not position itself as an ethnic brand, which now has become
a demand for the younger and modern generation of people. On one
side, when PepsiCo and Coca-Cola are facing challenges in terms of
decline in soft drink consumption, a not very old company is coming
with the proliferation of ethnic beverages and deepening into the soul
and mind of the Indian consumers. Paper Boat has come with various
kinds of beverages directly linked to not only substitute for eradicating
various diseases but also rekindling childhood memories.
Researcher has proved that if anything is being associated with
the childhood memories, it works as a medicine in reducing the level
of stress, which now has become a common problem for people
of both urban and rural society. Although Paper Boat is trying to
improve health and reduce stress levels by associating its beverages
with rekindling memories, still people are orienting more towards
carbonated drink because of its lethal association with junk foods.
Another major challenge for the company is to maintain the quality
of such a significant proliferation of beverages along with the timely
distribution of beverages in the market.

FINDING LEARNING FROM THE SAILING BOAT


• Packaging: An authentic taste that reminds consumers of what
their mother or grandmother used to prepare at home packaged
appealingly, appeals to the present generation.
Paper Boat: Improving Health and Reducing Stress by Rekindling Childhood Memories | 41

• Storytelling Approach: The key take-home point from Paper Boat’s


approach is their agility in storytelling as a medium of marketing.
What worked very well for Paper Boat on social media was in
getting their fans and customers to share their childhood stories
and moments on social media – allowing them access and relive
a piece of their childhood life through these stories By tapping
into these memories and creating interactions online with their
customers, it helped build the brand among its audience by making
it part of their daily life. And this evident in the steady increase in
fans and followers on all their social media platforms - Face book,
Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
• Customer Centricity: By focusing on its brand philosophy rather
than on its product itself in its marketing approach, it helped build
a more customer-centric brand rather than pushing the brand’s
agenda. It always helps when a brand can connect to customers
and their lives in ways that are meaningful to them, and the Paper
boat has done just that. By doing so, then engagement Paper boat
created online among its microcosm of users brought a sense
of sustained ownership with the brand, its philosophy and the
product. Paper Boat became a new avenue for people to connect
across the country’s length and breadth, to share the little moments
that defined their lives, regardless of where they lived.
• Simplicity: By constantly sharing simple yet meaningful content
and encouraging interactions that helped customers, experience
and reminisce a piece of their childhood has made Paper Boat a
brand that customers can relate to encouraging a community of
users to spring up and remain adherent to a sweet and simple.

FUTURE IMPLICATIONS
The urban youth of the current market craves simple, delightful and
non-transactional.
Among the Indian customers, the brand success is mainly because
of its catchy name, differentiated packaging and traditional Indian
recipes.
• A huge crowd of customers prefer fruit-based beverages.
• Consumers are looking forward to healthy drinks& beverages in
the marketplace.
• Consumer behaviour for the current market trend is changing, and
fruit-based beverage has a positive growth in the market.
42 | Journey of Brands

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION


1. Explain the concept of buying decision-making process by taking
an example of any brand of a beverage company.
2. Highlights the key difference in terms of marketing strategy made
by PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Paper Boat?
3. Explain Marketing Mix Strategies of Paper Boat in detail.
4. You are a Head, Marketing of PepsiCo India Pvt. Ltd. The
company is seeing a decline in terms of consumption of carbonated
beverages because of consumers’ orientation towards healthy
beverages especially made by Dabur, Paper Boat and Patanjali.
What strategies will you make to cope up with this situation by
taking into consideration of these three companies?

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manpasand-beverages
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drinks-memories.html
Paper Boat: Improving Health and Reducing Stress by Rekindling Childhood Memories | 43

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Westport, CT: Quorum Books.
CASE 4

OYO HOTELS – DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION


IN HOSPITALITY
Komal Kapoor1, Nishtha Goel2 and Ayushi Sharma2
1
Assistant Professor, IMSUC Ghaziabad
2
Student, IMSUC Ghaziabad

ABSTRACT
OYO Rooms, also known as OYO Hotels. It is an Indian hotel chain. It is
one of the largest and fastest-growing hospitality chains of hotels, homes,
and living spaces. Founded in 2013 by Ritesh Agarwal OYO in starting
consisted mainly of budget hotels. The startup expanded at a global level
with thousands of hotels vacation homes and there are millions of rooms in
hundreds of cities in India, Malaysia, UAE, Nepal, China, Brazil, Mexico,
UK, Philippines, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, the
United States and more.
   The investors of the company include Softbank Group, Green Oaks
Capital, Sequoia India, and Hero Enterprise, Light speed India, Airbnb,
and China Lodging Group.
   Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a new program named
“Make In India” which boost up the industries and the main effect was
on the manufacturing industry. OYO is with a new idea online platform
company for booking hotels in India. OYO network is into more than
200 cities in India and also in Nepal and Malaysia with more than
6500. OYO is the biggest chain of hotels in the world. Ritesh Agarwal
is the founder and CEO of OYO Rooms. He is an Indian Entrepreneur.
He has also authored a bestselling book titled ‘Encyclopedia of Indian
Engineering College’ at the age of 17. Abhinav COO of OYO room is
essentially a design from IIT Kharagpur with an MBA from Harvard with
a multi-year encounter crosswise over item and Service Organization. He
also had a keen interest in governmental issues which made him attempt
his possibilities in crusade administration for a political gathering during
2009 decisions in India. Somewhat higher ranking than Ritesh, he isn’t
just a co-worker; he is also an incredible buddy. OYO Rooms is the fastest
growing brand network of hotels offline & online.
Keywords: The Hospitality Industry, Hotel Business, Competition,
Revenue, Marketing
OYO Hotels – Disruptive Innovation in Hospitality  | 45

INTRODUCTION AND CEO OF OYO


The government nowadays is also focused and concentrated on “Make
in India” which helps budding entrepreneurs and startups like OYO to
execute their startup ideas easily.
He started the concept of ‘On Your Own’ online based hotel
booking service.
OYO started its services with only a hotel in Gurugram in 2013
and today it deals with several hotels more than 230 cities throughout
India. Also more than 6,500 hotels in Nepal and Malaysia. OYO
Rooms is associated with budget hotels and its range varies from ₹999
to ₹4,000. They also have exciting deals for minimum guaranteed
customers and also offer its clients good deals and discounted rates.
Ritesh Agarwal is an India based entrepreneur, the founder, and
CEO of OYO Rooms. He has also written a bestselling book at the age
of 17 titled ‘Encyclopedia of Indian Engineering College’. He claims
OYO to be the biggest chain of hotels in India
Ritesh Agarwal got an idea for OYO rooms while traveling when
he was staying in Delhi he had to travel a lot in Rajasthan, Himachal
Pradesh, Jammu, and Kashmir. He stayed at various hotels on his
traveling time. It was during that phase when Ritesh turned 18. He
launched Oravel Stays in 2011. Oravel was basically an Indian version
of Airbnb.
What OYO did was it partnered with the hotels and formed a chain
and tried to provide standard services across India. In some time only
Oravel Stays received a grant of $100,000 from Peter Thiel as Thiel
Fellowship. OYO approximately has over 17000 employees at a global
level; approximately 8000 employees are Indian and South Asian.
OYO full-fledged leases and franchises its assets as a hotel chain.
The company has invested in Capex, GMs to oversee operations and
customer experience with generating around a million job opportunities
in India and South Asia alone. For the people who have an interest in
the hospitality industry, OYO has also set up 26 training institutes in
India.
Abhinav, who is the COO of OYO rooms, is from IIT Kharagpur
with an esteemed MBA degree from Harvard with a multi-year
encounter crosswise over item and service organization. He looks for
more of the financing matters for OYO expansion.

OYO MARKETING
Every brand stands around some core values. OYO has certain policies
that basically are, before becoming an OYO ordinary hotel have to
46 | Journey of Brands

be upgraded to the standard level of OYO. The core ethics of OYO is


putting its customers as a priority each and every time before anything.
OYO transforms the hotel wholly when they connect with any
hotel as they believe in when YOU BOOK A HOTEL FROM OTA
YOU BOOK – HOTEL ABC, BUT WHEN YOU BOOK A HOTEL
FROM OYO, YOU BOOK’ – OYO. Means OYO is trying to change
the substitute Hotel word to OYO.
OYO doesn’t do any business with any gender of the age group
of 20-30. These people are from urban backgrounds like Mumbai or
Bengaluru and belong to the lower and middle-income earning classes
of society. OYO targets students and working professionals who enjoy
traveling alone and making short trips alone.
• ‘Aurkyachahiye campaign’ – OYO currently burst on the broad
communications with their battle title “Aurkyachahiye?”. The
battle is bolstered by computerized radio and print media.
• Huge database – OYO Rooms have adopted a reasonable pricing
policy that offers affordable rates and great services to meet customer
satisfaction. OYO has its focus merely on capturing customers
with more focus on digital marketing and mass marketing. It has a
strong digital capture on social media platforms as its Twitter has
more than 8000 followers and Face book has more than 2.7 lakh
followers. There are approximately 1.5 million downloads and it
has a lot of active users.
• ‘One for everyone campaign’ – Its latest campaign has targeted
the people having holidays with the slogan OneForEveryone. This
campaign of OYO has included 8 short films that portray the
experiences of different customers with OYO’s services and their
satisfaction.
• Quarantine rooms during the corona outbreak – OYO Hotels &
Homes is in talks to partner with the Delhi government to offer
its 1,000-plus hotels in the state for self-quarantine amid the
Covid-19 pandemic. It is also holding discussions with other state
governments for the same.
• ‘Influencer marketing’ – OYO could conduct influencer campaigns
in which it provides all-expenses-paid trips to different kinds of
influencers. For example, an influencer who has a keen interest in
biking and is a biker talks about his experience of OYO that how
was his experience so that it could influence his followers.
• ‘SEO by OYO’ – Search engine optimization is all about generating
a lot of traffic on a portal using different meta tags and keywords.
These keywords are the ones that have the highest search rates from
OYO Hotels – Disruptive Innovation in Hospitality  | 47

their target customers. If a website works in a certain way that it


adjusts or optimizes itself in a way that it reduces their bounce
rate as well as reach the right people. Some of the suggested bid
words for OYO are online hotel booking, hotel booking online,
hotel booking offers, book hotels, etc.

OYO EXPANSION
OYO – is a stock light reserving site that offers clean, wi-fi, air adapter,
empowered spots to remain with breakfast. Today this chain of OYO
hotels deals with 70 urban areas of India which once started with only
with a tag of ₹999 and now being the highest accessed hotel chain. It
has a stock of more than 12,000 rooms or more. OYO doesn’t own
any property like it doesn’t have its properties it just rent out other
people’s property which is hotels.
The CEO of OYO Ritesh is always clear about his vision about
servicing his clients with the best services. “Our vision is to give a
standard encounter – to name them to feel at home while not at
home.” Many other companies charge a commission on works on a
commission basis for booking of rooms and hotel example Cleartrip,
MakeMyTrip, goibibo, etc. But OYO rooms are working on a reselling
basis it completely follows a different business model. OYO reached to
a revenue of ₹32.86 crore and a steep loss ₹496.31 crore in its first year
of operations. By the end of the financial year 2018, it clocked revenue
to ₹415 crore while losses stood at ₹360 crore.
Year on year, OYO’s revenue climbed up by 245 percent while losses
widened marginally from ₹355 crore to ₹360 crore. OYO also acquired
some new startup that can help them to expand their own business and
provide more facilities to their customers. In March 2018, OYO made
its first major buyout in March 2018 by acquiring Novascotia Boutique
Homes which is a Chennai-based service apartment. Then in 2018, it
acquired a Mumbai based online marketplace for wedding ventures,
i.e. Weddingz.in. And vendors marking its entry into the fragmented
$40 billion wedding industry. In April 2019, OYO announced a
partnership with Nedbank Hotel beds as strategic global distribution.
In the same year, OYO announced another strategic partnership
with Airbnb. The company also announced two joint-ventures with
Softbank and Yahoo! Japan.
In March 2019, OYO invested 1400 crore in its India and South
Asia businesses to, strengthen technology, increase infrastructure, and
internal capability over 2019 as a part of its efforts. OYO in May
2019 announced the acquisition of Leisure Group an Amsterdam
48 | Journey of Brands

based Europe’s largest vacation rental company. In July 2019, OYO


announced another acquisition of Innov8. Which means the expansion
plans are broad as they are deep? 90 percent of OYO’s revenues were
coming from the mid-market segment OYO Townhouses and managed
holiday homes i.e. OYO Homes or OYO Rooms where it controlled
the entire property. It also launched Collection O, which already has
12 hotels, and is focused on the budget to mid-segment.

CHALLENGES FACED BY OYO


Unethical Growth Strategies
According to the company’s chief executive and nine current and former
employees OYO offers rooms from unavailable hotels, those that have
halted its service. Its executives have acknowledged that thousands
of rooms are from unlicensed hotels and guesthouses. This unethical
strategy boosts the number of rooms listed on OYO’s website.

Protests by Hotel Owners


Small scale hotel owners of mid-tier cities like Kota, Pune, Ahmadabad,
Manali, Bangalore, and Delhi are protesting. These hotel owners claim
that OYO has been misleading them about their minimum guarantees
and promised returns OYO is imposing a dream of charges on them
often without informing them. Also during the contract formation
between owner and OYO, many of these charges are not even specified.

Sharing of Customer Data with the Government:


In 2019, OYO decided to share customer data with the government by
implementing a digital register mechanism. This has been described as
a threat to privacy. And in today’s digital era data is one of the most
powerful things. Customers do not want to compromise their privacy.

Handling Market Competition


OYO has to deal with many players present in the market who are
giving high competition to OYO like Yatra, make my trip, clear trip,
fab hotel, tree.

Safety and Privacy Issues


Many hidden cameras are spotted in many hotels under OYO rooms
which has caused many criminal cases and cased a lot of customer
OYO Hotels – Disruptive Innovation in Hospitality  | 49

dissatisfaction and created a storm of privacy and safety fear among


people.

BUSINESS MODEL
As till now, we have already got the overview of OYO now we will be
talking about the most important topic for the case study that is the
business model of Ritesh Agarwal. He has done a great job on the main
focus of his business that creates great living spaces for the common
man this was the concept that brought him in the highlight, this is the
main thing which took him unique from others Ritesh has also done a
great job on arrival which is a similar known company of air-bnb we
can say it is an Indian model of air BnBOravel The main focus was on
hire when you repeat customer sufficient operation high-Class CRM
these are the main things on the main broad concept on which the
business model was based upon.
Many people tried to copy the business model of the business idea
of OYO but they were incapable of people of certain things which
made Ritesh Agrawal different from those and made a brand which
is the third-largest Hotel chain brand of the world like grass house,
nestaway, vistarooms, no broker, verify your room, Fab hotels, etc.
The 7 success strategies of OYO are number:
1. Asset light strategy – This strategy focused on bringing the pool of
unbranded hotels to the branded ecosystem, that means there are a
number of unbranded hotels which were unrecognized the people
were and going to those places they were left ideal so he thought
of bringing those unbranded hotels in the chain of the branded
ecosystem which would give them the exposure to the business of
Hotel. He tried to create sarcastically a vicious cycle of great quality
low price and best location that means he gives the great quality
with customer expect from the hotel and it was on a low price but
with the best location Which gains the attraction, the attention of
lower mid-segment by the best location they meant basically the
people use to take the hotels near Mall, railway station, airport,
corporate hub at the initial stage he concluded two things that
were there were 10% Hotel over hundred rooms and 90% hotels
under hundred rooms so what hi focus was on 90% hotels under
hundred rooms because no one in the world was focusing on this
category of the business So what you did was he partnership with
existing hotels to give them delightful great consumer experience
And what it came to be known as the aggregator business model
50 | Journey of Brands

in which there were uniformity quality-price standardization and


staff training which was main focus towards the business.
2. End to end responsibility – for customer experience in this the focus
was on Ease of hotel search that is the ease of booking, check-in
easy, checkout easy and world-class experience.
3. Practability will bring repeatability – they brought the concept of
cluster manager in their business they kept a check Some factors
like electricity water fan AC Wi-Fi speed room cleaning appliance
working all the amenities is which were needed for a good and
fancy ness of the hotel they focus on those things.
4. Technology – They created an app that took 3 clicks 5 seconds
and the room was booked this was a technology that helps them
to gain popularity and bring ease in the booking system. They
focused on technology internet of things, machine learning, and
artificial intelligence they used the Crypton mobile app which was
an internal app of their staff to check the rate of return, yield,
earning, inventory, and price point.
5. Focused team for acquisition and expansion – they spread and
overtook the business of 13 countries, 250 cities, and focused on 5
times faster growth.
6. Feedback to feed forward – They focused more on feedback and
improvement which was constant work.
7. Lowest attrition with continuous training – they set up 50 training
centers approx. They use to hire their employees with mainly
looking at their skills, will, hard work, management skills, and
leadership skills.
So after getting deep knowledge of the OYO Rooms Case Study
now, we should also see how this business model works its expenses
and revenue generation. OYO Rooms is a system of spending
lodgings and in this way, OYO differentiates between itself from other
aggregators and OTAs (Online Travel Agents) for example, Goibibo,
Cleartrip, Makemytrip, Yatra, and so on. Lodging aggregators follow
a very basic business plan, they basically associate the client with the
inn by posting inns on their site and as their income, they accept the
commission.
The action plan of OYO is extraordinary. Many times they work
out on an arrangement with the inns they give marked down rates and
arrangements on the room rates contrasted with the rates given by the
inns specifically to an ordinary visitor with a base request to the owner
ensuring every month. This strategy makes them lucrative for visitors.
OYO Hotels – Disruptive Innovation in Hospitality  | 51

It neither claims any lodgings nor is an inn aggregator. What is the


OYO plan of action at that point? Now, this part is fascinating. OYO
accomplices with squares rooms by getting them out for a particular
time span. OYO then marks that room inventory to visitors in exchange
for some points. OYO’s action plan requires high operational expenses
and tremendous funding to obstruct those rooms.

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES


OYO Flagship
There was a loophole in their business plan. When OYO Flagship
partners see fewer prices on the OYO’s platform they used to book
their hotels and this became malpractice benefiting the partners while
burning holes in OYO’s pockets. To expand the business and to curb
this OYO room has started leasing places and hotels where it has full
control over the day-to-day operations of these establishments.

OYO Townhouse
The company has recently launched a new standard concept which
is the OYO Townhouse to sharpen its value proposition and to
differentiate itself from the competition when it comes to standardized
hospitality and lodging. This concept is based on the needs of millennial
travelers. These hotels are to stand out from budget hotels to standard
hotels. They have so many smart features like Smarter Rooms, special
showers, specially designed beds, sockets, and internet infrastructure.
Even TVs have Netflix and other OTT installed. Free printer, business
services, magazines, coffee, and tea in the common area. Smarter
Spaces designed to have meetings. Smarter Menus through which you
could order from your phone and which provides 24 × 7 Kitchen and
many more smart services.

Studio Stays
Apart from providing hotel rooms, they do provide studio stays; Now
OYO Rooms also provides fully furnished rooms and flats for a long
period of stays like internships, corporate stays, etc. Those rooms or
flats can be rented on single occupancy as well as on twin sharing basis
as well or could be rearranged according to the needs of the client.
Rents are paid monthly. If the customer comes through OYO rooms
then Commission is charged from the owner.
52 | Journey of Brands

Events and Other Long Stays


Just like studio stays. There are many family functions (weddings,
parties) as well as corporate functions (seminars, meetings, parties)
which involve hotel rooms for their guests to stay for long. This service
is also provided by OYO.

Commercial Places
Due to the Commercial Places concept of OYO now the customers can
even book office spaces on OYO. This has expanded its branches in the
domain of the commercial places as well.

OYO Wizard
The company also launched a subscription model which is named as
OYO Wizard where the subscribers get exclusive deals, cashback, and
discounts offers.

IS OYO SUITABLE FOR INDIA?


Now the question comes that ‘Is OYO suitable for India?’ Will this
Business Model stand out in the future? Yes! Why not. The business
model is quite simple yet unique and can be sustainable in the future.
The reasons behind its sustainability are good service, affordability,
regular employee training, and more. But the OYO business model can
also fail and they can go bankrupt if there’s customer disappointment,
data breach, and many more reasons. If a new competitor comes in
the market with more facilities at the same or fewer prices then OYO
Rooms, etc.

How OYO Earns/Revenue Model


OYO uses an aggregator business model. In its initial days, OYO used
to rent a few rooms, and sell them under its image and to arrange the
cooperate with hotels. And slowly step by step OYO became popular
just because of its affordable services for all categories of people to
easily book rooms under OYO hotels. OYO book rooms and hotels
in bulk for their customers at a cheap price so that customers need
not negotiate and all the negotiations are done by OYO on behalf of
customers. The benefit to the customer is a high discount.
For example: If the cost of 1 room/night = ₹2,000. OYO rooms
get 50% discount = 2,000 * 50/100 = ₹1,000. OYO resells at ₹1,200.
Profit to customer = ₹800. The profit to OYO is ₹200/room. Earlier
OYO rooms worked on the lease model they used to take rooms
OYO Hotels – Disruptive Innovation in Hospitality  | 53

on lease and then they use to sell them under their name. Now the
OYO business model is changed from aggregator to franchise. Now
OYO has started the franchise model which somewhere in the start
was a mixture of franchise business model and aggregator business
model. Later on, as their brand value started growing and increasing
then their main path of revenue generation was from the Franchise
business model.
Now OYO gets over 90% of revenue from hotels under a franchise
business model, says CEO Ritesh Agarwal. Earlier OYO uses to book
a part of the hotels’ inventory, and maintain it as per the quality
standards, and to hold it exclusively for OYO customers. That is,
they used to lease some rooms every month and provide them to their
customers at profits. Now there is not much change, the only thing
that has changed is that the rooms are now not leased but operated as
OYO Rooms franchise. Now the operational work has increased and
the control over rooms has been taken by OYO itself.
Since the hotels and place owners act as the franchisee, they are
bound to operate as per the pre-determined standards. The company
even offers plans where it runs the place instead of the hotel staff or
owner. If we talk about the previous model the earlier the brand used
to lease hotels and rooms at a predetermined price agreed between
the owner and OYO and offered them to the users at a take-up rate,
earlier there was no commission-based business. But now this has
been changed to a commission-based revenue model. Now the brand
charges a commission of 22% from its hotel partners. However, this
commission does vary according to the services provided by the brand
to its customers and also according to the category of the hotel or room.
The company made revenue of approx 3000 crores. But expenses are
more than revenue. So, currently, the company is in the loss but the
business model is reliable.
Hope they will be in profit in the near future. OYO works in a
business model where hotel management, as well as the customer, is
satisfied. Let me explain to you how it works OYO book hotels in
advance and they pay to hotel management in advance which helps
them to get a high discount by hotel owners. The hotel owners get
satisfied because they get money in advance and the bulk bookings in
advance too. The benefit which the customer gets is a high discount
from OYO.

OYO EXPENSES
• Approx 1000 people are working in OYO rooms. So, Salary is part
of expenses.
54 | Journey of Brands

• On the OYO room’s site, 4000 hotels are listed on the OYO
website. So, advance payment to 4000 hotels.
• Expenses of the marketing team, marketing on television, and
marketing on social media and website is also a part of expenses.
OYO is looking like they’re on the highway to WeWork-land and they
have broken the speed limits a long time ago. Contribution to the economy
also ENABLING 100,000+ JOBS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE RANGING
FROM HOUSE-KEEPING TO AI & DATA SCIENCE.
OYO says:
• OYO continues to build capabilities to serve our customers better
by investing in the OYO Skill Institute (OSI) that trains to close to
3,000 talent every month in India.
• Our incessant focus on customer experience has seen our NPS
scores in India increase from 47% in December 2017 to 51.4% in
December 2018.
• We also see that on Booking.com – which is one of the largest hotel
OTAs in the world – our customer experience score reached a high
of 8, averaging across several parameters.
This score considers location, value, comfort, cleanliness, service,
and staff—a clear indication of our strong focus on the end-to-end
customer experience. Conclusion OYO aspires to be the largest Hotel
Company in the world. The hunger for growth and the ambition to
create value for all our stakeholders are only getting started and so
are they. It has still a lot of potentials if they keep working hard at
the same pace as they took in the initial days that would lead them to
great heights.
Also as per the evaluation and analysis, they should more focus on
the revenue model of the business model and also should maintain the
standards set by them relating to their USP. We know that in a country
like India which has a huge population with a variety of positive and
negative opinions, also with such diversification in the context of
likes-dislikes, tastes, and preferences, etc. It becomes hard for one to
have standards with having all the factors in the picture instead of
ignoring other factors the company is going hand in hand with all
the factors.

