Ian Muttoo :flickr

INTRODUCTION

Indian retail sector is highly fragmented as compared to the developed as well as the other developing countries. This shows a great potential for the organized retail industry to prosper in India, as the market for the final consumption in India is very large. Retail trade is largely in the hands of private independent owners and distributor’s structure for fast moving consumer goods consisting of multiple layers such as carrying and forwarding agents, distributors, stockiest, wholesalers and retailers. Thus, the growth potential for the organized retailer is enormous. In the next 2-3 years, India will finally see operations of a number of very serious international players- net withstanding the current restrictions on FDI in retail.

The Indian retail sector is ready to take on challenges from global retail players such as Wal-mart and Carrefour because unlike them, they have a better understanding of the Indian consumer’s psyche. Ultimately, a successful retailer is one who understands his customer. The Indian customer is looking for an emotional connection, a sense of belonging. Hence, to be successful any retail outlet has to be localized. The customer should feel that it is a part of his culture, his perceived values, and does not try to impose alien values or concepts on him. Indian customer is not keen to buy something just because it is sold by an international company.

PRESENT SCENARIO

Retailing in India is witness to the boom in terms of modern retailing formats, shopping malls etc. the future of retailing for any product across the country will definitely be in malls where the consumer can get variety, quality and ambience.

However, in spite of this continuous debate to be or not to be, recently Government has allowed up to 51 percent FDI in single brand retailing by foreign companies like Reebok and Louis Vuiton. As of now, single brand retailers operate through the franchisee route and there is a strong view that FDI in this segment would not displace jobs or impact the local industry but help create employment.

Even today the government is undecided about the level FDI in retail, but a number of foreign players, including the Wal-mart stores, Inc., have announced their intention to enter India in a big way. At present Wal-mart is operating through its subsidiary in Bangalore, which was functioning as a liaison office till last year. Now it is in the process of setting up offices in New Delhi and Mumbai.

Spencer E Holtaway : flickr

Most of know by now that Twitter is the flavour of the year, and a lot of you will be starting to use Twitter for the very first time, and using it correctly to build your following, to get your followers to go where you want them to and to get buy in from them is not easy,even though there’s lot of people using the micro blogging service, you still need to have a plan to get the most out of the site. For those of you who have been using Twitter for awhile, this article will also help you get more response for all your efforts.

To be successful using Twitter you need to offer value to those following you, and you need to create what I call the “Trusted Adviser” role for yourself, once you have created this role and others see your expertise on a subject, they will follow you to get information and advice, but first you need to work very hard to create this persona.

Creating your Tweet plan and then following the strategy you have set up for yourself, will help you keep you focused. Just posting tweets about your product or listing is not engaging your followers nor is it creating value, it is just plain boring.

Setting out to become a trusted adviser means you need to listen,respond, broadcast and build your community, that’s what your followers are, your community, and you need to offer value in what you do to get engagement from them.

Creating a topic list is a good place to start, define your area of expertise and start to build that trust.

luc legay : flickr

The questions I get asked the most when talking to business owners about a social media strategy, are “Do I need a Social Media Strategy?” or “Is it valuable for my business?”, and these are questions that you as a business owner should ask, because there are ramifications on you and your staff when you embark on social media.

Your office culture is a big factor in the success of a social media strategy, because social media in itself is about sharing, and if any of your staff are not willing to share information, then it makes it a lot harder to get buy in from them, it also impacts on their time, and if you run a busy office, this can be a real issue in getting your strategy off the ground. There are also other priorities that come up, but that is a different story for another time, so let’s get back to the original reason for this post.

There’s a great quote from Seth Godin that I’d like to share with you about social networking.

“Networking is always important when it’s real and it’s always a useless distraction when it’s fake. What the Internet has allowed is an enormous amount of fake networking to take place.”

One of the biggest mistakes that most businesses make when they start a social media strategy, is to self promote.It’s very tempting to push your service and product or tell everyone how good you are straight away. You suddenly have this new marketing tool available to you and you’re going to shout out your strengths from the rooftops.

Google Adwords - see article

AOL Advertising (advertising.com)

One of the largest advertising networks in the world that reaches almost 91% of U.S. online users. AOL advertising uses advanced optimization technology to deliver ads to targeted segments. This network offers display ads as well as other rich media formats. Ads are delivered through AOL’s extensive portfolio of 80+ web properties. Properties are also grouped into general categories: Autos, Entertainment, Finance, High Reach, Kids Teens & Tweens, Multicultural, Pop Culture, Retail, Sports, Technology, Travel, and Women’s Lifestyle.

BidPlace SB

BidPlace is a self serve tool that allows advertisers to target display ads thought the Advertising.com network. Advertisers set their own prices and can choose between cost per click or cost per impression options. Ads can be targeted geographically by city or state, audience behaviors, demographics, and types of sites.

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YouTube has been the revolution in the Internet for sharing videos covering different topics. There are 24 hours worth of video uploaded every minute on YouTube making it the second largest search engine in the World. It has become vital for business to gain market value over the Internet and YouTube has the right mix with its varied topics.

YouTube has a reputation of being the place to look for funny videos. It is the second place to go after probably ‘Googling’ it. Most videos generate a one-time audience response, as very few people look for the same video again. Since YouTube plays such an important in search results and ranking, it cannot be overlooked. To reach out to your audience and to keep them coming back to view the videos again, here are some rules to be followed :