Wednesday 28 September 2016

Test of customer loyalty for Amazon Prime, Flipkart Assured, Snapdeal Gold

http://www.livemint.com/rf/Image-621x414/LiveMint/Period2/2016/08/31/Photos/Processed/ecommerce-km8C--621x414@LiveMint.JPG
With Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) being replaced by Net Promoter Score (NPS), Indian ecommerce leaders want to win customer loyalty. And in order to gain that, Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal launched their premium loyalty services in quick succession. Amazon Prime in July 2016. Flipkart Assured and Snapdeal Gold in August 2016.
These services are going to be tested ahead of the festive season.

Focus areas

F-Assured’s focus is on ‘product quality’ and shipping & delivery speed to increase its NPS score. Mausam Bhatt, VP at Flipkart said,
“At F-Assured, the focus is on product quality and speed of delivery. These are important drivers of trust. Most of the delivery for F-Assured products is done within two days. Currently, four lakh products are listed under F-Assured.”
Snapdeal Gold’s focus is on ‘free shipping’ and making its loyalty program more inclusive than others.
“All customers are special and we don’t believe that better service should be reserved only for a few. Free shipping is an important consideration among e-commerce users, especially those who use online shopping regularly,” said Jayant Sood, Chief Customer Experience Officer at Snapdeal.
Amazon Prime’s focus is on ‘ease of shopping’ by expanding fulfilment centres & delivery network and increasing product portfolio. Amazon’s representative shared,
“…we wanted to offer predictability and make it easy for customers to get things quickly. We opened more than 50 new fulfilment centres worldwide in the last four years alone, allowing for more selection and faster delivery speed. Second, we added new digital benefits like books, movies, TV shows and more.”

Failed to deliver what was promised?

Less than 2-3 months old, the loyalty services by etailers are already falling short of expectations. Based on the customer reactions and posts on social media, it appears that all the three biggies haven’t been able to deliver what they promised – express/faster delivery.
Check the tweets below.
#FlipkartAssured
Image 1 - FlipkartAssured
#SnapdealGold
Image 2 - SnapdealGold
#AmazonPrime
Image 3- AmazonPrime
Sellers are calling it a marketing gimmick.
When asked about marketplaces’ loyalty services, All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA) spokesperson shared an image with Indian Online Seller.
Image 4
The spokesperson says,
“This is what Flipkart Assured is. (Pointing at the low rating of Flipkart Assured product that passed 6 quality checks) Like Amazon Prime. Anything you put in their warehouse is prime or assured or gold. Just a marketing gimmick.”

Subscription ecommerce yet to pick up in India

Indian online shoppers haven’t opened up to subscription ecommerce unlike the West. But etailers are hoping that fast & free delivery, longer return period, and other benefits will compel consumers to sign up for their loyalty service.
“In any category, early adopters form 10-15% of the overall customer base. Thus, with 40-50 million e-commerce shoppers today, India has potential of four to eight million customers for subscription-based services. These numbers are likely to grow thrice as much by 2020, driven by rapid growth in internet subscription and e-commerce customers,” affirmed Pankaj Gupta, Senior Practice Head, at Tata Strategic Management Group.

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