Rising ad spends on influencers
What's the news?
Advertising spending on social media influencers in India by brands is rising — driven by the increasing popularity of content creators and proliferation of new platforms like TikTok and ShareChat — and could double this year.
What's the ongoing trend?
Even though Instagram is one of the top platforms when it comes to influencer marketing, several advertisers and marketers believe that TikTok will overtake the Facebook-owned photo and video sharing platform in terms of ad spends on influencers by next year. India is expected to be the strongest force in influencer marketing, due to the wide access to 4G and smartphones, rise of regional content and increasing e-commerce spending. Read more.
Startups flock to GeM
What's the news?
Indian consumer internet companies are lining up to sell their goods and services in the government’s e-marketplace (GeM), as they look to gain access to a new set of consumers - the country’s central and state governments and public sector undertakings, among others, which was previously unavailable to them.
Why is it important?
Access to GeM would give a huge boost to the country’s consumer internet companies that are looking to broaden their customer base. GeM has recorded gross merchandise sales of over Rs 25,000 crore, has over 233,000 sellers and services providers on its platform and has processed over 1.8 million orders till date.
Additionally, buyers from across 36 states and union territories have bought on the platform, while 24 States and UTs have signed a formal MoU with GeM to adopt it as the core procurement portal in their respective territories. Read more.
Reliance ramps up its high-end brand portfolio
What's the news?
Reliance Brands has signed up Armani’s sportswear brand EA7 and British high-street labels All Saints and Kurt Geiger to ramp up its portfolio of high-end brands before the launch of its e-commerce initiative.
Why does it matter?
Reliance Industries has been ramping up its portfolio of brands as it prepares to launch a comprehensive "new commerce" that seeks to synergise between its vast network of brick-and-mortar stores with its upcoming e-commerce platform.
As a precursor, the conglomerate has been withdrawing its clothes, shoes and lifestyle products from would-be rival marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart. Reliance is placing all high-end brands under Ajio Gold on the online fashion marketplace that is also owned by Reliance Retail. Read more.
Fintech firms await Aadhaar access
What's the news?
Financial services companies are awaiting word on Aadhaar access from their respective regulators, following up on the notification issued by the finance ministry regarding access for non-banking regulated entities to the social security infrastructure.
What's the plan?
The government had earlier laid out a three-step process for non-banking regulated entities such as mobile wallets, NBFCs, insurance companies, and broking agencies, to get access to Aadhaar data, following up on the Aadhaar ordinance which had initially only allowed banks and telecom companies.
IRDA, which regulates the insurance sector, wanted companies regulated by it to submit a "description of arrangements made for safety and security of data", prepare for the maintenance of privacy and security of data as prescribed by the UIDAI and adhere to cybersecurity guidelines of the insurance regulator. Other regulators are also expected to follow suit shortly. Read more.
Byju's-Disney learning app
What's the news?
Online learning platform Byju’s and US-based conglomerate The Walt Disney Co are likely to launch a co-branded learning app next week targeted at kindergarten to Class 3 students, which will boast of characters from popular Disney brands such as Cars, Toy Story and Frozen.
What's the significance?
The partnership is in line with Byju’s aspirations to expand beyond India into other large English-speaking markets such as the United States, UK, and Australia. The app will rely on the universal acclaim that Disney characters enjoy across the world.
Byju’s has entered into a revenue-sharing agreement with the media company. While the exact terms of the deal could not be ascertained, it is learnt to be in the range of a 10-15% revenue share that Disney usually sets. Read more.