The advent of the festive season has brought joy to cardamom farmers in Kerala’s Idukki district, with the price of the “queen of spices” surging by 20% month-on-month in October to reach INR 1,900 per kilogram at the farm gate level.
A year ago, cardamom was trading at around INR 1,100 per kilogram. This year, there has been a noticeable surge in prices, mainly due to a 30% reduction in cardamom production, with the total yield plummeting to 23,000 tonnes. This decline can be attributed to the scarce rainfall experienced during the crucial growing periods of June and August.
“The drop in production has been compensated by the high prices. But what is worrying us is the illegal influx of cardamom from Guatemala,” said Prabhakar SB, a cardamom grower in Idukki, whose family has been in this business for nearly 80 years.
Significantly, 95% of the country’s cardamom is produced in Idukki district.
Rainfall in the district has been deficient by 60% thus far. Cardamom harvesting typically commences towards the latter part of July. Although there was some rainfall towards the end of September, growers believe it is insufficient to rectify the damage incurred.
“Last year, cardamom farmers got a price of INR 1,000 per kg, even though the cost of production was INR 1,200 per kg,” said PC Punnoose, chief executive officer of Kerala Cardamom Processing & Marketing Company. “In September, the prices of cardamom went up by INR 1,500-1,600 per kg. In October, prices have further shot up to INR 1,900 per kg as the festive season demand for cardamom has picked up.”
On Monday, Oyo, a hospitality technology company, announced its plan to expand its platform by incorporating 750 hotels within the next three months. These new additions will be strategically located in over 35 leisure markets, aimed at capitalizing on the upcoming festive and winter tourism season. The majority of these fresh hotel listings will fall under Oyo’s premium brand categories, including Palette, Townhouse, Townhouse Oak, and Collection O, as detailed in the company’s official statement.
Oyo has identified Goa, Jaipur, Mussoorie, Rishikesh, Katra, Puri, Shimla, Nainital, Udaipur, and Mount Abu as its primary target markets for the upcoming addition of new hotels.
“Our expansion in these leisure markets also aligns with our mission to provide quality accommodations and memorable experiences to travellers. The influx of new hotels will not only boost tourism, but also provide employment opportunities for local communities,” Oyo chief merchant officer, Anuj Tejpal said.
Referring to a recent government report, Oyo stated that the influx of foreign tourists to India from January to June this year has increased by 106 percent compared to the same period in 2022.
“As we head towards one of the most important seasons for tourism, it is heartening to see the number of foreign travellers increase in India after the Covid lull,” Tejpal said.
The peak season, generally spanning from October to January, witnesses a surge in both domestic and international tourists, rendering it a pivotal period for the tourism and hospitality sector.
Oyo has also introduced a “Stay Now Pay Later” (SNPL) option, offering travelers enhanced flexibility when organizing their trips. SNPL grants customers a credit limit of INR 5,000, which can be settled after a 15-day stay.
The kitchenware and home decor company, P-TAL, recently secured INR 4.33 crore in a Seed funding round. This funding round was spearheaded by Titan Capital and included contributions from other prominent investors such as Anicut Capital, Ghazal Alagh, a co-founder of Mamaearth, Vishesh Khurana, a co-founder of Shiprocket, Sandeep Aggarwal, Ashutosh Valani, Priyank Shah, Bala Sarda, Deep & Mohit Bajaj, Ashish Tulsian, and Arjun Vaidya.
According to a press release by P-TAL, the company intends to deploy the funds to expand its team in order to facilitate the scaling of its operations.
Established in 2019 by Aditya Agarwal and Kirti Goel, P-TAL is on a mission to rejuvenate age-old traditions in a modern context, emphasizing the utilization of traditional metals like brass, copper, and bronze. The company’s range of products is meticulously handcrafted by the skilled Thatheras of Jandial Guru, Punjab, a UNESCO-recognized craft. P-TAL distributes its artisanal creations through its own e-commerce platform, as well as via various marketplaces including Amazon, Tata Cliq, LBB, Etsy, Okhai, and others. Additionally, P-TAL maintains a physical presence in Delhi.
Based in Panchkula, the company asserts that it managed to elevate the monthly income of 55 artisan families by an astonishing 1,200%. Notably, its products have been chosen as gifts by esteemed clients, including the Reserve Bank of India, Pernod Ricard, the G-20 Summit 2023, and Engineers India Limited (EIL).
The company further asserts that its revenue has experienced a remarkable 300% year-on-year growth over the past three years.
