04 Apr 2013
Site Updates

Buying Guide For Washing Machines In India

Have you ever faced that dilemma wherein you go to a major electronics showroom and you are asked what are you looking for? And the only reply that you can come up with under the circumstances is a lame, give me something which is good. Well this is a scenario that most of the consumers face when going in to make a major electronics buy. Now take this case of buying to major home appliances which are used by your entire family and the buying decision becomes even more difficult.

Buying guides, price comparison engines and product comparison engines are therefore sought out for helping towards the same. However a few areas which are very rarely touched upon are home appliances like washing machines, refrigerators etc. To help you out in these areas, we release periodic guides and releases on product categories less touched upon.

This once if you are looking to get a solution to the cloth washing woes of your family you can look into the MyPriceIndia buying guide for washing machines.

For an initial guideline to buying a washing machine, the family size and the capacity of the washing machine plays a major role. As such the following thumb rules can be followed:

  • The family size, usage and the capacity rule: Based on the number of times washing activities are carried out and the family size, gauging the washing machine you need should prove easier. With an average washing time of three washes per week and a family size of 2, a 3kg washing machine is the perfect fit for your household.
  • For a family size of 4 and average washing frequency of 3 times/week, a 4-6 kg washing machine is a perfect fit
  • For family sizes of 6 and above, and a similar washing frequency, a washing machine of above 6kg is ideal.

Along with these feature guidelines, the following best buy information with the washing machine price in India will be a definite input you can use before making a buy.

Best Wachine Machines In India

This list will help you make a choice in terms of the best washing machine brands  in India, their best products and their best buy prices.

  1. LG: The most popular brand for washing machines in the Indian market is LG. Favoured because of their ease of operation and power savings, the LG washing machines are amongst some of the most preferred ones in the market. Currently very popular amongst the LG washing machines is the LG WF T7519 PR. The best LG WF T7519 PR price in India is Rs.17800
  2. 2.       Samsung: The Samsung washing machines are popular because of the smart features that they add on to their washing machines. Currently one of the best machines that you could get from the Samsung bandwagon is the Samsung WF0550 WJW. The Samsung WF0550 WJW price in India is Rs.27899, which is the cheapest price that this product can be bought at present.
  3. 3.       Whirpool: The washing machines from Whirpool are some of the most preferred ones over a long period of time. Along with providing great service and value for money, washing machines from Whirlpool also carry very good aesthetics in them, with the result that the washing machines from Whirlpool make for very good buy for users who prefer great looking appliances in their households. Currently one of the most user friendly washing machines on offer from Whirlpool is the Whirlpool 360 Bloom Wash. The Whirlpool 360 Bloom Wash price in India is Rs 25490. This is the cheapest price that this product can be bought at currently.

Based on the above you can make an informed buy the next time you are looking to buy a washing machine. For the best washing machine prices in India check in at MyPriceIndia.

Tango Zero | No comments
15 Mar 2013
Analysis

Why We Will Keep Watching: The Future Of Television Revealed

The product that is as synonymous to your domestic life as your house itself is. It is one of the oldest consumer electronic products of the human history and still is one of the most central features in the living room of any household today.

The television from the days of its inception has grown up to symbolize different meanings for the existence of the individual and his/her family. In the course of history, the television has literally progressed through the following levels of usage:

  • The One & The Only: Those were the days when the television was an exclusive property, affordable only to the elite rich few. The television then was a symbol of exclusiveness and a luxury to show off.
  • The Family Meeting Place: From the days of being the exclusive luxury, the television went on to be the favourite gadget of the entire family, with the television housing room turning into the family’s official meeting room on Sundays and every evening of a weekday.
  • Everyone Has One But The Bigger The Better: From the days of being the family’s meeting place, the television slowly went on to be more of an individual acquisition. The television also got bigger with the quality being based upon the lifelike size of the screens, concluding with 80 odd inches coming in now from LG and Samsung.

