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Build Strategies for E-commerce Marketplaces

Build Strategies for E-commerce Marketplaces

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Horses for courses – What sells more on Blinkit, might not get the same response on Zepto. On the same pin code, three different dark stores may have different product availability and more orders of particular brands as compared to others. Pricing and bundling of products also vary from one quick commerce platform as compared to others. Therefore, building a strategy for e-commerce and quick commerce marketplaces demands insights and analysis covering different platforms, geographies, dark stores, and trends versus competition. Let’s explore what it takes to build a strategy for e-commerce marketplaces and what brands need to stay competitive in a fast-paced evolving digital commerce ecosystem. Matching the pace of evolving needs of E-commerce marketplaces Gone are the days when e-commerce marketplaces were limited to metros. The e-commerce horizons are expanding to tier-2, tier-3 cities, and beyond. Ease of payment and swift internet has led to a new revolution. This scenario is not limited to a single country, but global e-commerce is picking up pace with Africa, Middle East, and Southeast Asia (AMESA) region leading the charge. The global eCommerce online sales reached $5.8 Trillion in 2023 and are expected to grow to $6.3 trillion globally in 2024 The astronomical rise in e-commerce sales and competitive landscape spicing up has opened multiple sales avenues from e-commerce brands in the digital commerce landscape which include E-commerce, Q-com marketplaces, D2C platforms, and social commerce with massive role of influencers driving sales. Building strategy with marketplace intelligence and insights can help scale business, identify market gaps, target new unexplored geographies, and target demographics. Data Driven Intelligence for e-com growth E-commerce growth requires strategies that can leverage data and insights to boost brand presence at pin-code levels across multiple marketplaces. Monitoring brand performance versus competition in the digital space is the key to staying ahead and staying competitive. Big brands with massive SKUs venturing into multiple categories, sub-categories, and product variants need comprehensive insights along with monitoring their sellers versus competition. Optimizing delivery turn-around time and identifying pricing violations are the key challenges. For Quick commerce, availability becomes a key factor. To identify gaps in strategies, tracking market trends along with varying requirements of different platforms requires high-quality digital shelf monitoring. Comparatively smaller brands looking to go head-on with established well-known global brands require insights into what set them apart and identify the market gaps and opportunities at the micro-level. ecommerce competitive analysis and actionable insights can help them identify their audience and white spaces in the market. This could enable say, a local indigenous toothpaste brand in Southeast Asia to compete with brands like Pepsodent or Colgate. May be not at all sub-categories but on say, 100gm pack at some region on Lazada or Shopee. Every brand has different needs that require a solution that can be customized to suit their needs on different e-commerce platforms. Protecting Your Brand Integrity on E-commerce Marketplaces The e-commerce strategies for brands on digital marketplaces should not be limited to just digital commerce intelligence. Both on and off-platform activities must be in sync to boost brand reputation on the platform. Therefore, here are some things brands need to elevate performance on e-commerce platforms. E-commerce perfect page analysis: On every platform and geography brands’ products may have different competition. To make this battle more interesting all platforms require a different strategy. Therefore, platform-level analysis or perfect page analysis across platforms is required to ensure consistency and brand presence across the digital commerce landscape. Analytics for its Sellers: Sellers on e-commerce platforms also need to upswing their process with Digital Shelf monitoring, Marketing Automation, and Automated Cataloguing. This can help simplify the process, and boost sales with more buy box wins. Platform-Level Intelligence: The rise of digital commerce has revolutionized the customer behavior. Options are plenty for shoppers to pick the shopping platforms and products, this makes the online shopping ecosystem more competitive. Monitoring, identifying white spaces and real-time actionable insights are strategic intelligence required to optimize performance across platforms. Final Thought Intelligence drives performance on e-commerce platforms. E-commerce strategy must cover platform-level intelligence, seller analysis, and competitive insights on KPIs like pricing, availability, keyword share, product page content, delivery turnaround time, and more. Every brand faces its own set of challenges on different e-commerce platforms and geographies, identifying the gaps, exploring new opportunities, and enabling a brand to optimize performance across categories, sub-categories, and product variants requires a data-driven strategy. Get in touch to learn more about leveraging digital commerce intelligence to build e-commerce strategies.

