Booming businesses for season 2012 – an analysis !

Innovation is the key when it comes to increasing your market share in this highly competitive market, especially when competitors are already on their heels or roping in a totally new market with the introduction of a new idea/product. Here comes a list of areas which 2012 will definitely see booming at a stupendously high rate:

1.Online Shopping: The steep rise of e-commerce aided by growing internet users, has made everyone shift their focus online & the hot upcoming start-ups have made sure that India doesn’t lag behind the global scenario when it comes to the online shopping as they continude to imbibe in the customers the trust & convenience of online shopping. Flipkart, Indiaplaza, Librarywaala, Autowaala etc being few examples where the increasing sales revenues have definitely grabbed the eyeballs of the Industry & have attracted others to join the bandwagon. Not limiting just to the start-ups, even the original brands & stores like Dominos, retails like BigBaazar, Shoppers Stop etc are giving huge online discounts to pep up their online sales.

2.Men Grooming: Personal grooming doesn’t just restrict to the fairer sex these days. From simple Shaving creams to electronic grooming kits, this is an area which has come a long way & as the results show has a further long way to go in the Indian Cosmetics Industry. The growing awareness, spending power, & the yet uncovered market still leaves a lot of scope for the likes of Emami (which first started the Fairness Cream concept for Men in India in 2005 ), HUL, Garnier etc. Undoubtedly, the increase in the amount spent on advertising with big celebs endorsing the same makes sure that the trend is on the rise.

3.Kids Shopping Malls: With a growing Kids Market in India from new-borns to adolescents there seems to be a huge segment which is on a rise & retail in India are definitely trying to rope in the kids & their parents by developing many a kids-only malls in the tier-1 & 2 cities. Already a popular concept abroad, India (with 51% FDI in retail approved) definitely has this coming up next.

4.Deals & Deals: The previous year saw a rise in the deals website in India. It was a win-win situation for the customers as the deals sites fought a war among them & kept improving their deals, content, interface & most importantly the variety with the discounts they offered as they aimed for a wider customer-base mostly in the metro cities. Riding on their success, the trend is expected to follow in the non-metros too. Examples like Snapdeal, Dealsandyou, Bagittoday & many others share the success story here. The rising competition only making them improve.

5.Beverage Segment: When Howard Schultz, chairman Starbucks said last October that India has a potential to rival China (which already has around 500 Starbucks stores), India’s presence in the coffee beverage & add-on confectionaries retail area is bound to get stronger. With the joint venture between Tata Coffee-Starbucks & other big coffee shops like Costa coffee, Gloria Jeans etc entering the Indian markets, our own Café Coffee Day, Barista & the likes are brewing & strategizing their operations to attract the high spending youth, experimenting in all the possible formats from shop-in-shop, standalone cafes & kiosks to even the mobile carts. A lot can be expected over a coffee for sure !

6.Fast Food Chains: With beverages rising over India’s spending power, Fast Food Chains cannot be left behind. Yum Food’s (KFC, Pizza Hut), Dominos, Mc Donald’s are on their expansion spree, opening their stores all across while keeping in mind the traditional Indian tastes as well as focusing on the vegetarian menus. Thanks to the parliamentary approval of 100% FDIs in single brand retail, the food socializing is taking a big leap.

Hence, the growth in spending, expansion in non-metros as well as rise in digitalization is carving the tale of opportunities in India. It is now upto the businesses & the experts leading them on how to make the best of it in the coming year.

[The article has been written by Aakanksha Hajela. An electronics engineer by education and a software engineer by profession, she is presently working with a technology giant. As an avid reader and blogger, she takes an interest in studying and analysing the various marketing trends and business insights as well as exploring the various genres of literature and blog about them. ]