Intentree Focus: Best practices and the rise and rise of Yebhi.com

This post is going to be exactly how you expect it to be. We are focusing on What makes Yebhi.com an attractive bet in the upcoming E commerce industry of India.

Proud owner of Yebhi.com, Mr Manmohan Agarwal

Manmohan Agarwal started out in the 90's as part of the mining industry. In 2007 he jumped onto the E commerce bandwagon with BigShoebaazaar which has now evolved into a wholesale business and is also the parent company for Yebhi.com
His main purpose behind the whole E commerce move was his belief that if supply chain issues could be resolved, this was one of the most profitable business sectors. In 2009, he stepped onto a multi-product retail website in the form of Yebhi.com. 
With an employee base of just over 500, today Yebhi lists 17 product categories on the website and is in the process of adding even more.

So let us have a look at some key marketing and delivery features that are part of best practices being followed at Yebhi.com, one of the best online retailers in the country right now.


Yebhi Champs
Agarwal hired delivery boys who were MBA's. Yes, management graduates would deliver goods to customers and at the same time help them understand the importance of buying goods online.

Keep Shopping Keep Talking (KSKT)
In December 2012, Yebhi announced its KSKT scheme in association with Aircel where depending on purchase value, users could receive free talk time on their Aircel connections. Example, user could get a Rs 200 talktime to talk free on their Aircel connection whenever they make a purchase of Rs 1000. Conversely, they could get some cash back whenever they recharge their Aircel connections.

Try n Buy
Under this scheme, which was launched on 27 May last year, customers can order products online and then try a dress in their own own while delivery boy waited. This way, if they did not like it, they could return it and get their money back on the spot. It is aimed at mainly trying to promote sale of clothes and apparel online.

Free delivery for purchases above Rs 500 (Rather self explanatory innit?!!)

30 Day Return Policy
For customers who are not satisfied with their purchase they have an option for returning the product within 30 days. Although, this option is available as a one time offer only and has clauses to it that can be found on the site's adequately updated FAQ page.

QR code and NFC codes at CCD
Recently Yebhi in collaboration with Cafe Coffee Day launched its new scheme under which products pictures placed at CCD will have QR codes and NFC codes embedded on them. This way you can use your QR code or NFC scanner to directly link to the product page and can buy it right there and then. How effective is it going to be in reality is still to be found out but it sure seems to be a great way to increase conversion rates.

CBO Nikhil Rungta (L) and CEO Manmohan Agarwal (R) at the launch of the QR code store at CCD

Yebhi Wallet
One of the most interesting schemes has been the Yebhi Wallet. It allows the user to establish an account with the website through which he can make credit purchases. Something very useful for increasing the loyalty rate among customers. A demo flash video is available on the website itself.

Apart from these marketing and product features, Yebhi has a 24x7 customer care unit that unfailingly looks after the customer queries.

In terms of logistics, Yebhi has one of the largest warehouses in the country (500,000 sq foot approx). It is an Inventory based model and therefore it becomes necessary for it to reduce its logistics costs. ( Recently, CBO Nikhil Rungta has indicated that Yebhi might be shifting to a marketplace model).

The Yebhi management boasts of delivering products to over 11,000 pin codes in Tier 1 and 2 towns and this reflects in the fact that more than 50% of their business comes from customers in these smaller cities and towns.
It also prides itself on its 'Click to Ship' time which is basically the time it takes for products to be shipped from the warehouses after a customer has placed his order on the website. The average time is less than 2 hours. It is enough to bill them the best in the Indian E commerce market in terms of logistics but still miles behind Amazon which specializes in its logistics department.

Of the huge traffic that the site gets 40% of it are women. 10% more than what other sites witness. Something that has come by hard analytics and a dedicated research team, something that has helped them drive their store of home lifestyle and fashion products.

However, their conversion ratio is only as good as some of the other players partly because even now 50% of the sales take place through COD (IAMAI). Something that they are sure to be working on improving with all their customer programs.

Funding

Since 2009, Yebhi.com has managed to get 3 rounds of funding.

In 2010 it managed to rise an initial capital of Rs 10 crore from Nexus Venture Partners and again in mid 2011 another Rs 40 Cr from N.R. Narayana Murthy's Catamaran Ventures and Nexus Ventures Partners in a Series B round of funding.
And in October last year they raised another Rs 100 crores with the help of Catamaran Ventures and also roped in Qualcomm Ventures and Fidelity Growth Partners.

