Month: May 2019

Packaging Industry In India- Factors Affecting Its Growth

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Packaging Industry is one of the major industries in India that has significant role in creating wealth for the nation, by preserving and protecting the value created by other manufacturing units. The industry helps in preserving innumerable products including drugs and medicines, edible oils, fruits and vegetables, milk and biscuits, semi-processed foods, electronic goods and a lot more.

Packaging Industry is not merely remained to ‘packing’ but with the branding in vogue and rising consumer preferences, it’s role has become catalytic in the Indian economy. The objective of packaging is to meet the criteria of attractiveness, convinience and safety. Heightened competition in the Indian manufacturing sector is paving the way for the industry to move towards International market. Other reasons for playing it big in export is due to availibility of low cost packaging material and higher technology means.

The present modern economy follows the slogan, “Better Quality of Life Through Better Packaging”, by World Packaging Organisation s (WPO). The growth of packaging industry has led to the sophistication from health’s point of view. This has led to the manufacturing of environmental friendly packaging materials that demands an attention to be paid on the seggregation and reutilization of synthetic packaging material.

Factors Affecting Growth of Packaging Industry in India:

1. Industrialization, urbanization and Indian economy’s liberalization paired with globalisation are the major factors fuelling its growth.
2. Cost advantages are making India one of the most preferred export hubs.
3. Rural marketing and low purchasing power of middle or lower class Indians leads to purchase of sachets or small packs. Products such as fairness cream, shampoo, toothpaste, food items, tobacco, betel nut-based mouth freshners, etc. are much in demand and this packaging format is not in trend elsewhere.
4. Increasing personal health consciousness among Indians and increasing awareness towards diseases like AIDS and other STDs, have raised the demand for contraceptives’ and disposables syringes’ usage that has led to an increase in packaging required for the same.
5. Changing eating habits among Indians and increasing restaurants and fast food chains all over the country fuelling the growth of packaging all over the country.

Here are the list of Top 10 Indian manufacturers and exporter of packaging in India:

ITC Limited
Parksons Packaging System
Hindalco
Gujarat Glass Ltd
Tata Tinplate Company of India
Moldtek Technologies Limited
E C Packaging Pvt. Ltd
Advance Packaging
AMAC Plastic Packaging
The Paper Products Limited

Purposes fulfilled by packaging industry in India:

1. Containment: Products contained in container can be easily moved from one palce to another. This helps in protecting environment by avoiding lead to spillages that results in severe losses and damages.

2. Protection and Preservation: Packaging is done to ensure that consumers get the products in good condition. Packaging protects the product from contaminants, hazardous substance, climatic effects and from infestation.

3. Added Product Protection: The technology in packaging contributes in food science advancement, reduces food spoilage percentage and ensure food safety.

4. Communication: Packaging is a mode of conveying messages in modern world. The information descripted on products’ cover make the consumers informed to decide for the products purchase and its use.

5. Convenience: Packaging offers convinience as well. Convinient packaging like frozen food packs, wine cardboard casks, microwavable containers, food cans and aseptic cartons, and easy-open beverage are some good examples. Medical packaging is done in a way to reduce the accidental overdose risk and have child resistant closures.

6. Marketing Trends: Packaging gives increased emphasis on sales appeal, retail packing’s quality and look. Packaging supports brand awareness, brand identities, convinience and properly reflect the current consumer trends, preferences and images.

CRM IN BANKING INDUSTRY

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Prof. Satya Sidhartha Panda Bangalore (India) E-mail: /

Abstract

This paper attempts to persuade the banking industry to recognize and Increasing sophisticated approaches and techniques to customer relations, value proposition development and life time value calculation will help companies better in understanding how value should be created for customers and the enterprise. E-business refers to any electronic means of collaboration or coordination between organizations. In simple terms, e-Business is the use of Information Technology to exchange information and conduct transactions among enterprises and individuals, both business to business (b2b) and business to consumer (b2c). With the availability of more affordable e-Business software and service offerings in the market, many enterprises in India are likely to embrace these applications in the near future. When people ask, -What do you mean by CRM?- the literal answer is, -Customer Relationship Management,- but that doesn’t really convey much in terms of what all CRM does for a business. This CRM definition is too narrow to really explain everything the system does if it is working to its fullest potential and is user-friendly enough to expand and grow as a customer-client relationship changes and grows.

