Starbucks India

Starbucks meets Tata for coffee

                              

The US-headquartered Starbucks Coffee Company is finally entering India by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tata Coffee Ltd, a subsidiary of Tata Global Beverages (formerly Tata Tea).

To begin with, the MoU will create avenues of collaboration between the two companies for sourcing and roasting high-quality green coffee beans in Tata Coffee's Coorg facility.

In addition, Tata and Starbucks will jointly explore the development of Starbucks in retail outlets and hotels for its iconic coffee brand.

At a later stage, both Tata Coffee and Starbucks will consider jointly investing in additional facilities and roasting green coffee for export to other markets.

The Seattle-based Starbucks , is a premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world and manages over 16,000 stores and operates in more than 50 countries. Till recently, according to industry sources, the Bharti Group was in the running to bring Starbucks to India.

This MoU is the first step in the entry of Starbucks  to India. They are focused on exploring local sourcing and roasting opportunities with the thousands of coffee farmers within the Tata ecosystem. Starbucks believe India can be an important source for coffee in the domestic market, as well as across the many regions globally where Starbucks has operations.

Mobile VAS (Value-Added Services)

Mobile VAS (Value-Added Services) in India: A brief insight

An astounding rise – can best describe the growth of the Mobile Phone market in India over the past decade. Declining call tariffs in conjunction with favorable regulatory policies have lead to a tremendous increase in the subscriber base, crossing the 600 million mark in 2010, almost six times its value four years ago. While the growing subscriber base has positively impacted industry revenues (which have risen consistently over the past few years), operator margins also have shrunk, pulling down “Average Revenue per User” (ARPU). As ARPU declines and voice gets commoditized, the challenge is to retain customers, develop alternative revenue streams, and create a basis for differentiation in high-churn markets – through Mobile Value-added-Services (VAS).

Mobile phones today have moved beyond their fundamental role of communications and have graduated to become an extension of the persona of the user. We are witnessing an era when users buy mobile phones not just to be in touch, but to express themselves, their attitude, feelings and interests. From playing games and listening to music, to keeping a tab on astrology and checking their bank balance, to reading news headlines and surfing the internet, the Indian mobile user has created a platform of boundless growth for the VAS, in the market. The following diagram illustrates the growing revenue from the Value-added-Services in the past half a decade (as per a study by Boston Analytics).

Different VAS categories are – Entertainment (Ringtones, Caller Ring-back tones, Games), M-Commerce (Services allowing transactions on mobile phones, eg. Fees deposition, Booking Air Tickets) and Information (Bank Balance Enquiry, Air/Train Ticket Status, News Alerts, Stock Prices).

The main stakeholders involved in the VAS value chain are:

• Content copyright owners: At the first level of the MVAS  value chain are the content copyright owners, which develop  original copyright content. Examples include music production  houses (SaReGaMa, Sony), Bollywood production houses (Yash Raj Films), and media houses (Sony, Star, Zee, etc.)
• Customized content creators: Refers to companies that generate customized content for users through their own portals. Examples include Mauj, One 97, and Hungama Mobile.
• Content portals/aggregators: These are individuals/organizations that gather web content and in some cases distribute content to suit customer needs. Examples include Indiatimes and Hungama Mobile.
• Mobile operators: They provide transport and support mechanisms for delivery of mobile content. Examples include Airtel, Reliance, BSNL, MTNL, Hutch, Idea Cellular, etc.
• Technology enablers: On the other end of the value chain are technology enablers. These provide technology platforms that enable access to MVAS. Players include OnMobile,  Bharti Telesoft, Webaroo, etc.
• Handset manufacturers: Mobile handset manufacturers have also started playing an important role, through their interaction with all other stakeholders across the value chain. Their activities include embedding software links in their handsets, allowing direct access to content portals, creating services customized to the need of certain regions, etc. Key players in the Indian market include Nokia, Motorola, and Samsung.

The Mobile VAS industry has grown by leaps and bounds in the past half a decade. The contributing factors to the rapid growth of the VAS industry have been – the booming economy, increasing user comfort with basic mobility services and personalisation of content and devices. As per a study by Boston Analytics, the mobile subsciber base has increased from a meagre 100 million in 2006, through 330 million in 2007 to 600 million in 2010. It is expected to scale up to a whopping 900 million by 2011.

Startup Marketing Tips

Ten quick tips for starting a blog for your small Business:

A blog which is short for web log is a web page though which you post short regular updates.  It could be a personal blog to write about things that interest you or a professional journal for your business .When it comes to small businesses, a blog not only helps you to build a community but also helps in marketing your brand / business idea/ venture / you as the entrepreneur.

Ten tips to start and maintain an engaging blog for your small business

• Keep it simple - Yes everyone loves something which explains any concept/idea/venture in simple and lucid form
• The content should be relevant and useful - Don't give a hi fi sounding heading and the content is something different, please keep it to the point, everyone likes to know something which is relevant and to the point, if its useful content then you are guaranteed repeat reader.
• Post often - Don't go off on a holiday after your one great post, its internet and people love fast and regular communication, otherwise you soon become outdated
• Make it interactive - Two way communication always works, engage your reader otherwise he will not be interested in your story
• Respond to comments and have a conversation through your blog - Please don't forget to respond to comments, reply however irrelevant the question might be, everyone deserves an answer
• Use keywords relevant to your line of business - Keywords make your blog rank higher and give it more visibility, hunt for right keywords and do include it in your posts
• Don’t sell too hard - Blogs are generally place for opinions and views, don't be into " me and my story" syndrome only
• Don’t use technical jargon- brings back to the first point, keep it simple and refrain from using business jargons which an average reader won't quickly understand, you want to engage not just impress.
• Stick to a schedule - Your readers after a certain point will expect a timely write up from you... fix a day of the week and stick to it
• Use your blog to run promotions and contests - Nicely conceptualized contests always endears a reader, go for it in your blog.