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VAS Ecosystem

Roadmap to Drive Efficiency in VAS Ecosystem

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Creating a cleaner ecosystem necessitates addressing complex challenges like VAS subscription validation and lack of transparency. The evolving digital ecosystem is driving innovation, technology, and enhanced efficiency across the digital ecosystem. But the challenges that plague the digital ecosystem are evolving as well, invalid traffic, bots driving clicks and impressions, replicating human behavior, and opening doors for sophisticated fraud across app, web, and digital transactions. Safeguarding your ad campaigns, placements, and digital subscriptions has become a priority for enterprises and advertisers. Why Validation and monitoring of Value-Added Service (VAS) subscriptions are essential? Protect Your Consumers Ensuring that VAS subscriptions are validated helps protect consumers from unauthorized or fraudulent subscriptions. It prevents users from being charged for services they did not knowingly or unwillingly subscribe to, reducing the risk of financial loss and enhancing consumer trust. Follow the Regulatory Compliance Every country’s regulatory body has defined guidelines and procedures to protect consumers from unfair practices related to telecommunications services, including VAS. Subscription validation and monitoring help service providers comply with these regulations and avoid legal issues or penalties. Enhance Customer Experience Monitoring VAS subscriptions contributes to a positive customer experience. It helps prevent the occurrence of unexpected charges, reduces the likelihood of customer complaints, prevents fraud from affecting the subscription flow, enhances overall customer satisfaction, and makes it easy for the user to activate the services. Stringent Fraud Detection and Prevention. Subscription validation is crucial in preventing fraudulent activities related to VAS. Unauthorized subscriptions can be identified and addressed promptly, protecting both consumers and service providers. Build Subscriber Trust and Ensure Retention A transparent and well-monitored VAS subscription process builds trust with subscribers. When users feel confident that they are in control of their subscriptions and are not being subjected to unfair practices, they are more likely to remain loyal customers and it will lead to more activation of services. Fraud prevention in VAS ecosystem VAS services in the digital ecosystem require protection from fraudulent activities to boost revenue with clean traffic and validated subscriptions. Prevention from duplicate IPs or Proxies Reduce the risk of fraudulent activities by preventing multiple activations or transactions from the same IP address or proxy. Also, safeguard from iFraming/Overlay on the subscription button or page and use of server or device farms for fraudulent activations. Use of BOT devices or fake activations. Bots are automated programs that can simulate human behavior. Fraudsters may use Sophisticated bots to generate fake activations or interactions with VAS services. Implementing measures to detect and prevent Bot activities is crucial for maintaining the integrity of the system. Automated clicks by bots for activation Bots may generate automated clicks to activate VAS services, leading to false transactions. Implementing anti-bot measures, such as Enforcement Challenges, Behavioral analytics, and Heuristic checks working in tandem can help in distinguishing between genuine user interactions and automated bot clicks. Transactions from non-targeted regions Fraudsters may attempt to make transactions from regions that are not part of the targeted audience for the VAS services. Implementing geolocation checks as one of the parameters would help in differentiating between genuine and fake requests. It can also help in identifying and preventing transactions from unauthorized or unexpected regions. Device Signature Mismatch Each device has a unique signature based on its characteristics and configurations. Fraudulent activities may involve manipulating or mimicking device signatures. Monitoring and validating device signatures can help in detecting and preventing transactions with mismatched or suspicious device information. Fig. 1: Frauds plaguing the digital ecosystem Creating a cleaner ecosystem necessitates addressing the complex challenges associated with monitoring both Media Spends and VAS Subscriptions comprehensively. Validating the VAS Subscriptionsin real-time is one of the major challenges in the digital landscape. Another key issue is the Lack of transparency. Thus, ad traffic validation across the VAS ecosystem is crucial along with monitoring spending. The Blueprint for a Cleaner VAS Ecosystem Embark on a journey into a comprehensive solution that not only bridges the existing gaps but transforms the monitoring VAS Subscriptions into boost efficiency: The adoption of integrated analytics platforms that seamlessly amalgamate data from Media Spends and VAS Subscriptions paves the way for a unified, comprehensive analysis, dissolving the barriers between siloed data. Transparency and security stand as a formidable deterrent against fraud and discrepancies. Decentralizing transactions ensures accountability and traceability. Infusing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) Identify patterns that might otherwise remain obscured. Predictive analytics, and AI/ML tech will empower and enhance automated validation processes and checks. Final Thought Validating, Optimizing, and Protecting subscriptions of Value-Added Services (VAS) over the Carrier Billing platform reflects a commitment to building an Effective, Secure, Seamless, and Transparent ecosystem. Building a clean DCB VAS ecosystem suggests a focus on ethical and transparent practices that contribute to Positive Adoption, Reduce Churn, Enhance User Experience, and a Cleaner and more reliable channel for enabling services to esteemed users. Taking a transformative path, envisioning a forward-looking perspective, and adopting innovative technologies and strategies will not only enhance revenue but also contribute to sustainability and growth in the long term. Get in touch with our experts for deeper insights. Reach out to learn more!

