UBER IN INDIA

What can augment Uber’s growth story

in India?

tannistho@gmail.com

How much does Uber understand India… to keep up the growth

story? And what kind of an output can it produce to make it happen?

Consumer India is:– Large

– Contradictory

– Schizophrenic

– Living between generations

– Getting comfortable with technology

– Aspirational

– Both value as well as experience driven

(A detailed study of Consumer India can be found under:

http://www.slideshare.net/tannistho/mystery-of-the-indian-consumer_)

A classic analogy that

describes consumer India:

“Consumer India is like an

experienced hire in an

organization. An experienced

hire is more difficult to

manage and mould, because he

already has a set way of doing

things that work pretty well

and therefore needs a lot of

convincing to adapt to a new

way of doing things.”

So, what’s the winning process for India?

Exhaustive inputs

Hidden Process

A Magical but Predictable Output

We Indians love our formulae, but presented in such a way that it becomes

magical.

We love predictability presented in interesting ways… we want bad guys to lose in movies, in case of anti-heroes we want the bad guys to be good guys at heart, we believe in

poetic justice, we believe in a 2.5 hour movies (and not 1.5 hour ones) because we get our money’s worth, we want a

car to give sufficient fuel mileage irrespective of it’s price or the luxury it offers.

Who got India right?

Big Bazaar has a magical output… it’s chaotic by design, just like an Indian bazaar. Currently Big Bazaar has 250 outlets

across 95 cities of India. In some Tier – III cities, a Big Bazaar store is treated as the mall and is a weekend destination as well.

The ‘process’ of creating this chaos is complex. Big Bazaar divided India into three segments - the consuming class (14%

of upper and middle class), the serving class like drivers, household helps, etc. (about 55% of India) and the struggling

class (about 31% bottom of the ladder).

Big Bazaar caters to the first two simultaneously…

How does Big Bazaar do it?1. Innovation in offers

I. Big Bazaar played on the Indian psyche of getting ‘value for money’ by promoting bundled offers with an overall discount. A continuous series of fluctuating offers –made sure that people kept a constant tab on the offers thereby increasing footfalls.

2. Mega savings days 1. Big Bazaar introduced ‘Wednesday’ as the day you save

money. Because it is also the day of maximum discounts.

3. Free talktime1. Indians love their phone chats – and Big Bazaar tied up

with Tata Docomo to offer T24 numbers – where everytime you bought from Big Bazaar you could get free talktime on your T24.

4. Exchange offers 1. Literally a waste exchange program – where you could bring your old clothes to old newspapers and exchange them for Big Bazaar vouchers.

So, what are the communication challenges before UBER in India?

1. Which India is Uber you speaking

to?If you are speaking to the

global Indian – the one who’s educated in Harvard… then

the chance is, he is not in India anymore.

But the one who wants his children to go to Harvard is. And the ones who want

to compete with the Harvard educated, are

there as well.

2. And what is the ‘soul’ value Ubr can

offer them?

What is it that Uber has –

both as a utility as well as

an experience that will

make it ‘Indian’ with all its

confusion, dichotomy,

efficiency and innovation?

The brands that made their products resonate with India

The Mac Magic1. McDonald’s made its entry in India, with the Happy Price Menu (of Rs. 20/- for a burger), started with an open kitchen system where the customers can see the kitchen and its hygiene, and peppered their menu with the Indian touch offering paneer tikka as ingredient.

Life’s Good for LGLG had failed in India when it entered as ‘Lucky Goldstar’ and only post 1997, did the brand start its true Indian connection.

1. To start off with its India strategy- LG forged a strong relationship with cricket in the late 90s and went onto sponsor cricket World Cups, used cricket stars as brand ambassadors and launched cricket games on its television models.

