Apurv Narang

Zomato is reportedly nearing a deal to acquire Paytm's movie ticketing and events division for INR 1500 crores (approximately USD 200 million). The negotiations between Zomato and One97 Communications Limited, Paytm's parent company, are said to be in advanced stages. This strategic acquisition could diversify Zomato's offerings beyond food delivery, enhancing its presence in the entertainment sector. For Paytm, the sale would allow it to focus more on its core digital payments business, streamlining its operations. This move highlights a broader industry trend of tech companies expanding their service portfolios to capture a larger consumer market share.

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Paytm in Talks to Sell Ticketing Business to Zomato in Strategic Shift Paytm is reportedly in talks with Zomato to sell its movie and events ticketing business. This move comes as Paytm focuses on its core fintech business after facing declining sales. Zomato, with its growing cash reserves, it's an opportunity to expand its food delivery offering by integrating events and ticketing into its app. For Paytm, the ticketing business is a growing but non-core vertical. While Paytm Insider saw revenue jump in FY23, it still represents a small portion of their overall income. Zomato, on the other hand, is already investing in this area with a dedicated "Events" tab and aims to diversify beyond food delivery. This potential deal reflects both companies' current positions. Paytm needs to streamline operations after regulatory hurdles, while Zomato seeks growth opportunities. Both companies have confirmed the discussions but no final agreement has been reached. This is a space to watch as the Indian food and entertainment landscape evolves. What do you think? #zomato #paytm #ecommerce

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Just landed in Delhi after a fascinating conversation on my flight from Calicut. Eid celebrations must spark interesting encounters! I met Mustafa, a seasoned marketing director in the B2B tech space. We got talking about the usual challenges – cutting through the noise, personalizing outreach, and proving ROI. But then, Mustafa dropped a gem I hadn't heard much about in the Indian B2B landscape: 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁-𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 (𝗔𝗕𝗫). Now, we're all familiar with Account-Based Marketing (ABM), right? Tailoring campaigns to specific high-value accounts. But ABX takes it a step further. Imagine creating a multi-sensory, immersive experience for your target accounts. Think personalized virtual tours of your product, interactive demos tailored to their specific needs, or even curated content delivered through AR/VR headsets. Mustafa's company is piloting this with a handful of key accounts, and the results are promising. Increased engagement, deeper understanding of the product, and a more emotional connection with the brand. This got me thinking – with India's growing tech adoption, could ABX be the next frontier for B2B marketing? It personalizes the journey beyond just messaging, fostering a memorable brand experience that resonates on a deeper level. What are your thoughts on ABX? Is it a game-changer for the Indian B2B space?

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Weekly Learnings 18/2024 Business World Marketing White Book Summary This is a good book with a good set of data points from Nielsen,GfK and Ipsos.. My key learnings: 1. India is changing quickly, most marketeers are reactive. A third of senior managers cannot connect data points. 2. Indians like technology progress but are unsure or ambiguous about it. 3. Gen Z and Gen Aplha love Technology and convenience. 4. Most age groups are finding it difficult to make friends after COVID. 5. Premium segment in every category is growing,especially the durables segment. 6. Premium housing is also gaining traction in the top 8 cities. 7. SUVs are driving the growth of the Indian Personal vehicles market. 8. The fundamental equation between Doctors and patients is changing. 9. Consumers worry about AI and its impact on fake news and misinformation. 10.Gen Z loves fashion but want it affordable. Surprising fact - less than 50 pc of marketeers are using the top 8 technology tools!! The book also has Op eds from a few CEOs and CMOs. I was a little disappointed with the quality of these Op eds, most lacked insight. Shiv www.shivshivakumar.com BW Marketing World Noor Fathima Warsia Annurag Batra PS ..pls read slide 7 as 175 per 1000

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#Startup Stories Episode -3😊 Zepto: A Champion of Swift Deliveries Founded in 2021 by Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, Zepto has become a household name in India synonymous with ultrafast grocery delivery. Their mission: deliver essential groceries within a remarkable 10-minute window. From Dorm Room to Dark Stores Zepto's story began in a humble dorm room at Stanford University. Palicha and Vohra, armed with an innovative idea and a deep understanding of customer needs, embarked on a journey to revolutionize grocery delivery in India. The key to their success lies in a network of strategically positioned micro-warehouses, also known as "dark stores." These strategically located hubs house a carefully curated selection of everyday essentials, enabling Zepto to fulfill orders at breakneck speed. Customer Centricity at its Core Zepto's unwavering focus on customer convenience has been a cornerstone of their success. By prioritizing rapid delivery times, they address a critical pain point for busy urban consumers. This commitment to customer satisfaction has propelled Zepto to achieve unicorn status in a record-breaking timeframe, raising over $1.3 billion in funding within a year of inception. A Beacon for Indian Startups Zepto's meteoric rise serves as a powerful testament to the potential of Indian startups to disrupt established industries on a global scale. Their innovative approach and ability to secure significant funding paves the way for other Indian entrepreneurs to chase ambitious dreams and conquer international markets. Bootstrapping Innovation While Zepto eventually secured funding, their initial growth was primarily fueled by their own revenue, demonstrating the feasibility of organic growth for startups in the Indian market. This bootstrapping approach is particularly inspiring for aspiring entrepreneurs with limited access to external capital. A Quote to Inspire "The challenges you face are not roadblocks, but stepping stones to greater success." - Aadit Palicha, Co-founder, Zepto Zepto's story serves as a source of inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs worldwide. It's a powerful reminder that with a clear vision, a relentless focus on customer needs, and a commitment to innovation, even the most audacious goals can be achieved.