The stages of evolution of the television had its own set of audience. If for one level of its history, it was the meeting place of the entire family, wherein all the generations of the family became the audience at one go, another level had a set of individuals who had their own television units to watch on their own.

However as the television continues to be in existence it would be interesting to note the reason why televisions will still draw consumers to buy more of the new end television products and what the next level of existence of the television will look like. Will it be the increased size of the television screen, that both Samsung and LG exhibited at the CES 2013 or will it be add on features to the televisions like content services.

Samsung and LG are currently at loggerheads with each other as each of these consumer electronic giants try hard to outdo each other in the television market by introducing new innovations like the largest screens on earth and add on smart features. A review of these adds up to:

1. Samsung’s Smart TV: Samsung features its smart hub in all of its new age television products as  a move to keep the user engaged. Smart Hub features attractive services centred around kids entertainment and learning, fitness contents as well as media options for the family.

2. LG Google TV: LG has carefully integrated the power of Google into its televisions to enable smart content for its consumers. The LG Google TV enables content through popular online content platforms like YouTube, Netflix, Nascar.com and even social networking via Facebook along with other Android apps.

If the above are any indicators of how the future of the television will turn out, the onus is definitely upon contents. And the USP will be how well the power of contents is graduated into the television. Google TV and smart hub have just scratched the surface. There will be more wherein content isn’t a separate service but is in essence a part of the television.

For more on television prices in India and where to buy from check out here

Tango Zero | No comments
27 Feb 2013
Site Updates

Chill Out With Some Cool Models This Summer- Refrigerators On MyPriceIndia

Consumer products see an everyday update of new products on almost a day to day basis. Mobiles, laptops, tablets, televisions etc, every category sees an update or a new release almost by clockwork. The ensuing result is that whenever  a consumer wants to buy anything in the market, the process of getting to the product that matches your needs and the budget needs becomes something of a quandary to the consumer. To guide the consumers with their buying decision, price comparison engines came into vogue. However even with the numerous comparison engines in the market today, a precise comparison that matches your needs and requirements is something that is not easily available. More so if we look at buying consumer goods like refrigerators, televisions which do not find much of response with reviewers too.

The summers are going to be the in thing soon. With the temperatures set to soar gradually, the move to wallop with a few cool things would be a definite welcome. To make the play out with cool models easier, MyPriceIndia now features refrigerator prices in India as well. For anyone who gets muddled up by the specifications while buying that appropriate and suitable refrigerator for the household this summer, the features on MyPriceIndia’s refrigerator’s section could be utilized.

Exclusives From Refrigerators On MyPriceIndia:

  • MyPriceIndia now features 441 refrigerator models across different brands to help consumers make a buy from across online shopping places at the best prices available.
  • The costliest refrigerator available in the market now is the LG GR-J287PGHV.  The LG GR-J287PGHV price in India is Rs.177500
  • The cheapest refrigerator available is the Videocon VCP063SH-RDA  priced at Rs.6290
  • The number of refrigerator brands available on MyPriceIndia as of now is 9.

What You Can Look Out For A Buy Now:

When you have lots of choices and a mind boggling array of machines in your viewpoint how exactly you make that buying decision is what stands out as a differential between a good buy and a buy that leaves you with regrets. This writeup is just an attempt at paving a way towards how well data can be synthesized to make a buying decision. In the case of refrigerators, the following information can be considered by segregating the data into the types of refrigerators available:

  • Freezer On Top Models: If affordable pricing and efficiency of usage are what you seek out of your refrigerator and you have a small sized family, then a freezer on top refrigerator is a sufficient addition to keep your cool this summer. Refrigerators in this range are the most energy efficient. Optimal for use in India where power is definitely prized.
  • Freezer On Bottom: For the families that require a larger refrigeration storage, these refrigerators are ideal. Refrigerators in this segment however take a longer time to chill, especially in the freezer. The biggest con in using these refrigerators is their low energy efficiency.
  • Side By Side Models: These refrigerators are for large families or those families which love to entertain on a regular basis. These models come with external ice makers and water dispensers. However the issue with this segment is that they require huge spaces to be fit in, making them space inefficient. Furthermore they come at a hefty price.

