The store is where the rubber meets the road, and performance in-store is the most indicative yardstick of success for brands in-market. In a scenario where brands are prudent with spending, it’s imperative for them to rationalize a distribution and sales strategy to maximise performance at the shelf where the consumer makes a final purchase. The good news, however, is that this formidable task can be broken down into four actionable steps to win in the market.

The Right Store

Nielsen shopper research shows that a staggering 60% of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sales can be influenced at the store level. A meta-analysis across approximately 15 categories and 155 brands revealed that overall sales effectiveness was primarily driven by availability and visibility. This included whether stores were reached directly, whether the stores offered the right product assortment, how often the brand visited the store to re-stock, and the actual visibility of products.

Since brands cannot possibly stock their products at every store, the right store choice is the first step toward efficiency. In fact, reaching the right stores is half the job done. On an average, the study found that 30% of stores accounted for 80% of category sales. These are the places where shoppers of the category seek the products. Also the same store sales of the right store are 10x more than the rest of the store. Needless to say, reaching these stores directly, and with adequate servicing levels, will go a long way in driving sales, growth and incremental share. A supplementary survey on our retail panel covering 18 brands, indicated that nearly 30% of incremental sales can be achieved by making a course correction in existing distribution and by reaching these right stores directly.

Getting Assortment Right

Right stores are coveted by many brands, and therefore have four times higher assortment than average. How much and what to place in the right stores is a critical decision and gives the right outcome in terms of sales increase. Figures show that an increase of one additional stock keeping unit (SKU) across stores can trigger an uplift opportunity of 9%. In order to maximise gains further, marketers and retailers need to pick the additional SKU that will bring the most reward by aligning it with consumer preference.

It’s All About Relative Servicing

Servicing is the third key imperative to a winning sales strategy. A study of servicing across competing brands revealed the insight that, the average brand share in stores where servicing levels were lower than competition was about 81% of the overall share. However, the average brand share in stores where the relative servicing of the brands was higher than competition was 1.2 times the overall average.

Keep An Eye On Visibility

Visibility is another key parameter for maximising efficiency in sales. To supplement the main analysis, Nielsen conducted a test across 18 brands to study visibility, location and accessibility in store and then reviewed the sales results. Placing merchandise above eye level, placement relative to the counter, and in case of impulse categories— placing the shelf and product outside the store, resulted in incremental sales.

FROM OPPORTUNITY TO EXECUTION

The numbers and insights that emerged across studies are particularly telling because they exposed the considerable headroom that exists to drive significant growth in sales by optimising in-market execution. Brands that reach the right stores have the ability to boost sales by as much as 33%. They can also improve incremental sales by 15% by offering the assortment of products the consumer wants. Improved relative servicing can help increase share in these stores by 1.2 times, and having the right placement and accessibility of products can provide a potential uplift of 20%-40%.

FAREED ZAKARIA GPS Global Television Exclusive Airs Sunday, Aug. 09

President Barack Obama presses his case for support of the nuclear deal negotiated between the U.S., its allies, and Iran, when he sits down with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria for a global exclusive interview in the Map Room at the White House on Thursday, August 06.  The interview will cover the high stakes domestic politics, and the issues in contention with other world powers.

This marks the President’s first televised one-on-one since his Iran policy speech at American University in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.  The interview will air in its entirety on the network’s flagship world affairs program, FAREED ZAKARIA GPS on CNN International on Sunday, August 09 at 6.30 AM, repeats at 4.30 PM and on Monday, August 10 at 7.30 AM.

AIRTIMES (IST)

Sunday, August 09 at 6.30 AM and 4:30 PM

Monday, August 10 at 7.30 AM

Although the foundation of education is still reading, writing and arithmetic, today’s students need broader education. So, what can e-learning deliver?

Also, terming skill development and utilization of skilled workforce as a major area of concern, The Economic Survey 2014-15 stated that as per the Labour Bureau Report 2014, the present skilled workforce in India is only 2 %, which is much lower when compared to the developing nations and that the number persons aged 15 years who have received or be receiving skills is merely 6.8 %.

Stating it as a dual challenge of developing skills and utilizing them in a proper way, dearth of formal vocational education, lack of vide variation quality, high school dropout rates, inadequate skill training capacity, negative perception towards skilling, and lack of industry ready skills even in processional courses are the major cause of poor skill levels of India's workforce.

