The last few months of my life have been very exciting. I suddenly have a very happening nightlife. Every night, me and my wife finish up our chores, surround ourselves with bowls of snacks, connect the laptop with the TV and go shopping. Online shopping is not a new idea in India. Times Shopping and Rediff Shopping have been offering this for a few years now. But it has become a practical idea now. Most of the shopping sites are funded today. They have the…Continue Reading “My experience with online shopping: Snapdeal & Flipkart”
In one of my last posts, I mentioned that I am not the adventurous types. I know that new things are fraught with risks and take care to stay away. Don’t judge me, I am a nice guy otherwise. For last two months, I have been researching to write on the Indian e-commerce scene. I ordered from almost all major e-commerce sites – Myntra, Infibeam, Zovi, Yebhi, Homeshop 18, Snapdeal. I took photos of their packaging, tracked delivery time, had to return a few and…Continue Reading “Pepperfry won’t deliver, won’t refund, won’t listen. Help me interneters!”
The title doesn’t make any sense at all, you will say. So what? So many things don’t, but that doesn’t make them any less interesting. Let’s get down to the serious stuff. I have been thinking about the curse of humanity – the need to make sense of everything, the pursuit of true substance, the pressing need to create value. We may crib all we want about the rise of consumerism and the senselessness of the new generation, but honestly, there is nothing to worry…Continue Reading “Why we hate the Kardashians and what brand managers can learn from it!”
The internet has become a tough place to do business. If that sounds against the logic, consider the following factors: There are hundreds of businesses competition even in the nichest niche that you can think of. It does not take much to set up an e-business. Anyone can set up a pretty impressive e-commerce website for less than $2000. Trust factors come for free. Thwate, Google certified, BBB certification, award winning and what not… all of them have these logos and well-designed icons on every…Continue Reading “Branding lessons: what we can learn from Warby Parker”
What are the chances that you will come to hear of a small brewery in Canada? But then that’s how interesting stories are. They can pop up anywhere. So, as I said James Ready is a small brewery in Canada. They sell one dollar beer bottles that are “fully fermented, lightly hopped and dry brewed, creating a lightly coloured beer with less body.” They were known for beer that’s not great nor too bad and billboard ads that were brilliant. But they were not a…Continue Reading “Blunders That Helped Build Brands (II) – James Ready Beer”
Brand positioning has always been one of the high sciences. Like all sciences, accuracy is the core principle here too. There is the initial market research to assess the public pulse. Then there are the brand managers, the creative directors, the media consultants who fine tune different aspects of a concept and its implementation. Every little detail is pored over by football team sized expert groups and is passed around for months for approvals. No wonder, it is as tiring to be part of a…Continue Reading “Blunders That Helped Build Brands (I) – Angostura”