CRM is a business philosophy, a bent of mind that aims at understanding and managing the needs of the customers. A successful CRM implementation will enable the marketing people to make quick, informed and intelligent decisions, create cross selling and up selling opportunities, measuring marketing effectiveness in value creation and deliver personalized customer care. The key here is to adopt a truly Customer-Centric approach that touches every point and more importantly every person in the company. Everyone in the company must live and breathe customer focus for CRM to work. Key words : CRM, Value Proposition, Customer Care, Implementation.

INTRODUCTION: Satisfaction drives the engines for business to invest and reap benefits. Satisfaction makes companies to consider their customers as catalyst, towards their growth and prosperity. Most of all satisfaction brings life and business much closer towards moments of worthiness of the time spent. CRM has already made a big impact in the world of customer service and will continue to do so. As more and more companies become customer-centric those that fail to do so will lose competitive advantage. The real value of CRM lies in harnessing the potential of people to create a greater customer experience, using technology of CRM as the enabler. Value creation process is a critical component of CRM as it translates business and customer strategies into specific statements of what value is to be delivered to customers and, consequently, what value is to be delivered to the supplier organisation. The value management process is crucial to transforming the outputs of the strategy development process in CRM into programmes that both extract and deliver value. Only a balanced value exchange will ensure that both parties enjoy a good return on investment, leading to a good long term, profitable relationship. Achieving an ideal equilibrium between giving value to customers and getting value from customers is a crucial component of CRM. Increasing sophisticated approaches and techniques to customer segmentation, value proposition development and life time value calculation will help companies better in understanding how value should be created for customers and the enterprise.

CRM in the broader sense encompasses not only customer relationship management itself but how customer relationship management is handled and the most important elements of a CRM program that are essential to its being successful. The range of CRM software options vary from those that provide simple customer tracking and live chat capabilities to the more complex CRM solutions that can integrate all of the customer relationship data an enterprise has on each client past, present and future in a dynamic information data network. With the advent of better computing and communications technology, the marketplace is loosing all boundaries and country specificities. Limited sources of growth and higher prospect of maturity in local markets mean that companies are increasingly facing the need to operate, compete, and communicate on a global level by sharing knowledge about different cultures, environments, technologies, and customers. Mergers and acquisitions have forced companies to synchronize the existing systems with their new products and features by adopting standard business solutions. Therefore, new products and services are rapidly taking on new global perspectives. E-business applications such as ERP, SCM, CRM, or e-commerce are looked upon as strategic tools for major business improvements, enable the breaking down of boundaries-departmental and geographical. The inherent flexibility of these applications is being leveraged by global companies to implement their global strategies and local tactics by making minor changes in the enterprise solution. Over the past two to three years, e-Business applications such as ERP, SCM, and CRM have witnessed lot of transition globally. Enhanced functionalities and vertical centric solutions have evolved providing companies solutions that cater to their needs even better than in the past. Vendors have even tailor made the solutions to suit not only different business verticals but also business sizes.