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Share of Search

Share of Search: Tap the Power of Keywords and Reach Your Ideal Audience

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In today’s world where every piece of information is just a fingertip away, shoppers have become smart and aware. Accordingly, the brands have to be on their toes to understand what’s on the consumer’s mind. Along with it, it’s also essential for brands to keep track of their competitor’s moves. While the traditional approaches have their own space, the universal metric of Share of Search is set to open a door of effective business insights and therefore more opportunities. 61% of marketers say improving SEO and growing their organic presence is their top inbound marketing priority. Learn how Share of Search can change your digital commerce game and help you compete with utmost transparency and efficiency in the ever-evolving digital landscape. What is Share of Search? The simplest way to explain Share of Search is, that it is the percentage of search results on a particular keyword for which a brand appears. An SOS can be measured for general search queries on search engines and eCommerce marketplaces. Share of search is a powerful metric for eCommerce marketers to understand and predict their market share and growth. In terms of digital shelf analytics, the share of search enables brand owners to get transparency of how their brands are performing online in comparison to their competition, get an insight into their brand performance and also revamp their search strategies. Is Share of Search a substitute for Share of Voice? There is an existing misconception that Share of Voice (SOV) can be substituted by Share of Search as both are derived from the same concept. Share of Voice determines the market share success by comparing the brand’s advertising spend with total media expenditure within the industry. Whereas the share of search is determined based on how many times a brand’s keyword is organically typed rather than how much is spent to capture the market share. Share of search gives a fair idea of a brand’s organic reach in digital platforms. By leveraging advanced intelligence solutions, one can better understand the search behaviour of a shopper – like if people are comparing products or trying to learn how to use the products based on keyword searches. Therefore, it will not be a substitute but a collaboratively used metric to understand the pulse of the market, make crucial business decisions based on market position, and create effective strategies to stay relevant. How Search Drives a Shopper’s Behaviour? Today’s shoppers are smart and fast unlike earlier. And to tap the interest of these fast consumers, search plays a crucial role. Your product is just a quick search away. From discovering new and trending products, researching via reviews and ratings or even exploring other options, comparing prices and checking quality, they leverage the internet for everything before buying. Therefore, it has become essential for brands to stay on top of their search game to ensure they don’t get overshadowed by competitors. How does Share of Search Help to Stay Ahead of the Game? According to a study conducted by James Hankins, the share of search entails 83% of a brand’s market share. When used ideally, this metric not only provides the brand’s market position but also enables marketers to accumulate search insights based on geography and product category, thereby understanding consumer preferences. Share of search can help brands to: Appear In The Front Shelf Stats say there are up to 60% higher chances of adding to a cart if a brand’s product appears within the first four search results. Imagine, your loyal customer is at the shampoo aisle looking for their favourite brand. But when searching your competitor’s product overshadows your product by taking the prime position in the aisle. This similar happens in online shopping when your competitors appear above you in the search results when looking for “shampoo”. If your share of search is weak, there will be a higher chance of discovery for your competitor’s product until it goes out of stock. By understanding the competing brand’s share of search, you can identify the hidden tactics in the product detail pages (PDPs) and optimize them to appear on top of the digital shelf. Be Known for What You Do Best Improve your brand’s positioning by covering not just branded but also non-branded keywords. According to an experiment done by HP in 2022, they found that there was a rapid rise in generic search terms like “best laptops”. This experiment increased to 8.2% of customers shifting from consideration to purchase decision. The metric provides a wide coverage to the brand across both branded and non-branded keywords leaving a deeper impact on the customer’s mind. Stay ahead of competitor’s move The product display pages [PDPs] require frequent updates to stay relevant in the dynamic environment of eCommerce businesses. 76% of the shoppers prioritise detailed product descriptions as a significant attribute when shopping. By keeping track of the share of search, marketers can effectively improve the product descriptions, outdated images and missing sections along with incorporating the best-performing keywords. This means that if you own a homemade product brand, the metric must be able to help showcase your product even when a person searches “homemade”. Stay Ahead of Competitors with Insight-driven Analytics The behaviour of a consumer’s search behaviour is dynamic and monitoring it is an ongoing process. It differs according to the stage in which a customer stands. Whether they are looking for a solution, or comparing the products with competitor’s products. All these lead to making the final decision. To keep track of these dynamic changes, the brands require a holistic and advanced eCommerce analytics solution. mScanIt is a ecommerce competitive analysis that helps to fulfil these requirements and more with a comprehensive dashboard that enables one to keep track of search rankings and provides a transparent overview of the brand’s visibility. Get in touch with our experts to solve your eCommerce woes!