REFERENCES
• Chua, J.F., Kee, D.M.H., Lee, M.J., Lim, C.H., Toh, Y.R., Raj, N., ... &
Pandey, R. (2020). A Study on Growing Trends, Customer Expectations
and Perception towards Services Provided by OYO. International journal
of Tourism and hospitality in Asia Pasific, 3(2), 13-25.
OYO Hotels – Disruptive Innovation in Hospitality  | 55

• IIDE (2018), OYO marketing strategy. Retrieved from: https://iide.co/


presentations/oyo-digital-marketing-strategy [Accessed in May, 2020].
• India Infoline (2019), Why make in India. Retrieved from: https://
www.indiainfoline.com/article/article-latest/why-make-in-india-is-so-
imperativeto-india-s-growth-116101700033_1.html [Accessed on March,
2020].
• Kesharwani, S., & Kumar, V. (2016). On your own: An OYO story A case
study. International Journal of Engineering and Management Research
(IJEMR), 6(5), 325-331.
• Marketing 91 (2018), OYO rooms. Retrieved from: https://www.
marketing91.com/marketing-mix-oyo-room [Accessed in April, 2020].
• Mohanty, M.R., & Samal, A. Startups and Challenges – A Classic Case of
OYO Rooms.
• NCRypted (2017), Business model economics. Retrieved from: https://
www.ncrypted.net/blog/the-business-model-economics-of-oyo-rooms/
[Accessed in March, 2020].
• News Face (2019), OYO marketing strategy. Retrieved from: https://
newsface.co/oyo-rooms-case-study-marketing-strategy-revenue-
modelfundingexpansion/ [Accessed in April, 2020].
• Nikhat, R., & Nikhat, R. Customer Engagement Managem Innovative
Franchise Strategy Mod Rooms. Innovations and Sustainable Growth in
Business Management, 9.
• Office NEWZ (2019), How OYO is working. Retrieved from: https://www.
officenewz.com/2019/03/25/how-oyo-is-working-to-become-the-worlds-
biggest-hospitality-chain-one-hotel-at-a-time/1%https://db0nus869y26v.
cloudfront.net/en/OYO_Rooms [Accessed in March, 2020]
• OYO Rooms (2017), Enabling consumer value chain. Retrieved from:
https://www.oyorooms.com/officialoyoblog/2017/11/09/enabling-the-
consumer-up-the -value-chain [Accessed in April, 2020]
• Sardar, R. (2019). OYO Rooms: Demystifying the Success of India’s New
Age Hospitality Start-Up. AMC Indian Journal of Entrepreneurship, 2(2),
7-15.
• Sharma, T.G., Jain, R., Kapoor, S., Gaur, V., & Roy, A. (2017). OYO
Rooms: Providing affordable hotel stays. Emerald Emerging Markets
Case Studies.
• Trust Pilot (2019), Customer experience is the pulse of each business.
Retrieved from: https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/learn-from-
customers/5-reasons-why-customerexperience-is-the-pulse-of-every-
business [Accessed in March, 2020].
• VoicenData (2019), Digital India. Retrieved from: https://www.voicendata.
com/telecom-architects-digital-india-mobility-network [Accessed in
March, 2020].
• Yahoo (2018), Start up talk, retrieved from: https://in.finance.yahoo.
com/news/funding-alert-oyo-confirms-investment-113933354.h https://
startuptalky.com/oyo-rooms-challenges [Accessed in April, 2020].
CASE 5

CASE STUDY: AMAZON PRIME – AN


ENTERTAINMENT PARTNER (WEB SERIES)
Aastha Sawhney, Nidhi Sharma and Dr. Sahil Gupta
Assistant Professor, IMSUC Ghaziabad

ABSTRACT
Web series is the new version of entertaining people through different
platforms. This case study shows how Amazon Prime video becomes the
customer’s preference to watch web series in their most comfortable zone
and convenient mode as an internet connection is only needed. Concerning
Amazon, the brand uniqueness of television sets of connections acts as
valuable things that can be drawing customers into its Prime membership
program. Its efforts to build streaming service with association brand
identities to compete with other companies to be in the market. It also
shows how Bollywood celebrities are giving preference to work in web
series then in cinema theatres as web series in the future and young people
are fonder of web series than theatres movies. Due to the current scenario
of COVID19, Amazon has started 5 Indian Web series to splurge- watch
when people are stuck at home these are also called as “Made in India”
which is very helpful to engage people being at home they can run different
web series to entertain people and more people take a prime subscription
and become their permanent members.
Keywords: Amazon Prime, Branding, Indian Television, Video-on-
Demand

INTRODUCTION
The US-headquartered e-commerce giant, Amazon.com (Amazon),
launched its content streaming service, Amazon Prime Video (APV)
in India in December 2016. Almost a year after Netflix, another such
popular service, was launched (in January 2015) in India. The content
was distributed through theatres and Amazon’s digital Prime video
streaming service, and with the rise of OTT (Over the top) platforms,
came incredible entertainment opportunities for the viewers. Amazon
Prime embraced this opportunity to create a new and different web
series.
Analysts believed that with the tagline “India Ka Naya Prime
Time” (India’s new primetime), APV proposes to communicate the
message to the audience that they could ‘watch the latest and exclusive
Case Study: Amazon Prime – An Entertainment Partner (Web Series) | 57

content, anywhere and anytime they want to, thus making any time –
their prime time’. Due to this campaign, Amazon endeavoured to site
APV as the go-to service for content seekers, to enjoy worth streaming
of content in their preferred genres and different languages, without
having to face constraints of time, place, and choice.
The day Prime Video launched at a much economical rate compared
to Netflix in India, Amazon started moving fast with partnerships to
expand its user base in the country. The company recently partnered
with telecom provider Vodafone giving its customers access to Amazon
Prime video at endorsement prices. Vodafone India is merged with Idea
cellular, created India’s largest mobile phone company with a large
number of a subscriber base of 400 million customers. This is a significant
number of the total mobile phone subscribers in the country, which
exceeds 1 billion. Amazon’s strategy with Prime Video in India differs
from Netflix as the company is focusing on local content and smartphone
video consumers as its target audience. By partnering with India’s
largest telecom operator, Amazon can break through into this user base
and also build a competitive edge against local players such as Reliance
Jio which are offering similar streaming services on mobile phones.
Today, Amazon Prime in India has risen the level of Indian
entertainment. With some record-breaking shows to ever hit the small
screens, Amazon Prime India has made us forget all those Saas-Bahu
sagas. Amazon Prime India offers an assortment of dramas ranging
from history, comedy, and courtroom content which is perfect for all
age groups. And with its rich, mature, and bold content, it has glued
the viewers to their mobiles and TV screens.

COMPANY PROFILE
Amazon
Jeff Bezos is an American computer scientist and philanthropist.
and also, is the chairman-chief executive officer of Amazon.com, the
world’s largest online shopping retailer. The company started with
selling books online and now slowly it has the widest range of products
and services online. Amazon’s recent product is Amazon Prime
Videos an online video and audio streaming service for entertainment
around the world. Amazon is currently the world’s largest online sales
company and also the largest provider of cloud infrastructure through
Amazon Web Services. In 2015, Amazon surpassed Walmart as the
most valuable retailer in the United States by market capitalization
(Kantor and Streitfeld, 2015), and was, as of late 2016, the fourth
most valuable public company (Sommer, 2016).
58 | Journey of Brands

Amazon India
Amazon India was launched in June 2013. Since foreign e-commerce
companies were not allowed to hold town inventory and sell directly
to consumers in India, Amazon launched its marketplace model which
enabled third-party sellers to trade their products. Since its launch in
India Amazon has built the biggest online marketplace in the country.
Amazon India currently offers millions of products on its platform
and has millions of registered users. Amazon India currently offers
products across various categories such as mobile phones, computers
and accessories, men’s and women’s fashion, books, sports & fitness,
electrical & electronic items, movies, music, cars, motorbike, baby
products, toys, grocery items, etc. Amazon India also operates a Global
Store, where customers can buy directly from sellers in the United
States.
• Recently, Amazon Prime was launched in India, which provides
users access to various services such as streaming video, music,
e-books, the latest offers, etc. After its inception in India in 2013
Amazon has come a long way and continues to become the first
choice of the consumers. Few Highlights of Amazon’s journey in
India.
• Since the launch in India Amazon has Invested 5 Billion US dollars
in India
• Amazon has the largest storage capacity in India with 41 fulfilment
centres across 13 states
• Amazon India currently delivers to most of the serviceable PIN
codes in India. It has more than 20,000 Indian sellers and 41
fulfilment centres across 13 states
• Amazon partnered with Yes Bank in 2017 to train entrepreneurs on
E-commerce who will in return to help offline MSMEs and retailers
to understand the technology and sell online. It also acquired 5%
stakes in retail store Shoppers Stop in the same year.

Amazon Prime
In mid-2013, Amazon came to India and captured with India’s
e-commerce giant Flipkart. In more than a year, it has invested more
than one billion dollars to make way into the Indian market. Its
business has grown by 120 percent in 2015-16 which has surpassed its
rival Flipkart. Amazon Prime video service was rolled out in December
2016 in India to increase the subscription of Prime members through
videos. An integrated voice search Fire TV stick was introduced in
Case Study: Amazon Prime – An Entertainment Partner (Web Series) | 59

Hindi and English. It was introduced with free data for three months.
Prime members have increased by 75 percent since its launch and the
seller’s capacity has also increased.
Amazon prime video subscribers get access to all the latest local,
regional, international content, television shows in HDTV has special
features specifically designed for Indian viewers. Amazon provides
prime delivery for Amazon orders and unlimited video access for a fee
of ₹499 per annum. This costs around ₹42 per month. It is expected that
Amazon Prime membership rates increase its membership subscription
to ₹999 per annum, which will cost nearly ₹83 per month – which is
still very less of what Netflix charges a month in its basic plan.
The Amazon studio, the entertainment industry established in
2010, HQ in Culver City, California, U.S. it provides services like
Television Production, Film Production, Film Distribution worldwide.
Amazon is the parent company of Amazon studios and has divisions
of Prime Movies.

CURRENT SCENARIO OF AMAZON


In expansion to striking a slew of motion pictures securing bargains
with major Bollywood generation houses, the gushing huge has so
far launched about half a dozen original or unique series over three
Indian dialects and encompasses an advance 30 in improvement. Its
accomplices on these appear to incorporate beat Mumbai based makers
such as Excel Media & Entertainment, Abundantia Entertainment,
and Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC).
Mr. Gaurav Gandhi joined Amazon last year after heading the
streaming service of local media conglomerate Viacom 18 said that
“This is largely an Android market, which means that you now have
devices at all levels and price points, and given that India mostly has
single TV homes – around 95% only have one television – the phone
has become a TV screen for an additional four to five members of the
family,” And he also said that “combine with the fact that you now
have much cheaper data, which was not the case a few years ago, and
everyone can stream without worrying about what will show up on
their bill.” Low-priced data came courtesy of the 4G plans introduced
by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio in September 2016, conveniently
just a few months before Prime Video expanded from a handful of
markets to more than 200, take in India. Like many emerging markets,
India is primarily a mobile broadband market – it currently has around
345 million mobile internet subscribers, compared to only 18 million
fixed broadband connections. Jio’s cheap data plans – between $1.3
60 | Journey of Brands

(Rs98) and $7 (Rs509) a month – have put streaming within reach of


millions of new consumers.
As for demographics – the country has a population of 1.3 billion,
of which more than half are below the age of 25, with no restrictions
on foreign investment as in the world’s other billion-plus market,
mainland China. Also, most of India’s new natives are younger people
who get through habits that are completely different from the older
generation that grew up with traditional TV. “The majority have been
influenced in a big way by YouTube and Facebook videos,” explains
Gandhi. “And because India is one of the only markets where you
have so much premium content available on ad-supported services,
suddenly you have this big behavioural shift of people who are saying
they want to watch content on their mobile phones.”
Content is one area in which the landscape in India looks completely
different from other international markets. The country has several big
media conglomerates with large libraries of content, most of which they
own outright, as India has never had much of a pay-TV or premium
cable market. As a result, India’s ‘old media’ broadcasters have all been
able to roll out streaming services very quickly – most of which are
ad-supported – which means Indian consumers have online access to a
vast amount of content mostly for free.
Carving subscription revenue out of this market has been the
challenge taken up by the global SVOD players – Amazon and its rival
Netflix – and original content has been a major component of their
strategy. As Gandhi explains, the economics of Indian broadcasting
previously only allowed for mass-market programming, but now for
the first time, the SVODS are producing for niche audiences: “We
never had those high-quality but limited premium dramas in India.
Now there’s a huge change in the structure and tonality of the stories
that are being told.”
Initial web series with numerous comedy specials (Prime Video is
now considering as the home of stand-up comedy in India), Amazon
then shift into producing more comedy series – each with a format
of eight-10 episodes and touching on subjects not usually seen on
mainstream TV. The first batch has included Inside Edge, revolving
around the scandal and politics which include premier league cricket;
psychological thriller Breathe; gangster drama Mirzapur, set in the
badlands of small-town India; and most recently, Four More Shots
Please, about a group of liberated young women in modern-day
Mumbai.
Case Study: Amazon Prime – An Entertainment Partner (Web Series) | 61

“As far as India is concerned, these stories haven’t been told, not in
this way or this format, so it’s leading to a lot of excitement and lots of
customers,” and he also said that. “We want to tell world-class stories
with cinematic quality – and tell them to people in a language they
want to hear”Mr. Gandhi rejects the notion that Amazon Prime Video
is a niche or high-end service in India; at the same time as targeting
a small group, itis also focused at the mass market audience with
a mainstream product. In the run-up to its Indian launch, Amazon
acquired films from traditional Bollywood producers such as T-Series
and Dharma Productions, along with two of the biggest mainstream
stars – Salman Khan and Rajinikanth. Prime Video’s mass-market
reach is also reflected in its pricing – bundled with Prime shipping it
costs $14 (₹999) a year or $1.8 (₹129) a month, making it one of the
cheapest SVOD services in India.
“India already has 250 million people accessing streaming video in
one form or another each month. At ₹129 a month, Prime is the best
deal anyone can get on shopping and shipping, video, music, and a
bunch of other benefits – so it naturally appeals to a wide set of people.
The audience is not segmented in that sense,” Gandhi explains.

BRANDING STRATEGY OF AMAZON


Global Branding Strategy
The company also manages to engage a number of partnersand
businesses for the global branding strategy for the web site to flourish as
the online web market. This also is based on how Amazon is affiliated
with the industry and the people it works with for the development of
its global business.

Pricing and Business Strategy


Amazon works with a well-developed business plan that includes the
business strategies of the company specifically designed for the customers
so that they not only make the most of the website themselves but also
provide benefits for the company itself. It makes sure that like all the
other markets this online market also earns them the maximum profit
through not just the advertising strategies or thee pricing strategies
but also from the business strategies.Amazon does not just cater to a
specific kind of consumer but it also has to look upon the customers
from a global point of view. Amazon’s position is strengthened when
it is known as a global bookstore that provides the variety throughout
62 | Journey of Brands

the world to all kinds of customers. The pricing and business strategy
redefine Amazon’s business plan comprehensively.

VALUE PROPOSITION
India is a “mobile-first” economy and a majority of its population uses
the internet on their smartphones. It is estimated that the country will
have nearly 500 million smartphones by 2020, double from the current
estimate of 200-250 million smartphones. As telecom operators roll out
4G services and reduce data tariffs in a competitive environment, the
consumption of videos on smartphones is likely to increase significantly.
India’s young population (50% of the country’s population is under
favors our watching content on the go, leading to an increase in video
consumption on mobile devices. Further, 90% of households in the
country have a single television set, making a mobile device the default
personal entertainment tool for individual consumption. The country
is expected to have 650 million internet users by 2020, making it a
huge market for video-on-demand consumption Amazon is looking
to tap into this growth to penetrate deeper into the Indian market. By
partnering with telecom service providers, the company is enticing users
to watch its content on their smartphones with a 4G connection. This
strategy is likely to work in India since a majority of the population
is not likely to invest in a fast broadband connection at home to view
content on large screens.
Further Amazon is using this partnership to promote its related
services. Users signing up for Amazon Prime via Vodafone will get
an ₹25 cashback in their Amazon Pay account. This will ensure that
the company drives registrations for this service, leading to higher
e-commerce volumes in the future.
With a huge growth potential in India, Amazon is looking to grow
revenues on thin margins and become ubiquitous in the region. It is
already a key player in the e-commerce segment and by driving prime
memberships through prime video the company is looking to grow its
market share further in the country. While Netflix cannot be considered
to be its direct competitor in the region due to a different business model,
several local players can prove to be a threat to Amazon. For instance,
another large telecom operator in India, Reliance Jio, is offering movies
and TV series for its subscribers at a nominal membership fee.
This company has a model similar to Amazon Prime, where Jio
members (akin to Prime members) get several perks such as free movies
and TV series upon subscribing for a phone connection. Partnering
with a competing telecom company (which will now become the largest
Case Study: Amazon Prime – An Entertainment Partner (Web Series) | 63

in India) is a smart strategic move by Amazon and should cement its


position in India.

PRIME COMES WITH ADDITIONAL PERKS: MUSIC, MOVIES,


AND MORE
This relates to point number two above. Most know Amazon for tits
selection and shipping, but many people are unaware of their other
services. For example, most people use Netflix for video streaming and
Spotify or Apple Music for music streaming.
Amazon has competing products for these, Prime Music and Prime
Video, and they all come free with a membership. Prime also includes
online photo storage and access to thousands of eBooks. It’s a fantastic
way to get your services into the hands of thousands and to build a
thorough ecosystem of products and services.
They greeted with plenty of benefits when you sign up for the
program. The Prime explainer page does a really good job of showing
all the benefits without overwhelming you. The page highlights each
key benefit with an accompanying visual, ad provides a clear hierarchy
of information. This makes the page easily skimmable, while also
providing adequate detail for prospective customers.

FOCUS
• To critically analyze the positioning strategy adopted by Amazon
India into position APV as the go to service-for content seekers,
to enjoy quality streaming of content in their preferred genres and
different languages, without having to face limitations of time,
place, and choice.
• To study the competitive frame of reference and its importance in
developing a positioning strategy to fight competition.
• To understand how Amazon India came up with a marketing
strategy to differentiate APV from other OTT service providers in
India

COMPETITION
Netflix
From moderately humble beginnings as a DVD by Mail benefit,
Netflix had developed into one of the foremost influential media
spilling administrations within the world. The company was one of the
primary to see the potential of spilling innovation and started to move
64 | Journey of Brands

to a membership video-on-demand show in 2007. Since this move,


yearly income has developed from 1.36 billion to around 15.8 billion
in fair ten a long time. The number of Netflix supporters had taken
after a comparable drift, developing from less than 22 million in 2011
to about 150 million in 2019. The benefits are getting to be so well
known that an evaluated 37% of the world’s web clients utilize Netflix.

Hulu
Hulu is a U.S.-based subscription video-on-demand service owned
under a joint venture with Time Warner, NBC Universal, The Walt
Disney Company, and Fox Entertainment Group. About 18 percent
of Americans aged 18-29 reportedly watch television on Hulu several
times a day. Primarily oriented towards the broadcast of past and
current television series and episodes, the company was projected to
record an estimated 2.4 billion U.S dollars in revenue generated for the
fiscal year of 2017.
Hulu offers free as well as and paid services. The Free Hulu
primarily comprises of the latest episodes of ABC, Fox, and NBC series,
and contains a comparatively limited amount of content material that
is made available only through PCs and laptop computers. In 2015,
24 percent of Hulu viewers in the U.S. accessed Hulu either through
a desktop computer or a laptop. The free content service also offers
live television streaming and survey donein 2017, the share of adult
respondents with a live TV subscription to Hulu stood at five percent.
The paid subscription service was earlier referred to as Hulu Plus. It
offers a larger area of content materials available on all Hulu-supported
applications such as set-top boxes, smart TVs, gaming consoles,
mobile, and other connected devices. As of February 2017, Millennials
accounted for around 30 percent of the share of consumers with an
active Hulu Plus subscription. Hulu was recorded to have had over 12
million paid subscribers during the second quarter of 2016.

Hotstar
In April 2019, the Walt Disney Company acquired Star India along with
subsidiary Novi Digital Entertainment. This means Walt Disney now
owns Hotstar along with now owns Star India and Fox Star Studios.
Hotstar is another OTT (over-the-top) service provider that has seen
tremendous growth in viewership in recent years. Like Amazon and
Netflix, it too has a large content library with originals shows and an
exclusive movie catalog.
Case Study: Amazon Prime – An Entertainment Partner (Web Series) | 65

The advantage Hotstar has over Netflix (even Prime Videos) is that
it also offers live streaming of TV channels and major sports events like
IPL, Cricket series, and ICC event, formula one races, and lot more.
Though Hotstar has a subscription-based model in place it also offers
some of is content with ads for free on its platform.

Sony Liv
Sony Liv is another OTT platform that allows you to stream content
across devices. Backed by Sony Pictures Networks, the streaming app
and website offer Web Series, Popular Hollywood, and Bollywood
Movies, Live broadcast of sporting events, and TV channels streaming.
Like Hotstar it also has freemium and premium two subscription
versions. Under the freemium model, a user gets access to the limited
library content. Sony Liv premium subscription for 12 months costs
₹499 which is much cheaper than Netflix. There is some additional
content available on a rental basis.

Jio Cinema
Jio Cinema can be looked at as a Netflix alternative and has a wide
catalog of Indian and international content. It is a cross-platform
streaming service offered by Jio telecom to its prime customers for
free. Jio has also reportedly partnered with some of the top production
houses to produce exclusive content for its platform. The Jio Cinema
app currently offers movies in various languages including English and
Hindi, Music Videos, web-series, and recent episodes of daily soaps
from different TV channels.

ZEE 5
ZEE5 is an Indian video on demand website which is run by Essel
Group via its subsidiary is Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited
(ZEEL). On 14 February 2018 Zee was launched with content in 12
languages and its mobile app is also available on Web, Android, iOS,
Smart TVs, and other devices and by December 2019, ZEE5 had 56
million monthly active users.
The ZEE5 platform also provided the first time Tamil Web series
in 2018 with the title “America Mappillai”. And in the same year,
the famous filmmaker Karthik Subaraj produced another web series
titles “Lallachirippu” and also the Karanjit Kaur- The Untold Story of
Sunny Leone, a Biographical web series on Sunny Leone.
66 | Journey of Brands

THE CURRENT WEB SERIES RUNNING ON AMAZON


PRIME VIDEO (APV)
The beginning of Amazon Prime in India has raised the level of Indian
amusement. With a few record-breaking appears to ever hit the little
screens, Amazon Prime India has made us disregard all those Saas-
Bahu adventures. Amazon Prime India brings to you a grouping of
shows extending from history, comedy, and court substance which
culminates for all age bunches. And with this wealthy, develop, and
strong substance, we are presently stuck to our mobiles and TV screens
Amazon Prime India is all around the arrangement that speaks to all
sorts and we have handpicked 5 astonishing must observe arrangement
for the audience. Here are the best series currently available on Amazon
Prime Video in India.
• 4 Blocks (2017 – Present): Set within the Berlin borough of
Neukolln, this German-language, i.e. crime drama show which
takes after the pioneer of the Lebanese medicate cartel who needs
to take off behind the rough way of life for a tranquil presence with
his spouse and their girl, but is reluctantly pulled in after police
operation debilitates everything. Set for a third and the last final
season in 2019.
• The Adventures of Tintin (1991–1992): A co-production between
3 nations- Belgium, Canada, and France- this energized adjustment
of cartoonist George Thrive Remi’s most celebrated work ran for
39 half-hour scenes over three seasons, conveying about two dozen
experiences that were lauded for their steadfastness, in some cases
lofting comedian boards to the screen precisely as they showed up.
• The Affair (2014 – Present): A teacher and budding writer
(Dominic West) begins an extramarital issue with a youthful server
(Ruth Wilson) attempting to piece together her life in this serious
dramatization, which conveyed two solid seasons of profound and
mental perception sometime recently a slight plunge brought by
plot battles within the third season.
• The Big Bang Theory (2007–2019): Adored and abhorred in the
rise to this degree, this long-running sitcom is almost the lives of
two physicists,their yearning performing artist neighbor, and their
nerd companions: an aviation build, and an astrophysicist. It
included two ladies- a neuroscientist and microbiologist – because
it went on. Seasons two through six were the great a long time.
• Bosch (2014 – Present): Adjusted from the books he composed,
maker and creator Michael Connelly gives us Los Angeles Police
Case Study: Amazon Prime – An Entertainment Partner (Web Series) | 67

criminologist Hieronymus “Hary” Bosch (Titus Welliver), a Gulf


War and Afghanistan experienced who fathoms incomprehensible
cases – the kill of a boy decades before outstanding gracious rights
lawyer – whereas managing with individual battles. Moderate, to
begin with, the season, but it before long refined itself.
• The Boys (2019 – Present): Distant from culminating, this bloody
superhero – obsessed – culture cure, based on Grath Ennis and
Darick Robertson’s comedian arrangement, takes after a bunch
of nobodies (Karl Urban among them) attempting to take down
degenerate bunch of superheroes who have chosen capitalism over
charity. In brief, the superheroes are the supervillains.
• Casual (2015 – 2018): A Newly-divorced woman and successful
therapist – her teenage daughter – moves back in with her more
youthful brother and dating location co-founder in this sweet
littlecomedy-drama. The two coach each other through the trials
and tribulations of the dating world, whereas collectively raising
the young lady.
• Deutschland 86 (2018): This spin-off to the hit unique- Deutschland
83, which is tragically not on amazon- is set within the main year
either side of the Press Shade, because it investigates life in both
West and East Germany through the perspective of a covert spy,
who navigates adore, family, and privileged insights. Reestablished
for a third season, titled Deutschland 89.
• Doctor Who (2005 – Present): David Tennant, Matt Smith, Diminish
Capaldi, and the first-ever lady specialist- Jodie Whittaker offer
their take on the time-traveling, galaxy – hopping outsider within
the modern-day restoration of the famous British sci-fi appear.
Season 1-11 are accessible. Season two. Three, four, and five are
generally considered the most excellent of the part, with the final
of them as a rule highlighted.
• Dororo (2019): Born without anybody parts since of his power-
hungry father, a youthful man-dazzle, hard of hearing and more-
made up of prosthetics set out to recover what is his from 12 devils
in this anime. Along the way, he becomes friends with the main
vagrant boy.