One of the biggest steps that Yebhi took was appointing Nikhil Rungta former marketing head of Google India as its Chief Business Officer. And it is already starting to bear fruit with another round of Rs 60 Cr funding secured internally by the existing investors this April. It goes to reflect their confidence in the great intent that Yebhi is promising in taking up competition head on.

The site also launched a revamped look including a new logo on 23rd April in its efforts to woo in new customers and rebrand itself as Young, Energetic and Simple (YES!). (That's the official motto!!)

All this must at the end of the day give results. And Yebhi does not disappoint. Agarwal says that the company has been growing at more than 200 percent year on year, including a 100% rise in profits this year with the E commerce industry expected to reach an inflection point where the customers are going to grow at an exponential rate. All this makes him optimistic enough to declare that Yebhi could break even in the next 15-18 months time.

With such best practices and professionalism under an able management. Yebhi is sure to become a familiar brand in the E commerce retail market in the next decade.

If you feel this article is useful and informative, give us a facebook thumbs up. Also, feel free to comment if you have any particular Yebhi experience you'd like to share or have something more to add. Would be delighted to hear from you.
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Off the Beaten track: APMC, The Spanner In The Works

"To see the complete picture, first you have to step out of the frame."-Salman Rushdie, in The Ground Beneath Her Feet

Throw back to the era when the British East India Company was at its peak in India, before the revolt broke out in Barrackpore. When princely kingdoms let their doors open to the commercial world and allowed their farmers to be contracted to produce what the company wanted. Naturally, cash crops like Poppy were numero uno on the list, leaving the farmers to starve and die themselves. A fact highlighted well in The Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh. To prevent such a catastrophe in the modern era and keeping inline with its socialist ideals, the Government of India came up with the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act or APMC.
Under the APMC which was passed by different state governments, farmers could avoid outright exploitation at the hands of the traders and capitalists and sell their goods at regulated prices at Government authorized 'Mandi's'. Here, all traders were to have a government license to operate and this way the exploitation was curbed if not completely stopped.

What was not foreseen was the trouble that liberalization would bring to these state institutions. For though the farmers were well protected by laws, On the ground, reality was biting. Mandi's had turned into private run houses where traders and merchants ganged up to give fewer options to farmers, thereby increasing their woe's and reducing them to penury. Selling produce at inflated prices in markets elsewhere. Farmers were committing suicides (..still do) and the grains and vegetables that everyone needs to feed themselves were not available to MNC's and private players to grow and control.

Noble projects like the E-Choupal by ITC started in June 2000 have made limited progress and come to a standstill thanks to very few states making amendments to their APMC acts (UP, Karnataka among them). Without that, ITC and the others can only procure coffee, or oil seeds and soyabean.

The E Choupal movement by ITC brings not just an option to sell goods but  provides them Soil information, Weather reports and best farming practices on an online platform

So much for liberalization. Even spot trading for commodities in agricultural space by MCX and NCDEX is a dead rubber so far. Big time players like Wallmart have been banging on the doors for long and small time players like online e-groceries sellers like Ekstop, Harisabzi, Satvikshop and Bigbasket are scratching their heads. If only this ammendment to APMC would come sooner than later, if only it was easier to get what they want without the stranglehold of the APMC. To achieve commercial viability for e-commerce retailers of groceries a long term plan has to include pushing for reforms. The huge amounts of investment in infrastructure and logistics development by these companies and the costs of web optimization are not going to bring in any fruit in the near future if this Frankenstein law is not tinkered with.
                                                                                                                                       - Zain Siddiqui

Intentree Focus: The Secret to CONVERSIONS

The biggest challenge for e-commerce today in my opinion is not how to increase conversions or do business well, but to figure out a way to automate the process of selling. Never has this been done before in the history of human civilization.
How to get a user on your online store to buy things without having to move a muscle yourself? How to develop the art of shepherding traffic on a website into the pen of buying? The reason I say it is art is because it has not been mastered so far by any of the e-commerce players in India or abroad.

Flipkart, Tradus and a host of e commerce players in India are trying every trick in the book to increase sales through innovation and web optimizing but it in a cut throat world where investors must be satisfied, bottom lines become the only KPI (Key Performance Indicators) of success of a business. There are other metrics like Average order value, Task completion rate, Customer loyalty and Time between purchase. But it all boils down to conversions.