Titan Capital, known for its support of unicorn ventures such as Ola, Urban Company, Mamaearth, OfBusiness, and Razorpay, has additionally realized either partial or complete exits from several startup investments, including Credgenics, Bewakoof, Unicommerce, ANS Commerce, and Netmeds.com.
Taking advantage of the online festive season sale frenzy, the e-commerce giant Meesho achieved an impressive milestone with 1.6 crore app installations during its highly successful ‘Meesho Mega Blockbuster Sale.’
Over the course of the 10-day sale, the company reported a staggering 120 crore user visits spanning various categories, including home and kitchen, fashion, beauty, and personal care (BPC). Additionally, the e-commerce platform experienced an average of 72 orders per second across these three categories throughout the festive sale event.
During the sale, the BPC category saw remarkable growth, exceeding 80%, while sales in men’s fashion and home decor categories surged by 90% and 75%, respectively. Furthermore, purchases of kids’ wear on the platform soared by an impressive 114% during the festive sale.
In a significant announcement, the company declared its ongoing profitability and positive cash flow, which has been consistent since it initially reported profitability in July this year. Nevertheless, the company refrained from disclosing any additional details.
At the same time, Meesho Mall maintained its momentum, experiencing a threefold increase in orders when compared to its typical business days. According to the company, a significant 70% of the orders placed on its in-app branded store were from first-time users.
The unicorn further asserted that, within its loyalty program, users submitted nearly 1.4 crore orders throughout the ten-day festive sale period. Notably, cities like Amravati, Aurangabad, Dehradun, Nellore, Solapur, and Warangal accounted for the largest share of orders for Meesho during this timeframe.
“… We are overjoyed by the success of our sellers. The significant increase in their sales has made the Mega Blockbuster Sale a success and is a testament to our commitment towards fostering the growth of small businesses,” said chief experience officer (CX) for growth at Meesho Megha Agarwal.
Before the sale, the company had successfully brought onboard close to 200,000 new sellers, and according to their reports, approximately 30,000 sellers achieved the “lakhpati” status during the sale event. It’s worth noting that there is no clear indication of whether “lakhpati” status pertained to order volume or actual profits.
Earlier, the e-commerce unicorn reported that it had garnered close to 100 million orders from customers during the pre-festive season promotions encompassing Onam, Raksha Bandhan, and Ganesh Chaturthi. Interestingly, its competitor and e-commerce giant Flipkart recorded a whopping 1.4 billion customer visits during its Big Billion Days festive season sale from October 8 to 15 this year.
Before the festive sale, Meesho expanded its platform to include non-GST registered sellers, aiming to boost its seller network.
Established in 2015 by Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, Meesho operates on a zero-commission model within its e-commerce platform. The company boasts a seller base of approximately 1.4 million and a product catalog featuring 120 million items.
Supported by prominent investors including SoftBank, Sequoia Capital, Prosus & Naspers, and Meta, the e-commerce platform has secured over $1 billion in funding thus far.
Just last week, a stake in Meesho was acquired by investment giant WestBridge Capital through a secondary transaction, purchasing it from the company’s early backer, Venture Highway. This move resulted in the early-stage venture fund reaping a return of more than 50 times their initial investment from the stake sale.
Despite the company’s assertion of achieving profitability in July 2023, Meesho had reported a net loss of INR 3,247.8 million in FY22, marking a substantial 550% year-over-year increase.
Understanding your consumers is a strategic need in the complex world of business. Profiling your ideal consumer extends beyond demographic information to include their desires, habits, and objectives.
Understanding your customers on a deep, personal level is the foundation of any successful marketing strategy. Profiling your ideal customer allows you to:
Targeted Marketing: Tailor your messaging and advertising to resonate with your ideal customers.
Product Development: Create products or services that align with the specific needs and preferences of your target audience.
Better Communication: Craft content and messaging that speaks directly to your customers, building a more personal and meaningful connection.
Increased Conversions: By delivering what your ideal customer wants, you increase the likelihood of conversions and long-term loyalty.
The Art of Customer Profiling
Demographics: Start with the basics, like age, gender, location, and income. This provides a broad understanding of your customer base.
Psychographics: Delve deeper into their personality traits, values, interests, and lifestyle. What drives them? What are their passions and hobbies?
Behavior: Analyze their buying behaviors. How often do they make purchases, and through which channels? Do they conduct thorough research before buying, or are they impulsive shoppers?
Challenges and Pain Points: Identify the problems they face and the obstacles they encounter in their lives or in relation to your product or service.