THE ROADMAP AHEAD: WEB SERIES AND AMAZON PRIME


In one line we can say that “Cinema is the way out, Web is the
Future”. As we talk about today’s scenario, Mr. Bhatt the producer
said himself the ‘appointment – viewing doesn’t appeal to the youth
people anymore so Cinema theatres or Bollywood are going to face
68 | Journey of Brands

some strong competition. Web series are more convenient for the
customer to watch in their comfort zone. He is not the only but
other celebrities like Vikramaditya Motwane, Zoya Akhtar, Saif Ali
Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Richa Chadda, Raj Kumar Rao, Nawazuddin
Siddiqui, and Sujoy Ghosh are one of the famous names who will be
soon seen in producing and directing or acting in the web series. It
gives a tough competition to the cinema theatres. A web series that
is made in different episodes and season by season of each web series
is coming out. Majorly people watch them as per their convenience
and on any device, they can watch with an internet connection. Some
of the famous and large production houses in the film industry have
already generated their separate division for creating content for the
web. The competition is getting tough day by day with the emergence
of international players such as Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.
Mr. Ashish Patil. Head, Y-films, a division of Yash raj Films said
that “We are finally competing for the same set of eyeballs and the same
share of content and entertainment. So it is just not TV or multiplex,
but any form of entertainment that we can provide to the customers so
it can be in the form of a sports event, a visit to the mall, or a stroll on
the beach. When people have time to relax and want to be entertained
in their comfort zone that we create for you.”

STREAMING REVOLUTION
Earlier cable television killed Doordarshan, so it won’t be wrong to
say the internet killed cable television and now its eyes are on cinema
theatres. Over-the-top (OTT) – the deliverance of video or audio over
the Internet without any involvement of a multiple-system operator in
control or distribution of content – is persuading the audience. OTT
platforms (such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, or VEQTA), video-
on-demand services (such as Voot or Sony LIV), and YouTube channels
(such as Y-films and VB on the Web, Bhatt’s channel) are giving other
channels to entertainment a run for their money.
Whenever you stuck in traffic, lazing at home, or in being in the
metro, the availability of worth content at a click of a button is what’s
driving the online streaming revolution. In July, Amazon Prime video
announced the first and foremost webisode series on the title for the
Indian Market that is Inside Edge, it is with collaboration with Farhan
Akhtar’s Excel Media &Entertainment. The web series contains 10
episodes, starring movie actors Richa Chadda and Vivek Oberoi who
ells the murky behind the scenes happening of the cricket world. Priced
Case Study: Amazon Prime – An Entertainment Partner (Web Series) | 69

at an inaugural offer of ₹499, the Amazon Prime Video app is amongst


the top entertainment apps across iOS and Android.
According to a report given by Boston Consulting Group, the
number of players in the Indian web series market has seen more than
threefold has raised in the last six years, from only nine players in
2012 to 32 in 2018. The report also suggested that the Indian video
streaming market has the impending to touch $5 billion by 2023
from $500 in 2018. As per the recent Counterpoint Research’s data
available, more than half the user base of the Indian web series is from
the top five metros in India.Amazon has started 5 Indian Web series
to splurge- watch when people are stuck at home these are also called
“Made in India”. The company said that – we appear to be heading
towards a total shutdown of open places. The world says in one voice
that as it were way to halt the covid19 infection from spreading quickly
is ‘Social Distancing’. As a result, numerous workplacehasto educate
their staff to require a break from customary work or work remotely
from their home. State governments have requested cinema lobbies,
shopping, shopping centres, bars, and other places where individuals
can assemble en masse to close down until encourage notice.

QUESTIONS
1. Critically analyze the positioning strategy adopted by Amazon
India to position APV as the go to sergo-to for content seekers, to
enjoy quality streaming of content in their preferred genres and in
differ languages, without having to face limitations of time, place,
and choice.
2. Study the competitive frame of reference and its importance in
developing a positioning strategy to fight competition.
3. Discussion on the sustainability of APV in India in the long run,
given the competition, consumption pattern, and outlook of the
Indian market.

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Your Money?” Livemint, 15 Dec. 2016, https://www.livemint.com/
Leisure/2kL7ZsG8AcO5mFmcmFGbRO/Amazon-Prime-Video-vs-
Netflix-Which-is-worth-your-money.html.
70 | Journey of Brands

• Ahmed, Pervaiz K. et al., Internal Marketing: Tools and Concepts for


Customer-Focused Management. Routledge, 2002.
• Amazon Prime Video vs Netflix vs Hotstar: “From Price to Content,
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• Amazon Prime Video vs Netflix: Here’s How the Two Services Compare
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• Amazon.com (2007), ‘Amazon Unbox on TiVo’ now available, offering
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• Amazon.com (2008), Amazon customers can now instantly watch
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zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID= 1193455
• Amazon.com (2011a), Amazon Prime members now get unlimited,
commercial-free, instant streaming of more than 5,000 movies and TV
shows at no additional cost. Press Release, 22 February. Available at:
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• Amazon.com (2012), Amazon announces exclusive prime instant video
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zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1767774 (accessed 27
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1767774
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to bring award-winning HBO programming to Prime members. Press
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wZT0z&t=1 (accessed 21 January 2017).
Case Study: Amazon Prime – An Entertainment Partner (Web Series) | 71

• Amazon.Com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers,


Books, DVDs & More. https://www.amazon.com/.
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cinema-on-way-out-the-future-is-the-web-here-is-why/858435/
• Cravens, D.W., & Piercy, N. (2006). Strategic Marketing (Vol. 7). New
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• Drummond, G., Ensor, J., & Ashford, R. (2010). Strategic Marketing.
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vs-netflix-india/.
• Horror-comedy TV show Bhootpurva promises to be a laugh riot. Mid-
day. 7 May 2019.
• Indian Web Series and Entertainment. Story Pivot, 6 Sept. 2019, https://
storypivot.com/indian-web-series-indias-entertainment-future/.
• Jha, Lata. “Netflix, Amazon, Hotstar Long Way from Making Profits in
India.” Livemint, 22 Nov. 2018, https://www.livemint.com/Consumer/
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from-making-profits.html.
• Netflix vs Hotstar vs Amazon Prime: The Battle of Streaming Services
& Which One Is Best.” Indiatimes.com, 9 Dec. 2017, https://www.
indiatimes.com/technology/apps/netflix-vs-hotstar-vs-amazon-prime-the-
battle-of-streaming-services-which-one-is-best-335210.html.
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www.digitaltrends.com/movies/best-on-demand-streaming-services/.
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Quint, 1 Feb. 2018, https://www.thequint.com/tech-and-auto/tech-news/
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72 | Journey of Brands

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Marketing strategy. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
CASE 6

HIDESIGN: CRUNCH OF POSITIONING IN THE


NATIVE LAND
Shenki Tyagi and Dr. Sahil Gupta
Assistant Professor, IMSUC Ghaziabad

ABSTRACT
In 2018, Dilip (Kapur), organizer and leader of Hidesign, was torn
between two equally bad situations. In the course of the most recent
40 years, he had developed Hidesign, which was viewed as one of the
principal brands from India to have prevailed in the worldwide style
commercial center. While his worldwide desire stayed flawless, Kapur felt
that India was the place the genuine activity laid when it went to the fate
of Hidesign. In any case, the Indian market represented its arrangement of
difficulties however it was developing at 15% per annum contrasted with
the worldwide pace of 3-5%. Kapur’s point was to develop at 25% yet
he was all the while considering where that development would originate
from. Ought to Hidesign center around different channels? Would it be
a good idea for it to go upward on the pyramid where it would confront
set up worldwide brands, for example, Michael Kors, Coach, etc.? Or,
would it be a good idea for it to go descending on the pyramid into a
bigger market with a more affordable sub-brand? How might he keep up
the situation at that point? Would it come at the expense of weakening the
Hidesign brand for standard clients?
Keywords: Brand, Equity, Brand Management, Function-Oriented Brand
Concept, Product Line Strategy

INTRODUCTION
In 1978, when Dilip (Kapur), originator and leader of Hidesign, began
making cowhide merchandise as an interest, little did he dream that he
was venturing out structure an organization that would proceed to get
one of the principal brands from India to prevail in the worldwide design
commercial center. Forty years on, while his worldwide aspirations are
as yet flawless, Kapur felt that India is the place the genuine activity
is with regards to the eventual fate of Hidesign. However, the Indian
market represented its arrangement of difficulties. “We are at the
highest point of the pyramid. The development of the business is
15% and Hidesign is becoming quicker than this. We need to develop
74 | Journey of Brands

at 25%. Where does the development originate from? Venture into


territories, for example, shopping centers aren’t constantly gainful...
Hidesign fabricates and showcases cowhide items, for example,
purses, folder cases, PC packs, travel sacks, wallets, and embellishments.
All the more as of late it has added shoes and shades to its portfolio.
Starting in 2020, it has five assembling offices – one in Sikkim, another
at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh, two in Puducherry, and one tannery in
Chennai.
According to DilipKapur “We are at the highest point of the
pyramid. The development of the business is 15 percent and Hidesign
is becoming quicker than this. We need to develop at 25 percent.
Where does the development originate from? Venture into regions,
for example, shopping centers aren’t constantly gainful. Would it be a
good idea for us to go up or down the pyramid? There are restricting
elements. On the off chance that we go upward, we face built up
worldwide brands, for example, Michael Kors, Coach, etc., competing
for a market that is littler and extreme. On the off chance that we
go downwards into a bigger market with more affordable items, how
would we keep up our situating?”

DISTINCT, ROUND THE GLOBE EXISTENCE


Throughout the years, Hidesign had built up an unmistakable
brand picture for itself and set up a worldwide nearness – due, in
huge part, to the nature of its items. The organization has reliably
accentuated being eco-accommodating and utilized the hundreds
of years old ability of tanning with normal seeds and barks. It cut
a specialty for itself as an eco-accommodating cowhide merchandise
brand and intrigued clients with the magnificence of its carefully
assembled items with metal fittings. Hidesign, as a major aspect of
its worldwide development technique, has built up nearness in more
than 23 nations and is regularly hailed as India’s first worldwide
extravagance brand.

INDIAN MARKET
Hidesign began its retail activities in India in 2000 when it opened
its first entirely claimed restrictive retail outlet in Bangalore. The
Indian market excessively demonstrated open to the great leather
merchandise of Hidesign and the business blasted. “Since the time we
started retailing in India, we have enrolled a 60% yearly development
consistently,” said Kapur.
Hidesign: Crunch of Positioning in the Native Land | 75

Hidesign went in for significant development in India in 2002-2003.


The way that the worldwide market for extravagance merchandise
was confronting a log jam while the Indian design advertise was light
and that there were no significant rivals in a similar class, provoked
Hidesign to misuse the immense chance. As Kapur stated, “In India,
we have two particular points of interest. One, our economy is as yet
developing at 6%, and two, there is no opposition in leather at the top
finish of the market. So we are topping off a vacuum...”

HANDBAGS
Handbags represent one of the key embellishments finishing the closet
of ladies for a very long time, which likewise fills in as a significant
driver behind the development of the style world. Changes in the
key patterns in the purse advertise result principally in light of the
adjustments in the design and extravagance showcase. Style fashioners
and boutiques are progressively remembering satchels for their new
assortments as planner purses produce high edges. Creator handbags
have enlisted high development in costs.
Hidesign is the main Indian brand that prevailing with regards to
making an exceptional spot in the leather embellishment class and in
enhancing the racks of esteemed departmental stores in a portion of
the enormous urban areas on the planet. Some state it was a procedure
of good fortune and some vouch that it was the aftereffect of an all-
around planned brand advancement technique. Be that as it may, Mr.
Dilip Kapur (president, Hidesign) considers it a steady procedure of
interest transforming into an exceptionally gainful endeavor. This
story from lack of definition to prominence is 16 years of age when
Mr. Kapur went into the business full time, Kapur never worked with
the goal of getting one of the principal brands from India to prevail in
the worldwide style commercial center; be that as it may, Hidesign’s
global extension is picking up energy.
Hidesign takes into account various portions and has various
notices for various sections. It takes into account men ladies who
have a place with the common working culture for the most part;
wallets, establishments, and so forth it is said that Hidesign is a brand
for somebody who has grown up autonomous disapproved and is
naturally cognizant. In short, Hidesign is ‘unadulterated, common and
individualistic’ and a standard Hidesign client is accomplished. 53%
were age 25-35, 30% 35-45, and 10% beyond 45 years old. 54-55%
of clients were ladies, and purses were the greatest selling single thing.
As of late, Hidesign has propelled Holii as a 50-50 joint endeavor
76 | Journey of Brands

with Kishore Biyani, the items will be estimated 30-40% lower than
Hidesign. The new brand will take into account buyers in the mid-to
mass-market chiefly focusing on the Indian contemporary ladies.

REVENUE GROWTH
Hidesign’s income in India has developed from ₹11.3 crores in the
year finished March 31, 2010, to ₹190 million in the year finished
March 31, 2019. In spite of the fact that it began as a men’s image,
ladies (matured 25-30 years) came to be perceived as a key objective
fragment for Hidesign. Ladies represent 65 percent of the footfall in
Hidesign stores and 80 percent in internet business, representing 55
percent of the deals. This is likewise a fragment that isn’t anything but
difficult to fulfill; rivalry in the men’s section is less.
While Hidesign has a powerful internationalization system, Kapur
said that to develop at a quicker rate in worldwide markets, it would
need to do things that could bring about weakening the brand, for
example, contend on cost.

MARKETING CHANNELS
Then again, India in itself is a major market and, with the way of life
changes and the opening up of the economy, the market has gotten
especially appealing. “No one knows how large the market is. An
immense piece of it is sloppy. The sorted out market is assessed to
be ₹3,000 crores,” said Kapur. Since 2012, air terminal retailing is
a key piece of Hidesign’s methodology in India where opening select
brand outlets at air terminals. We consider air terminals basic to the
improvement of the brand universally. We solely center on the very
much educated, profession arranged, and cosmopolitan shopper.
Simultaneously, we would prefer not to pass up on the chance to be in
the shopping centers where this sort of client shops in India.”
Worldwide Presence-23 Countries • Distribution Network-2000
Stores • Manufacturing Facilities in 4 Places • Products Manufactured-
Briefcases, PC packs, totes, travel sacks, wallets, and little frill like
mint piece satchels, key chains, and visa cases • Seasonal Collection-
Added like clockwork.

WHY IT IS A GEM
Hidesign’s stylish spotlight has been on an exemplary contemporary
look, taking into account the informed and complex urban expert. The
organization has three structure groups situated in Milan, London,
Hidesign: Crunch of Positioning in the Native Land | 77

and Puducherry that cooperate to make two new assortments a year.


Other than its regular assortments, Hidesign has an exemplary scope
of items that have seen insignificant change for a long time and keep
on accumulating client appreciation.
Additionally, the organization has had the option to stand its
ground in what is a serious purses showcase, involving composed and
disorderly players. In the course of the most recent couple of years,
brands like Lavie, Da Milano, Baggit, Caprese, LinoPerros, and Esbeda
have come up and are ruling the space. Not exclusively are these brands
less expensive than Hidesign (which plays in the ₹3,000–8,000 value
run); they additionally offer tremendous limits, here and there as much
as 50–60 percent, during the business season. Kapur can’t worry about
the opposition however, saying the Indian handbags story is a round of
Chinese imports and Hidesign can’t.
“It’s not a mass product, it’s not a copy of others and it’s not a me-
too product,” says Devangshu Dutta, CEO, Third Eyesight, a retail
consultancy. The inherent attributes are improved as a result of the
characteristics and natural tanning forms utilized. Additionally, the
distinction of Hidesign’s leather invigorates it gigantic and toughness.
Likewise, the strong metal clasps that are independently sand cast and
hand cleaned. The strong metal clasps and fittings upgrade the normal
look of the items just as the strength of the item. Each pack is in this
way, by its tendency, a restricted version. Hidesign has three plan
groups situated in Milan, London, and Pondicherry. Notwithstanding
their regular assortments, they have a great range for example the
items that sometimes have been made for a long time with insignificant
changes and have been valued by clients. Hidesign is for the most part
known for its leather items having an extraordinary item advancement
process. This study generally discusses its item improvement process
remembering its picture as an environment cognizant brand.

WHY IT WAS HIDDEN


Notwithstanding working in the retail space, Hidesign isn’t exactly an
over-uncovered name yet. It’s top-notch situating and estimating has
confined it from turning into a mass brand in the leather items class.
Avoiding customary print and television advertisements, Hidesign’s
limited time push is relatively specialty and focused on overwhelmingly
at an optimistic urban demographic.
The leather merchandise maker has additionally avoided celebrity
endorsements, a typical pattern in the retail and way of life business.
78 | Journey of Brands

Further, the Hidesign brand is synonymous with the satchel


business, and not very many know about its footwear line, its web-
based business entrance, or its essence in the accommodation space.
Kapur additionally brought incredibly famous architects like
Armani planner Alberto Ciaschini to stay with the structures new and
engaging. Aside from following these methodologies, Kapur, to build
the range of his item settled tie-ups with Louis Vuitton, Italian brand
Braccialini, and Future Group of India. Be that as it may, Kapur battled
that however, Hidesign was available in significant worldwide markets,
it was as yet not perceived as a worldwide brand. The test before him
was the manner by which to make Hidesign a genuinely worldwide
brand.

RISKS AND CHALLENGES


One of the factors that this business faces is that its items are produced
using cow leather. With tanneries closing down in urban communities
like Kolkata and Kanpur, getting cowhide has been a challenge. There
are, obviously, likewise the worldwide fights in regard to the morals of
utilizing cowhide.

Challenges
In the mid-2000s, the Hidesign brand experienced a picture makeover
after a client assessment study in 2001 uncovered that while the brand
was exceptionally esteemed for its quality, it was seen as “exhausting”
and not “cool” enough. While trying to change this picture, Hidesign
revealed a two-section advertisement battle in 2002. The advertisements
were intended to give the brand a trendier picture, to request more to
more youthful possibilities.
In the battle, Hidesign was advanced as a “design-forward” brand
that clients in any piece of the world could identify with. As indicated
by Kapur, the advertisements were intended to “go directly to the heart
and change the picture that we are exhausting”. The advertisement
battle focused on the upwardly portable, taught, globally disapproved
of officials, and concentrated more on ladies...
The leather showcase in India has a similar issue as that in the
universal. It is overwhelmed with modest manufactured sacks from
China. The greatest issue is to separate our item from a particular item.
For reasons unknown, there is immense numbness about it. Individuals
can’t tell whether it is leather or manufactured. The urban Indian male
today is likewise extremely aware of the style of the wallets and sacks
Hidesign: Crunch of Positioning in the Native Land | 79

he carries. Handbags and wallets everything being equal and shapes are
accessible in the market running from ₹100 to ₹2,000+ for a twofold
decker and multi-utility unbranded pack. A portion of the brands
which are well known in the Indian market are Allen Solly, Baggit,
Hidesign, and Footloose other than others.
It is currently meaning to reposition itself as a total way of life
brand. Dilip Kapur, author, and leader of Hidesign disclosed to Business
Line: “It is time we moved away from simply being a pack brand. We
need to be seen as a way of life brand. Our clients are developing
and we need to advance with them.” He said the organization will
stretch out its image name to classes, for example, watches, shades,
gems, and frill. Hidesign will be planning and sourcing the range from
different pieces of the globe. “We will advertise the range under the
Hidesign umbrella be situated in the excellent classification,” he said.
This shows Hidesign is making a decent attempt to enter the Indian
market and hence, considering the inclination of Indian young ladies
in the age bunch 16-25 years and different parameters additionally add
to this thought, they are as per the following:
• Half of India’s populace beneath the age of 25
• Handbags speak to one of the key adornments finishing the closet
of ladies for a very long time
• Hidesign targets conveying Luxury at moderate costs
• Recently propelled Holii for Women, offering satchels 30-40%
beneath the Hidesign costs – Has got a range for the two people
section and Eco-accommodating brand

Main Competitors
With exceptional rivalry hitting up in the specialty portions, driving
players are occupied in brand building exercise. The market heads, in
an offer to solidify its chief position, are dealing with the quality of
development, styling, and estimating. The nearness of brands in the
area is amazingly restricted as 74% of the market is overwhelmed by
unbranded players, in this way making it a style-driven market. Some
imported premium and extravagance brands like Louis Vuitton, Aldo,
Mango, Esprit, Guess, are additionally present in the Indian market.
Enormous MNCs in retailing businesses around the globe have
effectively tied up with Indian makers for sourcing. As of late Fendi,
Diesel, and soon have additionally stepped in the Indian market. The
development capability of the business looks idealistic.
80 | Journey of Brands

BRAND TARGET GROUP


• Between 25 and 40 age bunch • Are vocation centered, some portion
of mid and senior-level administration, is progressively looked for via
professional wannabes and new alumni, lines up with the estimations
of individuals in substitute callings like media, workmanship, training,
and home creators the same. • Belongs to high salary bunch • Travels
as often as possible (regularly abroad) • Buys quality items that have
an enduring worth • Has a solid duty to nature and biology. In India,
Hidesign sells its items through select brand outlets (EBOs), multi-
brand outlets (MBOs), corporate deals. As of March 2018, its 84
EBOs represented 65 percent of its incomes. Kapur plans to include 20
new EBOs (10 in air terminals and another 10 in shopping centers) by
the end of 2018.