The first step though before anything else is know what do you want to convert. In terms of e commerce players, sales in the form of completed transactions through the 'Buy' button become the basis for measuring conversion rate (Number of people completing transaction to number of people who land on buying page).
In this post, we therefore discuss the best conversion practices of e commerce players.

1. Each sheep is unique
Different products force different user behavior.
Hence, although a standardized product page format is necessary to build trust and is an important branding tool, it is wrong to think that all users on the site will fall for it. The same user may display a different behavior when buying a household apparel than when buying a mobile phone.


2. Trust
The secret lies in winning over the trust of the user. Once, this is accomplished the Buy button becomes the blackhole you are looking for. Therefore, think about how to build trust with the user.

3. Reduce the pain 
E commerce players report cart abandonment as a major issue. Many factors could be leading to this, including high loading times for pages or confusing directions. Even, asking the customer for too much information before registering a purchase puts off many. Make sure, you reduce the pain of buying by reducing the number of clicks it takes to actually complete the buy.
This way, not only user experience enhances, but you complete the purchase faster and give little chance to the customer to abandon your cart.


4. Product page design
Justin Rondeau talks of a few good things to improve your product page design. After all the product page is your virtual salesman. It should look good and appealing. There is a need to strike the right balance between too little information and too much distraction.
Some steps you could take are:
Bigger buy buttons (Call to action must be emphasized clearly)
Bigger product images
This concept of bigger images has been known to reduce bounce rates by 27% and increase lead generation by 36%. Priceless.

A camera being sold on Flipkart. Notice the various sections on display. Specially, the call to actions in the form of buttons.

5. Clear returns policy
A clear policy stating company rules regarding return of goods and faulty deliveries should be stated. Not in some spooky corner of the page but visible in a relevant place.

6. Product information
Displaying correct and accurate product information is of paramount importance. Absence or improper of product information is as good as misleading the public. Inexcusable.

7. Different payment options
Quite often an ICICI card holder will not find his bank listed in the payment options or a state government bank holder will feel left out. (A large segment of target market for Indian e commerce lies in the rural and tier 2 and 3 towns where people tend to hold state govt. accounts!!)
Make sure you encourage people to make instant payments by rolling out the carpet for them. Make them avoid cash on delivery purchases since they get returned 20% of the time. It buys them an additional time to rethink the buy. But this does not mean you reduce the purchase time by blocking cash on delivery option altogether. Give them a chance to make cash on delivery purchases. Give them the option, yes, but work on developing an illusion of choice. Behind it, lies your gold.

8. Be talked about everywhere
Being talked about on other blogs and in the market is not only a good way to get traffic but also a good way to build your brand image. A brand image should be built around trust. Check what people are saying about you for in the online world. Remember here viral information flow occurs, especially negative news.

9. Customer reviews
Encourage people to give feedback and make sure you display it prominantly on relevant pages. Ask them not only about the product but about your service, which is what you are really selling.

10. Marketing
Finally, the pricing mix in the form of discounts and schemes has to be managed well by the marketing team.

What do online firms have to say about this? Apparently, there is no one answer to the problem. Santosh Jose, owner of Intentree says, " E commerce companies need to make sure that they have adequate and balanced content on their product page. Price details need to be clearly mentioned and distractions should be  limited." 

Notes:

• To measure you conversion rates and know more about user behavior Santosh recommends web based tool KISSmetrics.
• To explore more about conversion tactics and the importance of conversion rate as a KPI visit Avianash Kaushik's Occam's Razor and also, Added Bytes by Dave Child. 
• Focus on measuring your macro (Primary) conversions, but to really test the conversion rate and analyse it measure your micro conversions in the form of subscriptions and and page likes as well. Macro+Micro=Complete analysis. It will give you a better idea about where the problem lies and help you design a better product page.

The secret though lies in accepting that improving conversion rates is both a science and an art. It is not a matter of simple algorithm and logic nor is an abstract concept purely down to luck. But it can be worked on and thought about and patiently improved. Only a greater understanding of customer needs and perceptions  can lead us there. 

                                                                                                                                          

Did you find this post useful. Feel free to tweet or share through g+ and facebook.

