Q-commerce to revolutionise Indian food delivery market, with majority opting for food delivery once a week
Quick commerce, with its hyperlocal and rapid deliveries, is set to make a mark in the food delivery space in India, stated a report by GlobalData. The urban, young, and educated Indian demographic is tech-savvy and is more inclined to get food delivered to the doorstep and avoid the hassle of going to a restaurant and underlining this trend, per a consumer survey by GlobalData, 64% of respondents stated that they choose food delivery at least once a week. Factors like busy lifestyles, longer travel times due to traffic, convenience of food delivery, and the desire to avoid heat, pollution, and large crowds have contributed to the growth of the q-commerce trend. Neralla Rama Ravi Teja of GlobalData, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic amplified consumers’ tendency to order food online. However, given the increasing traffic and the wide selection of foodservice outlets, food delivery times are increasing.” However, to address the issue, players like Zomato started a quick delivery model for select foods in the past, but with a limited menu. “To fill in the need for quicker food deliveries, Swish, a Bengaluru-based company, unveiled a new food delivery platform that aims to bring the agility and rapid turnaround times of q-commerce to the food delivery space,” he added. The Indian food delivery space is highly competitive, with Swiggy and Zomato dominating consumers’ minds. These established players have strong partnerships with restaurants and cloud kitchens and attract consumers with regular discounts and promotions. To carve out a space for itself in this competitive landscape, Swish needed a radical proposition. It expects its 10-minute delivery to help it rapidly penetrate the Indian market.” Indian consumers seek high value for their money and are on the constant lookout for options that offer the best value. Swish aims to differentiate itself by offering value in terms of time, as modern-day young consumers are willing to spend extra money to save time. The company is presently operational in Bengaluru and plans to expand to other urban agglomerations.”
92% of CX leaders agree that AI is changing everything about CX
Customer experience accounts for a very prominent foundation of what a brand’s face value is. In the evolving landscape of customer experience (CX), artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force, reshaping how brands interact with their customers. From chatbots to predictive analytics, AI’s integration into CX strategies promises to enhance engagement, streamline operations, and drive personalised interactions. “In the near future, AI will play a role in all customer interactions, moving us beyond traditional, manual service to more advanced, technological-driven experiences. A transformation won’t happen overnight, but there will be a steady progression that develops over time. It’s going to redefine roles and improve experiences for CX teams and their customers.” Craig Flower, chief information officer, Zendesk, said. According to a recent report released by Zendesk, 92% of CX leaders agree that AI is changing everything about CX.
Blockchain is helping transform India’s realty landscape
Blockchain technology is gradually transforming real estate across the world by introducing transparency, security, and efficiency in property transactions. While still in its early stages, its application in land records management and property financing is gaining momentum, driven by the potential to reduce fraud and streamline processes. However, the adoption of blockchain in India faces challenges such as regulatory uncertainty and the slow pace of digitisation. As these hurdles are addressed, blockchain is expected to significantly impact how real estate is bought, sold, and managed across the country. Blockchain is a decentralised digital ledger that records transactions across multiple computers. In real estate, it enables secure, transparent, and tamperproof recording of property transactions, contracts, and ownership details. Blockchain’s distributed nature ensures that once information is recorded, it cannot be altered without consensus, reducing fraud and enhancing trust among stakeholders. Blockchain boosts real estate tramsparency, improvement in terms of land records. It can speed up verification of documents, credit checks, transfer of funds. It also streamlines property financing issues. But the main challenge lies in the digitisation process in India.
60% advertisers pick brand safety as major concern in programmatic advertising
WARC has released The Future of Programmatic 2024, a report covering the major trends shaping programmatic advertising over the coming 12 months, together with guidance for advertisers evolving their programmatic and ad tech capabilities. The report highlights key trends across five different areas: programmatic priorities and concerns, signal loss and cookie deprecation, supply chain transparency, sustainability, and spending intentions. Findings are based on an exclusive survey of 100 programmatic experts, conducted in July 2024. This report comes in the wake of Google’s decision not to fully phase out third-party cookies from the advertising ecosystem. While it represents a reversal of sorts, this should not encourage complacency. The industry still needs to evolve to meet the demands of a privacy-first ecosystem. Declining addressability, brand safety and ad fraud, continue to concern marketers, and addressing these concerns becomes even more important as increasing volumes of spend are transacted programmatically each year.
Brand safety tops list of programmatic concerns:
Accounting for more than 70% of digital spend, programmatic channels play a critical role in helping advertisers achieve their wider marketing and business objectives. More than half (60%) of the advertisers and agencies surveyed highlighted this issue as one of their biggest causes for concern, with 56% selecting improved advertising verification capabilities as a top priority.
