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Tag: shopping

  • How to Boost Sales on Black Friday for Your Business

    India is the second-largest country in the world. The average age in India is about 28 years. We are an immensely big young nation and we do what every other country does but more in volume. With a population of more than 144 crores, India is a hotspot in demand generation. This makes it a prominent place for old businesses and new businesses.

    India is not only big in terms of people, but we also are a huge celebrating nation. Speaking of both regional and national events, India has the most festivals in the world. Needless to say with this young generation driving fast-paced technology, Indians are not normal citizens anymore.

    We are turning more into global citizens. Global citizens are not just confined to their nation but are open to accepting global traditions. They break open the national boundaries of culture and tradition the fastest of all. We love shopping cultures. This explains why millennials are all excited about global festivals like ‘Halloween’, ‘Thanksgiving’, and ‘Black Friday’.

    This article is about one particular festival. A global festival starter to be precise. The Black Friday. How it affects our new businesses and startups in providing them with a boost. A cultural boost read on to discover.

    The Black Friday
    India and Festivals Culture
    Black Friday Sales Wrestle
    Black Friday Business Intrusion
    How Black Friday Can Help You Get Initial Boost for Your Startup?

    The Black Friday

    Black Friday is the Friday that precedes Thanksgiving in the United States. Retailers all around put sales on the occasion to kick-start the festive season. The next month is December and it means Christmas around the world. This is the sweet spot just after Thanksgiving and right before Christmas.

    Black Friday has been the busiest day in the US and continues to be the show starter even now. This festival provides a good boost for retailers and businesses in the US. Since India is open to all cultures, we also flow with this wind.

    India and Festivals Culture

    As mentioned previously we all know that India is a land of festivals and homogenous culture. When globalization and technology hit, we opened our wings to the world. Make no mistake that culture travels faster than goods.

    India has seen increasing celebrations of Western festivals and occasions continuously. From malls covered in themes of Halloween to the lights and blushes of Christmas. Our culture has globalized. So does the behavior of consumers.

    Now we look forward to not only the Diwali sale but also the ‘Black Friday’ sale. Shopping in India is a culture and globalization has boosted it for sure. Now brands and new businesses look forward to launching in the festive season.

    In order to get some revenue out of festive hype, to capitalize on celebration excitement, this is a good thing for them and the economy. Let us dissect and find out the consequences that it offers.

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    Black Friday Sales Wrestle

    Black Friday is synonymous with huge discounts. It is also synonymous with shopping like absolute animals. Shoppers go mad and they raise a ruckus. The news reported that an employee had to climb on a table to avoid a crush of shoppers at a Chattanooga Victoria’s Secret Pink store.

    People wrestle over discounted clothes and fight for plants and pots. This is what a good Black Friday deal can do to consumers.

    As per the reports, Black Friday 2023 online revenue reached over $9.80 billion, a 7.46% increase from last year. It was 188% higher than the average daily online sales and 179% higher than Q4’s daily sales. However, Black Friday’s revenue was 21% lower than Cyber Monday. From 2022 to 2023, online retail spending grew by 7.69%.

    Black Friday Online Sales from 2013 to 2023 with Projection for 2024-2025
    Black Friday Online Sales from 2013 to 2023 with Projection for 2024-2025

    Black Friday Business Intrusion

    If you think that consumers are the only demographic that enjoys Black Friday, you’re probably wrong. Brands all over the world start preparing to fulfill the demand months before this day. They know how to make and generate demand for their goods. So they also wash their hands in celebrations, with campaigns.

    Businesses try to capture people with campaigns. If you’re a startup, winning this day of the year can ramp up your whole game. This is a high tide and if you know how to surf, you are all set. Here we’ll discuss how brands manage to get a large economic pie.

    How Black Friday Can Help You Get Initial Boost for Your Startup?

    Campaigns Plan

    As people celebrate, brands lend a hand with campaigns. They start decoding the market in September itself. So September and October are the planning months.

    Brands and newbies need to be sure about their goals. There can be explicitly two goals – To acquire new customers or to increase current profits. It will be the compass for planning further. Figure out deals, deals that are mouth-watering. This is the month when credit cards get warm.

    Channeling Traffic

    You can’t really imagine your sales without creatives. It is imperative to spread the marketing butter all over social. Make your signs a little squarish for better communication. Spend October spreading the news, discounts, and whatever. Try paid marketing, diversifying your posters, and emailing. The point is to buy traffic earlier than others.

    Buyer Momentum

    If your goal is to maximize profits, then you need to notice and enhance the AOV. Average order value can be enhanced by grouping products. Grouping products with others will lead to more freedom to give discounts. As well as it will also increase your revenues.

    Conversion Rate

    While established brands go for more orders, new businesses or startups go with more conversion rates. Converting more people into consumers will take spending. So before a successful Friday sale, comes spending. Figure out a CAC, and customer acquisition cost and plan your deals and discounts accordingly.

    Create Urgency with Limited-Time Offers

    Urgency is a powerful sales tool. To build excitement and urgency, try offering new deals every hour on Black Friday. Updating deals throughout the day keeps customers interested and encourages quick purchases. Use announcements, app notifications, and clear ads to make sure people see these deals and feel the need to act fast.

    Exceptional Customer Service

    Deals and promotions are important, but great customer service can set your small business apart. In a physical store, focus on helping customers quickly, having friendly and knowledgeable staff, and creating a welcoming atmosphere. Happy customers are more likely to come back or tell others about your store, which helps your business grow.

    For online sales, it’s a bit different. A good website design, smooth navigation, and excellent customer support can make a big impact and keep customers satisfied.