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Protect Impression Integrity

Safeguard Your ads in the Digital Landscape: Protect Impression Integrity

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Heavy payouts and unrealistic numbers are the real face of ad campaign impressions. The inflated numbers from invalid sources do not lead to conversions. In the app ecosystem, invalid clicks and impressions are a major concern as they question the ad’s effectiveness and result in a waste of ad spend. Every step of the ad campaign that led to app installs and events gets plagued by malicious activities that dampen your return on investment. Let’s dig up the dirt on the issue and shed some light on how invalid impressions can ruin your return on investments. Myth Behind Impressions Is a genuine audience viewing your ad? Heavy payout on invalid impressions costs brands massive wastage of ad spending. The validation of impressions can help a brand not just reduce ad spend. Most advertisers presume that fraud does not happen at the impression level but it’s a grey zone where fraudulent activities take place unnoticed. It’s a deceptive practice in the digital advertising ecosystem where advertisers are charged for ad impressions that are not viewed by real human users or are otherwise misrepresented. Apart from wastage of ad spend they can negatively impact the effectiveness of ad campaigns and return on investment (ROI). Here are some keys sources that generate invalid impressions: Impressions from MFA (Made-for-Adverising site). MFA sites are tailored for advertising purposes, ensuring a more intentional and engaged audience that does not result in conversions. Impressions from Low-quality content sites. The low-quality content site poses challenges in terms of the relevance and effectiveness of ad impressions. Multiple impressions served on the same device with Frequency capping (F-cap) violations. It can lead to overexposure and decreased impact, as the audience may become desensitized to the ads. Impressions from Ad Stacking. Multiple ads are layered on top of each other within a single ad placement. While only the top ad is visible, impressions for all stacked ads are counted, leading to inflated metrics. Domain Spoofing. Fraudsters misrepresent the website or app where the ad is displayed, making it seem like it is being shown on a premium site when it’s on a lower-quality or fraudulent one. Pixel Stuffing. Ads are hidden within small, transparent pixels on a webpage. These ads are technically “viewed” even though they are not visible to the user, resulting in fraudulent impressions. Cookie Stuffing. Cookies are forcibly placed on a user’s device without their knowledge or consent, allowing fraudsters to claim credit for ad impressions or actions across multiple sites. Proxy Traffic. Fraudsters use proxies to make it appear as though ad impressions are coming from different locations or devices, creating a false sense of diversity in the audience. What do the advertisers need to do? Impression validation Let’s start with where advertisers need to be vigilant before it’s too late. It’s the post-delivery of impression to Minimize wastage when payouts are on CPM. Impression Data collected from MMP must