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As a Brand founder, are you figuring out how to deal with frequency capping? Frequency Capping : Limits the number of marketing messages that can be sent to a user in India within the span of one week. Here's what we've learned: 1.Significant Drop in Engagement: Businesses report up to a 60% drop in engagement when messages are too frequent, leading to poor customer experiences. 2.Strategic Response from Meta: To address this, Meta's new capping limits the number of marketing templates a user can receive, prioritizing quality interactions over quantity. WhatsApp recently launched frequency capping for improve read rate & ROI as to improve sentimental or engagement, An additional to traditional metric like block & report. Here's how we can leverage this change: 1. First Impressions Count: Make the first 60-65 characters of your message compelling and personalised. Optimize the first 60-65 characters of your message. This crucial snippet can significantly enhance open rates and overall engagement, making every word count. 2.Audience Targeting: Customize messages to align closely with the interests of specific user segments.This not only increases engagement but also boosts loyalty and reduces churn. 3.Timing and Frequency: Avoid high-traffic periods to cut through the noise. Send messages at optimal times without overwhelming your audience to maintain interest and engagement. 4.Regulated Frequency: Track how often users receive marketing messages from your brand to prevent fatigue. 5.Engagement Cooling: Implement cooldown periods for users who've disengaged. 6.Consent Focus: Ensure users clearly agree to receive messages, confirming they welcome your communication. 7.Clear Exit Paths: Always provide a straightforward opt-out option to maintain trust    Opt-Out Rates: Without clear opt-out options, about 6% of users choose to leave, often reporting the brand due to frustration. A clear and easy opt-out path is crucial. At BusinessOnBot, We have few exciting features coming up soon to tackle this problem. We're also developing new tools to further enhance this success. Interested in learning more? DM and let's chat about how we can help you adapt and thrive under the new regulations! #whatsappmarketing #customerengagement #metaupdates #frequencycapping #readrate #whatsappmetrics #engagement #marketingtemplate #tacticstoovercome #D2C #SaaS

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𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. Having seen the conventional funnel in large scale operations for products in BYJU'S, and an inverted funnel that starts with free offerings focused on the customer's problems for Design Crescendo gigs, there are a few things that I've picked up about product and service marketing in general. When you're dealing with direct-response and bottom-of-the-funnel marketing, it makes more sense to promote your offer than your product. This is where you drive people into demos, consultations, audits, etc. Often, smaller units start here, and then expand to the middle and top as time and budget allow. The reason why at some point the expansion to other parts of the funnel is essential is because marketing only your offer isn't easily scalable. There are only so many prospects "in-market" at any given time, and at some point, you have to invest in generating demand rather than just capturing it with offer marketing. Here's a bit on the same - #productmarketing #funnel #marketing #conversion

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Miracles can happen in DTC SaaS. Don't believe me? Just see what came into this week's Fulfil.IO Support CSAT highlight reel, for Dhairya Goel and the team that worked with him on this ticket: 🤩 "Very amazing support" 🚴‍♂️ "truly handled with urgency" 📈 "We can't do what we do without this" 💫 "Thanks for making miracles happen" Software isn't perfect, and having help when you need it the most matters. It's okay to expect more from your ERP; perhaps even a miracle. 😉 Support lives at the ❤️ of Fulfil.IO, and we pipe every CSAT submission into our Slack so everyone can read it. Nice work team. 🙌