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    Conclusion

    Black Friday is followed by Cyber Monday which means more space for spicy offers. Brands should keep in mind that Black Friday and Cyber Monday aren’t just for eCommerce but can be a big sales day if you apply the right Black Friday tactics, Black Friday promotion ideas, Black Friday promos, Cyber Monday ads, and Cyber Monday marketing techniques. That will be the recipe for your successful sales season. As always, it’s not too late to get started.

    FAQs

    What is Black Friday?

    Black Friday is the day stores began to turn a profit for the year as it is the biggest shopping day in the United States.

    How to boost sales on Black Friday?

    Build anticipation about your product, make exclusive offers, and reward your previous customers.

    Do companies make money on Black Friday?

    Yes, Black Friday is the most profitable week or month for the majority of retailers.

    When is Black Friday sale in 2024?

    The Black Friday sale starts on 29th November followed by Cyber Monday which is on 2nd December 2024.

  • Club Factory – Story of the Banned Chinese App that Indians Loved

    Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Club Factory.

    Fashion is not futile. Your clothes and accessories say a lot about your personality and of course your mood. Thankfully now fashion is affordable too!. All thanks to the e-commerce sites now men and women from even remote nooks and corners have easy access to Fashion. An e-commerce site that we cannot miss when it comes to affordable fashion is Club Factory. This China-based e-commerce site offers apparel, accessories, and more at factory prices. Though Club Factory is currently banned in India owing to security threats and rising tension between India and China, we cannot surely afford to miss the story of this amazing e-commerce startup, that gained immense popularity in India. Here is all about Club Factory. The startup story, Club Factory founders, funding, revenue model, and competitors.

    Club Factory – Company Highlights

    Startup Name Club Factory
    Headquarters Hangzhou, China
    Sector Online Shopping and E-commerce
    Founders Vincent Lou and Aaron Jialun Li
    Founded 2014
    Parent Organization Jiayun Data Technology Co. Ltd.
    Website clubfactory.com

    About Club Factory
    Club Factory – Stratup Story
    Club Factory – Founders
    Club Factory – Tagline and Logo
    Club Factory – Business Model
    Club Factory – Funding and Investors
    Club Factory – Growth

    About Club Factory

    Founded in 2014, the Chinese e-commerce platform Club Factory became quite popular internationally as a platform offering trending fashion goods at a very affordable price. Club Factory delivers in many countries across Europe, America, and Asia.

    Club Factory’s major USP is that its products are trendy yet much cheaper as compared to many of its competitors. The reason it can offer goods at a much cheaper price is its strong base of over 200,000 suppliers who want to sell directly to consumers and thereby liquidate their inventory.

    For customers, Club Factory is very user-friendly as it offers recommendations to consumers based on their past choices of products and their preferred price range. The platform sorts out appropriate suppliers based on the quality of the products, their productivity, performance, and price. According to Club Factory founder Lou Yun, Club Factory uses AI and big data analysis to understand the users and suppliers better. Club Factory App uses AI technology to compare the prices charged by the manufacturers, find the lowest price of a particular product in real-time, and suggest to the customer the product having the lowest price.

    Using Big Data Analysis, Club Factory shortlists the products that have the highest probability to be bought from a huge number of SKUs. Club factory offers insights to the manufacturers on the goods that are most preferred by customers so that the manufacturers can take appropriate manufacturing decisions.  

    In India, Club Factory did face some controversies. The biggest of all controversy was the tax evasion charges raised against Club Factory. Club Factory and a few other Chinese e-commerce companies like Shein were found shipping products from China directly to customers in India by marking these orders as gifts to avoid custom duties. To do away with the problem the Government of India started imposing custom duties on gifts as well from November 2019. Besides these, from late deliveries, late payment to sellers, and delivering damaged products, Club Factory has faced many charges in India.  

    Yet, Founder Vincent Lou perceived India as one of the biggest markets for Club Factory and had lofty plans to establish the company in India. The company had plans to invest in warehousing, technology, marketing, and delivery, and wanted to become India’s “One-Stop fashion marketplace” for sellers as well as customers. While initially, Club Factory sold only goods imported from Chinese manufacturers, in early 2019, the company adopted the local marketplace strategy whereby it brought in Indian sellers to the platform. The company onboarded around 5000 Indian sellers on the platform and was planning to bring in more local sellers. Club also Factory invested heavily in marketing in India. In 2018 Club Factory appointed Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh and Miss World, 2017 winner Manushi Chhillar as the company’s brand ambassadors.

    Ranveer Singh and Manushi Chhillar in a Club Factory Ad

    Club factory was looking forward to adding more product categories to the platform soon. But the ban on the app came as a shock to the founders.

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    StartupTalkySarika Anand

    Club Factory – Startup Story

    Club Factory began as Baokuanyi, which was a SaaS data intelligence platform that helped manufacturers take manufacturing decisions based on stock and inventory-related data of over 200,000 factories. The aim behind starting  Baokuanyi was to empower the manufacturers with better inventory data so that they can make their decisions better.

    While working with Baokuanyi, the founders realized that liquifying inventory was challenging for manufacturers. So, they thought of coming up with an e-commerce platform through which manufacturers can directly sell to customers. Thus Club Factory was founded.

    Currently, too Club Factory has a SaaS product that offers insights to the manufacturers regarding the products that are sold the most and the most popular designs so that the manufacturers do not end up making products that are not in demand.

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    Club Factory – Founders

    Vincent Lou and Aaron Jialun Li are the founders of Club Factory.