Goals and Aspirations: What do they aspire to achieve? Understanding their goals can help tailor your offerings.
Feedback and Reviews: Analyze customer feedback, reviews, and comments. These often contain valuable insights into customer experiences and expectations.
The Customer Profiling Process
Collect Data: Start by gathering data through surveys, interviews, social media insights, website analytics, and customer feedback.
Segmentation: Divide your customers into segments based on shared characteristics. This can help tailor your approach to each group.
Develop Personas: Create customer personas representing different segments. Give them names, pictures, and detailed profiles to humanize them.
Customer Journeys: Map out the typical journeys your customer personas go through when engaging with your brand.
Constant Refinement: Customer profiling is not a one-time task. Continuously update and refine your profiles as customer behaviors and preferences evolve.
Customer profiling is not just a data-gathering exercise; it’s an art that allows you to understand, empathize, and connect with your ideal customers on a profound level. By unveiling their demographics, psychographics, behaviors, challenges, and goals, you can tailor your marketing, product development, and communication strategies to speak directly to their hearts and minds. The art of profiling your ideal customer is the key to unlocking the insights that can transform your business into a customer-centric, successful venture.
Finding success in the ever-changing world of food branding frequently requires thinking outside the box and appealing to a specific clientele. Niche marketing, a strategy that targets a specific and specialized part of the market, is changing the way food companies interact with their customers.
Niche marketing is not about catering to the masses; it’s about honing in on a specific, passionate, and often underserved segment of the market. This approach has become increasingly valuable in the food industry, where consumers are seeking unique, personalized, and authentic experiences. Here’s how niche marketing is changing the game:
Deep Consumer Connection: Niche brands resonate with their audience on a profound level. They understand the specific needs, preferences, and values of their target customers, resulting in stronger connections.
Less Competition: By targeting a narrow niche, brands face less direct competition. This allows them to stand out and establish themselves as experts in their chosen category.
Personalization: Niche brands can offer highly personalized products and experiences, catering to the unique desires of their customers. This level of personalization fosters brand loyalty.
Authenticity: Niche brands are often perceived as more authentic and genuine. Their specialization and dedication to a specific niche build trust with consumers who share those interests.
How Niche Marketing is Transforming Food Branding
Crafting Unique Brand Stories: Niche food brands have compelling stories to tell. Whether it’s about sourcing rare ingredients, using traditional preparation methods, or serving a particular dietary need, these stories add depth and authenticity to their branding.
Hyper-Targeted Marketing: Niche brands can hyper-target their marketing efforts. From social media campaigns to influencer partnerships, they can engage with a highly specific audience that resonates with their products.
Elevating Quality Over Quantity: Niche brands often prioritize quality over quantity. This can be seen in the selection of premium ingredients, artisanal production methods, and meticulous quality control.
Building Communities: Niche food brands create communities around their products. They connect like-minded individuals who share a passion for the niche, fostering brand loyalty and advocacy.
Online Presence and E-Commerce: The digital landscape has opened up vast opportunities for niche food brands. They can reach a global audience through e-commerce, attracting customers who seek niche products that might not be available locally.
Niche marketing is reshaping the food industry by allowing brands to specialize, connect deeply with their audience, and deliver unique, high-quality products and experiences. These brands are becoming masters of their niches, attracting loyal customers who share their passions and values. From paleo tortillas to eco-friendly food wraps to plant-based meat, niche food brands are proving that specialization can transform a food brand from mainstream to mastery. In a world where consumers seek personalization and authenticity, niche marketing is the key to unlocking success in the food industry.
Understanding the client journey is no longer a concept in today’s corporate world; it is a requirement. The blueprint that guides businesses in providing extraordinary experiences is customer journey mapping. However, generating an accurate map of this voyage might be difficult.
The Significance of Customer Journey Mapping
Customer journey mapping is the visual representation of the customer’s interactions with your brand from the first touchpoint to post-purchase engagement. It helps you understand the user experience, allowing you to:
Identify Pain Points: Uncover areas where customers face challenges or frustrations.
Optimize Touchpoints: Enhance the quality of interactions at various stages of the journey.
Tailor Communication: Craft personalized messaging that resonates with the audience.
Increase Loyalty: Build trust and maintain lasting relationships with customers.
Techniques for Accurate Customer Journey Mapping
Customer Personas: Begin with a clear understanding of your target audience. Develop detailed customer personas that represent your ideal customers. This will help you identify their needs, goals, and pain points.