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In last 3 months - I have seen lot of adtech/agencies founder and team members reach out across markets in China, South East Asia, Middle East and India. Largely within the programmatic and affiliate ecosystem - 2 trends are driving compression with revenue down 50-70% YoY. 1. Funding trends - Edtech, Gaming and Fintech seeing pressure moving from aggressive customer acquisitions to quality of users 2. commoditisation of tech leading to lower entry barrier for leaner teams, agencies to eat into adtech margins and build direct relationships with publishers eg MMPs, tracking softwares etc Unfortunately biggest mistake most of these businesses are doing in such times are launching full stack agencies - trying to build exclusivity on advertiser side to improve access to supply. Problems for success being 1. They are not building completely new teams with cost structures, capabilities and incentives to build agency business to operate in single % of media spend margins with transparency and execution efficiency for scale instead - going after advertiser accounts with margin management or rebates built in day zero and mentality of 3-4 quarter journey of advertiser built with them. 2. Not investing in building capabilities which are advertiser first eg Shopify or Cloud services implementation to Data sciences practises which are tools for digital transformation - with innovating business models. Big agencies are thriving as they have invested a lot in capability set and moving on from being just media agencies but to build solutioning capabilities for clients and different practises are reflective of brands acquisition velocity this enable + margins. I want to clarify adtech is not going away, affiliate is not dying. Its interesting trend across US and EU on how Programmatic, Affiliate and KOL ecosystem is coming together for brands - opening up more set of opportunities then every before. We at Tyroo are committed on building Strong digital media Monetization platform helping partners Grow and be successful in APAC . Reach out to Shalini Sharma for roles across Japan, China and Singapore #adtech #martech #SaaS Vaibhav Pandey

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'Framing' is a timeless lesson in marketing communications. The crux: when trying to tackle negative perception, reframe the picture using a positive aspect. OYO's new ad campaign that goes in the opposite direction, I believe, to mine subversive humor! https://lnkd.in/g4YbjJfQ #advertising #marketing #creative #framing #perception

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When you imagine PVR, you think of movies. But here's the thing - Nearly 50% of PVR's revenue comes from other sources. In fact, if you read the company’s annual report, it says that PVR is in the business of “Film Exhibition and Food & Beverages” I went through their annual report to see how they do business, and it was an interesting 2-hour exercise! :) If you liked this post, feel free to hit the follow button or subscribe to my newsletter - I love writing on startups, business and money!

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#Anq #2ndAnniversary When I left Xiaomi - I asked myself . Is it really required ? Should we build this ? Countless brainstorms with Abhinav A V and Swagat Sarma fueled the fire. Fast forward two years, to today. A passionate team of 25, 2 live products, and over half a million strong user base later (amassed in less than 1 year of going live with beta) – the answer is a resounding YES! We took a leap, and I'm ecstatic we did. The mission remains unchanged: to revolutionize digital banking for young, ambitious Indians. We're not just about banking; we're about building wealth with meaning. We aimed to craft products that would excite us – products that reshape how future generations engage with finance, products that unlock financial independence for every Indian, and products that lead the way in shaping the future of financial services. With humility, we strive to shape the future of financial services, imbued with purpose and compassion. The journey's just begun. ANQ's next wave of products launches next week, with even more innovations simmering on the horizon. Our pipeline is bursting with ideas, and our passion is relentless. This is just the first chapter. Coming years, we'll keep building, keep growing, and keep pushing closer to our mission. Thanks to our early backers Kunal Shah Ashish Sharma Vijay Kumar Akash Agrawal Akshit Bordia Amit Bansal Manmohan Chandolu Justin Hamilton Raj Gokal Vivek Kumar Saurav Gandhi Madhusudanan R Vijay Kalangi Akshay Maru We're also incredibly grateful to the many others who backed us along the way – your collective support has been invaluable. Debajyoti Ghatak Aritra Sarkhel Srinivas Senniappan Sunil Bishnoi Amarjeet Mahto Vignesh Palani Siddharth Verma Veeki Y Shubham Allyan ANQ - India's most rewarding Experience! https://anq.finance

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Snapdeal's Downfall: A Cautionary Tale 🤯 Once a fierce competitor to Flipkart, Snapdeal's wait n wathc and unwillingness to sell led to its near-demise. 🔻 Despite having a solid product offering, Snapdeal's refusal to adapt and embrace the offers of a buyout let the valuations down. A stark reminder that in the fast-paced world of business, flexibility is key to staying ahead of the curve. 💪 #EcommerceInsights #StartupLessons #BusinessStrategy #10croreclub

