"To create a market is more important than worrying about the competition": Sameer Grover, Crownit

Is competition a bigger challenge or is market creation? Entrepreneurs Abhiraj Bhal, Sameer Grover, Vikas Chauhan, and Aditi Balbir thrashed it out at the 10th edition of Brand Owners' Summit.

For an entrepreneur, there are primarily two challenges -- to create a market for themselves, and make a name, or beat competition and win the game. Abhiraj Bhal of UrbanClap, Sameer Grover of Crownit, Vikas Chauhan of 1mg, and Aditi Balbir of V Resorts, shared their thoughts in a panel discussion moderated by Sreekant Khandekar, director, afaqs!, at the 10th edition of Brand Owners' Summit.

According to Bhal of Urban Clap, the focus of the brand is to "present a panel of high-quality servicemen." He said that the competition came from the people providing service and the lack of transparency that existed in approaching them. Hence, his aim was to create a market for such skilled professionals, and not get bothered by the competition.

Grover of Crownit also agreed that to create a market was more important than worrying about the competition. The focus was on making discounts and coupons a 'de facto experience for the customers', as the initial idea was to create a market where asking for discounts 'would be fun and make the experience super fun'.

Chauhan of 1mg suggested that for a segment such as healthcare, it was necessary to provide the right information to customers. The brand's aim was to create an environment that was conducive, and remove the opacity prevailing in order to help customers make the right decision. "The other players in the segment also came together to help create a new market in a unique segment," said Chauhan.

Agreeing with Chauhan, Balbir of V Resorts shared how the company chose many offbeat locations around popular cities and converted them into new destinations, thereby creating a new market for itself. Quoting the example of Manesar, Balbir discussed how the company managed to make lesser-known destinations near Delhi as a preferred choice for people to opt for weekend getaways.

Reiterating the fact that creating a new market gives an edge, Grover further shared that since Crownit focussed primarily on mobile transactions, it "does 100 per cent of its transactions on the mobile platform, unlike its competitors today."

Responding to how geography determines the decision-making of a company, Chauhan said, "Mostly, these are data-driven decisions. You look at the data points, at the consumers, and at the pricing of the services required."

During the interaction, Bhal shared an advice given to him by one of his professors: "Don't run out of cash. If you have cash, you have another day to fight."

Grover rounded off the session by saying, "If you focus too much on competition, then you'll never be able to focus on your product."

The panelists concluded that creating a market is the primary step which should be followed by providing the desired services.

Being an Industry Leader

A session on how India TV has carved out a niche for itself and is a part of every media plan was addressed by Sudipto Chowdhuri, executive vice-president, sales, India TV. He started the conversation by sharing his belief that 'work has to be fun'.

Chowdhuri highlighted how India TV maintains the right balance of reaching out to both urban and rural audiences. "On an average, we reach out to 80 million viewers, and each spends the highest amount of time on our channel," he asserted, adding, "On an average, if you take any target group, any market, India TV has always been a leader." This, according to him, was the predominant reason why India TV was a part of a majority of media plans.

While India TV is a known name, Rajat Gandhi of Faircent, an upcoming new player in a relatively new market of peer-to-peer lending, shared how Faircent has introduced a new way to lend and borrow money. He explained the entire idea behind the company, the challenges and inspirations, and how it has designed the website to make it easier for the user to understand and make use of it.

The 10th edition of the Brand Owners' Summit (BOS) - Stories of Brands Made for India, organised by afaqs!, and presented by IndiaTV, was held at the Crowne Plaza, Gurgaon on August 24, 2016. Jobswitch acted as the talent partner.