The global economic
downturn has affected
companies all over the world. Brand owners are looking
for new ways to cut costs, increase their return on investments and
sharpen their marketing efforts, so as to make their brands more responsive
to consumer trends. In today's turbulent times, an effective
and innovative marketing medium is a huge competitive advantage to
the brand. Brand marketers, today, have realized the potential of a new
cost-effective marketing and advertising space—the Internet. India, with
a population of over one billion, is potentially a huge market for
brand marketers to explore. A recent study by Internet and
Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) pointed out that there are
45.3 million active Internet users in India.
In spite of the
slowdown, Indian Internet users shopped more frequently online in the
fourth quarter of 2008 than in the same period in 2007. According to
a recently published report, Economic Crisis and Preference for
Online Shopping in Asia-Pacific, Middle East and
Africa, by MasterCard Worldwide, the average frequency
of online purchases in India increased to 2.9% in October-December
2008, up from 2.6% during the same period in 2007. The top three
most popular online purchases consisted of airline tickets (54%),
home appliances and electronic products (48%) and
CDs/DVDs/VCDs (44%). Thus, Internet provides an effective and powerful platform
to brand marketers for marketing their products and services.
The Internet can be an effective tool for brand marketers through
two primary ways, i.e., rapid scalability and cost-effectiveness. Internet
as a marketing channel makes huge business sense. Brand marketers
are leveraging the power of Internet as an online marketing medium
to give their products more visibility and generate more sales. At
present, India has one of the largest population of Internet users in
the world. These Internet users are the most sought-after customers as
they have high disposable incomes and brand marketers with clear
online media plans are making efforts to reap the benefits of connecting
with these audiences. The Internet presents an opportunity to
the brand marketers to create awareness about the brands with
low investment and manifold impact. |