    Vincent Lou

    Club Factory founder Vincent Lou holds a Master’s Degree in Computer science from  Stanford University. As a student, Vincent had a deep interest in applied AI. At Standford, Vincent along with Aaron Li developed an AI-powered solution to help WHO optimize the costs of medical devices.  Vincent worked as a Research Assistant at The University of British Columbia, and also at the Standford Biomedical Informatics Training Program. Vincent was working as a Software Engineering Intern at Facebook during the early years of his career. In 2014, Vincent founded Baokuanyi which later pivoted to become Club Factory.

    Aaron Jialun Li

    Club Factory co-founder Aaron Jialun Li holds a Masters’s degree in Business Marketing. Aaron also did data analysis in Alibaba Group and looked after Product Management at Sharethis before founding the SaaS platform Baokuanyi with Vincent Lou.

    Founders, Club Factory

    While the company keeps experimenting with its tagline from time to time, the company had to face legal wrath in India in 2020 due to one of its slogans that involved the name of Indian e-commerce unicorn Snapdeal. In 2020, Club Factory was running the “everything cheaper than Snapdeal” ad campaign. Snapdeal approached the Delhi High Court against this ad campaign, in response to which, Club Factory discontinued the ad campaign.

    Club Factory logo
    Club Factory logo

    Club Factory – Business Model

    In India, Club Factory’s business model was quite different than its peers like Amazon and Flipkart. In India, Club Factory charged zero commission from the sellers. The Indian sellers could sell the products through the platform for free.

    “Club Factory will continue to provide a level-playing field to all sellers by not charging any commission fee so that they get to increase their earnings while transferring the cost-benefit to buyers,” said Club Factory founder Vincent Lou, in an interview, before the platform got banned in India.

    Club Factory does not stock inventories. It uses algorithms to match orders and sellers. When a customer places an order, Club Factory finds a seller who can fulfill the order. The supplier then sends the product to Club Factory’s warehouse, from where Club Factory ships the products to the customers. Club Factory also takes care of customer service.

    Amazon Startup Story – Founder, Competitors, Funding and more
    Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified informationon different startups and organizations. The content in this post has beenapproved by the organization it is based on. Online shopping has become a part of the daily life for most us today. As perStatista, over 2.1 b…
    StartupTalkyHimaya Presthitha

    Club Factory – Funding and Investors

    Club Factory has raised a total amount of $220 million in funding over the 3 funding rounds.

    Date Transaction Name Money Raised Lead Investor
    October 11, 2019 Series D $100 million Qiming Venture Partners
    February 14, 2018 Series C $100 million Bertelsmann Asia Investments
    January 1, 2017 Series B $20 million –

    To date Club Factory has raised funding from 8 investors including institutional investors like  Bertelsmann, Qiming Venture Partners, FREES FUND, ZhenFund, Kunlun Trust, and IDG Capital.

    Club Factory – Growth

    As per 2019 reports, Club Factory had over 70 million users worldwide, of which around 40 million were Indians. Club Factory also emerged as the most downloaded shopping app on the Android platform globally for the months of September and October 2019 (according to Sensor Tower’s Store Intelligence platform). Now that Club Factory got banned in India since June 2020, it has lost a huge user base. However, Club Factory is still delivering in many countries In Europe, USA, and Asia.

    Club Factory – FAQs

    Is Club Factory Working in India?

    No Government of India banned Club Factory along with other 58 Chinese apps in June 2020.

    Who is the founder of Club Factory?

    Chinese entrepreneurs Vincent Lou and Aaron Jialun Li founded Club Factory in 2014.

    Is Club Factory a Chinese app?

    Yes, Club Factory is a Chinese app.

  • How IKEA Manages to Keep Its Prices Low? | IKEA Low-Cost Strategy

    Thinking about renovating your home? Isn’t IKEA the first name that pops up in your head when you think about shopping for furniture?

    In recent times, IKEA has become the go-to option for young and old alike to shop for good quality, durable and affordable home décor pieces. ‘Affordable’ is the keyword here.

    Have you ever thought, how has IKEA been able to lower the costs of its products The brand has made a niche for itself in selling high-end beds, sofas, dining sets and wardrobes at half the price of its competitors, but how does it manage the same?. Well, here’s your answer.

    There are quite a few methods that IKEA follows to keep its prices low while maintaining the quality of its products. Let’s take a look at these methods.

    A Reverse Design Process
    IKEA’s Flat Packaging Innovation
    Bulk Production
    Unique Construction Technique
    IKEA’s Self Help Stores
    Take it home Policy
    A Pioneer In Do it Yourself

    A Reverse Design Process

    IKEA first decides on the price range for a particular product before starting to design the same. Where almost all competitor brands go by the book and follow the conventional process of choosing a design theme, making a storyboard, procuring the materials, putting together the design and then pricing the item according to the cost incurred, IKEA does the exact opposite.

    IKEA’s Flat Packaging Innovation

    IKEA’s founder, Ingvar Kamprad, introduced a new selling system in the year 1956, which he termed ‘flat-packaging‘. This flat-packing selling technique has now become IKEA’s identity. So, what exactly is flat-packaging? It is a selling system where IKEA sells parts of furniture instead of selling the whole product together.

    This allows the products to be packed in flat pieces, facilitating easier transport to stores. It also gives customers the option of choosing customized pieces for their use according to their convenience. Thus, IKEA manages to maintain the low price of its products.  