Fig. 1. Best-fit sectors for CRM practices and packages

Note: Figure Source from Icicle Consultancy, Mumbai, INDIA

Senior vice president Girish G Vaidya who heads the Banking Business Unit (BBU) at Infosys Technologies says, -In order to provide an end-to-end solution for banks, banking product vendors should have three products-core banking, vertical-specific CRM and risk management software.- Though banks, telcos, and software houses use traditional CRM products, the basic CRM model has problems like not satisfying the vertical requirement, which comes up in the second phase. The vertical CRM provides a 360-degree view of the customer. The Infosys Finacle CRM product is being used by the National Commercial Bank of Jamaica. The bank is using all of Infy’s products, including the recently introduced CRM product. Infy has been successful in India too, bagging Unit Trust of India (UTI) as its first Indian customer for Finacle CRM. Infosys is positioning itself as the only vendor that satisfies two of the three requirements of banks, by offering core banking and four specialised products. Infosys recently bought technology from Trivium and created Finacle CRM, a banking-specific CRM product. Vaidya says, -Infy does not have a product for risk management for treasuries but we have alliances to fill up the gap. However, there is a big opportunity in services such as assets liability management and trading risk management.- Business Situation : Keeping in mind the growing financial and banking business ,the company wanted to provide adequate customer services and reporting capabilities .It wanted a powerful,offordable and scalable customer relationship Management Solutions . Benefits : Flexible and customizable soluations Increases Business opportunities Secures customer information Improves Business management Simplifies development The CRM soluation provided basic insights into following common modules and functionalities developed by Religare technnova specifically for capital market / brokerage : Lead management Contact management Channel partner management Campaign Reporting automation /compliance reporting automation The company found that the Dynamics CRM 4.0 Platform provided the perfect frame wok on which it could build such a comprehensive and customized CRM Solution , because Dynamics CRM is built on a sophisticated line -of-business application platform; It provides the basic required services upon accountable for new leads and manage the process through entire customer management life cycle .

Secures Customer Information : As the Bank handles a large number of financial translations ,security of data is absolutely essential .For each department, different segments are created so that, only that segments can access the data .A concerted effort was made to import logic as well.Such as end-to-end metadata relationships and improved workflow, have helped the company to streamline business operations and provide an integrated view and functionality to its employees across the country .

A. From the point of view of Business Firms: How business firms perceive CRM, What gadgets are used by the business firms to create CRM How do business firms create value in their offers How business firms assess the effectiveness of CRM Programmes Role of electronic devices in managing customer relations and value chain Problems faced by business firms in managing customer relations and value chain The future of CRM and Value Chain B. From the point of View of Customers: How do customers perceive CRM How do customers perceive Value Customer satisfaction with regard to CRM and Value Customer Behavior towards firms offering high value versus low value Customer loyalty and CRM Customer irritation with CRM Programmes Customers problems and CRM Customer compatibility and convenience with eCRM Expectations of customers for CRM and Value Chain Management Customer rating of various firms on CRM and Value Creation C . From the point of other parties: Role of government in CRM and Value Chain Management Role of Social and Consumer Organisations in CRM and Value Chain Management Availability of necessary infrastructure for CRM CRM Software Multinational Corporations and CRM CRM and Value Chain Management in Globalised World International Legislation and CRM The overall end-user understanding of e-Business applications and its capabilities in the Indian enterprises is very low. Strategic steps are being taken by enterprises to educate the market, but it is a long time still before majority of the end-users attain certain minimum understanding of e-Business applications and its benefits.Low awareness can be tackled by educating the end users, but what compounds the problem is faster spread of failure stories. Fallacy of faster communications medium has affected technology products the most as low educated end users fall prey of these non-successful stories Service is becoming the key to differentiation and this is driving corporates to adopt CRM solutions. Vendors, both domestic and international, are making their presence felt in the Indian sub-continent either directly or through multiple partners. Given the high churn rate in the telecom sector, an increased demand for CRM solutions is witnessed in this sector. Some of the prominent telecom players in the Indian market that have gone in for these solutions are Bharti, BPL, and Orange. Retail sector is also showing strong demand for CRM solutions.There has been slow uptake in the demand for c-commerce solutions in the Indian market. Most of the organizations are still evaluating the efficacy of other e-Business applications such as ERP, SCM, and CRM before going in for these relatively new generation applications. An interesting point to take into consideration is that product development management (PDM) solution and product lifecycle management (PLC) solutions are gaining acceptance in the Indian market. In order to ensure successful implementation of e-Business applications, some of the key issues that needs to be taken into consideration are: The first and foremost pre-requisite is that the enterprise should have a very strong business focus and genuine need for the solution. The consulting partners should have adequate experience in handling projects of a diverse nature. In order to gain end-user confidence, successful stories and case studies needs to be showcased by the vendors. Setting the user expectations right in the first instance Conducting a detailed business and functional requirement analysis Conclusion : The demand for ERP solutions in India is likely to be driven by both the large organizations and SMEs. However, the awareness level and application adoption rate is relatively high amongst the large enterprises as compared to the SMEs. An interesting point to note here is that majority of the top tier companies (organizations with annual revenues in excess of $500 million) in the country have already gone in for ERP implementation. Thus, the real potential lies in the SME segment, which offers tremendous opportunity for the ERP vendors operating in the country. Banking and finance clearly are the better exponents of e-Business applications and have made the best use of enterprise applications in rolling out the e-strategies. Technology has played a key role in this industry, although a large amount of public sector banks in India still are in the early phase of e-Business application adoption, the leaders in this sector are as technology savvy, as in any other industry. Private sector banks are typically using technology and better customer services to match the heavy penetration of public sector banks. As a result, CRM and core banking applications have penetrated private banks more than the public sector banks for -Customer relations-, their -satisfaction- and right way to manage the expectation of your existing and new Customer. I am confident that banks and other financial institutions will meet these challenges head on, continue to find new and better ways to put technology to their and their customers’ best use, and that they will manage the technology and business risks associated with these investments.

