Yahoo’s latest “It’s Y!ou” rebranding campaign

IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy

However, the question is: is this another ploy by Yahoo! to grab new users too, who for long have served the consumer ranks of its competitors? “Yes, it’s both about retention of old ones and getting new users onto the Yahoo! vehicle. In short, it’s ‘Grow and explore’,” shoots back Mathur. Obviously, this is yet another attempt from Yahoo to make its brand indispensable to Indians (and users globally). But has such rebranding strategy worked in the past? And will Yahoo succeed? As far as Harish Bijoor, noted brand analyst is concerned, he doesn’t seem to agree completely with Mathur as he opines, “When it comes to the softer side of online technology like browsers or search engines, brands find it tougher when it comes to returns from just re-branding, as users are very loyal to the particular browser or search engine. So if Yahoo! is actually looking at acquiring new consumers, at the cost of its competitors, it will prove a very difficult proposition.” And what about payoffs? Bijoor opines, “I don’t believe the payoff will be as solid as the company expects it to be, because it is only a little change of identity and product offering that we are looking at in this case. And again, the great loyalty factor will play against the expectations of Yahoo!” On the other hand, Mathur justifies the investments as, “We are looking at personalising and customising the brand Yahoo! And our payoffs will definitely touch our expectations...”

$100 million is indeed a great deal, for Yahoo, being a company that has its roots in technology, could have invested a great part of this amount in something more concrete, like offering a newly innovated service. To this Bijoor adds, “Yahoo could have gone single-handedly through the route of harvesting young people who are just new to the market. The problem is that Yahoo is preaching to the converted, which is really futile! They could do something for new users, maybe something like a Kids Google, that could cater to age group eight years and above.” A slightly different-minded Kapoor however feels that, “This campaign repaints Yahoo! as more vibrant and fresh, as a young and trendy service, and it should do a world of good to Yahoo!” Providing a different solution to the proposed payoff matrix, Diptarup Chakraborty, Principal Analyst, Gartner, hints at a potential sell-off of the brand, “The brand has lost a lot of value and weight in the recent past, and this campaign only appears to be increasing the brand value of Yahoo! to make it more appealing and attractive to potential bidders.”

And how will competitors react? “I do not believe that the competitors need to even react as this outlay is clearly a cost for Yahoo which will eat into its bottom line,” explains Bijoor. While Chakraborty doubles up on the same, a rather assertive Ptak states, “They will be very glad that Yahoo! has spent $100 million to so little effect. It should motivate them to invest much more heavily in technology to create new offerings and services for their customers.” Yes, $100 million is a big sum anyday, but at the moment, it appears to be the best bet for Yahoo! Mathur and his Yahoo! India team is hopeful, and who knows, Yahoo!, Yellow and its yearning, might just click!

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Retail in the time of slowdown

IIPM: An intriguing story of growth and envy

Pragya Singh,
Senior Consultant, Technopak Advisors Pvt. Ltd.

However, since organised retail penetration is higher in the big cities, most of the organised retailers did see an impact on their sales. In fact, the slowdown has been a reality check for retailers to take stock of their operations and strategy, especially after most companies scaled up number of outlets at a fast pace, in unviable locations, at exorbitant rentals, charting out ambitious expansion plans and relying on debt in the last few years. Slowdown or no slowdown, the reality would have struck sooner or later. So, it can also be argued that this was in a way not completely undesirable.

The retailers have therefore focussed on putting their house in order through repositioning, renegotiation, restructuring, reconfiguration, and replanning towards robust & efficient business models to develop a stronger proposition and profitability. While some of these strategies would benefit in the long term, others like price-cuts, making organisations too lean etc. can be a double-edged sword and may hit back in the long term.

Some strategies adopted include more empowerment to sales staff by a leading sportswear retailer and increased incentives for added sales by a major electronics retailer. Another leading hypermarket/ department store retailer is resorting to relocation or shut down of stores, which are economically not viable or where rentals are more than market rates, while several leading retailers are trying to lure consumers through extended sale seasons /value merchandise/ freebies and innovative marketing schemes targeted at ‘consumer savings.’ A leading international apparel retailer is looking at repositioning its store by adding space and making the items more affordable.

Other strategies adopted by retailers include:

l Consolidating the operations of various formats to reduce overheads and achieve economies of scale;
l Restructuring of supply chain by reducing inventory and logistics costs to reduce working capital requirements;
l Renegotiation of rentals which have already seen a significant drop across cities;
l Rationalising the HR overheads;
l Resizing of outlets to make them more profitable;
l Focusing on core formats for long term growth;
l Increasing margins by pushing their private labels;
l Negotiating better credit terms and price from vendors;
l Being more selective in expansion unlike before

Organised retail in India is only 15 years old and going through a very steep learning curve. In the first phase, retailers were busy setting up the front-end business and now it has entered a new phase where they are taking a hard look at their business fundamentals, operations and strategies. With the economy now getting back on track, perhaps the best phase in Indian retail sector will come in the next five years, when the sector would see major expansions by the national and international players and at the same time consolidation and operational efficiencies would start reaping benefits.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Don't trust the Indian Media!
IIPM exposes Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam
IIPM - We will change your outlook : Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam is exposed

Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎
IIPM Related Links
Follow Arindam Chaudhuri on Twitter
IIPM B School on Twitter
Exclusive In chat with Society Magazine - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri