India's Mobile Boom: What Does it Mean for Business?

SAN FRANCISCO and BERLIN, May 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- For most of the 20^th century, India has been a late adopter of technology compared to much of the developed world; however, this is rapidly changing due to globalization and the rise of Internet access, especially on mobile devices. With the growing rate of smartphone penetration and thanks to a new generation of affordable smartphones, India has become a hotbed of mobile innovation and industry. Here are some of the reasons to take note of the changes the mobile revolution is bringing to India and its economy.

For the full article on India's mobile boom, read more at http://www.glispa.com/blog/indias-mobile-boom-business.html

The Mobile-First Customer
India is the second most populous country in the world and is becoming increasingly "mobile first." The sheer scale means that winning even a small percentage of the market translates to a massive number of mobile users. India is predicted to surpass the US in 2015 as the second largest smartphone user base behind China. Given the low purchasing power of the majority of India, mobile phones are becoming the first computing devices many people own; in many urban areas, there's a mobile phone in practically every Indian household.

What does this mean for your business?
The smartphone explosion means that businesses are also dramatically shifting strategies to become mobile first. The industry trend of moving sales, education, shopping, or even something as complex as healthcare to mobile is very pronounced in India, and it is leveling the economic playing field between poorer rural regions and more affluent urban areas. For a company to reach millions of customers scattered across the globe at scale, traditional brick and mortar offices, shops, and schools are simply not enough to engage their maximum potential customer base. Instead, they need a distribution system that can reach their customers regardless of location and timing.

The answer lies in the form of apps and mobile websites such as Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Quikr. Myntra, a fashion shopping platform in India, began the process of closing down their web portal on May 15th in order to pursue business via their mobile apps only. Consequently, there is an enormous opportunity for businesses to take advantage of the mobile opportunity at a fraction of traditional marketing costs with properly targeted advertising.

Thoughtful Localization Brings Quality & Paying Users: 
In India and southeast Asian markets, a great deal of cultural importance is placed on the influence of family and traditional customs. Thus, apps created for the local population with localized content have much higher acceptance rates than non-localized content. Bigger game developers have had very limited success when trying to push general casino games based on western versions of poker and bingo into the Indian market.

This presents an opportunity for local Indian developers to take games popular in other markets and adapt them specifically for India. This effort has produced games such as Moonfrog's Teen Patti Gold - an Indian specific poker-style app localized for the intended market. These games are taking the Indian market by storm and crushing the widely held belief that games with in-app purchases do not monetize well in India. The localization of Teen Patti Gold was reasonably simple: the standard Texas Hold 'Em Poker game was replaced with a gambling card game that is native to India, and actors famous among the local population were included in the app's creative content, rapidly differentiating Teen Patti Gold from its more universal competitors.

In the same way that localized apps are more successful than generalized apps, advertisements that are targeted at a local population with specialized content and creatives will deliver more value to both advertisers and consumers than non-specific, non-localized content.

As with the rest of the world, the shift from desktop to mobile is strengthening the appeal of mobile advertisements for many brands. What excites brand owners is the ability to measure and understand each customer's response due to the vast amount of data that is available through mobile ads.

This shift is also verified by glispa's own data, in which we have seen a fivefold increase in Indian mobile activity over the last eight months.

Image credit: | glispa GmbH | May 2015

At glispa, some of the biggest advantages we have in markets such as India are our strategically positioned local offices, staffed with local teams who stay apprised of trends, success stories, and obstacles in each specific market. This local market expertise means that our teams are well placed to offer consultation on the best app and ad localization strategies so that brands can seize opportunities in highly lucrative emerging markets.

glispa offers a range of advertising or digital marketing user acquisition and monetization solutions. Our gBoost (boosting apps to the top of the appstore charts), gPerform (performance marketing coordination, strategy and distribution) and Media Services (full agency services for media planning and buying) help brands find, grow and monetize their markets. Of particular interest is glispa's gNative solution that enables businesses to connect with the right target audience with non-intrusive, native advertisements. The ability to target contextually based on users' likes and interests and the always-on nature of mobile devices mean that brands can reach users at critical touch points in the consumer journey, limiting banner blindness and increasing the impact of the ads being served.

To explore how glispa can help businesses grow in the high growth and tremendous opportunities in India please contact [email protected]  

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