    IKEA Flat Packaging
    IKEA Flat Packaging

    Bulk Production

    IKEA produces all their furniture in bulk. This is something that they have agreed to time and again. Be it dining tables, chairs, sofas, wardrobes, beds, showcase or anything else, they produce a good number of all designs. Therefore, they are offered discounts on the bulk purchase of raw material as well as making costs. This is how the bulk production method allows IKEA to maintain a low price strategy.

    Unique Construction Technique

    If you ever have the time to go through IKEA’s website, you will come to a part that describes their construction methods. They are always innovating new techniques and methods to maintain their low selling price while making sure that their customers have no complaints about the quality of the products.

    On the website, it is explained how IKEA uses the technique of constructing their furniture by layering sheets of wood over a honeycomb base structure. Since the honeycomb core requires less wood, it costs less money for production. Thus, IKEA is able to maintain a low cost of products without compromising on quality.

    IKEA’s Self Help Stores

    IKEA believes in promoting independent shopping. What is independent shopping? It is nothing but allowing customers to shop on their own. Thus, IKEA does not hire a lot of store staff. This helps them to cut costs towards wages and provide customers with lesser priced products.

    IKEA Store
    IKEA Store

    In order to allow customers to shop independently, they also print all the product details, cautions, installation processes, etc. on the price tags. Hence, customers can easily read the guidelines on the price tag and choose the furniture they want to buy without any external help.

    Take it home Policy

    IKEA has a policy where the customers can carry their buys home by themselves on the same day. Although, it is a tad bit inconvenient this policy does come with its own set of contributions towards the low price strategy.

    IKEA Take it Home Today Policy
    IKEA Take it Home Today Policy

    Since customers can carry their own products, they do not need to pay the delivery charges to IKEA or pay higher product prices that may be used to facilitate free delivery. This reduces a lot of overhead costs on the making charges.

    A Pioneer In Do it Yourself

    If you have ever shopped at IKEA, you know pretty well that you must be adept at assembling and installing the furniture yourself. The company promotes a DIY environment, where it allows customers to install their own furniture. The DIY model of IKEA stands for Do it yourself.

    IKEA Do It Yourself
    IKEA Do It Yourself

    They provide guidebooks and assembly charts to support customers in installing their own furniture. Thus, the company does not need to pay any extra charges to internal or external teams for installation, thereby, maintaining their low price.

    In the recent past IKEA has understood that the DIY method can become a hassle for some customers, so, they acquired TaskRabbit, an external furniture installation support company. Therefore, customers have the option of hiring executives at TaskRabbit for assembling their furniture at lower costs.

    IKEA TaskRabbit
    IKEA TaskRabbit

    Conclusion

    With so many unique features and methods, IKEA has become a front-running strategist in keeping its product pricing low and maintaining its position in the market. The innovation applied in every aspect of the business makes sure that IKEA keeps giving a tough challenge to their competitors in the market, holding the top position when it comes to being one of the best furniture-selling businesses in the world. Now you know where to go the next time you want to furnish your home.

    FAQ

    Why is IKEA so cheap?

    IKEA employs flat packaging, DIY model, and self-help stores which help the brand to keep its prices low and competitive while not compromising on the quality.

    What does the DIY model of IKEA stand for?

    The DIY model of IKEA stands for Do It Yourself, where it ships the product in flat packaging and the customer has to assemble the furniture by themselves which is one of the major reasons how it manages to keep costs low for consumers.

    Is IKEA cheap in India?

    IKEA to boost affordability in India has priced Out of the 7,500 products that it sells about 1,000 are priced less than Rs 200 and 500 cost under Rs 100.

    Does IKEA sell online in India?

    Yes, IKEA does sell online in India.

    What does the word IKEA stand for?

    IKEA stands for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd.

  • 10 Surprising & Interesting Facts About Walmart People Don’t Know

    Walmart is an American retail corporation that operates a large chain of discount superstores.
    Walmart stores sell everything from groceries to musical tools.

    As of 2021, Walmart has 10,526 stores and clubs in 24 nations, working under 48 unique names.

    Walmart is the world’s biggest industry with a net worth of US$548.743 billion.

    Read on to find out some mind-blowing facts about Walmart.

    Walmarts are literally everywhere
    Large Workforce at Walmart
    Walmart promotes eating healthy
    Walmart Provided Relief for Hurricane Katrina Victims
    Walmart was Unsuccessful in Germany
    Walmart Museum
    Walmart’s Private Satellite Network
    Walmart has more than 150 shipping centers
    Walmart stocks even before Storms
    Robots are a part of Walmarts’ task force
    FAQs

    Interesting facts about Walmart

    Walmarts are literally everywhere

    Walmart Logo
    Walmart Logo

    Walmarts are the most easily found convenience stores. Research says that 90% of the population in the United States lives within 10 miles of a Walmart store. The rest 10% of people can shop at Walmart online. And, by 2017, the organization noticed that 95% of U.S. shoppers purchased stuff at Walmart.

    Large Workforce at Walmart

    The organization reports that it employs 2.2 million co-workers around the world.
    That implies, if each Walmart worker moved to a similar area, the city would be about a similar size as Houston, Texas. If Walmart was a country, it would be the 42nd biggest economy on the planet!

    Walmart promotes eating healthy

    Walmart store- Great Value
    Walmart store- Great Value

    Walmart has its own store image that is called Great Value. In 2011, the firm started working intimately with Michelle Obama to present their new good dieting drive. They started doing this by ensuring to decrease sugar, undesirable fats, and sodium content in their pre-packaged food varieties. Likewise, they declared to reduce costs on vegetables and natural products.
    Another technique that the firm used to promote healthy dieting was decreasing the costs of entire grain food. They likewise encouraged their own providers to use more healthy ingredients and practices in food.
    They even planned their own seal that was to go on food sources that were “genuinely healthy”.

