Pitney Bowes Study Finds a Market Driven by a More Demanding, Frequent and Global Online Shopper

Pitney Bowes, a global technology company providing innovative products and solutions to power commerce, released the 2017 Pitney Bowes Global Ecommerce Study – the first study to comprehensively analyze the global ecommerce landscape from both a retailer and consumer perspective. The study is based on survey results of 1,200 retailers from eight countries including India and 12,000 consumers from 12 global markets.

The study offers a detailed portrait of trends impacting online retailers and consumers around the globe. Some of the report’s most interesting findings are summarized below:

India saw incremental global purchases.

Asia Pacific saw the largest year-over-year incremental cross-border purchases, with India (18%), China (12%) and South Korea (8%) contributing most. Indians are purchasing cross-border with greatest frequency with 1 out of 5 purchasing daily / weekly. India is the only country that has interest in quick delivery for a cost, and are split across free longer delivery and quicker shorter deliveries for a fee.

For many online shoppers, 2016 was a holiday to forget…

Nearly half (47%) of online shoppers globally reported frustration with everything from shipping, to returns, to lost products and miscalculated duties and taxes during the 2016 holiday shopping season. Shoppers in Asia Pacific – particularly India (73%), Hong Kong (69%) China (64%) and South Korea (58%) – reported the most challenges. In the US, 36% of online shoppers experienced problems, up 5% from the previous year.

“As consumers become more experienced with online shopping, they’re shifting more of their holiday spend online and expecting better and better service from retailers, said Lila Snyder, President, Global Ecommerce and Presort Services, Pitney Bowes. “Online shoppers have an entire global marketplace at their fingertips. They expect that there is always a way to get the product they want, shipped where they want, when they want it. This creates both opportunities and challenges for retailers.”

She continued, “With even more purchases expected to be online this year, retailers need to double-down on the elements of the consumer experience that matter most – delivery, returns, tracking and world-class customer care.”

A more experienced, demanding and frequent global online shopper

• Online shopping is ubiquitous in major global markets, but is showing signs of plateauing, with 94% of consumers having made a domestic online purchase – flat year-over-year.

• Consumers are shopping online more frequently. More than one-third of global consumers make online purchases at least once per week.

• 70% of online shoppers have made a cross-border purchase.

• Online shoppers are exercising a wider range of options when it comes to shipping, collecting, or returning their items:

“Click-and-collect” – purchasing online and picking up in store – is now common practice for 40% of global online shoppers, up from 28% the previous year. In the US alone, this option is exercised by 46% of online shoppers versus 27% in the previous year. And the practice is most common in Hong Kong where 69% “click-and-collect.”

• Consumers prefer free shipping with longer delivery times (75%) over paying for expedited parcel shipments (25%).

Online shoppers in India increasingly prefer online marketplaces over retailer websites

• 67% of online shoppers turn to marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Flipkart, Rakuten, Tmall and JD.com to search for products.

• This trend is most prevalent in Germany, India and China.

• Product assortment, better deals and easy checkout are the top three reasons for online marketplace purchases.

Retailers are beginning to recognize the growth opportunity in global ecommerce. Business plans reveal a tipping point may be on the horizon.

• 62% of retailers have a cross-border ecommerce business today. And the vast majority of retailers who don’t offer cross-border, plan to in the next 12 months. If these retailers execute against their stated business plans, 93% will offer cross-border shopping by this time next year – that equates to a 50% increase in cross-border retailers in just one year.

Credit cards versus e-wallets – a dead heat…

·         Credit cards (like Visa and MasterCard) and e-wallets (like PayPal and AliPay) have been locked in a battle for payment option supremacy for several years. When this survey asked consumers what type of payment option they prefer when making a purchase outside of their home country, 41% chose e-wallets and 39% chose credit cards – the exact inverse of the results from the previous year.

• Preferred payment options vary by market.

• India is the only country equally uses credit cards, E- wallets, and debit cards/ bank transfers.
• “It is important that cross-border retailers focus on the consumers they are trying to reach, not necessarily the consumers they are most used to when developing their strategies around payment options and just about any aspect of their global ecommerce solutions,” said Snyder.

CleverTap, Exotel Partner to Provide Mobile Marketers with Better SMS Marketing Solutions

CleverTap, the pioneering provider of a mobile analytics and user engagement platform, today announced their integration with Exotel’s cloud telephony solution as part of their holistic product offering. With this partnership, CleverTap’s diverse range of clients can engage with users via SMS in a more timely, personalized, and effective manner. This further increases the efficacy of CleverTap’s industry-leading analytics and segmentation engine, helping clients run multi-channel SMS campaigns to increase user engagement and retention.

