Quikr.com: What's your MSP?

Maximum Selling Price (MSP) is a new concept which works using a special algorithm to arrive at a resale price for used goods across categories. Quikr is promoting the concept with a TVC.

India is a very value conscious market and the sensitivity to price applies to both the seller side and buyer side of any transaction. Especially when it comes to selling off a used product, determining the correct price is always a trouble.

Keeping this in view, online classifieds website
Quikr.com
has come up with Maximum Selling Price (MSP), a new concept which works using a special algorithm designed by Quikr's internal team. It uses various data points to arrive at a resale price for used goods across categories.

This algorithm takes into account the pricing of a particular item in every category based on similar product listings over the past several months. As per the company, the MSP Calculator gives timely and credible indication about resale prices. This provides both buyers and sellers information about the prevailing market rates for used goods across categories.

The company has also released a campaign across TV, radio, outdoor and digital, promoting the new tool. The campaign has been conceptualised by Scarecrow Communications.

The film opens on a picturesque jetty in Goa. Pedro, a quintessential Goan, supervises the loading of his car onto a ferry filled with a multifarious mix of passengers. Pedro asks the ferry man to deliver the car to one Mr. Fonseca, as he has sold it to him.

Meanwhile Murli who is fishing nearby laments that Pedro could have used MSP to get a higher price for the car. With the help of his tablet, he shows Pedro the MSP calculator on Quikr.com, which shows Pedro's car could have got an MSP of Rs 1,50,000.

As the two keep talking, the ferry leaves the jetty. Pedro and Murli then chase the ferry on a bizarre bicycle mounted boat, with Pedro requesting the ferry driver river to take a u-turn. Towards the end, they clamber onto the ferry and Pedro manages to post an ad on Quikr using MSP. As he gleefully counts money, Murli signs off, saying 'No fikar, bech Quikr!"

Speaking about the concept of MSP, Pranay Chulet, CEO, Quikr, says that sellers want to get the best price for whatever they are selling and, at the same time, the buyers also want to know the reasonable price for whatever they are buying.

"The problem in used good transactions is no one knows what the right price is. MSP gets to the heart of the problem and reduces the uncertainty that sellers and buyers face in these transactions. It's a price guideline based on enormous amounts of market data, we think it will change the way India buys and sells used goods," he says.

As per Chulet, MSP will also make the entire process of selling/buying of pre-owned goods more informed and less random. And, he feels that the fact that MRP is so well ingrained in the minds of the people will make it easier for them to understand and appreciate the concept of MSP quickly.

However, Quikr is fast to clarify that the prices shown by MSP are only indicative prices based on historic data and there is no guarantee that sellers will get the exact prices mentioned. The actual selling price finally depends on various things including the condition of the product and the demand for it.

The new MSP calculator is currently available on Quikr's mobile and desktop versions for select categories. As of now, Quikr's MSP is available across categories including electronics, real estate, mobile phones, automobiles, home and lifestyle and it has been this way since it was launched.

Raghu Bhat, founder director, Scarecrow Communications, states that the brief was to explain what MSP is, how it benefits consumers and how to access MSP. "One way to do that could have been an infomercial. But we chose to say this in an engaging plot that has many 'unexpected' moments. We cast the supremely talented Marathi stage actor Abhijeet Chavan as he could essay the five moods - indifference, interest, surprise, anger and happiness within 35 seconds," Bhat adds.

Sold on MSP?

Argentina-based OLX is the biggest competitor for Quikr and both have been marketed heavily via all channels to acquire more users. OLX, as of now, doesn't have a similar feature in its kitty. So will the addition of MSP see people shifting their preferences to Quikr?

Pradeep Chopra, CEO, Digital Vidya, has sold a few products through OLX and he agrees that putting a price to a used product is always a challenge. "You want to maximise the price but at the same time not lose the opportunity by overpricing it. I am sure most of the sellers feel a similar challenge. MSP is a great idea to standardise 'otherwise subjective' selling price," he adds.

Chopra further says that he has tried the calculator for a couple of product categories and liked the preciseness of the information asked. "For example, it asks for Capacity in addition to other standard parameters in case of Washing Machine. At the same time, in a category like iPhone, it should also ask for Storage Capacity or should ask for Version in case of a Car. Besides, if I am buying an old product, I would like to check the MSP. It's an equivalent of MRP for used products and useful for both buyer and seller," he adds.

The MSP product has got its brownie attributes, but does the TVC do justice in promoting the USP of the product? R P Singh, CEO, Sirez Group feels that though MSP is a nice and relevant consumer hook which provides some novelty to the classifieds advertising, the TVC per se could have been better.

"Previous TVCs from Quikr are much better and to the point, and funny too. This one introduces a new concept but lacks humour which has been a key ingredient of all Quikr ads in the past. This one is a bit lengthy and boring after some time. However, I would like to try the MSP feature at least once," Singh adds.