    Walmart Provided Relief for Hurricane Katrina Victims

    Walmart providing relief in Hurricane Katrina
    Walmart providing relief in Hurricane Katrina

    In 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the South, killing many people and destroying a lot of property and infrastructure. The most severely affected town by this hurricane was New Orleans. The firm eventually donated around $20 million to relief efforts as well as 100,000 meals worth of food, 1500 trucks of commodities. The most fascinating aspect of Walmart’s response to the storm is that they were the first to provide relief to the victims. This was due to their intimate knowledge of local infrastructure and supply chains – which allowed them to deliver relief quickly and efficiently when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, Walmart opened make-shift stores, sent truckloads of supplies to our city, and activated associates on the ground to help those in need.

    Walmart was Unsuccessful in Germany

    Walmart’s status as a global retailer became prosperous in the 1990s. They have opened up more stores outside of the United States. For instance, their stores in China, the United Kingdom, and across South America have ended up becoming more successful than they initially expected.
    Despite this, they shut down many of their stores in Germany when the chain did not take off in the country which is the greatest economy in the entirety of Europe.
    At last, the American association’s refusal to agree to German qualities cost them around a billion dollars and hold on the German market.

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    Walmart Museum

    The Walmart Museum is situated in Walton’s 5 and 10 in Bentonville, Arkansas, the store bearing Walton’s name. The structure actually has its unique tiles on the roof and floor. Admission is free of charge. A wide variety of shows portraying the historical backdrop of Walmart are displayed in the Walmart Museum.

    Walmart’s Private Satellite Network

    Walmart created its private satellite network in 1987. Worth $24 million, the organization plans to keep an association between each Walmart store to its base camp in Bentonville. This made it the biggest private satellite organization made to date when it was launched on 20-Jul-2020.

    Walmart has more than 150 shipping centers

    Walmart has 150+ shipping centre. Walmart business action center points offer administrations for clubs, stores, and direct client deliveries.
    In addition, Walmart’s support place network handles the transportation of general products, dry food, and another category.

    Walmart’s present U.S. retail location and circulation network is enormous at $ 783 Million.

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    Walmart stocks even before Storms

    No item at Walmart is found full-time for around a year. The organization tracks its customers’ purchasing inclinations and changes according to their needs. Obviously, individuals purchase multiple times the measure of Pop-Tarts if an awful climate is coming in. Walmart stocks up surprisingly essentials before storms strike in area.

    Robots are a part of Walmarts’ task force

    Walmart Robots in Walmart Taskforce
    Walmart Robots in Walmart Taskforce

    Walmart is utilizing robots to finish assignments like washing floors, checking rack stock, and filtering for mistakes. “By next February, it hopes to have self-governing floor scrubbers in 1,860 of stores out of 4,700 US stores,”. The 350 Walmart stores will also be equipped with robots that will check rack stock.” Walmart, according to CNN, will be incorporating autonomous robots into its operations on a daily basis, the news source reported.

    FAQs

    What is Walmart known for?

    Walmart is an American global retailer selling a wide variety of merchandise at low prices.

    How many Walmart stores are there in the world?

    There are 10,526 stores in 24 different countries.

    Who is the founder of Walmart?

    Samuel Moore Walton was an American businessman and entrepreneur who founded the retail giant- Walmart.

    What is the slogan for Walmart?

    The walmart slogan is “Save Money. Live Better.”

  • Top 5 Autonomous Stores offering Seamless shopping Experience

    Imagine it is your groceries day out. You pick up your long list of things and head out for the store. After shopping for all your things which by the way is already exhausting, you happen to find a queue longer than the wall of China waiting at the reception counter. I just quoted a typical shopping experience of any other shopper who’s happier to find an empty cash counter than the 50% sale.

    Retailing has come a long way from just trading things in a barter system or for money to “having a shopping experience”. We now have acres of land converted into malls and stores which offer you that experience.

    You have food courts, playing arenas for kids, baby crashes all under one roof so that you make the most of your shopping spree. But the one thing every shopper dreads is the never-ending queue on the cash register. That is why retail stores, over the decades have launched self-checkout systems to save you the hassle of waiting for your turn to pay.  

    We will be exploring the pros and cons of autonomous stores and how will it transform the retail business in this article. Read on to find out more.

    What are Autonomous stores
    How Aifi has Transformed Retail experience
    Top 5 Autonomous stores in the world
    FAQ

    What are Autonomous stores

    Autonomous stores are cashier-less stores where there is no human presence required for checking you out of the store. These stores have self-checkout options where you pick up the stuff you require, bill them yourself, pay, and leave. That means no long queues or wastage of time.

    All the items that you have picked are added to your cart, just as in case of an online order, and you have to pay through store crafted app and set out. The items that are added by mistake can be sorted out too without making you pay for it.

    Retail stores use high-resolution cameras, sensors, Artificial intelligence to incorporate these cashier-free experiences in their stores.

    How Aifi has Transformed Retail experience

    Aifi is a company that provides software to retailers to open cashier-free stores, where the purchases are tracked by artificial intelligence technology. Aifi sells software to third parties for a seamless shopping experience.

    The company uses a series of cameras to track the movement made by the customer such as lifting or putting down a product on the store shelf and automatically updates the virtual basket of the customer. Aifi sends a digital receipt once the customer leaves the store.

