Dotcom Marketing in India
 <<Previous
MARKETING OR PUBLICITY?Many analysts felt that
the dotcom marketing methods lacked originality (Refer Exhibit II for ideas
for marketing sites). One of the reasons seemed to be that the dotcoms were
always in a hurry. The minimum time of more than a month required to create
an ad for an FMCG product seemed to be too long in the fast-changing dotcom
industry.
|
Ashish Dhawan, Chryslis Capital, a venture capitalist
said, “You can't blame them. Most advertising agencies like most lawyers
or investment banks are still learning the dotcom business.” Also, not
many companies had done a pre-launch research and there was no secondary
knowledge available.
Analysts also felt that most dotcom entrepreneurs were using marketing
methods more suited to old economy businesses. Thus, there was an
over-emphasis on publicity rather than marketing. India Today's
associate editor Shankar Iyer said, “A kind of PDS approach which
assumes that once there is a shopfront, shoppers will come walking in
and buy. |
|
In other words a distributive rather than a marketing
approach which again is rather sad. Revenue will not come merely via words
on hoardings.” Analysts felt that ultimately, a well-designed user-friendly
site would attract traffic. Zaveri of Indbazaar.com said, “Of all the
mind-grabbers not many are really brands.
Sure, the customer may visit a site once out of curiosity. But will he want
to visit again? That is what really makes a brand.” During 2000-01, the
global dotcom industry witnessed a slowdown and the dotcom bubble bust. In
India, many dotcom companies were either shut down or sold. In the late
1990s, there were about 5000 dotcom companies in India.
But only a few (about 25-30) could survive the bust (Refer Exhibit III for
survivors). Lack of proper business models, huge advertising expenses, lack
of professional management etc., were outlined as some of the reasons for
the dotcom bust. Analysts remarked that though some companies had invested
heavily on advertising, they could not generate revenues. On the other hand,
some of the companies, which survived the dotcom bust, either spent very
less or did not spend at all on advertising (Refer Table III).
TABLE III - AD SPEND OF THE SURVIVORS IN 2000
EXHIBIT I - BUSINESS MODELS OF PORTALS
EXHIBIT II - IDEAS FOR MARKETING DIFFERENT TYPES OF SITES
EXHIBIT III - SOME OF THE SURVIVORS OF THE DOTCOM BUST
2010, ICMR (IBS Center for Management Research).All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted
in any form or by any means - electronic or mechanical, without permission.
To order copies, call +91- 8417- 236667 or write to ICMR,
Survey No. 156/157, Dontanapalli Village, Shankerpalli Mandal,
Ranga Reddy District,
Hyderabad-501504.
Andhra Pradesh, INDIA.
Mob: +91- 9640901313, Ph: +91- 8417- 236667,
Fax: +91- 8417- 236668
E-mail: info@icmrindia.org
Website: www.icmrindia.org
|
More Classifications...