Give till it hurts

What is charity to you? And how much do you give to charity?

Shaili Sampath, Hyderabad

Shaili! Oops! That is a very personal question. A question I have always avoided answering. I nearly didn't want to answer it this time round as well. But will.

My belief is simple. True charity is what you contribute without telling anyone what you are contributing. For every cause I contribute to, I get an assurance from the guys I send my cheque to. They use the money towards the cause, and they audit the effort and report to me when it is completed. The next contribution happens only when I am personally satisfied that every rupee has been used well for the cause. I do not represent any of these causes myself as well. Attaching my name to causes is not important. That kind of giving is not for me. I do enough of that in my work. Why should I do the same when I wear my “giving” hat? That would be insincere giving! 

True giving is giving till it hurts. I am yet to get into that mode. Today, I give what I can afford to give, and what I think is surplus to my bread, butter and jam needs. I am not sure whether I am capable of giving till it hurts. Some nobler souls are. And I admire them, few as they are.

What's with the wave of customisation hitting marketing? How far will it go?

Rohith P. Kesavan, Chennai

Rohith, at one end of the marketing spectrum is the movement of ‘massification' and at the other end lies customisation.

Customisation is a personal-delight oriented movement in marketing. There are hotels and hotels. And then there are hotels that will let you customise your bed, your pillow, your coffee, your hot-spa requirement, your menu, anything, literally. Hotels were the first segment to offer this. Services start the customisation race. Products follow. With the intervention of technology and the Internet, customisation of products and services has become that much more of a reality.

Marketing moved from 1:1 to 1:Many to 1:Very Many and finally to 1:All. When 1:All does not work, one gets back to 1:1. That is exactly what is happening. People get tired of ration-shop options. People get tired of wearing clothes that make them look like uniformed soldiers of a brand dog tag. That is when you wake up and demand the custom-tailored outfit. Look at it this way; ready-made T-shirts and jeans are creating people who look like clones on the streets. If you want to stand out, get something tailored. Get something designed for yourself. And flaunt it to stand out among the mass of uniformed brand evangelists.

A time will come when the people on our streets will look like walking-talking advertisements for Levi's or Bossini or Reebok or Adidas or Nike. That is when the tailor and cobbler will rise from the ashes they have been consigned to. Mass branding works when customisation is the sea. And customisation works when Mass is the sea.

Where is group buying headed? What can one expect?

Rohini Devassy, Kochi

Rohini, group buying is in its nascent days in India. At present, the deals range across restaurants, health and beauty, recreation, services and events.

The early, low-hanging fruit in this business opportunity are essentially from businesses and enterprises of the local kind that do not indulge in advertising. These are the restaurants, spas, resorts and adventure clubs with huge inventories that mostly go unused. Most such outlets use such group buying as initial promotion efforts that act as samplers.

The real meat of this business is yet to be explored. There is opportunity in every FMCG, consumer durable, home solution, personal care and categories of their ilk. This is when bigger players start offering group buying incentives on such sites for their oldest and most antiquated models for a start. Companies also have the opportunity to launch exclusive brands for such portals. These would not be available in the market. The private labels in every category have a similar opportunity staring back at them. There is just no glass ceiling to such activity.

If Mercedes Benz could sell 150 cars in Aurangabad in the group-buying format, imagine what else could be sold through such efforts of an intermediary clubbing together the group-buying might of the consumer!

Things will fall into place slowly. The first challenge for these intermediaries is to establish credibility and build a large base of regulars who shop through them.

(Harish Bijoor is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.)

Email: askharishbijoor@gmail.com

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