The I(ndia)-Phone

But one word of caution. You are a marketing genius and I am sure you will react positively to this piece of unsolicited (and free!) consulting advice. Do not believe your over-sophisticated agencies when they assure you that the globe is a fast-homogenising market. Please insist that all your marketing executives read an unusual book published recently by my friend Rama Bijapurkar: We are like that only. The global consumer market can be described as homogenous only in so far as it is a tough market everywhere. On virtually every other count, markets are divergent and the Indian market almost always crops up as a statistical outlier.

The first thing to know about us is that we are a poor country. Despite the long Indian billionaires list put out by Forbes magazine, we remain a country of poor people. But being poor does not make the vast majority of Indians stupid. Au contraire: we are quite clever and, to use business school jargon, very “value conscious”. Our consumers are dead-set against shoddy goods (or goods perceived to be shoddy) being palmed off on them merely because they are poor. They are quite competent to make complex trade-offs usually associated with very sophisticated market participants.

Indeed, the Indian consumer is very price-conscious. She does not like to make huge upfront investments based on uncertain promises of future service quality. The entry price has got to be low to justify the risk of a new experiment however well-advised it may be. Secondly, any attempt to link lower price with lower quality, real or perceived, is likely to bomb. Thirdly, the definition of quality is almost always functional. “Does it meet my real needs?” is the question she asks, not whether it gratifies her ego.

She is willing to pay for good service as she goes along by increasing her usage and paying in modest increments for the increased usage. Lastly, please do not underestimate her ability to find uses for the product that are totally at variance with the original intent of producers. India is that strange country where washing machines are used to convert yoghurt into lassi, a drink that she enjoys all year round.

The Indian consumer has reacted far more avidly to ring-tone changes, horoscopes on the web, rahu-kaalam alerts (never mind an explanation, it would need another thousand-word article!) and SMS messages in Hinglish and Tinglish than any market researcher would ever have predicted. And she understands price arbitrage very well. I would wager that in no other country has the fine art of “missed calls”, which are not paid for but which can still be the conduit of important content, been used as expertly and repeatedly as in India. “Give me a missed call and I will understand” is a frequent one-liner heard in India. Be prepared and open to several complicated pricing plans — 100 free incoming calls while travelling, 50 free outgoing SMS messages, one free ring-tone change per month and so on. And then be prepared for a huge number of calls into your call centres to change this service to that one.

Remember, however attractive the individual features of the iPhone, she will pay for these features only over time, only as she decides that they are valuable, not because an advertiser tells her to like them. She will experiment with each feature carefully, drop some and pick up others in the light of complex trade-offs and usage scenarios that would leave the best game-theorists puzzled.

Luckily for the Indian consumer, you are entering a market which is competitive and which does not retain even a residue of our infamous licence-permit Raj. Your competitors include savvy Finnish companies and awesome Korean giants. Your potential partners include the fastest growing mobile phone service providers in the world and some of the most valued companies in financial markets (people have paid real money in recent times at record market capitalisation levels… so this is not just theoretical).

I would submit that this is lucky for your firm too. You excel at creating products that can be successful in situations of extreme and excruciating competition. You redefine boundaries, values, price points (no better example than pricing per song rather than per CD) and functionality. You have never been frightened of competition and it has brought out the best in you. You will find the Indian market rewarding always provided you treat your Indian customer with the respect she deserves. No one has worked harder, saved more fiercely, shopped more intelligently than her. She deserves the best that Apple can offer.

The writer divides his time between Mumbai, Lonavla and Bangalore

jerry.raoexpressindia.com