be validated and invalid impressions blocked. Not as simple but effective if you have the right solution in place to safeguard your ad spending. The process ensures Clean Traffic with Safe Placements Optimized Campaign Performance Restrict payouts for Invalid Impressions Improve ROAS The validation processes ensure that you payout on only verified impressions and maintain your impression integrity. To make it clear let’s clarify what’s the problem with click credibility. Fraud Clicks have a direct Impact on Revenue. The ad network ends up paying for fraud clicks to its sub-publishers, especially when the advertiser is equipped with fraud detection. Reconciliation Issues on both sides. The ad networks or agencies face major reconciliation issues with their suppliers as well as clients since fraud clicks always create discrepancies. Build up an untrustworthy Market Environment. Due to fraud and traffic inconsistencies, the trust level of each player in the market remains low, thus impacting the overall market environment. Higher Dependency on Advertisers Reports. In the absence of a fraud detection mechanism, the Networks are dependent upon advertiser reports to ascertain the validity of a click. Need for transparency and clarity for Advertisers Advertisers need both pre-MMP checks, post-MMP checks, and basic time-sensitive checks. These checks should be advanced time-insensitive checks to ensure transparency and clarity that ensure click and impression integrity. Basic checks are needed to prevent invalid clicks and getting blocked before entering MMP. This validation process should be done with minimum latency to ensure that it does not hinder the user experience and integrations. For post-MMP Checks, Advertisers need advanced time Insensitive Checks which include pattern mapping. The advanced pattern checks require grouping of data to look for patterns. Also, pre-MMP checks should work in tandem with the pre-attribution checks to ensure overall traffic validation. Advanced ad fraud detection tool provides multilayer defense with pre and post-MMP checks along with the capability to block and blacklist specific sub-publishers and traffic sources. Final Thought The advertisers often ensure that impressions are the cleanest matric for making payout for ad campaigns but when it comes to conversions there are stark differences. For an effective and successful ad campaign and to build a clean ecosystem advertisers need a comprehensive solution that provides multi-level defense across the funnel. Valid8 provides full-funnel protection of your campaigns from Invalid Traffic on the web and app to gain ROAS throughout the customer acquisition journey. It includes Branding Campaigns i.e. Programmatic Campaigns covering Frequency Cap Violations and exclusion lists for Made Ads (MFA) Sites with integrated Brand Safety. Optimize performance campaigns by identifying frauds in CPC, CPV, and CPL web campaigns and search keyword fraud. It also provides Visit-Lead Validation with visit analysis based on Visit Intent with Invalid Traffic Validation to ensure validated leads are integrated into CRM. Connect with our experts to explore the possibilities and prevent drainage of your ad budget to optimize your marketing efforts.