Also,What do you think? Would you like to add things i seem to have missed out. Feel free to use the comments space below.                                                      

                                                                                                                                   - Zain Siddiqui

7 Keys to Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment and Increase Conversion Rate

Research  shows that the average shopping cart abandonment rate lies anywhere  between 60-70% and the major online retailers like Amazon, Flipkart have  conversion rates as low as 1-2%. Considering the recent spurt in the  e-commerce industry this is a dismal percentage. Given below are some common reasons for cart  abandonment and tips on how to reduce card abandonment and increase  conversion rate:

1.   Just Comparing Products

Majority  of the prospective customers use the internet to compare alternatives. A  third party verification seal such as an SSL certificate or a  HackerSafe seal represents credibility of the website and can help  convert the comparison shopper to a buyer.

2.   Insufficient Product Information

Provide  extensive product descriptions and images to help present the product  better to the customer. You can also provide cash on delivery or cash  back facility.

3.   Not Ready To Purchase /Wanted To Save Product For Later  Consideration

Allow  customers to bookmark products for future purchase. Increase the cookie  length and use a persistent shopping cart, which saves the contents of  the cart for a number of days. Let the customer know on the cart summary  page how long their cart details will be saved.

4.   Out Of Stock/Non Availability

Hide  a product/size/colour when the merchant's stock runs out or display the  current quantity of items in stock on the product page. This will  reduce any surprises for the customer when they reach the view cart  page.

5.   High Shipping Costs

Reduce  the shipping charges, even if it means that you have to absorb some of  the cost. Promotional messages like “Order for Rs 250 or more and get  Free Shipping” can be shown to encourage purchase. Also mention the  delivery time and the total cost so that there are no surprises at the  time of receipt.

6.   Technical Problems

The  website should be made compatible with all major browsers and operating  systems so that the visitor does not face any technical snags. Increase  your page load speed as slow loading pages normally lead the customer  to abandon their purchases.

7.   Lengthy Check Out Process

Do  not ask for unnecessary information at the time of registration. Offer  the option of completing registration after the transaction is complete  or before leaving check out process.

By
Shovana Sahu

                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                 

About Intentree

Intentree provides e-commerce optimization services using measurable & frugal usability, performance, security and functional techniques. To  know more visit us  @ http://www.intentree.com or Intentree : Introduction

6 Keys to Enhance Profitability of Your E-Commerce Business in India

India is a country with a booming economy, rapid growth of internet penetration, and a market of 1.2 billion. According to a report released by Com Score the E-commerce websites in India have experienced a 47% growth in unique hits from 2011 to 2012, from 26.1 million to 37.5 million.  From a volume perspective, the market has exploded, going from $2.5 billion in 2009 to $14 billion in 2012. Here are 6 keys to help you join the bandwagon and enhance the profitability of your e-commerce business in India:

1.     Sound E-Commerce Strategy

The first key for building a successful e-commerce business is to come up with a sound e-commerce strategy, that differentiates your business from the competitors and provides a unique value proposition to the customers.

2.     Enhanced Online Shopping Experience

The user should be provided with an enhanced shopping experience with improved usability, search and navigation features. You can also provide extensive product descriptions and 360° product view.

3.     Secure Online Payment System

Provide a secure online payment medium for all transactions. Third party verification such as SSL certificate or HackerSafe seal increases the confidence of the buyers on the online payment process.

4.     Credibility

All Online disclosures on behalf of the company should include complete and accurate information about the business, about the goods or services for sale and about how the transaction is made.

5.     Logistics and Supply Chain Management

A robust and well managed logistics and supply chain management system will increase agility, reduce transportation and storage costs for the company and ensure prompt delivery of the purchased merchandise to the customers.

6.     M-commerce

Integrate e-commerce with mobile network through mobile application, such that the customers can check promotions, product descriptions and reviews posted by past purchasers via their smart phones. Also make it easy for them to purchase via these devices with a seamless flow of payment and shipping information between the seller's e-commerce and m-commerce engines.

By 

Shovana Sahu

About Intentree

Intentree provides e-commerce optimization services using measurable & frugal usability, performance, security and functional techniques. To know more visit us @ http://www.intentree.com or Intentree : Introduction

The Indian E-Commerce Market is Poised for Rapid Growth

India’s e-commerce market is at an early stage but is expected to see a huge growth over the next four to five years. According to a research by Forrester, a research and advisory firm, the e-commerce market in India is set to grow the fastest within the Asia-Pacific Region at a CAGR of over 57% between 2012-16.

Also, the latest report generated by the industry body ASSOCHAM and research company ComScore, says that the online retail penetration in e-commerce in India has increased to 60%, and has grown to 37.5 million from 26.1 million unique visitors a month, which means an overall growth of 43% annually.

