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New e-commerce start-ups are entering into tie-ups for sharing resources to keep their marketing costs low, garner more business, and retain customers by engaging with them regularly.
Players such as SoftBank-led OYO Rooms, taxi-hailing app Uber, and Chinese-smartphone maker OnePlus are leading the way.
Delhi-based online aggregator of branded budget hotels OYO Rooms is tying up with hyperlocal service provider UrbanClap to launch OYO Timeout, a weekend activity to engage consumers of both start-ups through various group activities such as zumba and yoga in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi. These activities are offered free for the invited customers.
Anubhav Sinha, Chief Operating Officer of OYO Rooms, told BusinessLine , that UrbanClap will provide instructors, while OYO Rooms will provide space at its properties free of cost. Users of both start-ups will be informed through emails, Facebook, Twitter and app notifications. The requests will be entertained on a first-come first-serve basis.
“This is a win-win for everybody. There are always a few rooms available in every hotel, so we thought of utilising the empty space by organising events during weekends. This will not only engage our customers, but also help us get more leads from UrbanClap and vice-versa,” Sinha said, adding that there are hardly any additional costs.
The two-year-old start-up plans to expand this activity to other cities. It will also have a “Chai with Ritesh” event (Ritesh Agarwal is the 22-year-old founder of OYO).
According to industry players, as funding is getting scarcer, start-ups are coming up with innovative ways to keep their marketing costs low. As per industry estimates, well-funded start-ups are investing anywhere between ₹30 crore and ₹150 crore per month on marketing activities.
“The practice allows existing start-ups to tap into a new user base without having to spend big bucks on promotions or creating a tailor made campaign,” said Sulakshan Kumar, Founder of MySmartPrice (MSP), a price comparison and discovery site. Kumar said that MSP is also keen on such opportunities in the near future.
Recently, OnePlus started sending invites for its new model OnePlus Two to OLA customers. The idea is to use the customer base of these companies to promote products. Besides, taxi-hailing app Uber came with an initiative called UberPITCH to give free rides to anyone with a startup idea, allowing them to pitch to investors from the Google Ventures (GV) team.
Riders with innovative ideas can choose any one class of taxi from the Uber stable and select UberPITCH and request a ride. If connected, they will have seven minutes to pitch and seven minutes for feedback. Rides will be free for users.
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