Advertisers are underprepared for a cookie-diminished world
Google will no longer be withdrawing cookies from the digital advertising ecosystem, but will nonetheless play a diminished role in the future. Many advertisers are still struggling to adapt to this new world, despite concerns about the impact of signal loss on various areas including targeting, data access, audience segmentation and measurement. Only a quarter (25%) of survey respondents agree that advertisers are making adequate progress. Consistent with other research, advertisers are doubling down on the collection of first-party data. More than three quarters (76%) of respondents are implementing first-party data strategies, with more than half (57%) highlighting this as the most promising solution.
The industry is failing to take action on transparency
Across the programmatic advertising supply chain, ad fraud and wastage are rife. According to the ANA’s programmatic study, just 36 cents of every dollar spent on programmatic advertising reaches the consumer, and a quarter of the $88 BN spent on open web programmatic is wasted on low-quality and fraudulent ad impressions. However, a year on from the report less than half (49%) of advertisers and agencies have established direct contracts, or taken the necessary steps to verify or audit the quality of ad impressions.
Emissions reduction is not a priority at most (59%) companies
Open web investment decreases as walled garden spend grows
Despite evidence suggesting that the open web remains the arena in which audiences spend most of their time, investment in walled gardens appears to be growing. WARC forecasts predict that just five platforms will take over half of global advertising spend this year. Three-quarters of survey respondents (76%) say they are spending 40% or less of their budgets on open web advertising.
D2C festive sales could see a 40 percent increase
GoKwik, an ecommerce enabler, forecasts a 40% surge in online sales for the upcoming festive period, led by a resilient Indian economy, growth of aspirational GenZs, and rise of D2C brands. According to data from GoKwik’s network, which includes over 4000 direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands, there has been a 38% increase in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and a 49% rise in orders in July compared to June of this year. This early spike suggests that the festive shopping season has begun earlier than usual and is being driven by online shopping. This year, with more shoppers adopting a direct-to-consumer (D2C) approach, an increasing number of Gen Z individuals entering the workforce with disposable income, and a growing emphasis on aspirational purchasing of premium products, GoKwik anticipates a 40% increase in orders during the festive season. “As we enter the festive season, we are witnessing an early surge in consumer activity, which is a promising sign for the industry,” said Chirag Taneja of GoKwik. “The shift towards D2C brands is becoming more pronounced, with consumers valuing the direct connection, personalised experiences, and unique offerings these brands provide. We are committed to supporting this growth by ensuring that brands can meet the increasing demand while minimising challenges like RTO.” Last year, brands on the GoKwik network experienced a 34% uplift in GMV and a 38% increase in orders. The brands continued to showcase a boost in order volume even as major marketplaces were running concurrent sales. D2C brands now see little to no impact on their sales when major marketplaces run simultaneous sales. Last year, brands in the GoKwik network also witnessed a 52% surge in sales during the significant marketplace sales, suggesting eCommerce brands have now become inert to these sale periods. The market is deepening, and shoppers show a positive sentiment toward D2C brands. Return to Origin (RTO) rates, a critical metric for eCommerce success, saw a 7% decrease across GoKwik’s network last year. This year, the company expects this improvement to double, driven by brands becoming more vigilant in understanding customer intent and enhancing communication through multiple channels. Over 900,000 orders were RTOed last year, with the highest rates observed in Manipur (36%), Bihar (28%), and Arunachal Pradesh (28%). Specific pin codes, such as 782122 in Nagaon district, Assam, 321204 in Bharatpur district.
AI in Indian healthcare market to reach $1.6 BN by 2025
Adoption of AI at scale could bridge accessibility, affordability and quality gaps in the healthcare sector in India, said a Nasscom-Kantar report. According to the report, the healthcare sector in India is expected to reach $650 BN by 2025, supported by uptick in public health spending, government and private investments in expanding medical infrastructure, diversifying healthcare segments, and growth in newer pockets like home healthcare, and telemedicine. Although the country’s healthcare sector has been growing at a CAGR of 22.5% between 2016 to 2022 and was diversifying in terms of products, services, and markets, AI in healthcare was growing at a CAGR of 40.6% and was estimated to reach $1.6 BN by 2025, said the study. As per the study, varied AI applications are emerging in the health segment. Areas such as drug discovery and development, clinical trials, and AI imaging and diagnostics have witnessed a significant uptick in AI penetration levels, promising a transformative leap for the country’s healthcare system by enhancing diagnostics, streamlining operations, and improving patient care nationwide, it further said.