Apart from information based on the segment of the refrigerators, the capacity specification of the refrigerators can also be used as a deciding bar for getting a refrigerator:

Ideally for a family of two, a 250-285 L refrigerator is optimal, alongwith the freezer space as an add on. To that for every additional family member 28.5L can be added up.

With these information insights, this summer buying a refrigerator could be a lot easier. To go through the best refrigerator prices in India check out MyPriceIndia.

Tango Zero | No comments
12 Apr 2012
Analysis

Analysis of Flipkart’s TV Ads – Hit And Miss

Ecommerce in India has been taking to TVCs for about an year now. Mostly lead by 3-4 top funded companies. Though the media spend is very high and the ads’ frequency is very high, I doubt if any of those ads create any lasting impact or are ‘creative’ by any means. Most ads fail to connect at any emotional level and seem more like an announcement. Flipkart’s ads for one stand out. With 12 year olds enacting like grown ups and addressing the real concerns around ecommerce, it seems Flipkart is doing what an industry leader should do, i.e. create awareness about the industry and not only about themselves. While all other ecommerce guys took to “buy from me” stand, Flipkart addresses “buy online”.

The cuteness and honesty of kids rubs on to the brand. Each ad addresses a real life reaction of friends and family when “shopping online” is mentioned amongst the learned middle class of India. They have covered the water cooler conversation, beauty parlor gossip, young couples and modern day youth. The execution of ad campaign is commendable with enough of everything i.e. messaging, branding, engagement and quite importantly the emotional connect. It leaves you with something to talk about, something to smile about. ‘Remarkable’ as one might call it. There is a theme to the whole campaign, like the ZooZoo ads from Vodafone, which works quite well.

I have believed in these three steps to create an effective marketing communication.

  1. Tell the benefits of the product/service to attract the attention.
  2. Then the features in your product that will provide that benefit so that user can judge for himself whether you are saying the truth.
  3. And then do an emotional connect with it so that the communication has a better recall rate.

Flipkart has covered #1 and #3 in their TVCs and #2 to some extent. May be they need to do complimentary activities highlighting their people and processes. A 30mins Sunday afternoon coverage on TV should do the trick, more like a documentary of sorts. TV channels wouldn’t shy from grabbing such stuff.

There are particularly 2 things I believe the ad campaign hasn’t stood up as expected.

1. The tagline.
2. The background score or the “brand’s music”.

Though both of these might seem insignificant but are very critical for long term brand building. Last season, Flipkart’s messaging was around various benefits and the tagline was “No Kidding, No worries” but now the emphasis is on “Shopping Ka Naya Address”. Call it experimental change or lack of consistency but there is something missing here for sure. Last season’s tagline was about the “No nonsense, all good” proposition. This season with a Hindi tagline, Flipkart has not only changed the language but the messaging as well. Last season was around the pains of shopping online for the experienced users and it exhibited deep insight into user’s thought process. Whereas, “Shopping Ka Naya Address” is very “announcement type” of tagline. It is subject to personal opinion.

Also, both communicate to a very different audience. The word “kidding” is not from your school English but more from an urban lingo. “Shopping ka Naya address” is common-man’s hinglish phrase. Also, Hindi words in the tagline of a English dominated target audience (the internet population at large) may not be the best option. It not only means different taglines in different languages but also, that “shopping ka naya(new) address” won’t be “naya” next season, so expect a change again.