Rearrangement in Shopping Designs


In India, Hidesign packs are evaluated, on a normal, somewhere in
the range of ₹6,500 and ₹7,000. “We’ve gotten increasingly open to a
bigger populace, which implies we may have been sumptuous ten years
prior however not today,” said Kapur. Its Icons assortment is estimated
20 percent higher than its normal costs, and the Jose assortment 20-30
percent higher than normal costs.
At the top finish of the pyramid, Hidesign has the Atelier assortment
(₹20,000-30,000), where it battled for the market against adversaries,
for example, Michael Kors, Coach, DKNY, and Furla. This, when
the market was overwhelmed with modest manufactured packs from
China, evaluated at around ₹600.
The organization likewise thought of an India-roused cowhide pack
brand in 2009 out of a JV with the nation’s biggest retailer, however, to
forestall the weakening of the Hidesign brand, it named it Holii. These
sacks were valued 30 percent lower than the normal Hidesign packs.
In 2018, Holii included an engineered packs mark called St. Holii to
venture into the MBOs.
A key worry for Kapur is the means by which to develop Hidesign
at 25 percent in India. Starting in 2018, Hidesign is attempting to
work with the main web-based business goliath to think of calfskin
packs, a sub-brand of Hidesign that would be valued 30 percent lower
than its normal costs. Web-based business directs have picked up in
noteworthiness for organizations in India. While EBOs still record
for 65 percent of Hidesign’s development, the development in web-
based business channels has been an astounding 93 percent. Kapur
Hidesign: Crunch of Positioning in the Native Land | 81

understood that the manner in which individuals shopped had changed


and there was in reality an interest for items on web-based business
stages where numerous customers expected to discover lower-valued
contributions.

No Trade-Off /Compromise
“Our accomplice needed us to concoct a lower-evaluated Hidesign
sub-brand that is engineered. Be that as it may, we won’t bargain on
our honesty, our qualities. We are not prepared to imagine something
is calfskin when it isn’t,” said Kapur. The choice of picking a more
affordable calfskin sub-brand was not a simple one for Kapur, however,
he is considering presenting this sub-brand beginning with web-based
business and in the end moving to every other channel.
In his quest for development in India, Kapur realizes that in the
event that he moves to the highest point of the pyramid there would
be constraints: “On the off chance that you go upward you increase a
great deal as far as they come off on the remainder of your assortment.
You get a lot more significant expense focuses, with high overall
revenues there. What will you lose? The battle for every client there is
a lot harder. There’s a lot littler market you’re battling for, with players
who are firmly settled… a lot greater organizations than us. Also, the
advertising bolster this methodology requires is of an alternate level.”
Then again, going down the pyramid isn’t altogether without
dangers. “You go descending; you gain advertising turnover a lot
quicker… Maybe you likewise increase a section point into Hidesign.
Be that as it may, will it come at the expense of weakening the Hidesign
brand for the customary clients? At that point, the key inquiry is how
would you keep up your situating and extend the market at a rate
quicker than 15 percent?”

ISSUES
• Understand the essentialness and challenges presented in situating
while at the same time broadening a brand vertically on the web.
• Comprehend the issues and difficulties looked by an Indian
organization in dealing with its business broadly.
• Understand the issues and difficulties looked by an Indian
organization in building a worldwide brand.
• Understand the International Management/Strategy adopted by
Hidesign in developing a brand.
82 | Journey of Brands

REFERENCES
• Rao, DebapratimPurkayastha& K. Sudhakar. “Hidesign’s positioning
challenge in India”. BLoC. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
• Hidesign (2019), The Hidesign story, “From ₹25,000 to ₹100-crore! The
Hidesign story”. Rediff. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
• Hidesign story (2018), Jump up to: A B C D, “Hidesign: The Iconic
Brand Turns 40”. Shoes & Accessories. 16 February 2018. Retrieved 26
September 2019.
• The New Indian Express (2018) “I sit in on every new bag, says Hidesign
founder DilipKapur”. The New Indian Express. Retrieved 18 December
2019.
• Vogues India (2019) “KalkiKoechlin and Hidesign team up for a line of
sustainable handbags”. Vogue India. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
• Fashion Awards (2017) “Future Lifestyle Fashions leads the pack of India’s
finest fashion retailers at IMAGES Fashion Awards 2017”. 18 April 2017.
• Hidesign story (2019) “From ₹25,000 to ₹100-crore! The Hidesign
story”. Rediff. Retrieved 7 September2019
• Sriram, Malathy. “Hidesign stands for craftmanship redefined, the green
way”. BLoC. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
• The Hindu Business Line (2019), Hidesign positioning case, https://
bloncampus.thehindubusinessline.com/case-studies/hidesigns-
positioning-challenge-in-india/article25082182.ece (2019), retrieved on
April, 2020
• The Hindu Business Line (2019), https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/
companies/Hidesign-firm-footed-in-India/article20695519.ece, retrieved
on March, 2020
• Economic Times (2019), Hidesign story https://economictimes.indiatimes.
com/industry/services/retail/hidesign-to-go-slow-on-india-but-stitches-up-
big-international-plans/articleshow/51545103.cms?from=mdr, retrieved
on April, 2020.
• Fortune India (2019), Aiming at 20% growth in India, https://www.
fortuneindia.com/enterprise/aiming-for-20-growth-this-year-hidesign/
101989, retrieved on March, 2020.
• Business Standard (2019), https://www.business-standard.com/article/
management/india-shows-hidesign-how-to-bag-buyers-11308290
1082_1.html, retrieved on April, 2020.
• Live Mint (2019), https://www.livemint.com/Companies/E3s24t8aMiWK
cyTvJ7rYsI/Hidesign-to-focus-on-Indiaspecific-products.html, retrieved
on April, 2020.
• Singh, M. (2011). Study on feasibility of targeting a new segment for
girls by ‘Hidesign’ in India (Doctoral dissertation, National Institute of
Fashion Technology).
• Khanna, P., & Sampat, B. (2015). Factors influencing online shopping
during Diwali festival 2014: Case study of Flipkart and Amazon.in.
Journal of International Technology and Information Management,
24(2), 5.
CASE 7

A CASE STUDY OF MAGGI – STRATEGIES


AND RELAUNCH
Santosh Shah and Nidhi Sharma
Assistant Professor, IMS Ghaziabad University Courses Campus

ABSTRACT
Maggi the instant noodles become a part of the food habit of Indian
homes, especially children’s. It has moved from 5 pm snack to be a part of
breakfast, lunch, and dinner of the average household.
   Maggi has become the most relevant, trusted, and valuable food brand
in India. It has understood the changing lifestyles of generations, provided
products that the family enjoys, and continuouslyrevolutionized products
that add value.
  Nothing happens by the angels’ movement in the business houses,
except some natural calamitiesplanned action or exploitation of
opportunity as or when it comes. It seems that Nestle has clearly taught
this truth and hence took the ethical issue in the way of viral marketing.
In another way, it may be understood that Nestle failed to anticipate the
Indian legal issues and legal procedures for food products.
   Maggi suffered losses for the first time when Food safety and Drug
administration (FDA) said high lead content was found 17.2 ppm(parts
per million) about seven times more than the permissible limits and high
level of MSG Taste enhancer in all the two dozen packs used for routine
checking.
  The FSSAI criticized the Product, and various other instant noodle
companies took advantage of the conditions and launched its advertisement
campaign, which targeted to negative marketing of Maggi and encouraged
the use of their Product.
   Maggi is a great revenue contributor for Nestle. Suddenly there is a
drop in sales due to negative publicity due to all wrong reasons like the
presence of hazardous content, which has shaken the trust of consumers.
   So it remains a question to every analyst/researcher nowadays that “is
there scope to take positive mileage from the legal & ethical issues relating
to the food products in Indian markets”?
   In the end, Maggi, although suffered a lot for its sales and revenue,
gained a mileage for the future. That is why even by a higher price than
the past, there is an outstanding response to the Maggi noodles from the
market after its relaunch.
   The case study is an effort to explore the various issues, possibilities,
and opportunities for Maggi.
84 | Journey of Brands

Keywords: Maggi Noodles Nestle, Nestle Ban, Relaunch, FSSAI, etc.

INTRODUCTION
In 1982’s Maggi Noodles was launched in India, and since it has
incarcerated the Indian Hearts as if we talk about Noodles, Maggi
only comes in our mind. As in 2015 Maggi losses its market share for
the first time when FDA (Food Safety and Drug Administration has
stated that it contains lead in high quantity was found 17.2 ppm (parts
per million) about seven-time more than the permissible limits and the
MSG taste enhancer also in a high level in all two dozen packs used in a
daily habit of checking. It is one of Nestle India’s single largest revenue
earners, which was banned in June 2015 for six months acrossIndia
due to allegations made against the company that it contained the
chemicals beyond the prescribed limits, have given. The company had
recalled 38000 tons of Maggi Noodles from millions of retail shelves
and destroy them, which inculcate them a considerable loss.The Indian
arm of the world’s biggest packaged foods maker faced the controversy
that has created by Maggi Noodles, and it has lost over ₹1,000 crore
in sales and a severe dent to its brand image. But in 2015 November,
Maggi had returned to store shelves after multiple clearances from
government-certified laboratories and also returned to the leadership
position with reconquering market share of 60% in 2017. As being in
the market, raising their place in a short time after a series of such brand
devastating incidents is something that other companies wouldn’t be
dared to think about if it was not Maggi.

COMPANY PROFILE
Nestle, the company, founded in 1866 by Henry Nestle in Vevey,
Switzerland, is one of the world’s leading Nutrition, Health and
Wellness Company. Nestle has 2000 plus brands worldwide and has
around 3, 33,900 employees in more than 197 countries. The company
logo, its name, its first Product – baby food was given by its founder
Henry Nestle. The company has now grown multi-fold and has
incorporated the values of its founder – pragmatism, flexibility, open-
mindedness, and willingness to learn in its culture. Nestle merged with
its competitor The Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company, founded
by Americans Charles and George Page, to form Nestlé and Anglo-
Swiss Milk Company. The creation of Nestlé Health Science and the
Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences, innovative ventures aimed at the
prevention and, eventually, treatment of chronic medical conditions
A Case Study of Maggi – Strategies and Relaunch | 85

with science-based personalized nutrition solutions. Nestlé has a Board


of Directors, led by our Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, who
was the former Nestlé CEO. There are 14 members of the Board of
Directors who manage the operations globally. The Nestlé Group is
led by geographies - Zones EMENA (Europe, Middle East, and North
Africa), Americas and Asia/Oceania/Africa - for most of the food
and beverage business, with the exceptions of our globally managed
activities, which include Nestlé Waters, Nestlé Nutrition, Nespresso,
Nestlé Professional, and Nestlé Health Science. They also have joint
ventures such as Cereal Partners Worldwide and Beverage Partners
Worldwide.

Nestle India
After more than a century-old association with the country, today,
NESTLÉ India has presence across India with eight manufacturing
facilities and four branch offices. NESTLÉ India set up its first
manufacturing facility at Moga (Punjab) in 1961 followed by
its manufacturing facilities at Choladi (Tamil Nadu), in 1967;
Nanjangud (Karnataka), in 1989; Samalkha (Haryana), in 1993;
Ponda and Bicholim (Goa), in 1995 and 1997, respectively; and
Pantnagar (Uttarakhand), in 2006. In 2012, Nestle India set up its 8th
manufacturing facility at Tahliwal (Himachal Pradesh). The 4 Branch
Offices located at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata help facilitate
the sales and marketing activities. The NESTLÉ India’s Head Office is
located in Gurgaon, Haryana.

Maggi
Maggi is a brand of seasonings, instant soups, and noodles. The
Maggi brand originates from Switzerland, wherein 1863 Julius Maggi
created a recipe of flavors to bring added taste to meals. This marked
the beginning of the Maggi brand and its available products. In 1897,
Julius Maggi founded the company Maggi GmbH in the German town
of Singen, where it is still based today. In 1947 Nestle acquired Maggi.
Maggi Noodles was launched in India in the 1980s, and since then
it has captured the Indian hearts. The working women population
was increasing in the decade, and 2-minute noodle, which was also
a healthy home meal, provided a comfortable respite. There was no
competition in the noodle segment; the existing snacks were also mostly
fried roadside and thus considered unhealthy. The surveys indicated
that Maggi was most popular amongst the kids and so Nestle came up
86 | Journey of Brands

with sketch pens, colors, backpack, fun-books, etc., to attract children.


The tagline “Fast to cook and good to eat,” Mummy BhookhLagi,
“Bas 2-minute,” was aimed at kids and women. In the 1990s, Maggi
faced fierce competition from Top Ramen; they also changed their
core formula to capture the market but later returned to original
taste, as the new method was not accepted well in the market. Nestle
started with the healthier option s in all their products in 2000, and
in 2005 continuing the same trend in Maggi they launched Vegetable
Atta Noodles, a year later other variants like Dal Noodles came into
market positioned as a ‘healthy’ instant noodles product that provided
20 percent of the daily RDA of dietary fiber and protein for a child
aged between 7 and 9.
This loss is mainly due to the ban on Maggi as it accounts for close
to 20 percent of Nestle India’s revenue.

Figure 1  Quarterly Record (in crore)


Source: CMIE Prowess

The market still was conservative and preferred fresh home-cooked


meals as compared to packaged ready to cook food. By the Year 2008,
Maggi was celebrating its silver jubilee in, and Nestle Launched me
and Meri Maggi campaign inviting people to send their stories. Their
advertising agency Publics Capital received 30,000 entries. Maggi
brand contributes more than 20% of Nestle India’s revenue, clocking
around 15bn rupees ($235m; £149m) in annual sales. In 2014 a
leading survey re-affirmed what everybody knew already: Maggi was
the country’s most trusted food brand.
A Case Study of Maggi – Strategies and Relaunch | 87

PERFORMANCE OF NESTLE-INDIA AND MAGGI NOODLES


In 2014, an estimated 250, 000 tones of Maggi products were sold in
India. Nestle India’s revenue from Maggi noodles is around ₹2,500
crores a year. The instant noodles make up 31.5 percent of Nestle
India’s revenue. Maggi commands around an 80 percent share of
India’s noodles market in terms of revenue (Source: June 9, 2015,
Business Standard). On the one hand, the overall noodles market is
growing continuously in India. In other hands, India is the second-
largest single market for Nestle’s Maggi brand, with retail sales worth
$623 million in 2014 across noodles, table sauces and other products,

Figure 2  Set of India’s Noodle Market (billion $)


Sources: quartz-India, www.qz.com

Figure 3  Brand Share in India’s Noodle Market (%)


Sources: quartz-India, www.qz.com
88 | Journey of Brands

according to Euro monitor International. And the prepared dishes and


cooking aids category contribute nearly 30% of Nestle India’s revenue,
according to a January 2015 research report by French banking and
financial services firm, Societe Generale.
Maggi in India is synonymous with noodles and completely
dominates the market with a 63% share in 2014. This means that the
Brand has a lot to lose,” Lianne van den Bos, a food analyst at Euro
monitor, said in a note (Fig. 3).

The Journey of Maggi in India can be Seen from


1982 to Till Dates
Maggi, the other name of noodle, has way out through a bumpy ride.
It captured the 90% of the market share of noodle to getting banned;
the Maggi brand has seen it all from ups to downfall. O look at the
journey of Maggi in India.
• The Year 1982: Nestle company launched the first noodle product
in India with the rand name “Maggi” with a tag line – two minutes,
which became an on the spot food is ready.
• The Year 1997: Contemporary Brand created stiff competition; the
demand for the Maggi took a downfall. After this, the company
came with a new strategy that changes the taste of Maggi with
a flavoring agent called “Tastemaker.” However, it doesn’t create
the last demand for Product and become one of the failures. In
addition to this, it became hard to change the regular eating habit
of Indian people.
• The year 1999: The old formula is used by Maggi to prepare
noodles with the primary purpose of increasing sales. Thus, it came
up with the punch line, “Fast to Cook, Good to Eat.”
• The Year 2001: Now the actual market share that grabbed by
Maggi Noodles in India.
• The Year 2009: The year in which Maggi completed its 25 years of
being Maggi Noodles, and at the same time, it also launched a new
Product called Maggi Pasta.
• The Year 2012: Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, Bollywood Superstar,
become the brand ambassador of Maggi.
• TheYear 2015: This is the phase where the problem started for
the Maggi brand. The Food Safety and Standard Authority of
India (FSSAI) have imposed a nationwide ban on Maggi due to the
incidence of a high amount of lead and Monosodium Glutamate
(MSG) in Maggi Noodles. But before this ban, the company enjoys
an 80%-90% market share, which plunged to zero after banned.
A Case Study of Maggi – Strategies and Relaunch | 89

• The Year 2016: Bombay High Court lifted Maggi countrywide


ban on August 13, 2015, and next year in 2016, Maggi was
relaunchedin the Indian Market by Nestle company by getting a
clearance certificate from NABL (National Accreditation Board for
Testing and Calibration Laboratories.
• Year 2019: So now at present, the Maggi has decided to release
the advertisement campaigns mentioning the ‘Trustworthy Facts’
about its noodles and win the trust of Indian people.

COMPETITORS OF MAGGI
• Sunfeast Yippee!: Another famous brand which is one of the
competitor of Maggi Noodles, Sunfeast Yippee! It belongs to
the Indian conglomerate ITC. It enters the market in the 2000s
and gradually made a considerable existence. By 2010s, Yippee!
Noodles are also available in 5 different variants, namely Classic
Masala, Chinese Masala, Tricolor Pasta, both in creamy corn and
masala.
• Top Ramen: Another noodle brand in India Nissan is a Japanese
company that introduced its first noodle product in 1958, but in
the Indian market entered 30 years later in 1988. Top ramen took
time to become one of the leading noodles brands in India. With
different varieties, it entered the Indian market, which includes
Atta Noodles, Cup Noodles, Curry Veg Noodles, Oats Noodles,
Scoobies Short Noodles, and Super Noodles.
• Ching’s Secret: It is a product of Capital Food Indian Limited,
which are Smith and Jones. But the Ching’s Secret is majorly
popular among the Noodles brand in India. It offers a vast range
of products to its customers that include Schezwan Instant noodles,
Singapore Curry Instant Noodles, hot Garlic Instant Noodles, Egg
Hakka Noodles, and Veg Hakka Noodles.
• Knorr Soupy Noodles: It is the Product of Hindustan Unilever and
has turned out to be a famous brand in India of late. Knorr is one
of the renowned for its unique range of soups in India and is one
of the leading Brands for the same but has earned accolades for
its unique combination of Noodles and soup, i.e., Knorr Soupy
Noodles. The Knorr Noodles consists of different ranges like Mast
Masala Soupy Noodles, Knorr Chinese noodles Hot spicy, knorr
Chinese noodles Schezwan, Chinese Noodles, and Fried Rice.
• Patanjali Atta Noodles: Patanjali atta noodles are the Product of
Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved, which launched in 2015 as a
competitor of magi, which lost the market share in the same year
90 | Journey of Brands

with a price of ₹15. It also has a catch line for the noodles as ‘jhat
pat pakao, aur befikrkhao’; it also claimed that it would have no
added MSG and lead. They also said that Patanjali noodles would
use rice-bran oil and not cheap and inferior palm oil as used by
others.

PREVIOUS ISSUES OF NESTLE


It’s not the first time when that Nestle is in the news forbeing socially
irresponsible. In March 2010, one of its products, Kit Kat was targeted
for a boycott by Greenpeace (an NGO) for using palm oil, which the
environmental organization claimed destroyed forest habitats for
orangutans in Indonesia. Later, Nestle announced a partnership with
the forest trust to establish responsible sourcing guidelines and ensure
that its products did not have a deforestation footprint.
Nestle has also faced criticism of its advertising not adhering to
advertising regulations in developed countries and making misleading
claims in developing countries. In October 2008, Nestle mistakenly
aired a commercial meant for the Bangladesh television on British
television. The advertisement made false claims that the noodles would
help to build strong muscles, bone, and hair. The British Advertisement
Standards Authority said that the ad did not abide by the new EU
consumer protection legislation, by which advertisers have to provide
proof of health claims.

What Went Wrong and Its Effect on Maggi as a Brand?


The Maggi controversy because of the presence of monosodium
glutamate (MSG) and leada higher amount than the permissible levels
in the noodle. According to Food Safety and Standards regulations
(FSSAI), 2011, the allowable level of lead in instant noodles is 2.5
parts per million (ppm), while the samples that were tested in some
parts of India were found to have higher MSG and lead level which
led to the ban of Maggi sales in some parts of the country, leading to
a 9.1 percent drop in Nestle India’s share. Maggi is manufactured as
per Indian standards FASSI and is safe for children as per the study. It
was explained that the lead is present everywhere, and therefore post
proper scientific evaluation, a limit of 2.5 PPM is fixed as a permissible
limit. It was clarified that Nestle does not add any lead to the Product,
and minuscule quantities can come from purely external sources like
air, water, grains, etc. It was again pointed out that the CFTRI results
clearly show that in some of the samples, the presence of lead has been
found as traces and far below the permissible limit. Maggi is approved
A Case Study of Maggi – Strategies and Relaunch | 91

for consumption by children even after the crisis, as after analysis, it


was found to be safe. The study covers the action taken by Maggi as a
global brand. Before the controversy, Maggi had a market share of 70
percent in the instant noodles category, and the extent to which a bad
reputation can affect a brand can be seen in the case of Maggi. The
impact of the controversy on the corporate Brand is severe when the
Brand itself has a tagline of “Good Food, Good Life.” The crisis spread
through media like print, TV, social media, and also word-of-mouth.
The company was slow to respond, as they felt that the consumers
would not believe such stories.

Main Issues
The Change in Fortune For years, a segment of Indian customers have
been skeptical about Maggi, some school canteens to not use Maggi
and ask the parents too to avoid sending Maggi in lunch boxes. All their
fears and warnings came to life when the High Court Banned Maggi.
This episode is not unique to Maggi. Coke had faced similar issues a
few years back. Hell broke loose in NIL when Food safety and Drug
administration (FDA) said high lead content was found 17.2 ppm(parts
per million) about seven times more than the permissible limits. I also
found a high level of MSG Taste enhancer in all the two dozen packs
used for routine checking. NIL responded to it by saying their products
go through strict quality control for lead content, and their tests have
always found lead well within permissible limits. And also stated that
they do not add MSG in Noodles, it might have come through natural
sources, which was not considered as a good argument by customers.
Nestle called that batch back from that market. A Barabanki-based
lawyer has also filed a case against Bollywood filmstars Amitabh
Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit, and Preity Zinta for endorsing Maggi as a
healthy food. Maggi faced the same fate in Kerala, Delhi, Maharashtra,
Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, and Goa. And the “Meri
Maggi” the “khushiyuki recipe” became a tragic tale tarnishing the
company image, lost the faith of loyal customers, and went through a
substantial financial loss of ₹64.40 crore – its first quarterly loss in at
least 17 years. This comes on the back of a net profit of ₹287.8 crore
in the corresponding quarter last year, and a profit of ₹320 crore in the
previous quarter ended March 2015.
The company withdrew its stocks from the market and destroyed
stocks worth ₹320 crore. NIL hired Ambuja Cement ₹20 crore, just
kill the shares. The government filed a class-action suit against Nestle
India seeking about ₹640 crore in damages for alleged unfair trade
92 | Journey of Brands

practices, false labeling, and misleading advertisements.The Consumer


Affairs Ministry has, for the first time, dragged a company to the
National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) using
a provision in the nearly three-decade-old Consumer Protection Act.
Nestle challenged the nationwide ban and sought permission for export
of the lot made in India, which they were able to get. Nestlé’s Indian
arm exports Maggi noodles to the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Singapore,
among other countries. Noodles exported to these countries and those
sold in India are produced in the same facilities. Nestlé’s five noodle
factories were shuttered amid heightened concern over the safety of
the snack.

ISSUE WITH FSSAI


After the ban of Maggi, India Today television team conducted a sting
operation in which they approached FSSAI officials pretending to have
a food product with high lead levels in October 2015. One of them
agreed to pass thesamples without conducting any tests. He told the
team that they need a pay an amount of ₹20,000 every year. He revealed
that milk samples from one of India’s best-known companies had been
dismissed by deliberately adulterating it because the company did not
agree to bribe the inspectors.He further revealed that they sometimes
have pressure to declare food samples of some established brands
as unsafe.
He also stated that Maggi is an international brand, there may
be a possibility that someone asked for a donation, and the company
denied. He also noted that the laboratories and samples lie under the
government; it can do anything. Food and Consumer Affairs Minister
Ram Vilas Paswan reacting to the operation said that “Standard
products are being labeled as sub-standard and faulty products are
being passed by such corrupt officials. This is a big crime, and I demand
the most reliable possible action against all those found guilty and
promised to take serious action. However, FSSAI is not administered
by his ministry. Commenting on the reports, Union Health Ministry
stated that FSSAI has clarified that the officials who have figured in the
sting operation are not working in FSSAI but are employees of the UP
State Government.