    In case the customer prefers using the cashier-less system, the user has to simply scan the credit card or their Aifi app on their way out. It provides other payment solutions such as kiosks set up in nearby stores.

    Aifi just launched the largest autonomous retail store in Shanghai, China. Unlike other autonomous stores, the 40000 square foot store uses only a camera series and refrains from using weight sensor shelves which has resulted in slaying their investments by 60%.

    Aifi can be installed into new and existing retail stores. Aifi CEO Steve GU believes that Aifi can revolutionize the retail autonomous sector. “People can literally just walk into a shop, grab stuff, and then leave,” he added. Adding Aifi to retail stores can result in needing few staff people or engaging the same staff in other value-added services.

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    Top 5 Autonomous stores in the world

    Amazon Go

    Amazon has launched its first offline store called Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh which lets you pick up items and leave without queuing or checking out. The payment is later made through the Amazon Go app.

    Amazon Go App
    Amazon Go App

    So far, it has opened twenty-six Amazon Go stores and is well intended to open thousands more worldwide.

    Nike’s Speed Shop

    Nike opened a flagship store in 2018 calling it the “House of Nike Innovation 000”. As the name suggests, it isn’t your regular retail store. The ‘Speed Shop’ is a six floor customization studio with instant check-out points.

    This allows customers to book shoes-trial online to try on in the store. Customers arrive through a dedicated entrance to find a locker with their name on it, which can be unlocked through their smartphones.

    The shoes in question can be bought without even talking to anyone through mobile checkouts. No queues, no waiting. The ultimate shopping experience.

    Burberry’s Social Retail store

    Burberry opened its first social retail store in July 2020 in China’s tech hub Shenzhen. Powered by Tencent technology, it hopes to redefine the expectations of luxury retail. It provides personalized experience through a dedicated WeChat app and can share them with their communities.

    WeChat App
    WeChat App

    The mini program on the WeChat app lets customers book appointments, learn more about certain products, and  their UGC (user-generated content) accumulate a social virtual currency. This virtual currency converts into a gamified experience as shoppers continue their shopping throughout the store.

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    Hema’s QR codes

    The Chinese e-commerce giant opened its first Hema’s store in 2016. The store aims at combining elements of online and offline shopping to create the ultimate shopping experience. Alibaba has opened over 35 new retail stores with an aim to combine offline and online retailing.

    Hema QR Codes
    Hema QR Codes

    Customers use the Hema’s app to scan barcodes throughout the store to find product information and recipe ideas. The stores also provide deliveries of online orders. They have employees roaming around the stores filling in contents of online orders. Customers pay through their accounts on Taobao or Alipay. At select Hema stores, customers can make payments at kiosks using facial recognition.

    Kroger’s digital Price tags

    Kroger’s is rolling out new technologies to improve the buying experience. The technology helps customers by communicating with their smartphones. It uses emoji as they walk up and down the shopping aisles giving them clear choices in a pool of identical products.

    Crafted along with Microsoft in 2019, this technology displays nutritional information, pricing, video ads and coupons. Customers scan their items using their smartphones and these items get added in the cart.

    Besides hassle free shopping, Kroger’s and Microsoft aims at making this a sustainable option too. The technology runs on renewable energy and helps Kroger’s cut down over head lighting and therefore reduce energy costs.

    FAQ

    How does Amazon go store work?

    Amazon go store uses a combination of ceiling-mounted cameras and shelf-weight sensors to automatically track customers and items as they move around a store.

    How do you pay at Amazon Go store?

    Amazon Go store accepts all types of credit and debit cards.

    Where is Amazon Go available?

    There are currently 26 Amazon Go stores located in four cities — New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle.

    Conclusion

    2020 has accelerated the contactless shopping trend and rightfully so. Retailers continue to explore  more of these innovative shopping ideas to bring back the offline footprint. Most of the traditional brick-and-mortar stores are redefining their shopping arenas to provide the ultimate shopping experience.

    While autonomous stores are trending since decades, there are still a few things that they haven’t gotten right. They are prone to thefts and require manual overrides. Furthermore, many surveys have found that customers defraud the systems by under scanning or item swapping.

    Some retail stores have gone back to traditional checkouts since the customers started leaving loaded carts in the store, frustrated at the self-checkout machines.

    The technology may completely replace human intervention in the up coming high tech retail stores. But with parallel challenges, this would be lest recommended. Instead companies could deploy their staff more flexibly and use them for other value added services.

  • Growth Of Shopping Apps Installs During Pandemic

    The State of Growth of  Shopping App Marketing 2020 reports that a mobile marketing analytics and attribution platform, notes that India witnessed about a 250% increase in non-organic growth of shopping apps install during the strict lockdown period running from March. It shows that generally people prefer to go to the shopping stores but the scenario is change where all the Indians prefer to shop on an online platform. According to AppsFlyer, among non-gaming apps, the biggest winners were News apps (+189%), Health & Fitness (+107%), Music (+93%), and Shopping (+30%). There is a +178% ad spend on growth of shopping apps on iOS.

    Touch-Free Shopping

    Before this pandemic, a big part of shopping was in hands-on experience, Eating samples at the grocery store and swiping a credit card on a long-desired purchase.

    Also in this lockdown period, people are more give attention to computerized applications. Also it has been showing that there is a hike in application installations in India during the COVID-19. And the people became more preference for digital. Malls were  in difficult situations as due to strict lockdown people spent more time in online shopping.