2. As a second strategy, LG localized its products by offering Hindi and other regional language menus in its products.

3. Also focusing on the health of their consumers, LG paved its way through ‘golden eye’ technology in colour televisions and Health Air Systems in AC

Coca Cola Coca Cola had been in the Indian market in the 1970s and re-entered the market in 1993. However, in spite of reckless acquisition of all its Indian competitors, Coca Cola was still dwindling till 2003.

To create a deeper penetration, Coke invested more than $1 billion to build overall infrastructure which included 25 wholly owned bottling plants.

In advertising, the brand roped in two pillars of success – Bollywood and Cricket, brought down the price point to Rs. 5/- to enter the rural market, created a direct connect with a simple statement ‘thanda matlab Coca Cola’ (in common Indian parlance, any cold drink was referred to as Thanda) and finally used their advertisements to highlight how Coke maintains quality control of its plants.

Key LearningTo sell in India, you need

to make Ubr needs to

make its rides distinctly

Indian without

compromising on the

quality. The

communication needs to

also highlight the Indian-

ness of the brand.

Classic Case in Point

Google’s universal and when it wanted to start mass marketing in India, it focused on the key theme of reuniting India and Pakistan… a theme that resonated with a brand that had everything in its kitty to make the world a compact one. A series of Google ads were released on TV and Youtubehighlighting the reunion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHGDN9-oFJE

So, what makes you a brand that India loves?

• You understand India in all its diversity.

• You show empathy… when more than a billion people are coexisting on 32.8 million square kms, you need empathy to survive.

• You show efficiency

• You show emotion.

So while designing the India strategy ?

• You can look at the price point magic you can bring.

• Offering something at a price point that creates magic. But don’t lower the price too much

• Create an experience that the top 30% of the 14% of the population (as per Big Bazaar numbers) can use and the rest 70% can aspire for.

• You can look at creating deeper connections

• Being an integral part of Indian life –such as family occasions, festivals, cinema, etc.

Creating a price point…

• First, as introductory offers the price point difference is already established in India. Uber is affordable and available on call.

• What you can introduce • Offers like major discounts on

special days (for example: Mega Save Fridays, Midnight Save Offers for pubs, Area specific offers, etc.)

• Surprise packages in cars – which can be unlocked with a riddle.

• Tie ups with services like gaana.com (aka: the spotify strategy that Uber is using elsewhere).

India is used to stunts…

So surprise engagements are appreciated.

E.g: when a rider gets into an Uber, you can hand him a riddle and ask him to solve it by the time the ride ends. If he offers the right answer to the driver – the driver hands him a prize (for e.g:

a cellphone). These prizes can be riddled across several cabs and only lucky users will get these. This can help build sales spikes as well as

positive engagement.

Great Sale Days

Sale days always create spikes and bring in more revenues than expected. Uber can look at introducing specific sale days for

office rides – a sharp discount or a free next ride offer can go with it.

Tie Ups

• Exploring alliances can create magic in the range of services you can offer.

• Just like spotify, - a tie up with gaana.com can offer customized jukebox for riders in India.

• Similarly, you can tie up with pubs and bars to offer midnight rides to people who love to party.

Creating deeper connections

• Festivals, celebrations, cinema and music are things that help create deeper connections in India. Coca Cola has been using in-film branding for years to create this and Facebook is intricately connected with Indian films now.

How BMW did it?

BMW had a different proposition, albeit for an international market. But they effectively

created a series of web hits called The Hire to showcase the driving efficiency of their cars.

For Uber, the core strengths are driver reliability and ease of transportation – so the

same strategy might be used for a youtubecrazy nation with makers like All India

Bakchod or Alma Mater, people who have cracked the magic of Youtube in India.

Lastly,

• Indians are festival crazy folks – be it Ganpatior a friend’s marriage.

• Family festivals are the most auspicious occasions.

• Uber can introduce special packages for marriages. For example, you can rent a Ubercar for your marriage and it will come pre-decorated.

However,

• Supporting languages might make Uber a household name and make all of it easy.

• So, can we look at language options on the Uber app please for India?

That’s all folks!