MAGGI RELAUNCH
Nestle is advertising aggressively to regain Maggi’s lost ground in retail
shelves and consumers’ hearts and their shopping carts. In September,
Nestle launched a campaign marking the company’s hundred years in
A Case Study of Maggi – Strategies and Relaunch | 93

India, featuring its other brands such as Nescafe and KitKat. Nestle
is all over traditional media (TV, radio, hoardings) and is also using
digital media. It has already realized three short videos on YouTube,
and social media is abuzz with “welcome back “messages of consumers.
It is a bit early to say that Maggi will be able to reclaim its old position
as competitors ITC Ltd, maker of Yipee noodles, has launched a new
campaign for its noodles, focusing on the safe and hygienic environment
and quality standards the company uses in manufacturing the Product.
Yoga guru Ramdev has launched his Brand of Atta noodles from his
consumer packaged foods company, the Patanjali Group. Maggi ads
have hit a chord with customers and are getting a positive response on
social media.
Maggi Noodles did a great job as they returned to the market. Not
only did they get back the majority of their customers but also cleared
all allegation and charges against them. Today, Maggi has more than
55% of the market share of the ₹2,000 crore noodle businesses. It
has actively followed a few strategies to rebuild its Brand, which is
discussed in the subsequent section.

THE CRISIS MANAGEMENT STRATEGY


A five-point crisis management strategy for companies in such situations
to restore credibility:
1. Acknowledge that there is an issue that needs to be scrutinized.
2. Buy time to get the facts.
3. Do not deny involvement/responsibility.
4. Do not attempt to estimate the magnitude of the problem.
5. Commit to a speedy but thorough investigation.

CRITICAL STRATEGIES FROM MAGGI BRANDING


CAMPAIGN
• Emotional and Nostalgic Memories. Beginning from
#WeMissYouToo, #MaggiMother, and #WelcomeBackMaggi,
the Brand has taken yet another moving route to reach out to
its customers with #NothingLikeMaggi. Manish Bhatt, Founder
Director, Scarecrow Communications, who loved the new idea,
opines that the Brand is trying to occupy the space in the lives of
people. Maggi is irreplaceable because emotions can’t be replaced.
• It is Branding through Storytelling. Maggi systematically rolled out
films in each phase of its ban status. It has also ensured to address
varied consumer segments in its video series – young boys and girls
94 | Journey of Brands

living in hostels, and bachelor pads to the Indian moms who’ve


been making Maggi for their kids are some excellent examples of
its storytelling campaign.
• Denial versus Acceptance. A statement from Nestle India said that
the company will take the Product off the shelves, and yet insisted
that the quality standards had been met. The fact that the trust of
their consumers and the safety and quality of their products is the
foremost priority everywhere in the world. We promise that the
trusted Maggi Noodles will be back in the market as soon as the
current situation is clarified”, said Mr. Paul Bulcke, global chief
executive, Nestle, in a press conference in New Delhi.
• No Brand Ambassadors have been Used for Some Period. Brand
Ambassadors are not so secret weapons to marketing a product. It
helps build a brand and establish trust, but Maggi knew that this
costly affair wouldn’t be of great use. Their contract with Amitabh
Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit had elapsed. Moreover, in the current
scenario, they weren’t looking for brand ambassadors but having
campaigns, i.e. Brand endorsing events.
• Mothers as Brand Advocates. Using mothers to stamp their seal of
approval would have been obvious, and perhaps the only route to
take, as opposed to taking a celebrity endorser (also, none of them
must have been willing to take the risk in the light of the controversy
surrounding the Brand and endorsers). The strategy will go some
way in assuaging doubts about the safety of the Product.
• It is Partnering with Snapdeal (Web store with nationwide delivery
and coverage) for Exclusive Sales. Struggling with a delivery
network is always a problem for a brand fighting to return market
and surrounded by competitor’s cynical marketing its Product.
Maggi was not available in many states, so they were providing
them through Snapdeal, with a small message, to connect with the
customers during Diwali. It’s timing and exclusive availability on a
pre-order basis created a demand and curiosity amongst its clients.

CONCLUSION
Nestle has been selling Maggi in India for the last three decades and
capturing 80% of the country’s instant noodle market. The poor crisis
management of the company led to its damage, and its failure to reassure
the consumers led to the decline of its brand loyalty. Daily headlines
filled with cases of companies facing a crisis. In such situations, crisis
management is one crucial art to learn. As we learn from Maggi’s
incident, the crisis can hit at any moment. The above study indicates
A Case Study of Maggi – Strategies and Relaunch | 95

that the crisis response strategy a brand uses can influenceits perception
of quality, perceived value, consumer brand equity, purchase behavior,
and brand switch. Good brand equity of Maggi helped to restore the
brand image damaged because of the brand crisis. Right communication
at the right time for the right targeted consumer helped the Maggi
brand to regain the brand image. New media brings new challenges
that demand new solutions. The rise of social media has given more
power to the user to produce and disseminate content, as we have seen
in the case of Maggi. In this sense, one can see that companies like
Nestlé have to do more in terms of crisis management. These brands
will have to find a way to transform their intangible digital offerings
into real ones.The speed of response in a crisis is a determinant of
winner or loser in the present era of globalization.
The common traits in a crisis are as follows:
• The operational response breaks down.
• Stakeholders quickly become confused, angry, and negatively
reactive.
• The organization is often perceived as inept, at best, and criminally
negligent, at worst.
• The length of time required to get full a resolution to the issue will
be extended, often before working on a plan to help get over the
crisis, the managers should make sure they duly acknowledge it
affects and work accordingly.

QUESTIONS
1. What strategies should Nestle adopt to relaunch Maggi and regain
the confidence of the customers?
2. What strategies should Nestle adopt to rebuild its image in the
market?
3. What strategies should Nestle adapt to compete with the existing
and new competitors who have entered the market?
4. What strategies should Nestle adopt to regain the loss which they
incurred the period of the ban?
5. What are the key takeaways from Maggi Noodles?

REFERENCES
• Mint on Sunday (2015). Legal battle over Maggi, http://mintonsunday.
livemint.com/news/the-legal-battleover-the-maggi-an/2.4.99287289.html.
(2015, September). Accessed March, 2020.
• The Hindu Business Line (2015), http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/
system/topicRoot/Maggi story (2015, September 15), Accessed on April,
2020.
96 | Journey of Brands

• Nestle (2019), https://www.nestle.in/aboutus/ask-nestle/answers/
magginoodles-india (2015, August). Accessed on March, 2020
• PTI. FSSAI: Nine variants of Maggi noodles unsafe & hazardous; Maggi
Oats Masala Noodles launched without approval. The Economic Times,
June 5, 2015.
• ANI. No objectionable matter found in Maggi noodles in West Bengal:
Mamata Banerjee. The Financial Express, June 5, 2015.
• All about Nestle and Research & Development. Nestle India website:
www.nestle.in
• Dutta, A. (2015, June 9). FSSAI orders tests on major noodles, pasta, and
macaroni brands, FDAs across India may take punitive actions against
manufacturers of products found to be sub-standard. New Delhi, Business
Standard on June 9, 2015.
• PTI. Nestle India spent ₹19 crores for quality testing, ₹445 crores for ads
last year. Economic Times, June 7, 2015.
• Narasimhan TE. Maggi to lose $200 mn in brand value, Asset valuation
consultancy sees Maggi’s brand value slip to $2.2 billion. Chennai,
Business Standard, June 18, 2015.
• Bhushan R. Sleepless nights at Nestle, as staff and executives try to find
what went wrong. ET Bureau. Economic Times, June 9, 2015.
• PTI. Bahrain bans import and sale of Maggi noodles from India CNN-
IBN, June 7, 2015.
• Singh S., Srivastava S. Sunday story: Going bad, The $100 bn processed
food market has clocked an annual growth of 8.4 percent, a rate the
regulator can hardly keep pace with The Indian Express, June 14, 2015.
• E-paper. Nestle sells 45 mn Maggi packs within two weeks of the relaunch.
November 24, 2015.
• PTI. Nestle relaunches Maggi; partners Snapdeal for online sales, The
Business Standard, November 9, 2015.
• PTI. Supreme court orders fresh testing of Maggi at Mysore lab, The
Deccan Chronicle, December 16, 2015.
• Dutta A, Mookherji N, Jog S. Maggi case: FSSAI moves apex court. The
Business Standard on November 17, 2015.
• Jog S. Nestle India challenges Maggi ban in Bombay HC, Terms ban
arbitrary, argues that no prior notice was given; alleges company not
given a proper hearing, Mumbai. Business Standard, June 12, 2015.
• Adage India (2016), http://www.adageindia.in/marketing/cmo-strategy/
heres-how-nestl-is-using-nostalgia-as-a-strategy-in-maggis-comeback-
ads/articleshow/51675250.cms
• Financial Express (2016), http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/
companies/maggi-noodles-caught-in-the-loop/85227/http://articles.
economictimes.indiatimes.com/2016-06-20/
• Afternoon Voice (2016), http://www.afternoonvoice.com/maggi-vs-other-
noodles.html
• Business Today (2016), https://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/
baba-ramdev-patanjali-noodles-to-enter-market-maggi-returns/
story/224635.html
CASE 8

TATA NANO: DREAM OF MILLIONS


Ankit Baranwal, Ashish Kumar Srivastava and Sheetal Malik
Faculty, IMS Ghaziabad University Courses Campus

ABSTRACT
Tata Nano was launched in 2008, and it’s booking started after that,
Nano launched for 1 lakh, it has repeatedly been growing and won many
awards also, but it faces many challenges further even it was failed in safety
measures too. It has also been faced tough competition from the leading
car manufacturing company Maruti Suzuki. Launched for the bottom of
pyramid section it was targeted two-wheeler or the person having a less
annual income, but Tata failed after some years because of the quality and
continuously increased price of Nano, with engine problems, and safety
issues news of catching fire also spread for Nano which creates bad mouth
of the word.
  “Tata Motors has not produced a single unit of its entry level car
Nano and it Decided to stop the production by April 2020 Mayank
Pareek president of passenger vehicle business unit Tata Motors said that
with the new norms of BS VI we are not able to upgrade Nano so we
decided to quit its production.”
Keywords: Marketing, Car for Masses, Project Dream, Pricing

INTRODUCTION
Tata motors have not been produced a single unit in 2019 so far; it
has been noted that it sold only one unit in the month of February.
According to a statement filed by company, Tata Motors had zero
production in 2019, while 2018 production accounted for around 82,
and 88 cars were sold in 2018.
Nano, which was unveiled in 2008 as the “people’s car” and
launched in the market in 2009 by Tata motors. Considered as one the
dream project of Ratan Ji Tata its idea came into his mind after he saw
a man with his wife on the motorbike with two children tried to hide
all of them from rain, according to Ratan Tata the wet road can force
the family to the potential danger, it led him to wonder that one could
lead a safest journey with An affordable personnel transport which
is in everyone’s reach, the major challenges to this dream was that it
should be safe, affordable, eco friendly (low in pollution and high in
fuel efficiency).
98 | Journey of Brands

According to economic times, national council for applied


economic research (NCAER) Center for Macro Consumer Research
has predicted that by 2010, the middle class in India will be over 60
cr from the current size of 25cr these statistics demonstrate that there
will continue growth and demand of automobiles in India for years to
come, however, the price of the typical two-wheeler was almost one
fourth the cost of the cheapest car Maruti alto in the market. Hence,
the automobile sectors remain dominated by two-wheelers. So Tata
primarily launch a car for the bottom of the pyramid segment and dare
to launch it at the price of 1 lakh that’s why it is called “lakhtakia”
(Shukla, R. 2010).

COMPANY HISTORY
Tata Motors, formerly known as TELCO, is the Indian largest car
Manufacturer Company, a part of the Tata group, an Indian largest
conglomerate company owned by Tata sons produces different
passenger cars. Established back in 1845, it enters in a commercial
vehicle in 1954, later come in the passenger car segment in 1988.To
spreading its base, it establishes plants in Jamshedpur (Jharkhand), Pune
(Maharashtra), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Pantnagar (Uttarakhand),
Anand (Gujarat) and Dharwad (Karnataka). Lencioni, P.M. (2009).
Tata motors follow the road of innovation & improvement
by collaborating & takeover with the world’s different largest car
manufacturers.It joins a strategic alliance with Fiat, Daewoo (South
Korean largest commercial vehicle manufacturer) & Marcopolo;
take over jaguar, land rover from Ford. It is listed in Bombay stock
exchange, National stock exchange & New York stock exchange and
also ranked 265th on the fortune global 500 of the world’s largest biggest
corporation of 2019. Tata Motors have different vehicle assembly in
a different part of the world like Kenya, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Russia,
Senegal & also has a large customer base in Bhutan, Italy, Spain, South
Africa, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, etc.

THE PRODUCT
The Tata Nano is a small car manufactured by Tata Motors made and
sold in India. Nano was initially launched with a price tag of 100,000
(US$1,600), which was ultimately increased with time. Designed to lure
India’s burgeoning middle classes away from two-wheelers, it received
much publicity. With the launch of this car, only the Indian market was
hoping big. Tata Nano’s launch could expand the Indian car market
by 65%, according to rating agency CRISIL (TNN, 2008). (Mark
Tata Nano: Dream of Millions | 99

Rainford, 2008). The low price makes the car affordable for families
with incomes of ₹1 lakh per annum, the agency said. The predictions
were also made about how Tata Nano can destroy the second-hand
car market of the country. A record falls in the price of second hand
Maruti alto (Nano’s Closet Competitor) was also marked. The desire
and anxiety at the launch of Tata Nano were even given a term called
Nanomania or lakhtakia.

SPECIFICATION
Nano is a (28kw/37hp) car with a two cylindrical 64 cc engine that
comes with Bosch multi-point fuel injection compiled with BS 4 Indian
emission standard. It has a rear-wheel drive with manual and automatic
transmission, steering ofa turning radius of 4 m. As far as speed is
concerned, the maximum speed is 105km/h and fuel efficiency of 25.35
km/litre (Noronha, C. January 10, 2008).

Pricing
Announced as the world’s most affordable car, it was initially launched
at just Rupees 1 lakh. This was the tough challenge for the then Tata
motors MD Ravi Kant as it required keeping the cost low & even it
meets customer satisfaction. It was a challenge to balance the cost and
customer satisfaction, as the product should be attractive without any
compromise with benchmarked quality and performance.Launching
the car, Ratan Tata said that the company had given the country the
dream of the million countrymen an affordable car, Later on, the
price of Nano got increased, and it was said that it happens due to
increased cost, but it was much cheaper than its competitor Maruti
alto. Technically if we are comparing Nano with its competitors, we
can easily find that it has so many cost-cutting features, which makes
it affordable for the bottom of the pyramid. Nano was an affordable
dream for an average earner Indian who dreams of having a car for his
family. Innovation and reengineering always done to satisfy customer
need to build brand equity in the market, Tata tried a new design of
Nano to keep its cost low, spacious & less weighted Tata attached
the engine of the car with its rear which made it difficult for the rear
passengers due to its sound.India today (January 2018).

Production and Sales


Nano was always more than just a car. It was Tata group supremo
Ratan Tata’s dream project to bring an affordable transportation
100 | Journey of Brands

solution within reach of the masses. The promise of a small car priced
at ₹1 lakh had fired the imagination of an entire nation – and the
global automotive industry. Tata Nano is a small car that is produced
in the Sanand plant at Gujarat initially could produce around 1.5
lakh cars in a tear, which was further increased to 5 lakh cars When
bookings opened on April 9, 2009, Tata Motors dealers expected a
surge of customers. The company printed over 20 lakh booking forms
and expected bookings to be more than 5 lakh. But the sales figures
were equally disappointing in the market. In the first two years, Tata
Motors just managed to sell 1.75 lakh. Due to this, the workers cut
down to 80% as Nano does not get a good response from the Indian
family who wants to own a car Nano since the celebrated commercial
launch in March 2009, which was far lower than the acclaimed
figures predicted about the booking numbers (Malviya, S. 2010). The
cumulative sales of Tata Nano during 2011-12 stood at 74,527, which
was a 6% increase compared to 70,432 cars recorded during 2010-11.
A significant problem arises when news of Nano catching fire flashes
on different news channels, which dipped the sale of Nano and even
inundated the flow of customers who rushes for booking of Nano
(McKinsey 2016, 18).
Nano was aimed earlier to sell at the pull demand strategy, which was
doused by the poor quality and safety issues of the car. Tata previously
thinks that the tag of 1 lakh makes the car popular. However, it doesn’t
work due to issues, even the showrooms stop ordering Nano as they
have to sale the current stock also sale is not only dipped by marketing
misadventures, but there are some other bottlenecks also like the bank
and NBFs are not comfortable with the risk profile of Nano buyers
which led to high conversion time of Loan, and the interest rate is
too high in this case. Primarily the booking started with the lottery
system to deliver the car, which also backfires as some got the car and
other hopefuls become displeased, which in turn creates bad mouth
of the word for Tata and even made Tata lose their brand equity and
creditability in the market (Hans India, 2017).

Sales Report – Tata Nano


In India, Tata motors launched “NANO,” as dream car of MR.
Ratan Tata, the cheapest car in the world in 2008 with the price of
1,00,000 rupees or $2500. When Tata launched Nano, annually
projected production figures were 2, 50,000 units at launch, but
the company failed to produce the quantity at a more significant
difference. The company only sold 30,350 cars in 2009-10. In the
Tata Nano: Dream of Millions | 101

coming years, production was increased by a very less number. In


2010-11, the company sold 70,432. Once more companies failed to
achieve its target with a huge difference, but the company continued
its production positively. The company never crossed the production
100,000 quantity annually in its history of the very small span, was
the negative motivation. In 2011-12, 74,527 cars sold, was the highest
sales in the history of Nano. As per the company’s official data, the sales
of Nano have been declining since 2012-13, when the company sold
only 53,848, followed by 21,129 cars sold in 2013-14, 16,901 vehicles
in 2014-15, 15,772 in 2015-16, 7,591 in 2016-17, 1,502 in2017-18,
518 in 2018-19 and 2019-20, in the first nine months company only
sold 1 unit in February in the domestic market. Now the company
officially hinted that the model “NANO” has been discontinued from
the market and production in 2020.

Figure 1  Sales Report – Tata Nano


Source: BS News

After 2012-13 from 53,848, the sales were drastically declined and
reached to 1 in unit sales and 0 unit productions in 2019-20 (Fig.  1).
Behind the decreasing sales of Nano, there were various reasons.
According to Ratan Tata, former chairman of Tata groups, finally
revealed that the reason behind the dwindling of the sales of Nano in
the domestic market was the non-other than the synonymous “The
cheapest car” which is used for Nano. This is the primary reason because
if the term “cheapest” is used with any product, then the reliability and
trustworthiness of customersare very low on that product (Hindustan
Times, December 2016).
102 | Journey of Brands

Nano was Indian market-based product, and in India, purchasing


or having a car is associated with social status and prestige; if a person
of India owns a car, he assumed himself to be successful and settled
in life. The mentality of Indians is different from western countries in
the sense of prestige and reputation. In western countries, the car is
used for necessity rather than luxury, but in India, the car is used to
show luxury. The Indian market and customer did not accept the word
“cheapest” that is attached to Nano—the word cheapest declining the
sales of Nano in the Indian market rather than increasing. If an Indian
having a car, it does not show that he is successful and settled in his life.
Beyond this, various reasons declined the sales of Nano, i.e.
Body shape, safety measures, lightweight, emotionally disconnected
advertising, production issues, lack of proper marketing strategy
(Overdrive, March 2017).

Promotion
Brand promotion is always remaining highly crucial to capture the
dynamic market. Tata uses many promotional activities for Nano;
firstly, it uses a lottery method for Nano to create a demand-pull strategy
in the market. After keeping its price 1 lakh and calling it people’s car,
Tata wants to generate positive word of mouth for Nano; that’s why
it uses the word lakhtakia, so that common people got attracted to its
price. In 2008 Tata used auto expo in India & Geneva to launch Nano;
it uses Westside store to launch Nano t-shirts & watches. Further to
attract youngsters, it started to twist the campaign and launched Tata
Nano smart city car twist, adding more Tata further launch many new
Nano versions so that people attract towards the car. It has launched
many commercials which only focuses on the price of Nano & also
announced many mouth-watering offers to attract customers, but
promotional strategies wouldn’t work as expected, which in turn
proved to be a positioning disaster later (Philip, L. & Talukadar, T.,
December 2010).

COMPETITION
Maruti Suzuki 800
Maruti Suzuki 800 is a small segment car, which is the leading car in
India launched at the price of 2.15 lakh; it has been the bestselling car
until the year 2004. Its launch ceremony was done in the year 1983
by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Right from its inception, it
was considered the first affordable people’s car, and later it was phase-
Tata Nano: Dream of Millions | 103

out by Maruti Suzuki in the year 2010 due to BS-IV Engines. Maruti
800 initially had only an opening rear-windscreen but then got a full
hatchback, it also offers power window in its high variant, as far as body
material is concerned, it was considered as one of the safest version of
cars. As the brand name Maruti attached to the car, it doesn’t need so
much promotion. Even customer got their car after waiting for at least
two to three months which also create the positive mouth of word for
the car, and the number of bookings got increased day by day.

Maruti Suzuki Alto


It is the advanced version of the basic Maruti 800, which was joined
by high performance 800 cc engines with the fuel-efficient feature of
the mileage of 26km/litre; it also came with an airbag feature which
makes it different from the earlier version. The new model came up
with the alloy wheels, power steering, fifth gear and modern amenities
like music system, charging jack, etc. Maruti alto was launch in
India in September 2000. By 2006 it became India’s largest selling
car and crossed one million production figures by 2008. In 2010
Maruti launches its newest version named Alto k10 & further Alto
800, which is a totally redesigned and reengineered version of Maruti
Suzuki Alto.

Hyundai Eon
Hyundai Eon is the smallest & economical city car produced by South
Korean company Hyundai which was launched in India in October
2011. Its production was done in the Hyundai Chennai plant; it is
offered as an 814 cc car with a fuel economy of 26.3 km/litre. Eon
is positioned to compete with Tata Nano & Maruti Alto. In the year
2010, Hyundai announced its LPG model with an additional cost of
24,000. Initially, Hyundai eon opens its booking with offers that got
a good response from customers. Till 2014 Hyundai produces around
10,000 units of Eon and announced facelift of Eon with humorous
advance features. Initially, it was launched at 3.34 lakh rupees.

Renault Kwid
Renault kwid was launched in India in 2015 for 2.57 lakh in the
small segment car with the engine capacity of 800 cc with single three
cylindrical engines & fuel efficiency of 25.17 km/litre. Launched to
compete with Alto, Nano & other small cars, it had initial booking
around 25,000, adding 50,000 later on. The kwid was criticized as it
104 | Journey of Brands

doesn’t have airbags facilities. Kwid has a facelift then in 2019 with
new design & features.

Datsun Redi Go
Datsun Redi goes an entry-level car of Datsun launched at the initial
price of 2.79 lakh uses the same platform of Renault Kwid with 0.8
petrol engine, five-speed manual transmission & other features. The
Redi go cheaper, shorter & lighter then kwid. Initially, bookings were
open with 5,000 bookings. It also uses 7 safety features, which also
make it different from its competitors.

CONTROVERSIES
Singur Plant
Tata primarily decided to open the production plant of Tata Nano
in Singur West Bengal by acquiring 997-acre agricultural land, but
tata has withdrawn its operation from Singur in 2008 due to opposed
by the locals and even the government. The then West Bengal chief
minister Mamta Banarjee refused to provide land acquisition act; later
on, Tata establishes its plant in Sanand Gujarat. The two-year-long
protest further delayed the launch of Nano.

Safety Issues
The Nano suffered isolated reports of catching fire, forcing Tata to offer
a safety recall (in all but name) to users. This lousy press put off buyers,
and from the late summer onwards, sales dwindled. Possibly more of
an issue, according to company executives, is the disconnect between
product and market. As we have said, the Nano is aimed at the poor.
Ratan Tata’s vision was to provide safe and comfortable transport for
India’s scattering public, which seems not to be attainable.
Nano also got zero stars as it lacks adult safety measures to meet
UN safety requirements.

