Diljit Dosanjh, the Punjabi singer or the latest pop sensation of Assam might soon be singing the praises of the e-commerce portal Flipkart. The largest online retailer in India is gearing up to announce a large scale campaign across 20 small cities. This is all set to mark the beginning of a modification in the approach of Flipkart in targeting the shoppers.
The earlier marketing campaigns of Flipkart have always had a national focus. Ankit Nagori, the Chief Business Officer of the e-commerce retailer stated that they realize that it time to take a regional approach in terms of marketing. Many of the products are not available in the small cities and sometimes the customers do not know how to purchase these online.
As per an internal survey conducted by Flipkart, most consumers in the small cities have faced several reservations. These are mostly related to online purchases such as concerns related to the safety of the online transactions.
It is the campaign that includes marketing and hoardings in regional languages. Nagori stated that they are hiring local superstars in order to work with them. This campaign will be going on for a period of two or three months even during the festive season when the retail sales will be high.
The top leaders of the company will travel to various places such as Jalandhar, Guwahati, Ludhiana, Surat and Jaipur to discuss with the customers, sellers and media. Around 20 percent to 30 percent of the demand of Flipkart comes from the small cities and there lies a huge potential for the e-commerce firm to grow in these cities. This move shows Flipkart’s ambition to achieve the maximum from the small cities that have a low internet user base.
Even cities such as Tirupur, Panipat and Ludhiana are having a large number of sellers, especially in the handloom and home categories. The smaller rivals including Shopclues and Snapdeal also have drawn a major chunk of their business from the users in the small cities. There is a tremendous increase in Amazon India’s growth in the tier II cities.