To steer away these concerns and empower the education industry with first of its kind educational mechanism, August 2015 witnesses the launch of a highly focused objective in the arena of Distance Learning, designed in consultation with ace academicians in order to cater to the next level of ‘power’ business executives.

Boost School of Business i.e., BSOB, founded by Prashant Satav, Ankoor Dasguupta & Chandar Joshi, has one common vision behind the core objective. The thought process is not just offering education but to be a catalyst in churning out quality business leaders, who can embrace and bring about a change in their organization or even in their entrepreneurial route.

The answer to how they will make this happen is embedded in their simplistic approach, which brings forth, the real essence of ‘enabling’ through ‘empowering’. They are Executive Business Program Specialist with the value of Aspire, Attain, and Accomplish, for anyone who is serious about doing their focused courses.

The programs are segregated into standalone Regular, standalone Fast Track along with tailor made Combo Courses which are both regular & fast track. For more information you could log to their website here.

Speaking to MediAvataar, here is what the founders have to say:

Prashant Satav, Chairman of BSOB: “We are excited and charged up to roll our conviction. I can proudly say that what we are offering is authentic, worthy, focused, crisp and austere. We are here to enable create quality leaders in Business, our programs are a stepping stone for that aspiration everyone has in today’s business domain”

Ankoor Dasguupta, Vice Chairman, BSOB : “It is highly important for today’s youth to understand what they should do as a career booster, a value add, a knowledge enhancer, a refresher program & even more important as to when one should do it and in what domain. Many a times one has everything but the direction is missing & not going in the right direction could be a detriment or a slow burner for one’s career.  That is where we come in as Executive Business Program Specialist, one of our USPs being a heart to heart conversation & counseling”

Chandar Joshi, Director, BSOB: “we are here to be make Executive programs easier in every way, be it content or the career journey.”

According to another report, India’s online education market size is set to grow to $40 billion by 2017 from the current $20 billion. India has one of the largest education systems in the world with a network of more than 1 million schools and 18,000 higher education institutions. More than half of the country’s 1.2 billion population falls in the target market for education and related services.

The rapid increase in internet connectivity has been an important catalyst for the growth of e-learning. A robust internet ecosystem, with a multitude of local and global players, will help online learning make further inroads. The story is not limited to schools alone. Indian companies are adopting e-learning platforms as continuous employee learning has become a strategic necessity.

With the number of internet users in India expected to reach 250 million, rivalling the US and second only to China, India’s potential as a huge market for e-learning is enormous. A large number of new users are accessing the internet for the first time from their smartphones, which is an ideal, personalised and commerce-enabled platform for e-learning adoption.

So, why should someone pursue a BSOB program?

First, it is clutter free, starting from their website to the focused courses. Their stress is on quality, content and making it easier for people to comprehend what they are studying. In today’s competitive and fast paced ecosystem, they understand and identify with the basic problem people have in pursuing any kind of course, which is the ‘time’ factor.

Hence, with one of their USPs as a cost free, heart to heart candid conversation and guidance that they will provide to anyone who is serious about getting his or her career in fast track mode to become the thought leaders in Business.

Moreover, working professionals do not need to leave their jobs and one does not need to wait for a semester to get over, that actually means if one has enrolled for a 6 month program but is ready for the question paper in 5 months, you complete it in 5 months. That level of convenience one has.  BSOB will also focus a lot on ensuring a person enrolling for any of the DE programs understands the significance of the program in terms of career path, vision & the aspiration which should be in tandem.

Each and every program that they have is a value for money because the ROI that one derives is not just another program but a sojourn that they are a part of, together, in tandem, sharing the dream, the aspiration one has.

And as BSOB believes in, a Boost is what we all need at some or the other point in our lives, so enroll and let them be a part of your aspiration and help them, help you attain & accomplish!

Data sourced from: EconomicTimes.com, FinancialExpress.com

E-commerce has been around for many years now, however being PC-bound meant that it was only accessible to a small section of society. In the past three years all that changed with the explosive growth of smartphones. Today there are far more mobile-based internet users than PC based internet users.

E-commerce players know this and from the middle of 2014 have been promoting and offering discounts on purchases made through their mobile apps. In order to get users hooked to the app, players are shutting their sites and transitioning users solely to their apps instead. Myntra was the first to execute this in May ‘15, and Flipkart has announced plans to follow suit in September 2015.