Reception
Nano gets a mixed reception from Indian customers asinitially
launched price was good even if it was more than a two-wheeler; Tata
continuously increases its price, which made customers purchase its
rivals. Some news also indicates that Nano was positioned as the poor
Man’s car, which caused some customers away from it.
Tata Nano: Dream of Millions | 105

INDIAN AUTOMOBILES INDUSTRY


The Indian automobile market experience sturdy growth, it also
experiences much turbulence, but apart all, it is globally the fourth
largest industry of the world in terms of sales. According to the society
of the Indian automotive sector is today of $ 74 billion industry and
expected to be $300 billion industry in the next 5 years. India is also
expecting to become the world’s third-largest passenger vehicle market
by 2021 due to projected urbanization, burgeoning consumer class and
favourable government policies.
Currently, the automobile industry contributed 7% towards
GDP, which was projected to increase at 12%, as roughly expected
that around 60 million households could enter the consuming class
by 2025; some of them directly leap towards four-wheeler cars while
some may switch from two-wheeler to four-wheeler. Through the
different plans, the government is also focussing on the automobile
industry, as to tackle emission government already introduced BS-VI
engine in the market, and every company launched cars with BS-VI
Engines (Livemint / Bloomberg 2013).

Nano Redesigned: 2.0 The Cool Youth Segment


By mid-2015, the’basic’Nano was no longer featured on the Tata
Nano webpage, whereonly the three latest versions are promoted.10
One is the compressed natural gas (CNG) powered Nano Emax (with
switch-on-the-go bi-fuel facility) which boasts the best-in-class CNG
mileage at 36 km/kg. Launched in October 2013 and projected as
environmentally friendly, the Emax is promoted as a smart, intelligent
and green choice for knowledgeable consumers who are conscious about
their ecological footprint. It is priced fromapproximately INR 2.5 lakh.
The second new Nano thatfigures prominently on the webpage is the
Nano Twist, launched in January 2014. Described as anew smart city
car’ with cool, young and trendy features,’ the Nano Twist was, in the
words of Ranjit Yadav, the President of Tata Motors’ Passenger Vehicle
Business Unit, created to cater ‘to the dynamic desires of our growing
customer base of young, trendy urbanites’ (Tata Motors Media Centre
2014).The Nano Twist has received a facelift; is available in a range of
trendy’ colours; comes with a stereo and AC, as well as hubcaps and
chrome trim. Prices start fromaround INR 2.35 lakh.
The third new Nano, launched in May 2015, is the GenX Nano,
a ‘compact hatch ‘with automatic transmission, power steering, new
technology to facilitatebumper to bumper driving in dense urban
106 | Journey of Brands

traffic and a boot hatch that opens. Prices rangefrom INR 2 to 3 lakh
that the Nano is now promoted asthe cool people’s car’ rather than
simply ‘thepeople’ scar’ is equally evident in the many promotional
videos of the Nano Twistthat are available online. The videos celebrate
the ‘awesomeness, youngness, kickassness, zigzagness, cityness and
magicness of the Nano. They exclusively portray young, trendy
urbanites having a good time; and they highlight the Nano’s ability to
manoeuvre effectively in urban traffic, as well as the ease of parking
because of the car’s compactness. Increasingly, then, the Nano has
been rebranded and redesigned to appeal to younger buyers who
want a car that is ‘a little more aspirational’ (McLain 2013) than the
basic Nano. It has also been rebranded as an ideal second or third
car – a car for the youngster in the house’ – for those families who
can afford more than one car. These new marketing and branding
strategies, and the different consumer subjectivities they appeal to
– environmentally conscious; trendy urbanite; affluent family man;
etc. – are undoubtedly more attuned to the real social location of the
hegemonic sections of the middle class that claimto speak for new
India’s a whole, and to their desired place in a global consumption
landscape. But given the considerable increase in purchasing price that
this rebranding necessitates, the Nano’s claim to being a people’s’ scar’
in the conventional sense is progressively undermined. The new key
consumer group is far removed from the low-income family of four
cramped onto a two-wheeler that originally inspired Ratan Tata to
build the car (Carwale, com 2017).

Nano Rise and Fall


Our account of the rise and fall of the Tata Nano has covered a period
of well over a decade, during which significant yet gradual shifts have
occurred in India’s increasingly globalized consumption landscape. This
landscape is defined by an increasingly consolidated social dynamic in
which commodities are seen as positive social identifiers, and where
visible, aspirational consumption has become a key signifier of middle-
class status. Here, the caris one of the most important objects for
projecting and conveying images of status,wealth and social standing
among India’s new middle class. Whether it is parked infront of the
house or transporting its owner and family through urban geographies,
the car has become the perfect vehicle for and symbol of the new Indian
middle-class family (Saavala, 2010) within a broader and increasingly
complex and shifting landscape of commodities and associated social
identities. Prior to the launch, the massive hype surrounding the Nano
Tata Nano: Dream of Millions | 107

indicated that the small car was expected to bring car ownership within
the immediate reach or more Indian consumers than ever before; and
by extension, to facilitate – and demonstrate to India and the world –
the massive transition of Indian society towards a truly middle-class
consumerist society. In other words, it was expected to both taps into
the tastes and desires of the new India ‘and to contribute to’ New
India’s realization, growth and expansion. As we have argued, ‘New
India’s idea, image or brand (Kaur 2012, forthcoming) sees the nation
as emerging actors on the global stage, ‘eager to make its presence
felt in the global community’ (Kaur, forthcoming, 14). Politically, it
claims the status as the world’s largest democracy; economically,
it has acquired a position as one of the most rapidly growing
economies in the world; culturally, it boasts considerable soft power
resources; and technologically, a (limited) number of its leading and
increasingly mature industries have the ability to engineer and produce
advanced technologies – including automotive technologies – for both
domestic and foreign markets at better quality and more affordable
prices than manufacturers in other countries. The Nano aimed to
both capitalise on and fortify this image of innovative, world-class
engineering and thereby appeal to a thrifty and Contemporary South
Asia 13 Downloaded by [University of Oslo] at 01:47 November 1,
2015, consumerist new Indian middle class, hoping to outcompete
more expensive and luxurious foreign and domestic models. But as
plunging Nano sales show, it has so far failed. A key explanation is
that in conception, design and partly also in marketing, it largely
appealed toan older ethos of frugality and simplicity as positive social
signifiers, an ethos which had, however, increasingly lost its positive
connotations. Tata’s design and innovation discoursedid not engage
with the shift in the possession and social positioning of consumer
goods such as household electrical appliances and cars – the frugal
Nano was, in other words, incompatible with the consumerist desires
of new India’s new middle class. Also, the widespread rejection of the
Nano by Indian consumers needs to be understood with reference
to the internal processes of differentiation and distinction within the
middle class (Moesgaard, A.M. & Poulfelt, F. 2014). To the extent that
an upper segment of this class plays a disproportionate or hegemonic
role in setting the consumption standards against which the aspirations
of other fractions of the same class are measured, subtle consumption
hierarchies and forms of exclusion are continuously reconstituted.
(Autoportalnews, January 2019).
108 | Journey of Brands

This reconstitution is increasingly mediated by accelerated global


economic integration, trade and advertising, and an increasingly
globalized media, thus rendering a mastery of global consumer
tastes, aspirations and practices a precondition for ‘full’ middle-class
status. Having landed on the lower rungs ofthis hierarchy of identity-
defining material objects, the Nano has come to acquire dual setof
negative identity connotations. First, it has come to signify an adverse
or incomplete inclusion into the new middle class; and second, it has
come to signify a consumer identity whose desires and aspirations can
be fulfilled even by a simple, cheap vehicle. While the first identity
position is shaped within the Indian consumption landscape itself, the
second is defined by a globalized landscape in so far as it locates the
Indian middle-class consumers’ at the bottom of a global consumption
hierarchy, where tastes are simple oreven unsophisticated, and
consumption capacity minimal. The widespread rejection of the
Nano is thus not merely about a refusal to purchase the car itself, but
also are fusal on the part of consumers to occupy ascribed identity
positions within national and global consumption hierarchies that the
car connotes (www.tata.com).

REFERENCES
• Bidding farewell to ‘cheapest car’: Tata Nano likely to be phased out
soon” Retrieve from TimesNowNews. November 26, 2017.
• Lencioni, P.M. (2009). Make your Values Mean Something.
• Livemint/Bloomberg (2013). Tata signals pricier Nano after world’s
cheapest tag flops.
• Malviya, S. (December 20 2010), ‘Tata raises ad spend to revive Nano
Sales’, Economic Times, p. 4.
• McKinsey (2017), Future of mobility, https://www.mckinsey.com/
industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/the-future-of-mobility-
in-indias-passenger-vehicle-market
• Moesgaard, A.M. & Poulfelt, F. (2014). Beyond Strategy: The impact of
Next Generation Nano.
• Nano competition “2015 Tata GenX Nano Launched; Prices Start at 1.99
Lakh”. CarAndBike.com. May 20 2015. Retrieved July 19 2018.
• Nano finals Retrieve from Nano financials retrieve from http://www.
scribd.com/doc/29462444/Report-on-TATANANO
• Nano overview. Retrieve from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/
industry/auto/auto-news/tata-nano-ends-2019-with-zero-production/
articleshow/73131247.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_
medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst.
• Nano production. Retrieve from “Tata Motors to continue Tata Nano
production for now” Overdrive. September 27, 2017.
Tata Nano: Dream of Millions | 109

• Nano sales Retrieve from https://www.business-standard.com/article/


management/nano-sticks-to-the-slow-lane-116011300 323_1.htm 2018
• Nano sales retrieve from rushlane.com tata nano sales 2018-19, http times
of india //business times Tata Nano sales stop in 2019.
• Nielsen, K.B., & Wilhite, H. (2015). The rise and fall of the ‘people’s car’:
Middle-class aspirations, status and mobile symbolism in ‘New India’.
Contemporary South Asia, 23(4), 371-387.
• Noronha, C. (January 10, 2008). The making of the Nano.
• Noronha, C. (January 2008). The making of the Nano. Tata Motors on
June 10, 2011.
• Philip, L. & Talukadar, T. ( 2010), Nano to sport more features to woo
buyers.
• Philip, L. & Talukadar, T. (December 13 2010), Nano to sportmore
features to woo buyers, Economic Times, Retrieve from http://articles.
economictimes.indiatimes.com/2008-01-12/news/27702855_1_car-sales-
car-market-tata-nano
• Saqib, N. (2014). Positioning is Inevitable – A Case Study of Tata Nano.
Shrinagar: University of Kashmir.
• Shukla, R. (2010). How India earns, spends and saves: Unmasking the
real India. India: SAGE Publications India.
• SIAM (2016). Two-wheeler sales in India from 2010/11 to 2015/16 (in
units). C.f.Statista, online.
• Tata (June 2016). Celebrating sustainability at TATA from http://www.
tata.com/article/inside/tata-group-tata-sustainability-month
• Tata motors future plan retrieve from http://www.tata.com/article/inside/
fX6eoP0gmaI=/TLYVr3YPkMU=
• Tata Motors Strategies. Retrieved from Hindustan Times. November 4,
2016.
• Tata Nano sales to continue in spite of no demand. Retrieve from The
Hans India. September 29, 2017.
• Verma, A., Alenezi, A., Alkandari, A., & Amira, A. (2019). Case Study:
Tata Nano. Journal of the community development in Asia, 2(2).
CASE 9

PAYTM: GRASPING THE PENETRATION


STRATEGY
Santosh Shah and Shenki Tyagi
Assistant Professor, IMS Ghaziabad University Courses Campus

ABSTRACT
Nothing happens by the angels’ movement in the business houses, except
some natural calamities planned action or exploitation of opportunity
as or when it comes—Prime Minister Shree Narendra Modi’s persistent
endeavors of changing the country into a cashless economy.
   The demonetization drive of 2016 has, by a wide margin, been one
of the most critical financial occasions of the country, in a country where
fluid money represented about 96% of the fiscal exchanges before this
sudden presentation.
   Two words that come to almost every Indian’s mind while Shopping,
Post demonetization, are “Paytm karo.” Paytm has brought a paradigm
shift in the retail industry by completely transforming the payment
methodology. Smartphone has become an essential part of daily life.
Smartphones are used to make money transactions or payments by using
applications installed on the phone like Paytm.
   Paytm made its way into the e-commerce market in the year 2014—
India’s largest digital payments startup. Over the years, Paytm offers
multiple products ranging from primary mobile recharges to buying
apparel or electronics, enabling customers to get everything in one place.
   This case has been created around Paytm, an internet business stage
that began as an insignificant portable revive site in 2010 by One97
Communications. Paytm’s an example of overcoming adversity may
have advanced from its brisk and clever way to deal with give a helpful
answer for the far-reaching impermanent money mash with banks forcing
stringent withdrawal guidelines and ATMs coming up short on money.
Paytm did great business when Indian fed up of standing in long queues to
exchange currency Paytm faced stiff completion from its already existing
rivals as well as from the commercial banks, which were of their version
of online payments.
   This study aims to analyze the usage of PayTm by users. This paper
helps to upgrade the knowledge and understanding of the impact of the
demonetization and how the crisis management strategy can be adopted.
This will help the company in the future to know how a crisis can be
managed efficiently by drawing a cue from the strategies implemented by
Paytm. Apart from this, the study also attempts to find out the various
challenges faced by PayTm users.
Paytm: Grasping the Penetration Strategy | 111

Keywords: Business Model, Demonetization, Digital Payment, Marketing


Strategy, Paytm Payments Bank, Paytm Mall

INTRODUCTION
With an Internet client base in India arriving at 450 million before
the finish of June 2017 and Internet and Mobile Association of India
(IAMAI) revealing that the web clients in India developed 7% from
January to June 2017, the rise and future development of online
business and m-trade is an inescapable result. This is obvious from
the billion-dollar valuation that the main seven Indian e-commerce
organizations including Flipkart, Paytm, Amazon, Myntra, Snapdeal,
Jabong and Shopclues have come in to the long early stretches of their
initiation. In spite of the fact that the signs concerning global web-based
business just as several clients executing on the web are empowering,
yet the strategic structure in the online circle is as yet developing. Some
are attempting to be nearly everything so as to produce more business/
traffic increasingly on their foundation, while others are attempting
to be especially centered on accomplishing a remarkable situating in a
specific area. Just the time will decide which of these plans of action in
the virtual world will create manageable or more normal returns over
the long haul.
The current contextual investigation depicts the main organization
in the e-installment area. Paytm. It inspects the different features
related to its vital and operational plans with context to a cashless
economy. After demonetization, Paytm made it easier to pay with its
digital payment option. There was around 1000% growth in the money
added to its wallet, a 300% rise in-app download, and a gain of 20
million new users was recorded within 2 months (BI Intelligence 2016).
Here are numerous advantages of a cashless economy. As because of
advanced installment, one need not convey money or need not to deal
with money. Paytm rose because of cash back facility just as Vijay
Shekhar Sharma consistently battled for the installment of insignificant
money. Presently with the assistance of Paytm, it can work better
• There is no time restriction for little or more prominent measures
of money.
• One can accept the advantages of limits as the legislature of India
is giving numerous inspirations to advance the digitalization of
installments. All the online business destinations give an extra
rebate for utilizing e installment.
112 | Journey of Brands

• One can without much of a stretch compensation personal


assessment online as half of the subtleties are as of now with the
legislature due to adhaar card, digital storage, and skillet card.
• A new startup like e-wallet, e-installments will advance beyond
time.
• Tax avoidance will be hard for individuals now.
Paytm propelled Paytm wallet in the year 2014 as a computerized
apparatus to either move reserves or to buy something in its store,
trailed by reviving and other installment choices. During March 2017
Paytm presented a protection spread, at no extra expense, to secure its
clients’ wallet balance, against any deceitful use.
Table 1
Registered Users 450 Million
Active Users 130 Million
Employee Base 2500
Number of Merchants 12 Million
Average No. of Monthly Transaction 400 Million
App Downloads 100 Million
% of Users from Web 14%
% of Users from Smartphones 70%
Total Fund Raised 492 Billion INR
Estimated Value of Paytm 388 Billion INR
Source: https://www.owler.com & E pay Company Report-2020

The organization will safeguard every one of its clients up to the


furthest reaches of ₹20,000 or their wallet balance, whichever is lower
and with the spread, any sum lost because of false exchanges because
of robbery, theft, loss of gadget or unapproved access of a client’s
Paytm wallet will presently be discounted. Inside a limited capacity to
focus joined right around 850,000 disconnected elements altering the
computerized installment framework in the nation. It got its greatest
lift in November 2016 after the demonetization disaster. On Nov. 14,
2016, Paytm professed to have enlisted a record of 5 million exchanges
per day, and on twelfth and thirteenth November 2016, a 1000%
development in cash added to PaytmWallets.
Inferable from the foreseen ascent of online shopping for food
during 2018-19, Paytm made the vital move by propelling ‘Paytm Zip’,
an e-basic food item application to interface merchants with clients in
the year 2015.
Paytm: Grasping the Penetration Strategy | 113

Figure 1  Top Spending Categories (in 10 millions)


Source: Black coffer Intelligence Innovation Technology

With individuals turning out to be open to purchasing even milk


and bread on the web, business onlookers accept basic food items to
increase than gadgets and style (the classes that presently rule online
buys). The organization propelled the beta adaptation of the application
in chose regions of Bangalore. In any case, because of some exigency
not revealed by the organization, they pulled the application from the
market inside two months from propelling the beta adaptation.
To utilize the stage and meet all requirements for selling at Paytm
Mall, dealers/venders need to hold fast to exacting rules and get the
job done the organization indicated capability criteria. To ensure buyer
trust, all items recorded on the shopping center adheres to Paytm-
confirmed stockroom and delivery procedures
For simplicity of business, the O2O technique is pertinent for
orders inside a particular city with the goal that the organization’s
coordination accomplices can legitimately oversee coordination’s
or the dealers where the merchants will pay a fixed charge like that
of online venders on the Paytm commercial center. Starting at now,
the element centers around traders and brands managing in mobiles,
electrical apparatuses, style fragments, and bundled quick moving
customer products. The application gives genuine “over the counter”
human shopping experience utilizing a book courier. In 2015, One97
Communications gained the title sponsorship rights for India’s local
and 15 worldwide cricket coordinates at home for a time of four years
with an offer cost of INR 203.28 crores.
114 | Journey of Brands

EVOLUTION OF PAYTM
Paytm was founded in August 2010 with an initial investment of $2
million by its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma in NOIDA, a region
adjacent to India’s capital New Delhi.
In 2013, it started as a prepaid mobile and DTH recharge platform,
and later added data card, postpaid mobile, and landline bill payments.
By January 2014, the company launched the Paytm Wallet, and the
Indian Railways and Uber added it as a payment option. It launched
into E-commerce with online deals and bus ticketing.
In 2015, it unveiled more use-cases like education fees; metro
recharges, electricity, gas, and water bill payments. It also started
powering the payment gateway for Indian Railways. Paytm’s registered
user base grew from 11.8 million in August 2014 to 104 million in
August 2015.
In 2016, Paytm launched movies, events, and amusement parks
ticketing as well as flight ticket bookings and Paytm QR. Later that
year, it launched rail bookings and gift cards.
In 2017, Paytm became India’s first payment app to cross over
100 million app downloads. The same year, it launched Paytm Gold,
a product that allowed users to buy as little as ₹1 of pure gold online.
It also launched the Paytm Payments Bank and ‘Inbox,’ a messaging
platform with in-chat payments, among other products.
By 2018, it started allowing merchants to accept Paytm, UPI,
and Card payments directly into their bank accounts at 0% charge.
It also launched the ‘Paytm for Business’ app, allowing merchants to
track their payments and day-to-day settlements instantly. This led its
merchant base to grow to more than 7 million by March 2018.The
company launched two new wealth management products – Paytm
Gold Savings Plan and Gold Gifting to simplify long-term savings.
By Sept 2019, Paytm recorded 1.2 billion merchant transactions in
the first 3 months through 14 million retail stores (ET, 2019). There
have been few merchants like educational institutes or utility service
providers who do not absorb credit card charges and expect customers
to pay the same.

PAYTM PAYMENTS BANK: A CREDIT TO PAYTM


In 2015, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted ‘on a basic level’
endorsement to Vijay Shekhar Sharma to set up a Payments Bank,
which in January 2017 was given the last endorsement. A 5-member
board committee has been formed to expand the physical presence
of the Payment Banks. The organization announced to start its
Paytm: Grasping the Penetration Strategy | 115

tasks from May 23, 2017, with Renu Satti as the CEO of the Paytm
Payments Bank. As indicated by the RBI’s rules, installments banks
can acknowledge stores of up to 1 lakh from every individual client
and issue administrations, for example, ATM cards, net banking, and
non-hazard money-related items, for example, common reserve and
protection. Installments banks. During 2016, Paytm isolated its wallet
business from the level online business entry, and they are named as
Paytm Payments Bank and Paytm E-Commerce Pvt Ltd. Individually
51 percent of Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) is possessed by
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, and 49 percent proprietorship is claimed by
One97 Communications Ltd. Paytm acquired Shifu and Near. In to
improve and strengthen its offline and online platform and enhance the
customer experience.

PAYTM MALL
Paytm spread out its wings further to investigate the web-based
business advertise by propelling ‘Paytm Mall.’In February 2017,
Paytm launched its Paytm Mall app, which allows consumers to shop
from 1.4 lakh registered sellers. Paytm Mall is a B2C model inspired
by the Model of China’s largest B2C retail platform TMall. For 1.4
lakh sellers, registered products have to pass through, Paytm-certified
warehouses and channels to ensure consumer trust. Paytm mall has set
up 17 fulfillment centers across India and partnered with 40+ couriers.
Paytm Mall raised $200 million from Alibaba Group and SAIF Partners
in March 2018.

INVESTMENTS AND ACQUISITIONS


• In 2013, Paytm acquired Plustxt for around $3 million. Plustxt was
started by IIT Graduates Pratyush Prasanna, Parag Arora, Lokesh
Chauhan, and Lohit V that allowed fast texting messaging in any
Indian Language.
• In 2015, Paytm invested $5 million in auto-rickshaw aggregator
and hyper local delivery firm Jugnoo. It also acquired Delhi-based
consumer behavior prediction platform Shifu and local services
startup Near.in.
• In 2016, Paytm invested in logistics startups LogiNext and
XpressBees.
• In April 2017, Paytm invested in healthcare startup QorQL,
which uses artificial intelligence (AI) and big data to help doctors
improve their productivity and quality of care, and enable patients
to manage their health better.
116 | Journey of Brands

• In July 2017, it acquired a majority stake in online ticketing and


events platform Insider. In, it was backed by event Management
Company Only Much Louder (OML) and mobile loyalty startup
MobiQuest. The same year, Paytm acquired Little & Nearby and
merged both.
• In June 2018 the company acquired the startup Cube26.

POST DEMONETIZATION EFFECT


India’s biggest advanced installments startup, Paytm, has enlisted more
than 5,000,000 new clients since Nov. 08, an organization public
statement said on Nov. 21. This implies it pulled in more new clients
in about fourteen days than the number of inhabitants in nations, for
example, Ireland, Oman, and New Zealand. Paytm now has an all-out
client base of 150 million. The Noida-based startup said that more
than 45 million individuals had utilized its e-wallet between Nov. 11
and Nov. 21, meaning a greater number of clients in 10 days than the
whole populace of nations, for example, Canada, Malaysia, Argentina,
Sudan, Iraq, or Nepal. Activities Paytm get around 4,00,000 requests
every day, which is the second most noteworthy number of Internet
exchanges in the nation after IRCTC. As of late, the organization fired
setting up mindfulness camps in each area to enable the nation to go
cashless. The Paytm group began leading meetings and workshops
across schools, universities, town panchayats, and exchange bodies
to fill the double need of educating clients about the advantages
regarding computerized installments and taps into the most stretched
out arrangement of dealers the nation over.

Figure 2  Pre and Post Demonetization Effect


Sources: https://paytm.com & https://expeandedramblings.com
Paytm: Grasping the Penetration Strategy | 117

HIGH GROWTH AFTER DEMONETIZATION


Paytm has focused on building its brand image more concrete in the
running competition. Recently it has appeared to be ahead of its rivals
Paytm, freecharge, and others. As per the records, it was found that
currently, around 177 million of the users use Paytm in their day to day
life and make a total of 7 million transactions in a day (Joshi 2017).
After demonetization, it has achieved a total of 75 million unique
users per month. Among all users, around 40% of users belong to
small cities, 67 million population belong to 56 big cities, and the rest
from small towns. In Dec 2016, information about the total number
of users, unique visitors, and other things had been mentioned in the
list given below.

