Quikr is slowly putting in place a bouquet of specialized services to open up consumers to the idea of buying pre-owned products without worrying about the quality. Vineet Sehgal, CMO, Quikr talks about the latest brand campaign and how it helps Quikr get a clear edge
BY SAMARPITA BANERJEE
Q] Your latest campaign for QuikrBazaar talks about the ease of buying and delivery of products on Quikr from anywhere in the country. What did you want to achieve through the communication?
The goal of our latest brand campaign was to create awareness for QuikrBazaar as a destination to buy pre-owned and certified goods from across India. We were among the first players in the country to roll out online payments and logistics capabilities within the online classifieds space back in 2015. Today, our logistics capabilities allow us to deliver our products to more than 1200 cities for consumers who want to buy or sell anything. Historically, when it comes to buying pre-owned goods, prospective buyers have always been restricted to buying within their locality or city because making the purchase would involve them going physically and inspecting the product.
They would then need to make cash payment to the seller and also arrange for transportation for delivery, often a truck, in case of the items were white goods like fridge, washing machine etc. With QuikrBazaar, we have succeeded in eliminating this entire hassle and have opened the market for buyers to purchase pre-owned goods from across India, pay online and get the goods home-delivered. This means that consumers can not only get the products that they want at great prices but can get them delivered right at their doorsteps. Through the TVC, we wanted to play on the aspirations of the emerging India, who have an appetite to own the latest electronics, mobiles, stylish furniture etc.
Q] The campaign ‘Have you seen Rajesh’s new phone’ was aimed at giving consumers a push towards buying affordably priced pre-owned phones. How are you working on winning the consumer’s trust as that is always an important factor when it comes to pre-owned products?
We are endeavouring to build a reliable network that delivers quickly and safely goods bought from individuals through our different services like Doorstep, Intercity and Certified goods. Doorstep is a service that brings the convenience of e-commerce to C2C transactions by facilitating price negotiations, payment through escrow account, pickup and delivery between a buyer and seller. Through Intercity, we are helping consumers to buy and sell products from any part of the country. Today, for our consumers, geographical barrier is a thing of the past, since products can be searched online, negotiations can happen through the Quikr platform, payments are done securely through Quikr’s escrow account and delivery is handled by our Doorstep service. Meanwhile, Certified is another offering that gives customers access to refurbished goods. Today, buyers can buy certified mobile phones and furniture from Quikr which adds a whole new dimension of trust and reliability in the purchase of pre-owned goods, especially mobile phones. These are offerings that are helping us solve one of the biggest painpoint in this category, trust.
Q] Considering the second-hand goods industry is primarily hyper-local, how are you ensuring that more and more consumers open up to the idea and come on board?
The reason pre-owned goods industry was hyperlocal is because till date nobody had offered people the choice of purchasing pre-owned goods across the country. That’s exactly what we want to change by pioneering inter-city, doorstep delivery and online payments. People essentially want good quality products with the right price and with the convenience of getting them delivered to their home. It doesn’t matter which city it came from. We have just opened up a whole new market for inter-city transactions in C2C space.
Q] How wide is your consumer base? How do you market your different verticals to your consumer base?
We get close to 30 million unique visitors every month on our platform. Marketing each of the verticals such as cars, homes, services, jobs and C2C require different strategies and we target our consumers with both ATL and BTL marketing. However, what works well for us is the cross category selling. We know the intent of the consumers when they come to our platform so we are able to upsell related services, acquire new customers organically and earn more business.
Q] What is the kind of growth you have been witnessing? Can you share some figures?
Intercity transactions are growing at an amazing pace with over 60% of transactions for mobiles and over 35% of transactions for electronics and appliances across cities.
Q] What gives Quikr an edge over other players in the classifieds segment?
While horizontal is at the core of what Quikr does, we have a sharper focus on select categories such as cars, jobs, homes, services and C2C that is a key to our overall growth. Our pioneering verticalization strategy in the classifieds space has only allowed consumers to focus on their specific needs when they come to Quikr. Our plan is to continue to scale them along with tapping into our cross- vertical synergies.
Q] Unlike competitors like OLX, Quikr takes care of its own deliveries. Has this helped win over more consumers, considering that it is a crucial feature?
We have always taken a larger view of the market and looked at solving specific consumer pain-points by brining meaningful innovations to the market. Innovations such as Missed Call service’, Quikr Nxt chat for number privacy, Doorstep delivery, Online payments and Inter-city purchases etc are industry firsts that we have introduced in the online classifieds space. Doorstep service brings the convenience of hassle free pickup and delivery which was always a hindrance in C2C transactions.
@ FEEDBACK samarpita.banerjee@exchange4media.com