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Zepto: Simplifying Deliveries or Making Them Complex? In India's fast-paced world of online shopping, Zepto stands out for its super-fast deliveries. But who's really in charge of this popular app? Finding this out isn't as fast as their deliveries! While you might think Zepto is run by its young founders, Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, it's actually managed by companies you've probably never heard of – Geddit Convenience, Drogheria Sellers, and Commodum Groceries. The Franchise Model: The way Zepto operates is kind of like a franchise. Kiranakart Technologies, led by Palicha and Vohra, pretends to be a wholesale company and tech provider. While Geddit and the others take care of the public-facing stuff. It looks like a B2B model (business-to-business), but it's more like a B2B2C (business-to-business-to-consumer) setup. Geddit Convenience, Drogheria Sellers, and Commodum Groceries are making a lot of money, but it's not entirely clear how. And Zepto wants to bring even more companies on board soon. But there's a twist – some employees seem to work for both Zepto and these other companies. That raises some eyebrows, even though Zepto denies any funny business. Revenue Generation: Unlike conventional e-commerce platforms that generate revenue by taking a percentage cut from sellers, Zepto's revenue model revolves around product sales and technology licensing. This departure from the norm raises eyebrows and complicates matters further. Moreover, the lack of transparency regarding the revenue sources of entities like Geddit Convenience, Drogheria Sellers, and Commodum Groceries adds to the ambiguity surrounding Zepto's financial operations. Legal Ambiguity: The unconventional structure of Zepto raises legitimate concerns about its compliance with regulatory frameworks, particularly regarding foreign investment regulations. Even if Zepto transitions into an Indian company, questions linger about its adherence to legal standards and consumer protection laws. The opaque nature of its operations further complicates matters, making it challenging to ascertain the company's legal standing definitively. Fairness and Competition: As Zepto continues to expand its reach and influence in the Indian market, concerns about fairness and competition intensify. Traditional retailers, already grappling with the advent of quick delivery services, find themselves under increased pressure from Zepto's rapid growth. Questions about fair competition and compliance with regulatory standards loom large, prompting calls for greater scrutiny and transparency in Zepto's operations to ensure a level playing field for all stakeholders. Time to Simplify Deliveries Research by Ramya Naidu Source: The Economic Times

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This is a classic case of when in India, think Indian! Apple didn't anticipate consumers' love for Cash dealing for even expensive purchases such as Apple phones. In retail-oriented business, besides the dynamics of cost structure, payment terms play a big part in ensuring smooth transactions. In my experience, the above is dynamic enough to vary in different parts of the country and hence there is no standard set of applicable rules While companies are smart enough to understand this over time, those who don't, never get past basic issues. What are the other examples that you can think of Indian consumer's ingenuity and unique approach? Do share in the comments #Indianretail #salesandmarketing #Indinconsumers

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If you want to understand more about the Indian startup and venture ecosystem, then the best place to start is the "Indus Valley Report" by Sajith Pai, Anurag Pagaria and Nachammai Savithiri R of Blume Ventures - https://lnkd.in/gj-7hjGq You can expect lots of insights about India's GDP, consumption by different types of customers in India, Digital Infra achievements, venture funding trends, Indian IPO market, and Indus Valley Playbook. My favorites in 2024 report 1. India123 - Slides 26-30 2. Storefront as a Service for Digital Native Brands - Slide 101 What do I expect in the 2025 report : How Indian startup and venture ecosystems are powering global Gen AI growth !!!

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How Koo Could Have Avoided Its Demise and Why Bhavish Aggarwal's Analysis Misses the Mark The closure of Koo is unfortunate, but it was largely inevitable. However, some analysts, including Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal, are attributing the platform's failure to the wrong reasons. Aggarwal suggested that "recreating what already exists won’t get us there," implying that Koo’s resemblance to Twitter/X was its downfall. In reality, Koo’s failure was not about being a copycat; it was about misjudging what would keep users engaged. Koo assumed that being "an Indian social media platform" would be sufficient to attract daily usage. While this was enough to get users to install the app and create accounts, it wasn’t enough to keep them coming back. Why? It wasn’t due to product features, quality, or design. The issue was that Koo lacked excitement. It didn’t generate the kind of buzz and engagement that platforms like X, Instagram, or YouTube do. Koo failed to recreate the dynamic and engaging atmosphere that draws users to these platforms. Instead of relying solely on the novelty of being an Indian platform, Koo should have focused on generating compelling content and experiences. A more effective strategy would have been to collaborate with top influencers, publishers, and creators. By offering incentives and exclusive content, Koo could have leveraged their existing followings to create a buzz and drive more users to the platform. Additionally, sponsoring events, discussions, and festivals could have increased visibility and relevance. Koo didn’t fully grasp the nature of its business. Modern social platforms are not just content delivery services—they are engines of engagement and stimulation. Users flock to platforms with compelling content and vibrant interactions, not just because they are local or new. In essence, Koo miscalculated what it takes to keep users engaged. It’s not just about being a copy or an original; it’s about providing engaging, high-quality content and experiences. The lesson here is clear: whether you’re a copy or an innovator, your platform must offer value that resonates with users.

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PhonePe's Indus App Store has been making inroads in the Indian market. Do read this story from Inc42 Media and Suprita Anupam about how the competitive landscape in India is evolving, and if new app stores would have an impact on the dominance of the Google Play Store in India. Check out my observations and comments and share your views on whether Indus could become The Atmanirbhar App Store of India. Read the article here;

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