MAJOR COMPETITORS OF PAYTM


Table 2  Major Competition of Paytm
E- Offline
Wallet/Use Booking Deliveries Taxi P2P Recharges
Commerce Shops
PAYTM PAYTM, PAYTM, IRCTC, SWIGGY, UBER YES YES YES
EBAY BOOKMYSHOW, ZOMATO, MERU
CLEAR TRIP, ORDER,
MAKE MYTRIP, GROFERS,
PVR CINEMAS BIGBASKET
FREECHARGE SNAPDEAL, IRCTC, SWIGGY, MERU YES YES YES
JABONG BOOK MY ZOMATO,
SHOW ORDER
MOBIKWIK EBAY, MOBIKWIK, SWIGGY, MERU YES YES YES
JABONG, IRCTC, ZOMATO,
MYNTRA BOOKMYSHOW, ORDER,
CLEAR TRIP, GROFERS,
MAKE MYTRIP, BIGBASKET
PVR CINEMAS
OLA MONEY EBAY, BOOKMYSHOW, BOX8, OLA YES YES YES
VOONIL, CLEAR TRIP, DOORMINT
HEALTH OYO ROOMS
KART
PAYU MONEY EBAY, BOOKMYSHOW, ZOMATO, – YES YES YES
JABONG, MAKE MY TRIP, ORDER,
MYNTRA, CLEAR TRIP GROFERS,
CROMA BIGBASKET
ITZCASH YEBHI IRCTC, BOOK – – YES YES YES
MYSHOW,
YATRA,
CLEAR TRIP
OXIGEN EBAY IRCTC, – – YES YES YES
BOOKMYSHOW,
PVR CINEMAS
118 | Journey of Brands

E- Offline
Wallet/Use Booking Deliveries Taxi P2P Recharges
Commerce Shops
VODAFONE EBAY, BOOKMYSHOW – – YES YES YES
M-PESA WALMART
AIRTEL EBAY, BOOKMYSHOW – – YES YES YES
MONEY MAYNTRA
JIO MONEY EBAY BOOKMYSHOW – – YES YES YES

SELECTION OF MEDIA
Paytm utilized a blend of significant media vehicles like TV, radio,
computerized, and print media for their mass crusades. Web-based
life was the first and most persuasive stage for Paytm for sure-fire
outreach. Paytm discharged crusades in 11 diverse provincial dialects
during this period—a tremendous publicizing spending plan. Paytm
shot up to its promoting spending plan by 300 percent (50 crores a
month) during November 2017. About INR 600 crore was just saved
for ad use for the money related the year 2016-17 for client obtaining.
Paytm was the most forceful among every one of its rivals, attempting
to skim the cream as right on time as could be expected under the
circumstances. Since the main day of demonetization, around 60000
clients (a 700 percent expansion in general rush hour gridlock) enrolled
with the application consistently. The measure of cash moved to Paytm
wallets expanded by 1000 percent in only two days. This demonstrates
that the string of promoting efforts embraced by Paytm was a serious
achievement.

MAJOR SOURCES OF REVENUE


Paytm’s incomes are produced from various sources as per Forbes
Billionaires List”, Mar. 22, and “The revolutionary in e-commerce:
Paytm’s success story,” January 2017 says it, and it incorporates, Interest
(running 4-6%) got from escrow account kept up in a nationalized
bank, Advertisements on its sites, Commission from utility installments
and revives, Commission of 1% for moving cash from dealer e-wallets
to their financial balances (Gupta 2016).
The all-out income during 2015-16 was 3360 million, which was
higher than 2100 million in the earlier year.

MAJOR INVESTORS OF PAYTM


The significant speculators in Paytm incorporate Ant monetary known
as Alipay, Alibaba gatherings, SAIF accomplices, Silicon Valley Bank,
and Sapphire endeavor (Bailay and Chakravarty 2015).
Paytm: Grasping the Penetration Strategy | 119

In March 2015, Paytm got a venture of US$ 575 million from


Alibaba bunch, a renowned Chinese web-based business organization.
Thus Indian industrialist Ratan Tata too, made a colossal individual
interest in it. Moreover, Paytm has likewise begun taking a shot at
Alibaba’s money related administration model, which causes vendors
and shoppers to obtain little advances on their platinum cards from the
internet business firm.

BUSINESS MODEL OF PAYTM


Paytm works for the two clients just as for providers. At a similar thing,
they are offering some benefits for cash to both. There are more than
80 lakh individuals who are utilizing Paytm. There is an enormous
open door right now to the utilization of cell phones in India’s work
area, and laptops may not be a cup of tea; however, cell phones are all
the rage. The cell phone is the main registering gadget. So right now,
the market is a virgin and immense open door lying around. Paytm
is presently focusing on crowded online installments as individuals,
despite everything people don’t utilize Paytm for little installments
like movie show passes or transport tickets or other little installments.
It’s not 10 % of what bank manages. Their objective is to supplant
charge or Visa with Paytm so one can pay effectively at eateries or
shopping centers with cool installment experience. Last year Paytm’s
market share among the e-payment companies was 26%. Paytm is
now planning to explore new avenues. By 2020, Paytm plans to tap

Customer
who uses the
services

Merchant who
receive the
payment from
these customers

Figure 3
Source: Author’s Conceptualization
120 | Journey of Brands

the loan market and disburse small loans to 500 million people. Paytm
is also planning to give WhatsApp a run for its money by launching a
chat app with more sophisticated features.

CONCERNS AND ISSUES


Exchange glitches, a trademark encroachment recorded by PayPal for
utilization of comparative shading designs and a promoting violation
of social norms, were a portion of the basic zones that raised worry
for Paytm. Its exchanging volume expanded significantly. Under high
tension, the innovative backend of Paytm appeared to disintegrate as it
has never foreseen the 1000% hop in the number of clients. There was
desperation to make a powerful stage as opposed to moving its whole
spotlight on publicizing. This has offered an approach to suspected
insider misrepresentation as there were two revealed instances of
extortion against 22 private people adding up to about INR 10 lakh.
Not just this current, Paytm’s promotion crusades commending the
PM on his striking move hauled the organization to a political war. The
jests, ‘Pay To Modi’, ‘Pay To Me’ stirred much debate. A computerized
wallet alludes to an electronic gadget that permits a person to make
electronic exchanges. It is likewise alluded by different names like
portable cash, versatile cash move, and portable installment, for the
most part, speaks to an installment administration worked under
money related guideline and are performed from or through a cell
phone. This can remember buying things for the line with a PC or
utilizing a cell phone to buy something at a store.

QUESTIONS
1. What is the objective of Paytm while operating in the Indian
economy?
2. What Model of marketing has been adopted by the Paytm while
focusing the Indian Financial market?
3. Being a marketing analyst, kindly suggest a better media plan to
Paytm.
4. As you suggest that Paytm mall is the dart in the opportunity or the
result of overconfidence.

REFERENCES
• Business Standard (2016), “300 percent growth at offline retail stores in 6
days: Paytm”, Nov. 18, 2016, Business Standard, Retrieved from: http://
www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/300-growth-at-offline-
retail-stores-i n-6-days-Paytm-116111701698_1.html
Paytm: Grasping the Penetration Strategy | 121

• Admy brand (2016), “Aggressive Marketing post Demonetization:


E-Payment Gateways”, Dec. 20, 2016, Retrieved from: https://
www.admybrand.com/blog/2016/12/20/aggressive-marketing-post-
demonetization-e-payment-gateways/
• Tech Crunch (2017), “Alibaba’s Financial Affiliate Takes 25 percent Stake
In India’s One97, Owner of Paytm”, Feb. 05, 2017. Retrieved from:
https://techcrunch.com/2015/02/05/antfinancial-one97/.
• Rediff (2016), “Demonetisation’s overnight celebrity”, Dec. 28, 2016,
Retrieved from: http://www.rediff.com/business/special/demonetisation-
overnight-celebrity-Paytm-vijay-shekh ar-sharma/20161228.htm
• Your Story (2016)”Has Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s Paytm bitten off more
than it can chew?”, Dec. 12, 2016, Retrieved from: https://yourstory.
com/2016/12/vijay-shekhar-sharma-Paytm/ .
• “How startups have successfully established their own rules of hiring,
rewarding & retaining talent”, Mar. 15, 2015, Retrieved from: https://
goo.gl/Xdbzm8.
• “Narendra Modi, Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma in Time’s ‘most influential
people’ list” May 17, 2017, Retrieved from :https://goo.gl/HgDsuq.
• “Offline stores to go online on PaytmMall”, Jun. 14, 2017. Retrieved
from: https://goo.gl/UJUpBx
• One 97 (2017) “One97 Communications Limited is the parent company
of Paytm”. Retrieved from: http://www.one97.com/about-one97.php.
• “Paytm introduces free insurance cover for e-wallet”, Mar. 20, 2017.
Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/fv3DwJ.
• Inc 42 (2017), “Paytm Launches Paytm Mall – Introduces Combination
Mall-Bazaar Concept”, Feb. 27, 2017. Retrieved from: https://inc42.com/
flash-feed/Paytm-launches-Paytm-mall/
• “Paytm may team up with Alibaba to invest $200 million in BigBasket”,
Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/BEKrpn.
• “Paytm Raises $1.4 Billion From SoftBank in a Largest Funding Round
from Single Investor”, May 18, 2017, Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/
e5Z9Ch
• “Paytm to fold wallet businesses into payments bank”, Dec. 05, 2016,
Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/B7r53o
• “Paytm borrows ₹300 cr from ICICI Bank”, March 12, 2016, Retrieved
from :https://goo.gl/RoNZkq.
• “Paytm brings in mobile shopping app with natural bargaining”, Retrieved
from: https://goo.gl/eb4Hu3
• “Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma Debuts On Forbes Billionaires List”,
Mar. 22, 2017, Retrieved from: https://inc42.com/buzz/forbes-billionaire-
list-2017/.
• “Paytm valued $4.8 bn: Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s journey from Aligarh to
Alibaba”, March 09,2017, Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/ikJFwx.
• “Paytm wins sponsorship rights for BCCI home matches till 2019“, Jul.
30, 2015, Retrieved from https://goo.gl/H36uDr.
• “Paytm’s case study selected by the India Research Centre of the Harvard
Business School”, Jan. 30, 2017, Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/DjtvPo
122 | Journey of Brands

• “Ratan Tata’s fifth personal investment in the digital economy is Paytm”,


Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/QdjSCH.
• “RBI Data – Paytm, Mobiwik, FreeCharge Growth Induced by
Demonetization, Jun. 10, 2017, retrieved from: https://www.indianweb2.
com/2017/06/10/rbi-data-Paytm-mobikwik-freecharge-growth-induce
d-demonetization
• “The Story behind Paytm’s Marketing…”, Retrieved from: https://goo.
gl/4m9K1P.
• “The revolutionary in e-commerce: Paytm’s success story”, January, 2017,
Retrieved from: https://qrius.com/e-commerce-Paytm-documentation-
harvard/.
• “Vijay Shekhar Sharma is an Indian entrepreneur, founder & CEO of Paytm
Mobile Solutions Private Limited and Founder, Chairman, Managing
Director & CEO of One97 Communications Limited”. Retrieved from:
https://goo.gl/6Z6hEL. Retrieved from :https://Paytm.com/.
• “Your Paytm wallet will continue to work as it is, and infact, will become
more powerful”. Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/eBRBQo.
• “A 7,000 percent increase” and other WTF numbers thrown up by digital
payment firms post-demonetisation”, November 24, 2016, Quartz,
Retrived from: https://qz.com/844564/from-Paytm-to-mobikwik-a-7000-
increase-and-other-wtf-numbers-thrown-up-by-indias-digital-payment-
firms-post-demonetisation/
• Bhalla, T. & Krishna, V., 2016. Has Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s Paytm bitten
off more than it can chew. Your story.
• BI Intelligence 2016, https://www.businessinsider.com.
• Gupta, H., 2016. Digital payments see robust growth in 2016. The
Financial Express.
• India Stack, 2016. How Paytm is using Aadhaar eKYC to upgrade.
IndiaStack.
• Lime Season 6 Case Study, Retrieved from :https://goo.gl/DorVvN.
• Painuly, Dr. P., Rathi, S., Mobile Wallet: An upcoming mode of business
transactions, International Journal in Management and Social Science,
Vol. 04, Issue 05, pp. 356-363, May, 2016.
• Paytm, 2016. Know more about your Wallet: Security Features, Various
Fees, Refunds. paytm.
• Shukla, T. N., Mobile wallet: present and the future, Vol. 5, No. 3, June
2016 (ISSN 2278–5973). Available: ssijmar.in/vol5no3/vol5no3.6.pdf
• www.goodworklabs.com
CASE 10

ONCOLOGY: BUSINESS MODEL


DEVELOPMENT FOR EXION
PHARMACEUTICALS
Dr. Srinivasan R. Iyengar1 and Vivek Sharma2
1
Associate Professor, Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS),
University of Mumbai
2
Research Scholar, Pacific University, Rajasthan

ABSTRACT
The case study builds upon the case of Exion pharmaceuticals and its
business model development that is more focussed on developing the
oncology division of the company. The paper has tried to build upon the
competitive space of the industry along with knowing about each and
every player. The future scenario would be based on the same analysis and
would help the students to discuss the competitive pressures and business
strategy that should be adopted.
Keywords: Business Model, Strategy, Competitive Pressures, Industry
Rivalry

INTRODUCTION
COVID 19 has brought to the fore and fused the subject of creativity,
innovation, new business opportunities for sustainability, social
issues. World-class companies have started and have sustained during
turbulent times. Roy, CMD of EXION Pharmaceutical, is a successful
entrepreneur of the leading pharmaceutical company which has a
presence in acute, sub-acute, chronic & super specialty businesses
in India. Roy was interacting with his core strategic team for the
new business opportunities in the specialized area of oncology Bio
similar, which is a huge untapped market potential, and few players
have existed in the market. EXION pharmaceutical was present in
the cytotoxic oncology business with 9 brands. Most of the current
cytotoxic business products are low priced local brands using services
to drive the business. This new business initiative will add value to
the company by becoming the industry leader in the untapped market
segment of oncology biosimilar.
124 | Journey of Brands

Roy was confident in the market moving in the direction of the


targeted therapy (Biosimilar, Immunotherapies), with major molecules
such as Trastuzumab, Bevacizumab & Rituximab contributing 35%
of the turnover of the targeted therapy. The meeting debated with
three different business models. The first model suggested whether the
launch of these self-manufactured biosimilars would fuel the growth
of the oncology division. The second model for discussion was the
sustainability of the business in the absence of the biosimilar R&D
and manufacturing unit, adopt the third party model. The third model
suggested that the question of whether to evaluate the strategic partner
for co-marketing of the original monoclonal antibodies (selling the
clone brands).
Discussion continued with his core strategic team regarding the
complexities of which business model to pursue. Selecting the right
business model is critical because each model has unique and risk in
terms of market opportunity and competition. The entry of defining
strategy would have to be evaluated with the current approach of the
biosimilar business. There have been multi-dimensional approaches
that have been or would be implemented to improve the access of
oncology treatment and care.
Most of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies have a strong
presence in the biosimilar market.1

Exhibit 1  Top Ten Pharmaceutical Companies (Value Sales)


Source: IQVIA April 2020
Oncology: Business Model Development for Exion Pharmaceuticals  | 125

Exhibit 1 Indian Oncology Market is valued at INR 3,831 crs. as of


May MAT 20 with value growth of 15%. Targeted therapy continued
to generate value by adding an incr. of INR 227 Crs. (GR: 14%).
• Indian Oncology Companies: Indian companies contribute to 54%
sales of the total Indian Oncology Market. The overall performance
of domestic companies has improved as compared to May MAT
2020; 12% growth in this wave compared to 9%in the previous
years. This is mainly due to the launch of many Biosimilars and
multiple brands of new Molecules such as Pomalidomide. Emcure
and DRL are the only companies in the top 10 with negative
growth. Reliance and Lupin have made their way into the top 10
Indian companies list.
• Multinational Oncology Companies: MNCs contribute to 46%
sales of the total Indian Oncology Market. They have grown
by 19% over last year. Novartis surpassed Roche to become the
leading MNC Company in the market. Pfizer maintained its 3rd
rank followed by BMS. J&J moved up a place due to the success
of its brands: Imbruvica and Darzalex. BMS is the fastest growing
MNC company in the market, followed by Mylan and Eisai.

FACTORS DRIVING THE BIOSIMILAR BUSINESS

Regulations & Policies Competitive Pressure Purchasing Mechanism


• Switching of the • Market Penetration’ • Tendering system –
molecules and Value vs Volume building the value
brands • Competitor chain
• Substitution of the concentration in the
treatment modalities therapy range
• Treatment
Guidelines
influences by
various renowned
bodies

Pricing Rules Incentives


• Price erosion – • Provide financial
increasing market incentives to the
depth institutions
• External Reference • Patient Incentives –
Pricing care of service
Figure 1  Factors Driving the Biosimilar Business
Source: Author’s Own Compilation
126 | Journey of Brands

Competitive Landscape
Novartis continues to lead the oncology market, while DRL and Roche
are placed at 2nd and 3rd rank. Intas has jumped 3 places to be amongst
the top 5 oncology companies. Cipla has entered the top 10 positions
with is co-marketing initiative with Roche oncology. BMS has been
benefited by its immunotherapy brand – Opdyta. Glenmark and MSD
have entered into the top 20 players with its oral and immunotherapy
brands respectively.2

Values
Name of the Company Sum of Value Sum of Value Sum of
MAY 2020 MAT MAY 2019 MAT Value Gr
Novartis 3,848,350,700 3,363,487,100 14%
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories 3,010,562,000 2,263,900,000 33%
Roche 2,954,009,500 2,791,328,500 6%
Pfizer India 2,630,326,000 2,495,631,700 5%
Intas Pharma 2,313,135,400 1,486,215,500 56%
BMS 2,300,885,700 1,817,239,800 27%
Zydus Cadila 2,072,114,000 1,647,457,975 26%
Natco Pharma 1,907,197,800 1,629,786,950 17%
Cipla 1,181,477,800 1,008,428,600 17%
Johnson and Johnson (J&J) 1,065,102,800 1,216,451,500 -12%
Sun Pharma 990,586,900 931,289,900 6%
Merck Sereno 984,000,000 819,618,600 20%
Biocon 946,903,500 945,688,100 0%
AstraZeneca India 913,935,200 667,937,900 37%
MSD 880,581,000 386,809,400 128%
Glenmark 841,548,300 499,239,200 69%
Emcure 840,924,200 1,098,459,600 -23%
Fresenius Kabi 821,484,000 857,111,000 -4%
Mylan 804,278,000 767,028,000 5%
Reliance Lifesciences 724,774,000 649,104,300 12%
Exhibit 2  Indian Oncology Market June 2020

Exhibit 2. Targeted therapy continued to generate value by adding


an incr. of INR 227 Crs. (GR:14%). With major molecules, such as
trastuzumab, bevacizumab & rituximab contributing 35% of the
turnover of the targeted therapy2
Oncology: Business Model Development for Exion Pharmaceuticals  | 127

Exhibit 3  Top Ten Molecules in Oncology Market, IPSOS 2020

BUSINESS APPROACHES (Exhibit 3)


Third Party Business Model
Third-party manufacturing as the name suggests, is the process
during which an organization gets manufactured its products from
another party. There’s an agreement signed between the corporate and
therefore the manufacturing company manufactures the products as
per the contract. This contract is for a specified period, or it should
be a lifetime contract. The elemental concept of this model is to the
assembly of medication by a drug company under the name or brand
of another company. The corporate who outsources the assembly work
keeps the responsibility of publicizing and promoting the products
and brand. This business model became popular because it gives a
wonderful business opportunity to both parties.
Third-party manufacturers give support to multiple clients
(notwithstanding competing) as per the bio similarity and description
provided by them. The pharma company gets quality products
if a reliable and experienced third-party manufacturer is chosen.
Business expansion with low investment is feasible using this model;
it’s easy to feature yet another product to the product line without
increasing the investment much. Both product company and third-
party manufacturer get the benefits. A third-party manufacturer can
produce a similar product for various companies with different brand
names. Similarly, a pharma company can outsource the identical drug
to different manufacturers. Thus, high levels of business efficiency will
be achieved. Cost-effectiveness is the apparent business benefit.
128 | Journey of Brands

The services offered by third-party manufacturers are less


expensive than managing in-house. The company gets relieved from
the troubles of arranging the starting capital and recurring maintenance
costs. With high demand, third party manufacturing becomes more
profitable. The parent brand owner can negotiate on better prices
supported bulk production. The third-party manufacturer will fulfill
the extra requirement at concessional rates because it will increase
their profitability. There are few risks attached to the third party,
where the competitive pricing may well be a risk if the third party is
self-marketing the products. There may well be the possibility of the
third party operating with better rates incorporate and govt. Public
businesses. Finding an experienced, reputable third-party partner could
be a challenging task. It might require plenty of study and research to
be done by the parent company. Eg : Torrent Pharmaceuticals operates
with a third party model for Biosimilar business in India, secure
products from Reliance Lifesciences.3

Self-Manufacturing
Biosimilars are distinct from generics; they need a definite development
and DCGI approval pathway. Biosimilars are evaluated on a case-
by-case basis, and certain biosimilars may require additional
pharmacokinetic or immunogenicity testing. While the DCGI has
developed specific guidelines for biosimilar drug development,
certain aspects of biosimilar development have come under attack.
Development issues with Biosimilar are major risks attached to self-
manufactured Biosimilar.
• Pricing: because of the abbreviated approval process that the DCGI
required for biosimilars, these drugs are typically less costly than
the originator, but would not give price advantage if the yield of the
Biosimilar is not higher. Increased treatment options: Approval of
biosimilars create additional cost, thereby increasing the prices of
the product.
• Investment: This involves a large investment in terms of fitting
the R&D plant, where preclinical and clinical testing has to be
conducted. Manufacturing setup requires investment and time of
minimum of 2 years for pilot testing. Indication extrapolation:
Some biosimilars may get quick approvals in comparison to the
reference product (i.e., brand-name biologic), without having to
run duplicative research and trial. This could be dangerous for
patients, and a few studies have shown that there’s a 30% chance
Oncology: Business Model Development for Exion Pharmaceuticals  | 129

that a patient will experience an adverse event when taking a brand


new biologic, coupled with a biosimilar.
• Efficacy and safety: While biosimilars bear clinical testing,
they will not have identical efficacy and safety and, thus, aren’t
interchangeable. Efficacy can be variable with few biosimilar
products because these are complex molecules; there also are
additional potential issues of safety that will be caused by
immunogenicity. E.g.,Intas Pharmaceuticals operates with self
R&D and Manufacturing facilities for biosimilar business in
India.4&5

Co-marketing
Co-marketing is when two companies collaborate on promotional
efforts for a co-branded offer. In an exceedingly co-marketing
partnership, both companies promote a bit of content or product and
share the results of that promotion. By levering the link and reach of
a partner, co-marketing campaigns are designed to deliver more leads,
buzz, and awareness, with less work. The benefits of co-marketing
include: Being more cost-effective by pooling together resources like
marketing budgets and talent and sharing audiences of comparable
those that are already qualified as potential customers. Creating and
fostering a positive long-term relationship between brands as they assist
one another out and delighting customers with free stuff, giveaways,
and co-branded products.
• The disadvantages: If the 2 products that the brands are using to
develop their co-branding strategy are entirely different or popular
in numerous markets, the co-branding may well be a complete
failure. If the businesses don’t share identical missions and visions,
composite branding may be a no-go. Co-branding may also have
an adverse effect on partner brands. If the purchasers associate
bad traits and experiences with one among the brands, the entire
brand equity might get. Eg. Roche India operates with Cipla
Pharmaceutical, co-marketing its Monoclonal Antibodies.6

WHAT SHOULD EXION DO?


For producing biosimilar products, each business model is influenced
by how the company would develop in terms of its customer base,
sales and marketing, application of technology, finances, and
future capital and ownership. Roy also recognizes the need to
balance the company’s core values, and the right business model
130 | Journey of Brands

is the greatest likelihood for the secured business prospects. In


this complex scenario, Roy needs to understand the essential,
fundamental, and inescapable features of a unique trend to consider
in their business models creating an appropriate business model able
to survive?