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Ad Budget

Made for advertising Websites are Burning 15% of Your Ad Budget

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“Know how these Harry Potter characters are doing now? The 3rd one is a shocking revelation!” These headlines are very difficult to resist and where it leads to is another surprise. Often these websites are like a carnival of ads covering every possible space. From flashy ads to pop-up ads, there is an ad at every step of your click. And what about the Harry Potter characters? Well, you will find out only after you make dozens of clicks and pass through multiple pop-up ads. And these digital carnival spaces also have a name. These are called “Made for advertising” websites. According to a recent study by ANA, 21% of the impressions come from the MFA websites. This means that an average of 15% of the ad spends are wasted due to these clickbait websites. Know in detail the impact of MFA websites on the advertiser’s campaign and how advertisers can take the right action to reduce the wastage of ad spend and ensure brand suitability. What are Made for Advertising Websites? Made-for advertising websites are smartly concealed modes for ad arbitrage. These websites as the name suggests are created to show ads. Not one or two but many. The purpose of these websites is to generate traffic to their websites, leveraging search engines and social media platforms at a low cost. These websites are often overloaded with filler and irrelevant content, clickbait headlines, multiple interlinked websites and multi-page articles. This increases the chances of showing display and video ads that can attract more eyes. What do Advertisers think? They are getting a high volume of traffic. The Reality is, The sole purpose of the MFA websites is to bring maximum numbers of ad impressions. However, the truth is not as shiny as it looks. The content and user experience on these websites are way lower than what an advertiser can expect for an ad placement. Users are navigated to non-relatable ads, providing a confusing user experience and in the majority of cases they are also directed to false navigation buttons, to increase page views per session. Some MFA sites also deploy fraudulent techniques like pixel stuffing or ad stacking which enables to loading of ads multiple times delivering maximum views. The thin line of reality of this is it is not seen by the human eye. The Attractive Bait Made-for-advertising websites are an attractive deal for advertisers. Reason? They deliver greater than-average results. According to Ebiquity, the MFA websites deliver a viewability rate of 77% which is way above the media benchmark of 63% as stated by the World Federation of Advertisers. Another selling point for the MFA websites is they have 30-40% lower CPM than other websites. However, the irony is these benefits are a matter of loss for the advertisers. Even though the viewability will be above average, the low-intent clicks will not bring returns. Instead, it is simply a waste of money. Why should Advertisers need to take action against MFA websites? Technically, MFA websites are real websites indexed on search engines. So why should advertisers care if their ads are placed on these websites? Well, every shiny thing is not a diamond. Similarly, these MFA websites might bring a high volume of impressions and show ads to real people but it will not create any brand awareness or bring performance that an advertiser is expecting from an ad placement. What are the risks associated with advertising on MFA websites? Made for advertising is technically not ad fraud, but its impact on a brand is no less than that. If your advertisement is showing up on a made-for-advertising website, then it can have the following impact: Low-quality ad placements: MFA websites are overloaded with ads than content on any of its given pages, which reduces the impact of an ad placement. As a result, an advertiser is paying for a placement that has no engagement. Spike in invalid traffic: Advertisers need to keep a check on the quality of traffic diverting to their website from digital ads. If there is an unusual spike in the traffic but it has a high bounce rate or no end action, then this share of traffic might be attributed to these MFA websites. Damaged brand reputation: MFA websites often use clickbait headlines, emotion-driven stories, fake news, objectionable photos, and other illicit content that advertisers object to being associated with. Appearing beside this content hampers the brand image and leads to a loss of customer trust. Low conversion rate, Poor ROI: Advertising on MFA websites means that your advertising budgets are getting spent on bot clicks. A focused analysis of the funnel performance will help to get transparency of the real quality of ad traffic. How can Advertisers dodge MFA websites during media planning? Stopping MFA websites can be inevitable, but taking the right prevention method will enable advertisers to curb its impact. There are a lot of blame games and finger-pointing happening in the industry about who is accountable for this problem. The SSPs (supply-side platforms) have set policies to forbid publishers from employing MFA site tactics. However, these regulations are not enough to vet the efficacy of the placements in a programmatic setup. Apart from looking at the SSPs and DSPs, advertisers can take the responsibility into their own hands by doing simple maths. If you think that with low CPM, generating a huge number of impressions with little to no action as a result. Or you can spend the same amount and get few impressions but better performance and action from quality traffic. How Advertisers can Maximize their Safety Net? The goal of an MFA website is to make money. Whether it is by showing numerous ads on a single screen, ad inventory that auto-refreshes adding at an abnormal frequency, or numerous links redirecting to further web pages, in some cases unsafe web pages. To avoid being placed on these websites, advertisers need to work with trusted tech partners like mFilterIt. With the transparency of where the ads appear, brands can adhere to the brand safety protocols