    In the holiday season, there is more use growth of shopping apps as compared to other days. Also in 2020 all the work becomes digitalized. And in 2020 all the business saw a shift in business. The app-shopping activity is skyrocketed in this Covid-19 pandemic duration. Also, we can predict that in the upcoming holiday season in 2020 there will be more shopping activity. A study found that users are more excited about shopping from apps, completing registration in shopping apps within 16 minutes of downloading a shopping app.

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    In October there will be running a big sale like Flipkart gives Big Billion sale and Amazon gives Great Indian festival. During these sales, these shopping apps offer a great discount on the products and people will also do in app-shopping activity across India. Also Going forward marketers prepare for the festive season. As the most exciting IPL is also running therefore more shopping activity will be performing. In India majority of B2C e-Commerce retailers draw customers of by providing many advantages like heavy discounts, free delivery, buy one get one free, and exchange offers. Many times online shoppers face difficulty in product delivery timelines and customer service that’s why they give more attention on this part.

    India is a fast becoming mobile-first economy and the most important is the awesome infrastructure and very fast performance in the apps also with great responsibility which increases more users on these apps day by day.

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    More Shopping

    Experts in this field predict that the need for brands and marketers provides a super strategy and provides smooth functions to engage more customers. The Data shows that in the last holiday season saws more consumers in APAC preferring more traditional shopping apps, buying gifts and goods from familiar e-commerce apps, rather than from going to marketplace exchanges. APAC also showed that there is a 40% growth in app-sessions of all shopping apps, which clearly show an accelerating mobile-first economy.

    Online Shopping
    Online Shopping

    In app-sessions growth in shopping tells that there is more interest in APAC consumers, using them more often to buy products or to window-shop. This B2C spike in India e-Commerce sites is due to existing online shoppers stocking up on essentials given the coronavirus outbreak and the lockdown imposed by the Government.

    Some Key Points of Growth of Shopping Apps

    If we look at the positions of India for the initial half of 2020, India is in the third position after the USA and Brazil for the non-organic application installations, and if we consider organic application installations India is in the second position after the USA.

    • There was a 580% spike in retargeting transformations or repeat clients on shopping applications in India after the nation had started opening up.
    • Also, it is shown that there is an 85% higher number of purchasing clients on shopping applications in India during the period May-June as compared to March-April. This is due to the strict lockdown in India till May.
    • But what is more interesting is the increase in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), with an increase of 104% seen in fashion apps between March and May 2020.
    • The most amazing part of this lockdown period is there are 2.7 billion gaming applications downloads in India, which is highest in the world.
    • As per reports, there is a recovery of internet shopping was huge by style items. As online shopping picked up in the pandemic period there is a 104% jump in revenue per user for fashion e-commerce applications in India from March to May in 2020.
    • There are 36% e-Commerce app installs when the lockdown was eased in April and July 2020.
    • The region also saw a 55% surge in Android revenue and a 40% increase in revenue for iOS during April 2020.

    “As India is gearing up to embrace the much-awaited IPL season, marketers would also need to focus on messaging that delivers a sense of empathy and rekindles the holiday and festival spirit during troubled times,” said Sanjay Trisal, country manager, AppsFlyer India.

    The nice recovery in shopping applications in India indicates that there is a larger trend in industries that are trying to recovering their business as the country opens-up slowly and reconciles with the new normal within the COVID-19 pandemic.

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    Average Monthly Hours Spent
    Average Monthly Hours Spent

    As from the above graphs, it is visible that there is a huge increase in spent time on apps. The average user is spending approximately 4 hours and 20 minutes per day on their smartphones.

    There is one interesting news i.e. one food Startup company Zomato claimed that the industry was rebounding after a prolonged lull, with Delhi and Mumbai made a 95% recovery of their pre-COVID levels of business, while other metro cities like Kolkata and Chennai were at 80%.

    Amazon – one of the leading e-commerce players in the country, and the world, has announced on its site that the customers are relying on them like never before in their social distancing and self-quarantine efforts.

  • Yelp Business Model: How Does It Make Money

    Every small startup requires has needed an opportunity that benefits them in the long term. Every startup needs to utilize any resources that they have in order to get more exposure and attract more customers to their businesses online. Similarly, Yelp is known to be a brand of its own and was created to enable people to access more businesses online. Yelp has been recognized as a verified and accountable entity in which people can place their trust and access good local businesses.

    Company Name Yelp
    Headquaters San Francisco, California, USA
    Founded On 2004
    CEO Jeremy Stoppelman
    Employees 6030 (as of 2018)
    Annual Revenue $942 Million (as of 2018)
    Products & Services Yelp Deals, Home Services, Beauty & Spa services, Food, Health and Medical

    Yelp users can not only search and review businesses but can also create a profile or become friends other users, chat on different online forums and can go for meet ups offline.  According to a report by the wall street journal, Yelp has set a price for their IPO which will sell at 7.15 million shares at a price of $12 to $14. That would value the company at $838.6 million at the high end of that range. The company has known grown because of getting users to write reviews of businesses, engaging them through social networking features and through search engine traffic.

    The logo of Yelp.
    The logo of Yelp

    Yelp is now known to have 66 million different monthly visitors and more than 5.7 million mobile devices and has collected a total of 25 million reviews since it came out in 2004. As of Dec 31, 2018, Yelp has a total of 177.4 million reviews of local businesses.It also generates almost all of its revenue from advertisements like for example in the year of 2011, 91.4% of its revenue came from advertising.

    Not only that, it generates its revenue from two different kinds off advertising. First is the local advertising from businesses that want to be featured on yelp which is 76.8% of total revenue and the second one being Brand advertising that displays ads on yelp.com in order to get more traffic from search engine.