Though, the tagline is not the only thing that has changed. The first TVC of Flipkart, Fairy-tale Bookstore, was aired with English dominated audience, very Hollywoodish style. Last season was with Indian characters but mostly in English language. This season it is Hindi language with a typical middle class household setting. Is the market maturing so fast? Is the middle-class-hindi-speaking-mom going online already? Or is Flipkart trying the top-down approach in advertising as well, the way they did with their product catalogue. Standard product, books, with no touch-feel to start with. Drawing analogy to urban-English-movie-watching users, who mostly are online and might be easy to convince. Then into fast moving electronics like Mobiles etc.; analogous to second stage of Hindi-thinking-Enlish-speaking users who have some form experience online. Finally selling every standard product that one would order online. The question being, is their a justified analogy to hindi-speaking-joint-family where saree clad mom doesn’t really go online? Isn’t that too far too early?

All said, the brands messaging should be consistent, atleast for 2-3 seasons. Things need to happen fast in startups and online ventures but your average user isn’t maturing so fast. I hope they aren’t using the product development principle of ‘iteration’ here. It isn’t as cheap in advertising as is in computer programming.

The second point around background score or the brand’s music is more around making a memorable brand. Think of Airtel or Titan or even Frooti, Britania and Videocon, all these brand’s ads have left you with a music to hum. The one minor advantage with music is that the same branding can be extended over radio or used as the ring back / on-hold tone when user calls your customer support over phone. The bigger reason being, even when your eyes are not glued to the TV and you can only hear it, the music associates with the brand. As they say, music connects with humans at a very different note, a much higher one at that. Flipkart should have introduced a signature tune by now. Currently the voice-over in the end sounds very on-the-face, it isn’t music to the ears.

It would be interesting to see what stand Flipkart takes in the next season. Nonetheless, Happy Creative is certainly giving the Flipkart fan boys a reason to be happy.

Tango Zero | No comments
08 Mar 2012
Fundamentals

Of Natural Extensions And Fighting The Eureka Moment

As MyPriceIndia grows, the team is falling into the trap of wanting to do multiple things at the same time. We want to be the largest product comparison engine but all of a sudden reviewing gadgets and making unboxing videos look like a natural extension. At other times being yet another e-commerce player is tempting. While we make sure every idea is given ears and well discussed, we also have to make sure that we don’t end up turning the ship towards the glacier altogether.

We have put together some thoughts on how to fight against those eureka moments and continue doing your gig without losing focus. Here is our process on how to discuss ideas to avoid indigestion at Startups.

1. Never look at the idea during the eureka moment. In this phase even if you are able to foresee the negative points, you will just overlook them. Your subconscious mind will identify a pitfall but then the over-joyous side will overshadow it justifying that there will be a solution and that you will get enough data to prove it right. The problem is that if you already have celebrated the idea and marked it as “my idea” then the team (or most members of it) will be cautious before putting forward their candid views on it. You will be looking for data and narrowest ray of light to prove it right and not to find whether it is right or wrong. The truth is, your mind will play tricks on you.

2. Let it sink in and overcome your emotional bias. Best solution is to write it down in as much detail as you can including those minor negative points. Then forget it for sometime (atleast 3-4 days). Comeback to it when the feeling has sunk in. All this while, it would be playing at the back of your head and you will have more clarity to your thoughts. Those random pieces will come together, you might find a competitor in terms of a substitute or alternative, you will see why this is a completely new game and not a natural extension to your existing play.

3. Now try and analyse every statement in that initial details that you wrote down. Discount all emotional phrases like “we will make it big”, “we will be the first to do it”, “it will be difficult but we can do it” etc. These are good for team motivation, not for idea valuation.

4. Next, discount all the assumptions. “Android users are more tech savvy hence lesser click on ads” might be an assumption. “All iPhone users have credit card and can fluently speak English.” is an assumption (try talking to rich dad teenagers in India). “60% of Indian eCommerce orders are CashOnDelivery” may be an assumption. If you have been reading those statements out of press notes, then you are doing yourself no good. Common sense facts are fine but don’t put in unverified data.