Speaking on this latest development, Kuldeep Dhankar, Head of Business at CleverTap, said, “In today’s hypercompetitive market landscape, a satisfactory customer experience drives business growth. Thus, it is vital for businesses to have the right technology in place to deliver the best possible user experience and stay one step ahead of the competition. At CleverTap, we adopt a customer-first approach and take into account all the feedback and requests that we receive. Based on their requests, we decided to integrate SMS as a user engagement channel on our platform. Exotel’s proven track record convinced us to choose their service offering. This will help our clients run personalized engagement campaigns right from our dynamic platform using push notifications, in-app messages, web notifications, emails, and now SMS as well.”

Elaborating on the announcement, Shivakumar Ganesan, CEO and Founder at Exotel, said, “We are delighted to partner with CleverTap to integrate Exotel’s solutions with their offerings. Technology can empower businesses to transform and create a profound impact. The combination of Exotel’s cloud telephony solutions with CleverTap’s next generation mobile engagement platform creates an enhanced user experience which is of significant value to the marketplace today. We value our relationship with CleverTap and remain committed to their success, as they continue to transform their services.”

Vivo Strengthens its V Series Portfolio with V7 Launch; Pre-Booking Starts on Flipkart from November 20

Vivo, the global premium smartphone brand, announced the addition of V7 to its successful V series at an event in New Delhi today. With the launch of V7, Vivo extends its strong focus on camera and music with the revolutionary 24MP selfie and 16MP rear camera.

Priced at Rs 18,990, Vivo V7 will be available in two colours such as Champagne Gold and Matte Black across all retail stores from November 25, 2017 and can be pre-booked on Flipkart exclusively from November 20, 2017 onwards. An additional 5% cashback offer is available for customers using HDFC Credit & Debit cards to pre-book  V7. They can also avail Rs.2000 off on exchange of their old smartphone.

The V7 extends the lineage of exceptional photography and features with a 24MP selfie and 16 MP rear camera. Besides a powerful camera, V7 also features a sharp 5.7HD FullView display with minimalistic bezels to provide users with a more immersive smartphone experience.

Commenting on the launch, Kent Cheng, CEO, Vivo India, said, “Vivo has always endeavoured to provide the best-in-class performance, especially when it comes to selfie camera capabilities. With the launch of V7, we are offering consumers another compelling proposition featuring an excellent camera and powerful performance at a competitive price point.”

Cisco and INTERPOL Collaborate to Jointly Combat Cybercrime

Cisco, the worldwide technology leader, and INTERPOL, the world’s largest international police organization, have announced an agreement to share threat intelligence as the first step in jointly fighting cybercrime.

Headed by INTERPOL’s global cybercrime center, the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) in Singapore, the alliance will see the two organizations develop a coordinated and focused approach to data sharing. This not only will allow for quick threat detection around the world, but also pave the way for potential future collaboration on training and knowledge sharing.

Noboru Nakatani, Executive Director of IGCI, commented: “The exchange of information and expertise between the public and private sectors is vital in combating cybercrime. No country or company can do this alone. INTERPOL’s agreement with Cisco provides us, and law enforcement in our 192 member countries, with access to important cyber-threat information which will help us not only detect attacks but also help prevent them.”

John N. Stewart, Senior Vice President and Chief Security and Trust Officer at Cisco, shared, “As cybercrime continues to escalate around the world, defenders from both the public and private sectors must meet the threat with equal force. Visibility and comprehensive threat intelligence across the cyber domain are critical to enable detection, analysis, and protection against emerging threats. We are pleased to collaborate with INTERPOL to exchange threat intelligence and find other knowledge-sharing opportunities to fight cybercrime globally.”

Naveen Menon, President of Cisco, Southeast Asia, said, “This agreement, signed in Singapore, demonstrates the country’s growing importance in the Asia Pacific region and on the world stage as a center for battling cybercrime and driving cybersecurity innovation. We are part of a diverse region with differing levels of technological maturity. This initiative represents an important step in creating a unified strategy to reduce digital risks and enable economic growth without the fear of digital threats and attacks.”

Cisco's best-of-breed security offerings and its architectural approach help customers secure their organizations more effectively from the network to the endpoint to the cloud. Cisco’s comprehensive security portfolio is designed to work together to see a threat once, and stop it everywhere, changing the security equation. In addition, Cisco blocks 19.7 billion threats a day through its Collective Security Intelligence, enabled by Cisco Talos, the security intelligence and research group.

Cisco’s agreement with INTERPOL supports the organization’s programs targeting both “pure cybercrime” and cyber-enabled crimes to assist member countries with identifying cyberattacks and their perpetrators.