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    Yelp Business Model

    Yelp has an average of 28 million mobile application visitors, 74 million unique mobile web visitors and 83 million unique desktop visitors. The yelp business model is something you should definitely be aware of because it is online business directory which lists and makes local businesses visible to users it also differentiates itself with the crowd sourced reviews of those businesses on its platform. Furthermore the company has expanded its business model by adding reservation services and food delivery and take out services. The business model includes factors like:

    Customers prefer to use yelp to find local businesses
    Customers prefer to use yelp to find local businesses 

    Customers of Yelp

    Yelp has 3 customer segments or target audience which include Local business, user and content creators/contributors:

    • Local businesses are segmented on the basis of Location, Type of service, Restaurant Cuisine, Price point, hours of operations, food delivery and takeout.
    • Users are divided into demographics, location, interests and spending profile.
    • Content contributors include the community of active reviewers that are constantly engaged in fun social exchanges.
    The different ways Yelp helps a customers along with the local businesses
    The different ways Yelp helps a customers along with the local businesses

    Value preposition of Yelp

    • Local businesses – when it comes to local business yelp is a trusted platform because it gives them the opportunity to engage with a large audience and increases their visibility while also sourcing their target audience. It gives the businesses an opportunity to increase their revenue, provide them business data and take care of reservation and wait list management.
    • Users – the platform helps uses by giving them an opportunity to browse local businesses, discover new places, save time and money, see pictures and videos, compare prices, read reviews and make better choices.
    • For the content creators – Yelp invests a lot in engaging and fun content which makes it easier for the users and businesses to interact with each other but when it comes to content creators it company offers them recognition in yelp elite and they can also get invited to special events and more.

    Customer service done by Yelp

    The high quality customer service is also one of the reasons why Yep business model is so successful as it offers services like:

    • Self-service platform, which makes it possible for its users to serve themselves anytime easily and effectively.
    • Yelp is also transparent when it comes to reviews, rating, tips, photos and ensuring that it is always easily accessible to its customers online.
    • Build a brand reputation for your local businesses and also makes considerable efforts in managing their brand image.
    • Yelp allows its users to place food orders directly without leaving the platform.
    • Yelp allows businesses to interact with their customers in a friendly and approachable manner with features like Request A Quote, a direct response to reviews, Yelp reservation, etc.
    • Yelp is successful when it comes to establishing a flourishing community of users, content contributors and other local business that interact with each other.

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    How does Yelp make Money

    The company makes most of its money through service programs which can be both self-service and full service. The other money making strategy is invested in its advertising and profile enhancement services that benefit the businesses greatly. The categories are as follows:

    Yelp provides businesses with both paid and free advertising products. It also utilizes its website and mobile app to deliver targeted search advertising to a broader audience. In 2018, 97% of its revenue was generated because it was dependent on advertisement. All the advertising products sold by their partners and business listings are recognized as yelp advertising revenue. It offers services that come under the umbrella of advertising, which are:

    The breakdown of Yelp Reviews
    The breakdown of Yelp Reviews
    • Enhanced – The purpose of this product is in order to prevent other business ads from appearing on the business listing pages of enhanced profile business customers.
    • Branded Profile – This feature is a business’s purchase a branded profile program to ensure that they are provided with premium features to increase their business listings. This allows the businesses to choose their preferred method advertising  done by videos or images which are best suited to portray their portray their slideshow feature or simply updating their listing information.
    • Yelp verified license – In this feature the yelp business listing page offers a paid upgrade license which appears like a badge. It is specifically only for the licensed advertisers and their local or home services category.
    • Ad Re-sales – Yelp can also resell some of its advertising products to generate more revenue and is done through their partnership with certain agencies like DexYP. It has also launched its yelp ads certified partners programs in 2018 to allow its collaborative agencies so they can manage to sell ad campaigns at the behalf of their business clients.

    Transaction revenue

    Yelp has come with other tools and features such as ensuring transactions between their consumers and businesses which are facilitated appropriately. This features accounts to 1% of yelps total revenue. These include services like:

    Revenue Dec 2018 (in million) % of revenue
    Advertising $907.49 97%
    Transactions $13.69 1%
    Other Servives $21.59 2%
    Total Revenue $942.77 100%

    • Yelp Platform – Through partner integration, the company enables its consumers to proceed with their transactions on the yelp website or app. Consumer can order any products they want in the ranging from show tickets to flowers.
    • Grubhub Partnership – The Company generates substantial revenue from their yelp Eat24 business. They did this by placing their orders through yelp Eat24 in which restaurants own arrangements with respective business and are paid a commission percentage fee.  Yelp sold this platform in 2018 and now offer the user to select from a wide range of restaurants.
    • Yelp Deals – This product has now created a large revenue for yelp especially when it allows the business owners to promote its services and products on the platform but at discounted rates.
    • Gift Certificates – The business owners can now sell gift certificates at a full price to the consumers that have yelp gift certificate products. The cost of this service however ranges from $10 up to $500.

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    Full service Program

    Yelp Full service program provide all Yelp free tools and self-service program tools plus targeted Yelp ads, upgraded business page features and dedicated support. The business who buy full service program get:

    • All the free tools – all the tools of the free suite to showcase the business and connect with the yelp community.
    • Video Production and hosting – Yelp sends a videographer to produce a professional video for the yelp business page on which businesses buy full service program.
    • All the self service program tools – it includes online shopping, reservations, profile enhancements and the deals and gift certificate
    • Dedicated Support – businesses which buy full service program are entitled to dedicate support by yelp staff.