At Chaupaati, we have always wondered how the pervasiveness of the mobile phone can be used to provide market access to consumers at large. In the early 90’s, AOL made the Internet pervasive in American households and Netscape changed the way these consumers accessed information over this new medium. In the late 90’s, several American companies disrupted traditional brick-and-mortar consumption models by providing direct market access to these consumers in this brave new world. In the late 00’s, the mobile phone has penetrated Indian households and we are in times where businesses are figuring out how this impacts the way people access and buy consumer goods and services. Here are some initial learnings.

Phone is not Internet

A phone is meant to access people. The Internet is meant to access information. One may be used as a proxy to the other, but it is important to understand the difference in consumer expectation to enable that proxy. While the phone can be a medium to interact with a digital platform that is always accessible wherever you are, it is different from the Internet. Using the Awareness-Intent-Desire-Action model of consumer behavior leading to a purchase decision, let us contrast how the two media compare. Both phone and Internet are interactive media and best used for Awareness creation on pull rather than by push. The Internet is great for high-involvement information browsing and okay at visualizing, making it a good medium to convert Awareness to Intent to Desire. The phone is pathetic for this purpose. The phone is great at providing comfort from human interaction and clarifying nagging doubts at the moment of truth, making it a good medium to convert Desire to Action. The Internet falls short here.

There is a Unique Reason

Popular myths: (a) If it sells in the store, it will sell on the phone. (b) If it sells on the Internet, it will sell on the phone. These are both dangerously wrong inferences. Wrong because there are several counter examples. Dangerous because they are half-true. A new medium must offer a unique benefit for people to break away from current habit. This benefit must be compelling enough to drive the change in behavior. Multiple successful behavior changes will eventually drive a habit change. Every order by phone is triggered by one or more of these benefits: not near Internet, special order requests, need clarification, not available at my stores, don’t know where to buy, it’s a secret, want to negotiate, want convenience, have deadline, want home delivery, getting a great deal, etc. It will become a habit only after multiple orders. Before that happens, transactions will not happen just because people want to buy.

Medium - Product - Consumer

Popular myths: (1) Television and print are the best ways to advertise products meant for ordering by phone. (2) Gifts and durables are the killer categories for phone commerce. (3) Businessmen in tier 2 urban areas are most likely to buy over the phone. In each case, the incorrect conclusion is that a medium, or a product, or a consumer is best suited for phone commerce. In reality, it is correct to draw conclusions only on the combination of media, product and consumer. Media bias: Housewives will purchase jewelery as seen on TV, but not as seen in a newspaper. Product bias: Parents will purchase children’s comics they browsed online, but not textbooks. Consumer bias: Nagpur shopkeepers will purchase dual-sim mobiles advertised on hoardings, but Mumbai shopkeepers would not. It is the combination that works or does not work.

It’s a Platform, not a Call Center

Just as an Internet business is not just a website, a phone business is not just a call center. Anyone can set up a call center, just as anyone can set up a website. But outsourcing a call center or website design capability is a different business from offering a platform that enables a new consumer service. What defines an Internet or phone business is the product or service it offers, the experience it provides its customers, and the way it fulfills its promise to the customer. Websites and call centers with a strong catalog, good usability and impeccable fulfillment are more than just websites and call centers. Business success relies on understanding the customer need and building an entire organization, product platform and fulfillment network to fulfill that need.

Chaupaati’s mission is to aggregate the commerce between consumers, unorganized businesses and brands in India, and make it easily accessible. We are doing this by working with leading Indian consumer brands and retailers to build out a direct-to-consumer channel in books & magazines, home appliances, computers, mobiles, education, gifts, automobiles, retail, FMCG, consumer services and other verticals we have not discovered yet. If you know of someone who shares our vision, please let me know at kashyap@chaupaati.in. In the meanwhile, enjoy phone pe deal at 922-222-1947.