The growth has come across all retail categories and most of them show promising transactions and conversion rates along with a growth in online visitors. The top retail sites in India such as Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal have each had a growth of over 100% in the last 12 months. This shows the immense potential that the retail category holds in India. Over the past 12 months, venture capitalists have invested heavily in India’s e-commerce market, new players have emerged, and the e-commerce ecosystem has developed, presenting a huge opportunity for companies willing to work through some of the logistics and payments challenges in India.

The Indian shoppers are increasingly discovering buying items with just a click of the mouse. Online movie ticket booking websites and travel booking websites are very popular among the Indian online customers. The Indian railways ticket website, IRCTC is used by almost one in five of the country's web users, says the research company Comscore. The retail websites are also fast catching up as more people are purchasing apparels, home appliances and electronic items online.

India can expect to witness a major change in its e-commerce market in the next couple of years because there will be an entire generation that has grown up with internet at home and school ready to spend online by 2015 or so. For this generation, internet is the first point of contact and online shopping is a means of convenience. This is in contrast to those who have had to make a transition to working on the internet, having not been exposed to it while growing up.

Currently, India is the third largest internet user country in the world after US and China. As of now, the e-commerce sales value, excluding travel bookings, is less than 1 per cent of the total pie of an estimated $500 billion retail sale in the country. This works out to less than $5 billion. The projection is that e-commerce in India will grow to $15 billion by the year 2015.

Thus to conclude, we can say that the Indian e-commerce industry is going to flourish with the rising demand from consumers and increasing penetration of technology. Models like Cash on Delivery, improved logistics, payment options and service quality will boost the Indian e-commerce market. In the coming years India will be put on the global map as one of the largest e-commerce markets.

By

Shovana Sahu

About Intentree

Intentree provides e-commerce optimization services using measurable & frugal usability, performance, security and functional techniques. To know more visit us @ www.intentree.com or http://www.slideshare.net/intentree/intentree-introduction

3 Keys to Accelerate Your Ecommerce Business in India

The e-commerce websites have increased over a tenfold in the past few years and the competition is on a rise. According to a recent study by Microsoft Accelerator Research, nearly a half of the e-commerce startups closed down within 6-12 months of their launch. A lot of these sites have dead inventories and the 20-30% discounts did not help much in covering their costs. The high mortality rate has made it even more pertinent to get the right mix to ensure continuous growth and not fall prey to intense competition. Listed below are 3 Keys to accelerate your e-commerce business in India:-   

1.      Increase Conversion Rates

Specific keywords often tend to have a better conversion rate than general keywords. For example, consider the keywords below. Which one do you think leads to a higher conversion rate?
       a.       HP
       b.      HP Printers
       c.       HP P1007
Generally, more specific keywords like "HP P1007" tend to lead to a better conversion rate than general keywords like "HP." This is because the online shoppers who are looking for specific models or products have already researched the product and now want to make a purchase. However, using more specific keywords can lead to fewer impressions. If your keywords are too specific, fewer people may end up searching for those terms. The trick is to find the right balance between being general enough to match what people are searching for, and specific enough to lead to conversions.

2.      Increase Average Order Value and Decrease Bounce Rates

Once you get a shopper to your site, the goal shifts to making them purchase as much as possible. Since the online shoppers have specific needs your landing pages must be designed to instantly provide personalized and relevant content. The customers can be encouraged to buy more products by creating product bundles, instead of selling them separately. For example a mobile phone can be sold with accessories like bluetooth, phone cover, micro SD card etc.

3.     Differentiate Your Business
With so many retailers entering the online e-commerce business you need to differentiate yourself from them. Asking simple questions to yourself such as - 
    Why should a customer visit you? 
    Do you offer the lowest price? 
    Does your customer service set you apart? 
will set your differential advantage and help you develop your USP. Every business needs to differentiate itself. As a small e-commerce business, you cannot hope to sell everything to everybody, so you need to make sure that your business stands for something specific in the minds of consumers. One way to differentiate your business is to solve at least one problem that customers face -- especially a problem that no one else is solving.

By

Shovana Sahu

About Intentree

Intentree provides e-commerce optimization services using measurable & frugal usability, performance, security and functional techniques. To know more visit us @ www.intentree.com or or http://www.slideshare.net/intentree/intentree-introduction