Kotak Mahindra Bank Launches “Smart Banking 24x7” e-Lobbies

Kotak Mahindra Bank (Kotak) today announced the launch of 24 hour accessible e-Lobbies in the Mumbai suburbs of Juhu and Powai. Keeping the convenience of customers in mind, Kotak is expanding the touchpoints available for customers with a new format - “Smart Banking 24x7” e-Lobbies. Shanti Ekambaram, President – Consumer Banking, Kotak Mahindra Bank inaugurated the e-Lobby in Juhu and the Powai e-Lobby was launched by TV Sudhakar, Senior Executive Vice President, Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Shanti Ekambaram said, “Kotak’s “Smart Banking 24x7” e-Lobbies give customers the freedom to complete banking transactions at any hour of the day as per their convenience. Our effort at Kotak is focused on offering accessible and simple banking solutions to our customers. Over the years we have been innovating the bank’s delivery formats across physical and digital channels. Much like 811, which simplified the account opening experience, e-Lobbies too give an easy and non-intrusive banking experience.”

The Kotak Smart Banking e-Lobbies offer 24x7 access to a range of banking services such as cash withdrawals, cash deposits and cheque deposits. In addition, the quick service banking kiosks make banking easy, effortless and quick, enabling Kotak customers to complete internet banking transactions in a secure environment.

Established in 1985, Kotak Mahindra Group is one of India's leading financial services conglomerates. In February 2003, Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd. (KMFL), the Group's flagship company, received banking license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), becoming the first non-banking finance company in India to convert into a bank - Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.

Effective April 1, 2015, ING Vysya Bank Ltd. merged with Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. As on September 30, 2017, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, has a national footprint of 1,362 branches spread across 689 locations and 2,164 ATMs.

The Bank has four Strategic Business Units – Consumer Banking, Corporate Banking, Commercial Banking and Treasury, which cater to retail and corporate customers across urban and rural India.

Accenture Forms, Paxata Alliance Helps Clients Build an Intelligent Enterprise by Putting Business Users in Control of Data

Accenture has formed a strategic alliance with and made a minority investment in Paxata, a company empowering businesses to transform raw data into ready information. The alliance aims to help clients provide enterprise end users with exceptional data control across multiple data sources. This will speed time-to-business-insight and free up IT resources, allowing scarce data talent to work on strategic data architecture, rather than tactical data preparation. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

 
Recognizing Paxata as a strategic data partner, Accenture will include Paxata’s Adaptive Information Platform and self-service data prep application in the Accenture Insights Platform (AIP). AIP is a cloud-based analytics-as-a-service solution designed to solve business problems supporting a data-driven culture.

Using Paxata’s Adaptive Information Platform and approach for data democratization with governance, Accenture helps clients accelerate access to contextual information. Business analysts will be able to gather, explore, discover and prepare data themselves and rapidly assemble and construct information that is trustworthy and ready for business use.

 
Paxata will also support Accenture clients’ emerging enterprise requirements such as digital transformation, modern data supply chain, and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

“Paxata’s Adaptive Information Platform empowers users to unlock trapped data and use it to develop robust insights, which can lead to more intelligent decision-making and better business outcomes,” said Narendra Mulani, chief analytics officer, Accenture Analytics. “Through Accenture’s investment and strategic alliance with Paxata, we are well positioned to help our clients’ transformation to becoming data-native organizations.”

 
The investment and alliance was undertaken through Accenture Ventures, which identifies, partners and strategically invests in the most promising innovations in the market to quickly scale disruptive innovation. As part of the alliance, Accenture will be a preferred systems integrator for Paxata’s platform globally. Accenture and Paxata will collaborate on Paxata’s product roadmap with the opportunity to undertake joint solution design and technical integrations, for the benefit of clients of both companies.

“Accenture’s drive for efficiency, innovation, and assisting clients with emerging technologies makes this an incredibly strong and an exciting alliance”, said Prakash Nanduri, CEO, Paxata. “From the outset, Paxata has focused on methods to democratize data by creating the tools for transforming raw data into information and placing them in the hands of the business consumer. Our platform can help clients increase productivity for their business analysts and generate value from information more quickly. It supports the needs of business and IT teams for digital business transformations, data lake migrations, and regulatory compliance while ensuring enterprise-wide governance.”

“Together, Accenture and Paxata are building new capabilities that will help our clients create modern and highly effective data supply chains, and, ultimately, enabling them to become intelligent data-powered enterprises,” said Sanjeev Vohra, group technology officer, Accenture Technology Services. “We are excited about this partnership that will unleash new opportunities for business growth and client value creation.”