Data Analysis: Gather data from various sources, including customer surveys, website analytics, and social media insights. This data will offer insights into how customers interact with your brand.
Customer Interviews: Conduct one-on-one interviews or focus groups with customers. These conversations can provide deep insights into their motivations, expectations, and experiences.
Journey Mapping Workshops: Involve cross-functional teams from your organization in journey mapping workshops. Collaborative sessions can bring together different perspectives and insights.
Visual Mapping: Create visual representations of the customer journey. Use flowcharts, diagrams, or software tools specifically designed for journey mapping. These visuals make it easier to grasp the entire journey at a glance.
Stakeholder Input: Collect insights from employees who interact with customers daily. Their on-the-ground experience can be invaluable in understanding the customer journey.
Scenario Building: Develop different scenarios to account for various customer journeys. Customers may take different paths, and scenario building helps you identify the most common routes.
Emotional Mapping: Consider the emotional states of your customers at different stages of the journey. Emotional mapping adds depth to your understanding, as customers’ feelings greatly impact their decisions.
Common Stages in a Customer Journey Map
Awareness: The customer becomes aware of your brand or product.
Consideration: They research and evaluate your offerings.
Decision: The customer makes a purchase.
Post-Purchase: The customer interacts with your brand after the sale.
Loyalty and Advocacy: The customer becomes a loyal advocate for your brand.
Tips for Effective Customer Journey Mapping
Be empathetic: Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and view the journey from their perspective.
Keep it customer-centric: The customer should always be at the center of the journey, not your brand.
Prioritize touchpoints: Identify the most critical interactions and focus on optimizing those first.
Review and adapt: Customer journey maps should not be static. Continuously review and update them as customer behaviors change.
Accurate customer journey mapping is the compass that guides your business towards creating exceptional customer experiences. By utilizing the right techniques, continuously reviewing and adapting your maps, and keeping your customers at the center of your efforts, you can ensure that your customers enjoy a seamless and engaging journey with your brand. Accurate journey mapping is not just a useful tool; it’s a competitive advantage that can drive customer loyalty and business success.
Businesses must be able to handle crises quickly and effectively in today’s fast-paced environment, especially in the arena of social media. A crisis can occur at any time, from a customer complaint gone viral to a public relations catastrophe. Organisations must use real-time resilience techniques for crisis management on social media to protect their brand and sustain customer trust.
The Critical Role of Social Media in Crisis Management
In the digital age, social media is often where crises gain momentum. It’s where customers express their grievances, share their concerns, and, unfortunately, where issues can quickly escalate. Thus, it’s imperative to understand the power of social media in shaping public perception and to have strategies in place to manage crises efficiently.
Swift Response: The First Line of Defense
Monitoring and Alert Systems: Implement real-time monitoring tools that track brand mentions and sentiment on social media platforms. These tools can provide instant alerts when a potential crisis is brewing, giving your team a head start in managing the situation.
Designate a Crisis Team: Establish a dedicated crisis management team with defined roles and responsibilities. Having a team ready to respond swiftly and effectively can make all the difference.
Preparedness Training: Train your team in advance to handle crisis scenarios. Simulations and practice runs can help them become familiar with the process, ensuring that they are ready when a real crisis hits.
Clear Communication Protocols: Create a clear chain of communication. Define how information should flow within your team and across different departments to ensure consistency and accuracy in messaging.
Proactive Crisis Mitigation
Issue Acknowledgment: Swiftly acknowledge the issue or complaint, and thank the person for bringing it to your attention. This shows that you’re actively listening and care about resolving the problem.
Provide Regular Updates: Keep your audience informed about the steps you’re taking to address the issue. Transparency can help regain trust and confidence.
Utilize Positive Brand Assets: If possible, shift the focus to your brand’s positive attributes or previous successes. Showcase your commitment to customer satisfaction and quality.
Leverage Influencers: Engage with influencers who can help shape the narrative in a more positive light. Influencers can provide a different perspective and lend credibility to your response.
Post-Crisis Evaluation
After-Action Review: Once the crisis is resolved, conduct an after-action review. Analyze what went well and where there were shortcomings in your response. Use this feedback to enhance your crisis management process.
Reputation Repair: Implement strategies to rebuild trust and repair your brand’s reputation. Consistency in your messaging and actions is essential.