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E-commerce 2024

E-commerce 2024 – Vision for the Future

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To expect the unexpected thoroughly shows the modern intellect”. These words of Oscar Wilde feel so apt for the post-pandemic world of e-commerce. The ecosystem picked up pace in most unexpected times and pushed the boundaries and expectations beyond what anyone could prepare for. But as the dust settled the brands and platforms are now in an intense race to go beyond just providing convenience and quality. It is about optimizing customer experience and taking efficiency to the next level. 23%–25% year on year growth is expected in India’s e-retail market. By 2028, it will reach over $160 billion USD. (Source: Bain & Co. Report) 2024 is going to be the year where brands and platforms need to efficiently predict what customers need and match the pace of evolving digital commerce ecosystem. E-Commerce vision for the future – Next level customer experience The AI/ML is changing the world as we know it with rapid pace. Brands need swift actions and platforms need wider expansions as customer behavior and needs for enriched experience are evolving. Even the world biggest e-commerce marketplace is pushing it to extend its reach with launch of new features that engage customers like recently launched AI-Generated Review Highlights. It’s a short paragraph featuring most frequently mentioned product feature across written review highlighted on product detail page. Such value to customer sentiments build trust among the new shoppers and leave positive impression. It helps shoppers purchase decision and confidently navigate. It also eases the review submission process and help combat fake reviews. In last decade, Digital native brands selling online-first make up two-thirds of sales among top 10 global e-retailers. (Source: Bain & Co. Report) In past years platforms introduced several innovations some of them specific to the Indian market. This includes features like voice search, product video, and shopping interface in regional language, which helped double the users and its usage year-on-year (YoY). To elevate the shopping experience more platforms are moving towards emerging tools such as augmented reality (AR) and AI-driven solutions in 2024 allowing customers to virtually place products in real-world settings. Pushing for initiatives such as integrated live streaming, live promotions, product highlighting, and utilizing chat features for ease in shopping and handling grievances is making the shopping experience more interactive and engaging. Influencers bring in new shoppers and new revenue streams. Live streams by influencers covering domains like fashion, lifestyle, tech, gaming, home decor, beauty, and sports are new ways to advertise products and platforms. Various marketplace and D2C brands running an Influencer Program to monetize their content and open new shopping avenues. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are turning into new e-commerce shops bringing extensive reach to shopping platforms. Challenges for Brands and platforms in 2024 The major challenge for brands in 2024 is staying ahead of the competition and exploring new markets. The competition across e-commerce and quick commerce landscape has always been intense but now it’s fiercer than ever. Shoppers now look to explore more options and strive for products that suit their lifestyle choices. Brands that have a wide presence in the physical retail space now moving online for not just sales but visibility in the digital landscape. D2C brands which have their own set of niche audiences are now pushing for online marketplaces to expand to new shoppers. The number of SKUs that need to be monitored has risen as multiple competitors are present across categories, sub-categories, geographies, platforms, and product variants. Real-time monitoring and ecommerce competitive analysis lead to better decision-making and more decisive strategies that help, understand competition, market trends, and customer behavior. Brands monitoring their products on multiple e-commerce quick commerce and e-commerce platforms and adhering to the platform guidelines to optimize performance is key to having as successful 2024. 1 out 3 shoppers are now Gen Z and Tier 2+ cities are dominating the market with 7 out of 10 online shoppers (Source: Bain & Co. Report) For platforms, the major challenge is optimizing efficiencies and enriching the customer experience. With multiple shopping options available across geographies, it is important for platforms to provide a customer experience that makes shoppers prefer their platforms. Quick commerce platforms are not just challenging the e-commerce platforms but also making their own space among shoppers. Quick commerce platforms are got wider acceptance in 2023 and looking to expand more inventory as they move into 2024 with rising presence and demand in tier-2 cities. Swift delivery and an expanding range of product categories have made them the talk of the town for the last-minute needs be it a party, festive celebration, or daily needs. The Final Thought Adapt, learn and keep moving forward. The world of digital shopping is evolving, customer choices and preferences are evolving with individuals looking for products that suits their lifestyle needs. Brands need to keep up with the trends and stay in tune with market dynamics with competitive analytics that provide real-time data and actionable insights that can help shape brands marketing efforts and data-driven decision making. 2024 is going to be a year of evolution where data and tech will drive efficiencies and take customer experience to the next level. What brand need is a digital commerce intelligence companion in 2024 to lead their ways. Get in touch with our experts for deeper insights. Reach out to learn more!