5. The grinding time. Now put some real numbers to everything and share it with your team. Let them evaluate it. At times it helps not to say that the idea is yours. Rather say, “I met this random investor/user etc. who suggested this. See if this is worth trying”. Try using an anonymous email ID to send ideas from and see how the team reacts. Always make them write their initial reactions; verbal discussion may carry temporary ego or lack of articulation/data.

You will be surprised how they rubbish the idea if they don’t know that it is coming from the founder. That is what you really need. A devil’s advocate who will question and refine every bit of the initial idea thought. Whatever comes out of this discussion is what should be used. Everything else was a very-random-not-thought-through thought. Don’t cling to it. Stop pushing it down your team’s throat the way you push down those awful hazelnut-red-jelly-caramel-cake that your girlfriend made to amuse her. It will only cause indigestion later.

The whole point is that most things look like natural extension at first. You would want to do what your vendor is doing and own more of the value chain but it may be a completely different business with its own dynamics. A coffee manufacturer might want to make cookies as they serve the same audience and will help him acquire more of the wallet but baking cookies is not the same as grinding coffee beans. Though if you are serving the end consumer, this mix suddenly starts making sense. It’s good to know where in the value chain would both be complimentary products. Anything else should wait for later, if not rubbished.

As we said earlier, nothing is as bad as it seems at first and nothing is as great even. The devil, as they say, lies in the details.

Share if you find helpful else leave a comment to refine this initial thought.

Tango Zero | No comments
02 Mar 2012
Mobile World

The Lumia Hoopla – Will Nokia Get It Right This Time?

Nokia Lumia is the flagship product for not only Nokia but Microsoft as well. It is marking a comeback for two giants in the world of smart phones which was lost to iOS and Android by Microsoft in terms of OS and then fragmented by various manufacturers that adopted Android.

Microsoft and Nokia have left no stone unturned to create hype around the Windows phone Lumia. While Nokia invested heavily on mass media campaign (tv and radio ads) and also on online advertisement for promotion of Lumia, Microsoft took charge on the offline front by sponsoring events and hosting student community for app development. Lumia was introduced in two versions, Lumia 710 with a price point of Rs.19,000 and Lumia 800 at about Rs.30,000. Despite the huge price difference, there was little difference between the two models in terms of features – a higher resolution camera and a better screen resolution. None of these justify a difference of Rs.10,000. May be Nokia is trying to play like apple here.

The marketing of both these models are quite interesting. In the intial phase, Lumia 800 was the only one being promoted. Even on the shops Lumia 800 was made more prominent in terms of visibility. Soon with launch of Samsung Omnia, Lumia 800 lost visibility and then promotion of Lumia 710 started. A scheming the cream marketing I would guess.

While the high features of Lumia 800 helped establish a good brand, the same effect rubbed on to Lumia 710 at a more affordable price. Adding to that, Lumia 710′s price was slashed to about Rs.15k and then another round of big promotion to gain grounds. Lumia 710 sales have picked up but still does not match that of Samsung Omnia.

Lumia 800 is definitely a good product but not worthy enough for its price. At Rs.30K level it is competing with likes of Samsung Galaxy S2. Also, the ever aspirational Apple’s iPhone is also not far. This is a battle hard to win. Microsoft and Nokia should make the products more reachable and let customers first buy their products to build a trust, something that Nokia enjoyed for a long time, long ago. It would be a good move by Mircosoft to introduce Windows phone at all price points and not stick to the upper crest. The premium play, the way Blackberry did it, may not work in current market where Android is getting most things right.