Indian Handicraft Industry Will It Cross The Other Side Of Midnight

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India is one of the major suppliers of handicrafts to the global market. Highly labor intensive, and basically cottage based, the industry is more widespread in the rural and urban areas. The industry provides a livelihood for more than 6 million artisans including a big share of women artisans, and people from the weaker sections of the society.

There is a good demand for Indian handicraft products in countries such as US, Canada, France, Britain, Italy, and Germany. Indian handicrafts are much preferred in the fashion industry. Development in sectors like retail, real estate etc increases the demand, and gives more opportunities for handicraft products. Emergence of e-commerce and internet has emerged as a promising distribution channel to market and sell handicraft items.

Positive Factors Supporting the Sector:

Indian Handloom Cluster has a large, diversified, and potential market. It is equipped with strong and diversified supportive retail infrastructure. It has an assortment of product range due to the diversified culture prevalent in the country. The industry is further enhanced with low capital investment, production flexibility, and cheap labor rates that result in competitive price for its products. Handicrafts sector has fewer barriers for new entry, and also proves to be a potential source of employment.

Achilles Heels of the Industry:

Despite of all the technological advancements happening globally, there is still a lack of awareness about it in this sector. The artisans do not have awareness about the new technologies. They do not get adequate details about the current market trends. Further more; they lack information regarding international requirements and market scenario. Hence they are not able to commercialize their skills in the right way. Though Indian made handicraft items have a healthy demand in the global market, lack of adequate infrastructure and communication facilities hinder the marketing activities.

Moreover, there is very less co-ordination among government bodies, and private players. They sector still remains under nourished with young people not much interested in this craftsmanship. The industry is confined to small cities and rural areas with the market remaining untapped.

The Dark Phase:

There is no adequate balance between demand and supply. The industry faces a tough competition with handicrafts from countries like China, and South Africa. The advanced technology and R&D in the competitors countries favor them whereas; its absence in India makes the industry to wobble behind. This has ultimately resulted in loss of skilled workmanship in the sector.