If 2014 was the year when E-commerce finally came into its own in India, 2015 promises to be the year of the mobile shopping app. The Indian shopper is increasingly embracing shopping on the go, spurred by widespread E-commerce campaigns and easy access to smartphones that have seen an explosive growth in penetration. Sale periods are in sync with festivals and public holidays, and along with aggressive app launches and promotions, they have reinforced the growing trend.

The number of smartphone users who use shopping apps has jumped to 54% in May 15, from just 21% a year back. In comparison, the growth in popularity of shopping websites has been moderate, increasing from 28% to reach 45%.

Consumer Trends & Insights

In the early days of online commerce, a widespread belief was that women will adopt and drive mobile shopping. However, up until a few months ago, it was actually men who were driving the adoption and growth in mobile shopping. Data from real-time smartphone usage tracking provides insights on consumption patterns of smartphone users and reveals some unexpected facts about the reach of mobile shopping in India.This could be attributed to two key factors: the male appetite for technology and the fact that men are often the ones who make the payment.

The majority of E-commerce products viewed and bought are electronics items, a segment that young men drive. The other possibility is that even when women make a purchase decision, they ask men to compare costs or complete a transaction.

In the past 2 to 3 months however, we see that women have caught up and today they spend 16 mins a month more than men on mobile shopping apps.

ENGAGEMENT ON E-COMMERCE APPS

Our data shows that users in non-metros are slightly more engaged on shopping apps than users in metros. The former has limited shopping alternatives, especially in the electronics and apparel category, although the latter has a higher spending power. The cash-on-delivery option is also a driver of small town adoption for shopper apps.

While time spent is similar across India, it’s not similar across all handset price bands. Specifically, users with more expensive handsets, those exceeding INR 15,000, spend 1.6x the time on shopping apps compared to those with cheaper phones. Higher time spends can be loosely correlated to higher spending power in mobile shopping.

Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), the 3rd largest mobile service provider globally, today said that Manish Khera, Co-founder & MD of YTS Solutions will be appointed as CEO of Airtel M Commerce Services Limited (AMSL), which offers Airtel’s flagship semi-closed wallet under the brand name ‘Airtel Money’. Once appointed, Manish will be a part of the Airtel Management Board and report to Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO of Bharti Airtel (India & South Asia).

Commenting on the appointment, Gopal Vittal said, “I am delighted to announce that Manish Khera will join AMSL as Chief Executive Officer. A trend-setter in the domain areas of financial inclusion, payments & banking, Manish combines the spirit of entrepreneurship with a passion for technology and commitment to serve millions. I am confident that his rich domain expertise will add immense value to our plans and help lead our mobile commerce and payments business to reach millions of underserved Indians."

Manish Khera said, “I was fortunate to go through the retail banking explosion in the early part of my career, and then to drive a host of financial inclusion initiatives in the country under the guidance of banking stalwarts. I am now excited at the opportunity of working with India’s largest telecom company and leading its vision of delivering a transformed m-Commerce experience for million across the country.”

Manish is a recipient of several honours, including “Young Global Leader-2011” by World Economic Forum, “Entrepreneur of the Year” by EY, and the “Forbes India Leadership Award – 2012” in the “Outstanding Start-up” category. Prior to founding YTS, Manish was MD & CEO of FINO Pay Tech Ltd, and earlier worked in ICICI Bank.

AMSL, the wholly owned subsidiary of Airtel also announced that it would integrate the payments and remittance businesses of YTS Solutions.

Airtel is India’s largest mobile operator with a customer base of over 230 million customers. It is also India’s largest rural mobile operator with over 100 million customers. The company’s network covers 4,30,000 towns and villages backed by 1.5 million distribution outlets. In 2011, AMSL had announced the launch of Airtel Money – India’s first prepaid mobile wallet by a telecom services provider. In January 2015, AMSL applied to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a Payments’ Bank License

Based out of Mumbai, YTS has been developing innovative financial products focused on mass market and micro-transactions. This acquisition will expand Airtel’s portfolio in the mobile commerce segment and bring in a host of new product capabilities targeted at migrants in urban cities and their families in rural towns and villages – thus strengthening Airtel’s long term commitment towards driving financial inclusion in India.