In the age of instant communication and virality, real-time resilience in social media management is a must for businesses. Swift response, proactive crisis mitigation, and post-crisis evaluation are all part of a holistic strategy to protect your brand’s reputation in the face of adversity. By being prepared and agile, organizations can effectively manage crises and emerge stronger, maintaining customer trust and loyalty. Remember, it’s not about avoiding crises but about how you respond when they occur that truly matters.
Content is king in the age of social media, and original content from your consumers may be the crown gem of your brand’s content strategy. User-generated content (UGC) is an effective approach to develop trust, engage your audience, and expand the reach of your business.
User-generated content is content that is created by your customers or users, often shared on social media, reviews, or other online platforms. Its impact is significant for several reasons:
Trust and Authenticity: UGC is perceived as more genuine and trustworthy than branded content. People trust the opinions and experiences of fellow consumers.
Engagement: UGC can spark engagement and conversations around your brand. It encourages users to participate and share their stories.
Cost-Effective: It can be a cost-effective way to generate content, as your customers create it voluntarily.
Amplification: When users share their content on their social networks, it extends your brand’s reach to a wider audience.
Strategies for Building User-Generated Content
Create Shareable Experiences
Encourage your customers to create content by offering experiences worth sharing. This could include unique product packaging, interactive events, or creative contests that inspire users to participate and generate content.
Leverage Hashtags
Create a brand-specific hashtag that users can use when sharing content related to your brand. This makes it easy to track and showcase UGC. Promote the use of the hashtag in your marketing campaigns and on your product packaging.
Run Contests and Challenges
Organize contests and challenges that encourage users to create content. This could be a photo contest, video challenge, or writing competition related to your products or services. Offer prizes or recognition to motivate participation.
Highlight Customer Stories
Share customer success stories and experiences on your website and social media. Celebrate your customers’ achievements, and ask them to contribute their stories. This not only builds trust but also encourages others to share their experiences.
Reviews and Testimonials
Encourage customers to leave reviews and testimonials. You can feature these on your website and marketing materials. Use review requests and incentives to gather valuable user-generated content.
Interactive Content
Engage your audience with interactive content. Polls, surveys, and quizzes related to your industry or products encourage participation and generate user-generated content.
Show Appreciation
Show appreciation for user-generated content by sharing and acknowledging it. Repost user content on your brand’s social media and thank users for their contributions. Recognizing their efforts can lead to more content creation.
User Stories on Social Media
Feature user stories on your social media platforms. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook Stories are excellent for showcasing user-generated content. Share their posts and experiences on your brand’s profiles.
User-generated content is a potent tool that can boost trust, engagement, and brand exposure. By implementing these strategies and encouraging your customers to become active contributors to your brand’s content ecosystem, you can create a thriving community around your products and services. In an age where authenticity matters, user-generated content is the bridge that connects your brand with your audience in a way that no other form of content can.
TAB Gida, the master franchisee responsible for Burger King, Popeyes, and various other fast food restaurant chains in Turkey, has obtained the green light for its intended Initial Public Offerings (IPO).
After receiving the green light from Turkey’s Capital Markets Board (SPK), TAB Gida is anticipated to embark on the largest dollar-denominated IPO since 2018, as reported by Reuters.
The report verified that the company plans to make only 20% of its shares available for public offering, while shareholders of TFI TAB Gida Yatirimlari will divest a portion of their shares, coupled with a capital injection.
As per a Bloomberg report, the foodservice company intends to generate approximately Tl6.85 billion (equivalent to $246 million) by vending 52.5 million shares at a price of Tl130 per share.
Following the market’s closure on Thursday, the report, referencing regulatory clearance, disclosed that the IPO comprises nearly 28.9 million new shares, with the parent company TFI TAB Food Investments slated to divest an additional 23.6 million shares.
TAB Gida will allocate the funds from the listing towards the establishment of new restaurants, the installation of a new solar plant, and the reduction of its current financial liabilities.
The foodservices company is expected to disburse Tl215 million in intermediary fees during the IPO.
Moreover, TAB Gida will make around 78% of the shares available to domestic retail investors.
Since 1994, TAB Gıda has been dedicated to fostering the expansion of the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry in Turkey.
The company currently operates 1,500 fast food restaurant brands across Northern Cyprus, North Macedonia, Turkey and Georgia regions.
TAB Gida operates different fast food restaurant chains such as Arby’s, Popeyes, Sbarro, Subway and more than 700 Burger King outlets.
The Bloomberg report added that TAB Gida’s annual revenue increased by 125% to Tl8.62bn in 2022.
The company’s net income in 2022 stood at Tl361.8m.
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