UPDATE (3rd March 2012): It seems someone at Nokia heard us. Nokia Lumia 800 price has been dropped to a Rs.23500 levels. A little more in reach.

tango1 | No comments
21 Feb 2012
Fundamentals

We Are Live – Now What? Lessons From First Month Of A StartUp

We have finally launched. MyPriceIndia is live with comparison of mobiles, cameras and laptop prices. It took us more than the expected time and this still looks like a bare bone launch. An alpha version we would say. It’s been 1 month since the site went live and we are still struggling with Data, SEO, UI and everything else. All this when we have only a product and no company or employees to worry about. What we realized after weeks of launch is that it was good that we did not wait for a perfect product before we launch. The perfect product would have never happened. In fact, even the right path would have never be chosen without launching. It’s like learning how to drive, you get better only when you hit the real roads. Thinking of your speed and turns when practicing in an open ground is worthless, as that is not where you are suppose to drive. You need to take your product to the roads and then work towards perfection. Everything that people ever said about minimal viable product and iterations were all true. Now that the product is live we know more things that need to be fixed and things where we completely went wrong. Good that it’s happening early. Launch and fix is the only way out for startups, a perfect product is a myth and is never launched. Though, we are still scared of getting this product reviewed by bloggers or sharing with our friends as we think this won’t get us the best reviews. Not sure if this is the right approach but we will wait for version 2 before we start marketing.

A lot has happened since we decided to do this price comparison engine, which we earlier thought of starting as a quick-money-content-farm. But now it seems the game needs to be played more seriously. We have discovered more competitors than we had initially listed, including some giant ones. Existing competitors are raising some serious funds. We denied a decent funding offer as it seemed too early for too little. We realized that there are a lot of other stuff we want to do. Heck! we even thought of abandoning this product as someone told us this a very fragmented market with narrow growth.

Then it all boils down to your gut feel and focus. Everyone who advised you was right but then they were right according what they have already seen. None of them were psychic forecasters. Even if they were, forecasting has rarely worked for internet startups. Who knew people will get excited about 140chars of random updates. Also, we realized that when the been-there-done-that people advise you, they judge you on their levels; on the lines of the risk appetite that they have and the upsides that are big on their scale. They put you in their shoes instead of the other way around.

Now what?

We have realized that this is not the version we wanted to build. Rather, this is not the version that we will survive with in the market. So, while we fine tune our backend processes, the new version is being worked on; with better user experience and more scalable design. We haven’t yet worked on fine tuning from a revenue PoV. May be that is for version 3.0, or 2.1, if you will.

We are not abandoning this any time soon.

Quick Take Away:
1. Never wait for the perfect product. Start shipping. It’s easier for startups that don’t ask for upfront money/commitment from users.
2. Don’t get scared of the market. Nothing is as bad as it seems at first.
3. Don’t get too happy about investors knocking on the door. No one is giving you free money. They are doing their job, you do yours – build the product.
4. Listen to everyone but be clear of their intention. Decide for yourself.

Drop us a comment if you like.

Tango Zero | 2 comments
02 Dec 2011
Fundamentals

Yet Another Price Comparison Portal

Yes. The thought of MyPriceIndia started with making yet another Price Comparison portal. The initial thought was to make a quick semi-usable semi-content-farm that would make us some good ad revenue. We booked the domain and once we got serious about doing this we realised the competition is big. Existing usable sites are failing to content farms when it comes to SEO and SEO is what will bring the free fresh traffic. But then content farm won’t last long. Google changes search algo every month and the target is too beat the content farms in their dirty game.

A couple of networking events later we came know about more competitors that are in Alpha stage. Over all it was clear that the initial thought wouldn’t work. We have to make a “good product” if we are thinking of making it big and long term. It will take time and may not mean immediate revenue but it will be worth taking the pain for.

In the past few days we’ve worked on minor features that we think will help us stand out. We don’t know if that will work but then the fact that the team is ready for it would make it easier. The motto of the site is to help you buy. Not limiting to price comparison between online stores but to help you compare products. MyPriceIndia would be the ultimate destination “before you buy”.

We aim to have everything that can be bought online and offline to be listed on MyPriceIndia. To start with we will have 4 popular categories.

Tango Zero | No comments