FOGSI’s ‘Manyata’ to Address Quality of Maternal Care in India

FOGSI (The Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India) in partnership with MSD for Mothers, MacArthur Foundation and Jhpiego (an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University), today launched Manyata – a nationwide movement urging the need for quality care for mothers during and immediately after childbirth when risks of life-threatening complications are the highest. The movement was flagged off by Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty and Pankaja Munde, Minister of Rural Development, Women and Child Welfare, Government of Maharashtra.

Nearly 45,000 women die in India every year during childbirth due to reasons entirely preventable. The movement is based on the premise that culturally in India, pregnancies tend to be focused more about babies than about mothers. A mother’s health is critical and equally precious as her child’s health and her well-being, our collective responsibility.

Manyata calls for bringing all stakeholders together and raising awareness about the fact that mothers are as important as their babies. She need tools that empower her to make informed choices about where she seeks care during pregnancy, as minimum quality care is her basic right. #DontForgetMoms

As a step forward, the movement has already begun targeting private maternity providers to adopt recognized standards for excellence in maternity services and urges all stakeholders to build an ecosystem that supports and centers around quality maternal care. FOGSI, MSD for Mothers and Jhpiego have begun educating, and building capacities of private maternity providers (where 40 percent of women in India choose to go for their deliveries) on ground to adopt and adhere to FOGSI’s carefully-selected set of evidence-based criteria based on WHO guidelines. Among other things, these include clinical procedures of managing care during labour, delivery and the immediate postpartum period. Based on rigorous assessment, the prestigious Manyata certification will be awarded to those facilities that meet these standards. Currently available to providers in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, the initiative will be rolled out nationally over time. These efforts are being made so that every expecting women can demand a Manyata standard of care for herself.

Pankaja Munde, Minister of Rural Development, Women and Child Welfare, said, “It is now high time that we put the focus back on women, their needs, their health especially when they are expecting.  Manyata should not just be limited to private hospitals, but we should work towards implementing this in all public hospitals across India.”

Speaking on the initiative, Shilpa Shetty said, “It is time that the society also cared as much about the health and well-being of mothers during childbirth, as the baby she brings to this world. Being a mother, I would love to see everyone coming together to join the movement and urge all expecting mothers to insist on quality care for herself. In popular culture, women are hailed as symbols of sacrifice and conditioned to think that they are second to their children and spouse. This is entirely a false perception. We must demand the very best care for ourselves especially when it comes to motherhood. Caregivers must also give equal attention to mothers as much as their babies,” she added.

As part of the initiative, FOGSI will mentor a network of trained volunteers who will help facilities improve and sustain stronger skill sets as well as facilitate exchange of experiences.  Dr. Hema Divakar, National Convenor, Manyata and Former FOGSI President, said “Manyata is not just a promise to expecting women for quality care, it is a reality. It is FOGSI’s approval recognizing those who consistently deliver quality care during pregnancy and childbirth knowing that better, safer and respectful care will reach mothers. FOGSI’s clarion call through Manyata is to engage as many providers as we possibly can so that no mother dies giving life. It is a direction to our community of doctors that we must do whatever we can because she matters. We must remember never to forget moms. We must empower her. The time is right. The time is now.”

Feeling hopeful that this movement is a step in the right direction, Dr. Rishma Pai, FOGSI President, added, “Supporting quality improvement initiatives in private facilities will motivate peers to join the quality movement. After all, be it the public or private hospital, every mother deserves the best care wherever she chooses to go, because ‘She Matters’”

MSD for Mothers, a key partner in this initiative, felt that Manyata augments the Government’s efforts to work towards reducing maternal mortality in India through the launch of many schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Yojana.  Dr. Naveen Rao, Lead, MSD for Mothers said, “We believe that in order to save mothers, we must design, deploy and scale solutions in three areas: empowering women to make informed choices, equipping health providers with the skills, tools and technologies they need to provide high-quality care; and strengthening health systems to sustain the delivery of high-quality services that benefit women and their communities. As India makes giant strides, let’s show the world – there is no scope for maternal deaths and lead by example.”

Dr. Bulbul Sood, Country Director, Jhpiego, added, “Jhpiego in its endeavor to saving lives, improving health and transforming futures believes that through programs like ‘Manyata’, we can strengthen the quality of care during the most crucial period of a woman’s life so that motherhood is an experience that is cherished and not grieved. We expect that in partnership with FOGSI, we would be able to synergize the skills and systems that guarantee a healthier future for women and their families. Let’s all work together to make this a reality.”

The launch brought together stakeholders from the national government, civil society, doctors, development agencies and academics.