Due to lack of support from the Handicrafts Development Corporation, and the Government, many skilled artisans are leaving the handicraft industry. The artisans feel that the corporation is not interested in supporting them to market the goods made by them. Almost 90% of the handicraft items seen in the stalls of Handicraft Development Corporation are machine made. Despite the funds offered under the Deen Dayal Hathkargh Protsahan Yogana (DDHPY) scheme, for promoting handicraft products, no steps have so far been taken for any projects. Artisans believe that the corporation does not take adequate measures to provide raw materials for their products, which they are selling through the corporation outlets in the past years.

The 6 million artisans who are the backbone on the Indian handicraft industry have provided their inherent skills, and traditional craftsmanship. But, they are now leaving the industry gradually due to lack of opportunities. The Government needs to focus on creating and developing production centres to patronize the artisans. The facilities available are quite sufficient only as a primary platform. For the changing world market, they need much advanced institutional support, to keep their edge with other competing countries.

Promotional Products Industry 101

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The Promotional Products Industry is composed of a network of suppliers that produce or contract production of products which are sold through a network of promotional products distributors who interface directly with the customers. While this structure is not unlike the retail industry where a supplier like American Apparel distributes clothing to department stores which then sell it to the customer, the distributor-customer relationship is even more essential in the promotional products industry in order to support the customization of products with the customers logo and/or decorations.

There are thousands of suppliers of promotional products and customizable apparel that serve the industry. These suppliers range from small business focused on one product to large, international corporations that produce multiple product lines. While most suppliers produce products exclusively for the promotional products industry, some also have separate retail product lines sold through consumer channels.

In most cases, the suppliers not only handle the production of the products but will also perform the customization (e.g. logo engraving, etching, etc.) of the promotional products. The most common exception to this rule is for customized apparel (e.g. t-shirts, polos, button down shirts, fleece, sweat shirts, caps, etc.). While some suppliers of apparel do customize the garments, in most cases the decorations are applied by separate companies specializing in silk screening, embroidery, laser etching or other decorating techniques.

Suppliers establish the retail pricing structure for their products based on volume. Because of economies of scale (think Costco and Sams Club) as well as the fact that larger quantities can be customized more efficiently, prices typically decrease at specific incremental order quantities. Because the prices are presented in a table format with pricing associated with specific prices, it is referred to as column pricing. Each column is also referred to as price breaks representing the quantity required before reaching the next lower pricing level. The right most column represents the highest order quantity and lowest price and is referred to as End Column Pricing or End Quantity Price. It is common for the industry to advertise prices as from the End Quantity Price. Depending on the cost of the product and relative cost of customizing the product, the pricing for larger quantities may be slight or significant. In addition, suppliers and decorators will often establish a minimum order quantity, referred to simply as minimums, for most products based on the cost effectiveness of processing and customizing the product. Typically, lower cost items will have higher minimums while high cost items may have minimums as low as one. Some suppliers will accept orders below the minimums for an incremental fee, referred to as a below minimum charge.

Suppliers will typically specify what decorating method is included at the listed prices. While a one color imprint in one location on the product is common, it is not a standard. Catalogs and websites which sell promotional products will typically identify what imprint method is included in the pricing specified. While some suppliers will only sell decorated/imprinted products, others will sell products without decoration which are commonly referred to as blank goods. In most cases, suppliers will require an incremental charge for initial orders, referred to as set up charges, associated with decorating the product. These set up charges are associated with the costs of creating screens, dies, pads, digitizing tapes and other one-time efforts associated with imprinting a specific product. In addition, suppliers will typically provide samples of the artwork in the size/shape as they will appear on the product, referred to as proofs. These charges are typically waived on any reorder of the exact same product with the exact same logo and/or decorations. In addition, many suppliers will offer additional decorating options including additional colors (e.g. for 2 color logos, for example) and additional imprint locations based on the product and their imprint capabilities. Its important to note that there will typically be additional costs for printing each additional color and/or location which are referred to as run charges as well as additional set up charges.