REFERENCES
• Achtenhagen, Leona, Leif Melin, and Lucia Naldi. 2013. “Dynamics of
Business Models –Strategizing, Critical Capabilities and Activities for
Sustained Value Creation.” Long Range Planning 46 (6): 427–42.
• Chesbrough, Henry. 2010. “Business Model Innovation: Opportunities
and Barriers.” Long Range Planning 43: 354–63.
• Eisenhardt, Kathleen M. 1989. “Building Theories from Case Study
Research.” Academy of Management Review 14 (4): 532–50.
• Eisenhardt, Kathleen M., and Melissa E Graebner. 2007. “Theory Building
from Cases: Opportunities and Challenges.” Academy of Management
Journal 50: 25–32.
• IQVIA TSA & SSA Dataset, April 2020.
• IPSOS Datasheet, May 2020.
• Richard, Joseph(2014), Genapsys, Business model for the Genome, HBSP.
• Source: http://www.gabionline.net/Biosimilars/News/Torrent-licenses-
three-similar-biologics-fromReliance
• Birac (2019), Knowledge paper. Source: https://birac.nic.in/webcontent/
Knowledge_Paper_Clarivate_ABLE_BIO_2019.pdf
• PRS News Wire (2019), Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-
releases/intas-pharmaceuticals-launches-its-trastuzumabbiosimilar-
eleftha-r-further-bringing-down-the-treatment-cost-by-65--821501120.
html
• Economic Times (2019), Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/
industry/healthcare/biotech/pharmaceuticals/roche-andcipla-tie-up-to-
market-anti-cancer- drugs/articleshow /63105233. cms?
• Siggelkow, Nicolaj. 2007. “Persuasion with Case Studies.” Academy of
Management Journal 50: 20–4.
• Sosna, Marc, Rosa Nelly Trevinyo-Rodriquez, and S. Ramakrishna
Velamuri. 2010. “Business Model Innovation through Trial-and-Error.
The Natur house Case.” Long Range Planning 43 (2–3): 383–407.
• Teece, David. 2010. “Business Models, Business Strategy and Innovation.”
Long Range Planning 43 (2– 3): 172–94.
• Yin, Robert K. 2003. Case Study Research: Design and Methods (3rd ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
CASE 11

RELIANCE JIO – FASTEST GROWING


TELECOM COMPANY
Ashish Shrivastava1, Ujjwal Dubey2 and Shriyam Agarwal2
1
Assistant Professor. IMSUC, Ghaziabad
2
Student, IMSUC, Ghaziabad

ABSTRACT
Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, a subsidiary of Jio platforms and an Indian
telecommunications company, headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
In all 22 telecom circles of India, it operates its LTE network. It doesn’t
provide 2G and 3G services; instead use only voice over LTE to offer
voice services on its 4G network.
   Reliance Jio valuation as the fifth largest company listed in the Bombay
stock exchange with the market capitalization of ₹4.90 lakh crore. Jio’s
valuation is 1.7 times higher than other listed telecom players there of
Bombay stock exchange, within just three and half years of the launch of
commercial services.
   As Reliance Infocomm limited, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, the company
was formed on 15 February 2007. After purchasing the 95% stock of
Infotel broadband service limited in ₹4,800 crores in June 2010, the
company renamed as a Reliance Infocomm Limited (RIL) in January
2013, because in the 4G auction, Infotel broadband service limited (IBSL)
was the only company that won broadband spectrum of all 22 circles.
   Jio-Company announced in June 2015, that company would start its
commercial operations nationwide by the end of 2015. At the beginning
stage, Jio offers service only for the employees of Reliance industries and
launched internally on 27 December 2015. Jio commercially offered its
4G services on 5 September 2016 and acquired 16 million customers
within a month.
Keywords: Telecommunications, Market Capitalization, Valuation,
Bombay Stock Exchange, Commercial Services, Disruptive Marketing
Strategy

INTRODUCTION
Jio – a fifth-largest listed company in the Bombay stock exchange with
a market capitalization of ₹4.90 lakh crore. Reliance Jio is an Indian
telecommunication and subsidiary of Jio platforms headquartered
in Mumbai, Maharashtra. On 15 February 2007, the company was
registered in Ahmedabad, Gujarat as a Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited.
132 | Journey of Brands

In June 2010, the company purchased the 95% stock of Infotel


broadband services limited for ₹4800 crores and renamed as Reliance
Jio Infocomm Limited in January 2013. Infotel broadband services
limited (IBSL) was the winner of the broadband spectrum in all 22
telecom circles in the 4G auction. It operates LTE network coverage in
all 22 telecom circles of India. It doesn’t provide 2G and 3G services
and uses voice over LTE to offer its voice service on the 4G network.
In June 2015, the company announced that it would offer its
commercials services nationwide by the end of 2015. Jio internally
launched its services on 27 December 2015 only for the employees
of Reliance industries and commercially launched its services on 5
September 2016, acquired 16 million subscribers within a month. On
31 December 2019, it is the largest mobile network operator in India
and third largest in the world with 369.93 million customers.
 
MARKET SIZE
Reliance Jio becomes the largest mobile network operator in India by
information released by TRAI. Jio added 5.6 million new customers in
November 2019 and reached 369.93 million customers with a market
share of 32.4 percent in the telecom sector. The increase in the Reliance
Jio subscribers caused by a consistently declined in the market shares
of Vodafone idea limited in the last two years.
Reliance Jio – Fastest Growing Telecom Company | 133

Jio Valuation Data – Infographics


Source: Reuters & Moneycontrol
134 | Journey of Brands

It is also the biggest in terms of revenue. It accounts for 31.7


percent share in the revenue of the telecom sector, less than three
of launching.
With a market capitalization of ₹4.90 lakh crore, Jio is the fifth-
largest listed company of the Bombay stock exchange. Reliance Jio’s
valuation is 1.7 times higher than other telecom players.

PRODUCT AND SERVICES


After launched commercially, Jio offered various products and services
along with mobile networks like; Jio phone, LYF smartphones, Jio
WIFI, Jio fiber, mobile broadband, and Jio apps to their subscribers.
Before it, no other mobile network operators are provided services
like this. Mobile broadband is the only service offered by most of the
telecom players.
 
Jio Phone
It is an LTE compatible feature phone marketed and launched by Jio.
The first mobile phone was launched in August 2017. Jio’s phone was
pre-ordered by people in the beginning. The phone runs the kairos
platform, includes 2.4-inch, dual-core processor with 4 GB internal
storage.
In July 2018, Jio unveiled Jio’s phone 2, with some updated
model, like; keyboard bar form with a QWERTY keyboard Along
with a horizontal display. WhatsApp, Face book, and YouTube were
supported by this model.
 
LYF Smartphones
In June 2015, Jio signs a contract with Intex- a domestic handset maker
to provide 4G handset Enable with voice over LTE. After this company
announced in October 2015, that company would be launching its 4G
mobile handset capable of voice over LTE brand, named LYF.
In, January 2016, the company launched its first model Water1,
of its LYF smartphone through electronic retail outlets and Reliance
stores. The later company released three models, namely Water2, Earth
1, and Flame 1.
 
Jio Wi-Fi
Before its Pan-India launch of 4G data and telephony services, the
company has started providing free Wi-Fi hotspot services throughout
Reliance Jio – Fastest Growing Telecom Company | 135

India. In March 2016, Jio provided free Wi-Fi at six cricket stadiums,
hosted the ICC T20 World Cup matches.
 
Mobile Broadband
In September 2016, the company launched its 4G broadband services
nationwide. It was expected to launch in December 2015, but it couldn’t
happen caused by some paperwork and government permission. The
company is planning to launch 4G broadband service at a low cost.
 
Jio Fiber
In August 2018, the company started a test of new triple play fiber to
home service known as Gigafiber with internet broadband speed of
100 to 1000 Mbit/s. In August 2019, the company announced that Jio
fiber would officially launch, on 5 September 2019, in the honor of the
company’s third anniversary. The company has More than 250,000
km network of fiber optic cables in the country, partnering with local
cable operators to get broader connectivity for broadband services.
 
Jio Apps
As a part of its upcoming 4G service, Jio launched a bundle of
multimedia on Google Play, in May 2016. Everyone can download
these apps while users will require a Jio sim card to access them.
• My Jio – managed Jio account along with digital services.
• Jio TV – live TV channel services
• Jio chat – the instant messaging app 
• Jio mags – magazines for e-reader
• Jio money wallet – online payment app
• Jio music- online – offline music streaming app in Hindi and English
languages
• Jio security – security app
• Jio cloud/drive – a backup tool based on cloud
• Jio cinema – online HD video gallery
• Jio 4G voice – VoLTE phone simulator.

COMPETITIVE WORLD
Jio became publicly available on 5 Sept 2016. Before this date, almost
every telecom company was earning a decent amount of profit every
year (i.e. in the fiscal year 2015-16 Vodafone Idea Ltd. and Bharti Airtel
Ltd. earn ₹2,646.29 crores and ₹7,780.30 respectively). Although,
136 | Journey of Brands

since, 2009 onwards BSNL was suffering from losses, Jio has created
more complex situation for BSNL. Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel were
well established before jio entered in the market. But after the jio
entered the market and became available for the general public all the
telecom companies other than Jio started having losses.

Vodafone Idea Ltd.


26 years ago, an Indian subsidiary of the (Vodafone Group plc) was
been launched, having headquartered in Mumbai. In Sept 2007, brand
Vodafone was launched. It was launched to provide telecommunication
services in India. In 2011 Vodafone launched 3G services using 900
MHz and 2100 MHz starting from Lucknow. On 8 December 2015
Vodafone started providing 4GLTE services in India.
On the other hand, the idea formed into a legal corporation
on 14 Mar 1995. To provide GSM-based services in Gujarat and
Maharashtra, it obtained the license. In 2007 Idea was the third-largest
wireless operator, has 200 million users in India. It was also ranked
sixth globally. The company was offering 2G, 3G, and 4G services,
having its own NLD (National Long Distance) and ILD (International
Long Distance) operations with the Internet Service Provider (ISP)
license.
Everything was going smoothly for both the companies before
Jio entered in the market. Both companies were making a handsome
amount of profit. But when the Jio entered the market it acquired 16
million users in its initial first month. Since then, Jio hasn’t looked back
the number of users got increase as the days roll down. Within eight
months Jio has more than 100 million users. And within three years
after its launch, Jio becomes the number 1 telecom company by the
user base.
Companies like Vodafone and idea have done huge investment to
establish their business, has created a strong barrier to exit from their
current technology to the new or advance technology. Jio was able
to provide better plans (internet package and calling) at a very cheap
rate because of its advanced technology that creates a strong barrier to
entry as well. Because of the cheap rates and better plans Jio was able
to attract many customers in a short period of time. Because of this
marketing strategy, Jio forces Vodafone and Idea to lower their rates
and went in huge losses.
To sustain in the market, on 31 Aug 2018, Vodafone India and
Idea Cellular merge and renamed as Vodafone Idea Limited. Despite
Reliance Jio – Fastest Growing Telecom Company | 137

their merging Vodafone Idea Limited suffered a huge loss of 14,056


crores in FS19. 

Bharti Airtel Limited


On 7 July 1995, Sunil Bharti Mittal founded a new telecom company
named as Airtel. The company has it headquarter in New Delhi and
operates in other 18 countries across South Asia and Africa. Airtel
provides GSM, 3G, 4G LTE, and 4G+ mobile services in India. Before
the Jio entered the Indian market Airtel was having the highest number
of users (24.22% of the total mobile users). In fact, in 2017 Airtel
was able to retain its position (having 278.6 million users). But, as
of now, Jio and Vodafone Idea have overtaken Airtel and it falls to
3rd position.
The main reason for this drop is Jio. Because of its cheap and better
plans, Jio was able to attract and snatch users from Airtel. As per data,
15.1 million users shifted from Airtel to Jio in a single month of March
2019. On the other hand, Vodafone and Idea merge and become a
single company overtaking Airtel by 8.1 lakh users. Before Jio troubled
Airtel by entering in the market, Airtel was able to make the profit of
₹7,780.30 crores. But, as soon as Jio entered in the market in 2016,
Airtel suffered from the loss of ₹9,925.60 crores in FY17. Although,
the next year (i.e., FY18) Airtel managed to come back by making a
profit of ₹79.20 crores. But, in FY19 Airtel again suffered the loss of
₹1,829 crores.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited


On 1 Oct 2000, 19 years ago, the government of India incorporated a
new telecom company named Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).
Delhi is the headquarter of this state-owned company; provide mobile
voice and internet services across India.
With more than 60% of the market share in India, the company
is the largest wireline telecommunication network company. At its
initials, BSNL manages to make a handsome amount of profit worth
a total of ₹44,990 crores from FY01 to FY09. After 2009 till now,
BSNL is continuously suffering from the losses. The total loss BSNL
has suffered is even much more than the total profit the company has
earned. Although, the company has dues more than ₹54,500 crores.
If these dues are neglected then overall the company is surely on the
positive side (i.e. profit).
138 | Journey of Brands

The main reason why BSNL is suffering from these losses is the
barrier to exit. BSNL had invested a very big amount to establish its
business that resists BSNL to shift to new technology. And with their
old technology, it becomes very difficult to provide today’s plans at
cheap rates (like Jio). Recently, in 2018-19 BSNL suffered from a
heavy loss of ₹14,488 crore. Low revenue due to intense competition,
the absence of 4G network services and high staff cost is the major
causes of the failure. The other reasons for the failure of BSNL could
be poor management and delayed modernization.  
 
CUSTOMER ACQUIRING AND RETENTION
Jio commercially it’s 4G service nationwide on 5 September 2016,
within a month company announced that it had acquired 16 million
customers and 50 million in just 83 days. On 22 February 2017, the
company crossed the 100 million subscribers for the first time. In a
very less time of 3½ years, Jio becomes the largest mobile network
operator in India and third largest in the world with 369.93 million
customers and 32.4 percent share in the telecom sector by subscribers.
 For the fast acquiring of subscribers, Jio used a destructive marketing
strategy and offered services free of cost in the starting. After 31
December 2016, Jio announced very cheap tariff plans in their
comparison of their competitors to retain their subscribers.
 
CURRENT SCENARIO​AND I​ NVESTMENT
At this time Jio is the largest mobile network operator in India and
third largest in the world along with 34 percent share in the telecom
sector and may in crease to 44 percent in FY22 and 368.93 million
subscribers.
In April 2020, social media giant, Face book purchased a 9.9%
stake in Jio for ₹43,574 crore ($5.7 billion), which is the highest
foreign direct investment in the Indian technology sector by a foreign
company. Another company vista equity partner bought a 2.3 percent
stake in Jio platforms in $1.5 billion on 8th May 2020. One more
company silver Lake invest ₹5,655.75 ($747million) for 1.15 percent
of stake on 3rd May and 17 may 2020, general Atlantic invest ₹6,598
for 1.34 percent stake and KKR invest ₹11,367 crores for 2.32 percent
stake in Jio on 22nd May 2020. Within a month Jio platforms have
raised ₹78,562 crores from leading technology investors. Reliance Jio
becomes the first company to receive back to back 5 huge investments
within a month.
Reliance Jio – Fastest Growing Telecom Company | 139

These investments made Jio platforms as the fifth largest company


by market capitalization listed in the Bombay stock exchange.
 
SWOT ANALYSIS
SWOT – miniature form of, S-strengths, W-weakness, O-opportunities,
T-threats, and a well-established technique for the analysis of strategy
and environment of businesses. The key purpose of this analysis to
recognize those strategies that create a specific business model and align
the organizational resources for the achievement of organizational
goals.
According to Albert Humphrey (pioneer of SWOT analysis
concept), S-strengths and W-weakness are considered as internal
factors and there are some measures and control. O-opportunities and
T-threats are considered external factors and there is no measure and
can be controlled.

Strengths
Defined as the tasks or actions that business does well, like operations,
input-output cost, internal attributes, that give it an upper hand over
competitors’ has several strengths like:
• Strongest customer acquiring strategy – Among competitors,
probably Reliance Jio has the best customer acquiring strategy to
date. In starting company offered 3-6 months free services to their
subscribers. This resulted makes Jio as the Indian largest telecom
company.
• Innovative technology – Jio always uses the innovative and latest
technology that helps in their operations. 4G LTE/VOLTE latest
technology, currently using by Jio, which is the best technology for
the future. The company is working on 5G and 6G technologies,
expected to be the future of telecommunications.
• Strong customer base – Jio acquired 16 million subscribers within
a month from the date of launching and reached 100 million in 170
days and no other competitors able to register like this.
• Brand engagement and advertising strategy – Adoption of a good
brand engagement strategy, the reason behind the largest customer
base. Their advertising strategy more helps them to acquire the
market in a very small span.
• Multiple services offering under a single name – Jio offered multiple
services to their subscribers like- movies app, gaming, news, digital
140 | Journey of Brands

library, shopping, etc., which gives various options to subscribers


to choose.
• The major one is cheap price tariff plans – Among the competitors,
Jio offered very cheap tariff plans to their subscribers.
 
Weakness
Is defined as – factors and resources that decreases the outcome of a
firm and decrease morale. Along with strengths, every business has a
weakness and Jio has also various weaknesses.
• A late entry in the market: Jio entered Very late in the market,
which already had established competitors like, Vodafone-idea,
Bharti Airtel, and BSNL. It would be very challenging to acquire
the market when competitors are strong and well established.
• Activation issues: During the time of launching, the company faced
numerous number of activation issues caused by a large number of
subscribers acquired.
• High dependency on data in comparison to other services: Jio
highly dependent on data charges as a source of Revenue since the
call and other services are free.
• Pricing controversy: Jio was too criticized by its competitors for
lowered prices charges. It’s trying to penetrate the market and will
create a monopoly.
• Too many freebies: In starting, Jio offered free services to their
subscribers and it was one of the reasons that increase sales. It may
not be possible that the company offered free services to all time
and it shows a negative impact on business.
 
Opportunities
Those external factors or sets of circumstances that a business firm
utilizes to achieve the goals. The business firm utilizes those environments
or conditions to plan and execute strategies that enable profitably.
Opportunities for every business firm has different, the opportunity of
a firm can be a threat to another. Threats and opportunities are parallel
for every firm. Opportunities of Jio are:
• Future driven technology: The technologies which are using by Jio at
the moment are scalable to accommodate 5G and 6G technologies
in the future. It offers various strengths to the company for future
expansion.
Reliance Jio – Fastest Growing Telecom Company | 141

• Expansion to other countries: Jio only providing their services in


India among 206 nations worldwide. In the era of globalization,
Jio has good opportunities for expansion in foreign markets
• Competitive pricing strategies: since the date of launching Reliance
Jio low-cost internet service provider and mobile operator. These
strategies used as positioning more market.
• Apps: Jio has a big opportunity in the application market. They
can offer various applications to their subscribers which may be
chargeable or even free.
• Partnership and collaborations: A partnership with digital
entrepreneurs accelerate the market growth of Jio.
• Focus on customer service and MNP: Customers based services
may increase the mobile number portability and increase the
acquiring of new customers over competitors.

Threats
Are also the external factors, arise when the condition in the external
environment endangers the reliability and profitability of firms.
External elements and badly affects the success of the business. So,
every business requires a good strategy to face threats. Like other
business firms, Jio has also various threats, like:
• Risk of loss of customers caused by high competition – customers
prefer Jio because of their low tariffs plans. If they increase the
prices, they may lose their customers.
• Removal of free and additional services – In starting Jio offered
free services to their subscribers and it was expected that if they
remove those services, company share may decline.
• Poor code of Ethics – most of the strategies used by Reliance Jio
such as low pricing, free bandwidth, and disruptive market strategy
are unethical and may affect the company in the long run.

Technology
Technology is always a threat to every business. Launching of new
technology pressurizes the firm to adopt it and the telecom sector
is looking for 5G and 6G up gradations. It could be a big threat to
Reliance Jio.
• Government policies – Government policies are always a threat
for any business firm because the government may change their
policies and it may or may not be in favour of the firm.
142 | Journey of Brands

• Mergers and collaborations of competitors – The biggest mergers


that happen after the launch of Jio are Vodafone India-idea cellular
and Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India cellular-idea have come
together for optical fiber space. It may be the biggest threat to
Reliance Jio.
 
PROMOTION STRATEGY OF JIO
In the field of telecom marketing, Jio has adopted unique promotional
strategies to make the public aware of their product, to influence them
to purchase it, and to establish a long-term relationship that will make
them frequent customers. Jio has adopted 50 sets of techniques used to
manage customer prospects and relationship managers who are hiring
teams to intent up to one million users in the initial two months to
sign up. Generally, people invest money either for calls and texts or
data but not for both. So, Jio has decided with every Reliance Jio sim,
notwithstanding the package, the following facilities are free of cost-
The same price will be applicable all over India with no roaming
charges. Limitless free voice calling to any other network. Jio application
facilitates us with web surfing, music, and movies.
If the customers buy a monthly plan worth ₹500 or more, the
customer will be benefited by
(a) Unlimited texts
(b) High-speed 4G Internet at night
(c) Student registered SIM ID will receive 25% extra data usage.
LYF smart phones are priced between ₹4,000 to ₹19,000 which
provides maximum off-take, thereby helping Jio device high returns.
Customers ranging from high end to mid are being targeted by Jio and
low range segments are offered all services at reasonable prices. 

CONCLUSION
In the Indian market and for Indian buyers, free is not just a word, its
sentiments or emotions and more a magic that changes the mindset
of buyers and forced them to fall on that peculiar product and things.
Jio used this tactic to acquire more customers and markets in a short
period to grow its network.
 Above, mentioned that join offered free services to their customers
until 31 December 2016 from the date of launching. It was part of their
destructive marketing strategy for acquiring the market as soon as.
 Retained customers of the firm are comfortable with the services.
It is so tough for them to shift to another mobile network operator.
Reliance Jio – Fastest Growing Telecom Company | 143

Constant retaining of old customers and continuous adding of new


customers makes Jio the fifth-largest company by market capitalization
listed in the Bombay stock exchange. Currently, Jio is the largest
telecom firm in India and third largest in the world with 369.93 million
customers or 32.4 percent share in the telecom sector.

QUESTIONS
1. What is a disruptive marketing strategy? How Reliance Jio used
this? 
2. What does “free” mean for the Indian market and its buyers? 
3. How Jio changed the Indian telecom industry and become first in a
very short duration? 
4. Explain in brief “SWOT analysis”. 
5. Explain the current scenario of Reliance Jio along with market size. 

REFERENCES
• Navin, Ram Kumar, & Deva, “Jio-Digital Life” Case study on Reliance
Jio. www.slideshare.net
• Anjumal, & Neethu N. (April 2019), “A study report on Reliance Jio
Infocomm Limited”. www.researchgate.net
• Moneycontrol.com (4 May 2020), “Jio valuation: 1.7 times higher than
its peer”. www.moneycontrol.com
• “SWOT Analysis”, www.managementstudyguide.com
• “Introduction”, www.wikipedia.Org
• The Economic Time (28 Dec. 2015), Reliance Jio Infocomm launches 4G
service for employees. www.economictimes.indiatimes.com
• The Economic Time (13 June 2015), Reliance Jio launches commercial its
operations. www.economictimes.indiatimes.com
• The Indian Express (10 October 2016), Reliance Jio acquired 16 million
customers within months. www.indianexpress.com
• The Economist (5 October 2017), Chip mobile data is a thrill for Indian
consumers. www.economist.com
• Reuters ( 22 April 2020), Reliance Jio- Facebook deal of $5.7 billion.
www.reuters.com
• Jagran English (17 Jan 2020), Reliance Jio emerges as the largest telecom
company in India. www.jagranenglish.com
AUTHOR INDEX

Agarwal, Alpana 17 Kumar Saurav 30


Agarwal, Shriyam 131
Malik, Sheetal 97
Baranwal, Ankit 97 Sawhney, Aastha 1, 30, 56
Shah, Santosh 83, 110
Dubey, Ujjwal 131 Sharma, Ayushi 44
Sharma, Geeti 1
Goel, Nishtha 44 Sharma, Nidhi 56, 83
Gupta, Sahil 56, 73 Sharma, Vivek 123
Shrivastava, Ashish 131
Iyengar, Srinivasan R. 123 Srivastava, Ashish Kumar 97

Kapoor, Komal 17, 44 Tyagi, Shenki 73, 110


IMS GHAZIABAD
(University Courses Campus)

– A Marketing Management Case Booklet


JOURNEY OF BRANDS
JOURNEY OF BRANDS
– A Marketing Management
Case Booklet


Editors: Sapna Rakesh • Geeti Sharma
Komal Kapoor • Sahil Kumar Gupta

IMS GHAZIABAD
University Courses Campus, NH-9, Editors
Adhyatmik Nagar, Ghaziabad, Pin – 201015, India. Dr. Sapna Rakesh
www.imsuc.ac.in Dr. Geeti Sharma
Prof. Komal Kapoor
ISBN 978-93-90252-31-2
90100
Dr. Sahil Kumar Gupta
9 7 89390 25 231 2
`899

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