The year 2014 saw e-commerce companies as the biggest ad-spenders across all media as brand building and customer acquisition were the top priorities for these companies. According to a Datawrapper report, Flipkart and Amazon led the charge, with Snapdeal, and Jabong following suit. Market experts feel the trend is likely to continue till there are investors who are ready to bankroll the ad-spend or their cash run out.
As the entire online shopping battleground made news headlines after the Flipkart hoopla, buyers were forced to think what led to the popularity of festive sale advertising all over TV, and other media. Here are the top e-commerce players grabbing shoppers’ eyeballs:
>FLIPKART: The brand launched teasers around 'The Big Billion Day' sale for October 6. The teasers buzzed all over social media platforms and television with news about the forthcoming sale. Flipkart positioned it as something that has never happened. One teaser ad was a stand-up comedy act by Bollywood actor, Vir Das, and another promotional video highlighting attractions like bumper discounts and unprecedented prices for a variety of products across categories.
Flipkart, did jacket ads with national dailies, making sale announcements almost every day this month.
AMAZON: As Flipkart’s big day saw major setbacks such as products vanishing from the cart, rampant order cancellations and system failure led to reality falling short by several miles of what was claimed in the promotional ads.
Infact through exclusive tie-up with Flipkart Chetan Bhagat launched his book “Half Girlfriend” which was pre-booked and sent to customers post the launch
But during this Flipkart fiasco, Amazon stole the show as customers moved away from Flipkart and landed in the Amazon basket, and with the kind of dominance that Amazon holds in the ecommerce sector, it steered the Indian fanfare for online shopping from Flipkart to its own cart.
Even as Flipkart drew curtains on its 'Big Billion Day' sale for the day, Amazon tried a novel way to own the catchphrase coined for the sale, to get users to their own site. When users typed bigbillionday.com in their browser, they landed on the amazon.in site and not on Flipkart.
SNAPDEAL: In a deft strategic move, Snapdeal.com roped in leading TV actors from top GEC channels to roll out a mega Diwali campaign. The 40 commercial campaign (yes 40!) called the ‘Diwali Bumper Sale’ stars the current brand ambassador Pulkit Samrat of Fukrey fame and 20 well known TV celebrities such as Ali Asgar, Sumona, Kiku from Comedy Nights, Alok Nath, Harsha Bhogle, etc. who reprise their TV avataars, albeit with a quirky twist.
The campaign focuses on the key offers from Snapdeal on more than 5 lakh products across different product categories, establishing Snapdeal as the one stop shop for all the shopping needs of the consumers.
Snapdeal aggressively advertised on all print mediums too.
JABONG: Jabong.com launched a campaign featuring a 360-degree multimedia integration of television, print, outdoor and digital platforms. The new TV commercial conspicuously emanates the philosophy around which Jabong functions today with a message directed in two simple yet assertive words, “Be You”.
The TVC which was aired across channels, had been shot across many cities in India, capturing the personal styles of youngsters, and emotions derived from the sense of empowerment and confidence from fashion, the commercial showcases the latest styles and trends across clothes, shoes and accessories.
courtesy: inputs from exchange4media