A factor often overlooked when selecting products and suppliers is the costs associated with shipping products from the supplier and/or decorator to the final destination. This can be especially important for heavier items such as ceramic coffee cups. In some cases, while a supplier may offer less expensive prices on a per-piece basis, if they are located across the country the costs for shipping may increase the final costs over those of a closer supplier.

Another key factor to take into consideration is your need date for the product. Often, this is one of the primary factors in driving the selection of both a product and a supplier. The lead time required for a supplier to fulfill an order is referred to as the production time. It is important to note that the production time is an estimate based on the suppliers typical workloads. The production time begins only after orders have been officially placed and artwork proofs been approved. Many suppliers offer expedited production or Rush production services for an additional fee. Some suppliers offer a selection of products which are eligible for Rush production at a discounted rates or even free. It is important to note that, the production time does not include shipping after the product is completed. Shipping from coast to coast can take up to 5 days or more depending on the method of shipping. While expedited shipping options are often available, the costs can be significant.

Those who have searched the internet for promotional products may have noticed that there are often multiple suppliers offering comparable products but with varying prices, price breaks, minimums, run charges and set up charges. In many cases, the products may be nearly identical while in others there may be differences in quality, color options or other features.

As you can see, even beyond finding your ideal promotional product, there are a number of variables involved in selecting the supplier that will produce your product. This can be overwhelming even for those familiar with ordering promotional products. Thats where a a reliable, experienced promotional products distributor comes into play. The promotional product distributor helps customers not only select a product that fits their image and meets their needs but also navigates the subsequent decisions to ensure that you get the product you want, decorated in the manner you prefer and delivered in support of your need date. A dependable promotional products distributor will help to ensure that you get the best value for your dollar considering all the factors associated with the product, decorations and shipping. In addition, the distributors experience within the industry can be instrumental in the selection of a reliable, high-quality supplier.

Major Challenges Facing The Technology Lead Generation Industry

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Lead generation is becoming a common phenomenon in the technology industry.An extensive number of people are realizing that technology lead generation is the answer to the saturation that the industry has been facing.Given that there are an umpteen number of freelancers in the industry;one can sense that there is unprecedented competition.Therefore,it makes sense that one is concentrating on technology lead generation to emphasize all the more on proper marketing and tapping prospective customers.However, there are five major challenges which face modern day technology lead generation.Here is an account of the same.

WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT :

A website is supposed to draw traffic towards the offering and generate necessary interest.However,most people misconstrue it as a source of marketing.The content that is available is marketing driven and certain essential points like dealership network and stores are difficult to find because of a poor site map.It is essential that one not only emphasizes on marketing ones offering through the website but also gives necessary importance to the newly generated leads whose information need might be slightly different from just consuming general content.

PAID SEARCH :

Popularly also known as pay per click(PPC),a paid search can be a good medium to be on the top of the search listings for the desired keywords.It makes a brand relevant to the targeted audience, which is searching for a keyword, which coincides with the companys business offerings.However,there is some reason which impedes the way of the marketers while exploring this medium.While some do not use it at all, the ones who endeavor to work with the medium do not tap it properly.

LOCAL SEARCH KEYWORDS :

As the competition over the search engine intensifies with time,what is essential is that local search keywords are provided more emphasis.
In other words,keywords which are long tailed, encompassing the location of the brand,can make one work on niches rather than work with the masses which are already horded.

SOCIAL NETWORKING :

The surprising part about social media is the lack of information about its utility for lead generation.Most people use social networking sites for a major chunk of their day but still find it difficult to comprehend the variety of uses that it offers to the members.If used well,it can definitely be a highly successful medium for lead generation.

BLEND OF TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY :

While some people concentrate only on the traditional mediums like telemarketing,some others extensively concentrate upon the contemporary mediums.In either of these cases,the strategy looks lop sided.What is better is that a smooth blend is established.Not only does one use one of the mediums,one establishes a combined strategy which taps both mediums and creates a better fusion between the two.