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Social Media Phishing Attacks

What Are the Types of Social Media Phishing Attacks

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Phishing is perhaps the oldest type of online fraud tactic used by scammers. Originally, phishing scams were conducted using email. However, as users on the web became more aware and alert, the effectiveness of email phishing has deteriorated considerably. Unfortunately, this has not been enough to discourage fraudsters and scammers. Modern fraudsters have become creative and are using a variety of phishing scams to dupe unsuspecting users and brands. That’s right, phishing scams these days don’t just affect the victims. They can also hurt a brand’s reputation. In this article, we will understand how a phishing scam can affect the trust your brand has built with its audience. We will also discuss the different tactics employed by fraudsters to deliver phishing attacks. Finally, this article will also guide you about protecting your brand against social media phishing. Let’s jump right in:  What Is Social Media Phishing? Before we learn about the different techniques of social media phishing, let’s understand the basic premise of this type of scam. The main purpose of phishing is to obtain the personal information of the users. This information is then used by scammers to gain access to their financial accounts and steal their money. On social media, it has become easier than ever for scammers to conduct this type of scam. Scammers may post a lucrative click-bait link on a platform, something like, “Here’s how this 20-year-old made $1 million in a week.” When a user clicks on this link, they may be redirected to spoofed websites that steal the personal information of the users. Since they are accessing the link through their social media account, a lot of personal identification information becomes available to the scammers. Equipped with information like name, age, date of birth, place of birth, names of parents and spouses, and more, scammers can steal from the user. In many cases, scammers may even use someone’s personal information in other ways to gain financial benefit. How Does Social Media Phishing Impact Brands? Social media phishing doesn’t just impact users. Brands may feel the most considerable long-term effects of social media phishing attacks. This is because many social media phishing techniques are executed by scammers impersonating a brand or the brand’s representative. If a user interacts with someone claiming to represent a brand they love and trust, they are likely to trust the stranger contacting them. Then, if this person turns out to be a scammer, the user will associate the bad experience with the brand. While the brand itself is not at fault, a distressed user may not be able to understand the same. As a result, they may completely stop trusting the brand. In extreme cases, distressed victims may even start bad-mouthing the brand on social media platforms and in front of their friends. This can cause further damage to the brand reputation of the company, leading to real monetary loss in a variety of ways. The lack of trust may directly impact the business coming from users who have fallen victim to a social media phishing scam. Moreover, if the lack of trust is spread among the larger user base, a brand may have to spend an unusually large amount on its advertising and customer experiences just to gain back the trust it has lost. Even then, there may be many users who may never place their trust in the brand again, especially those who have been directly impacted by the phishing scam. Let’s understand the different social media phishing scams that may even impact your brand.  Most Common Types of Social Media Phishing Attacks Fake Customer Support Social media has emerged as a popular place to avail customer support. It is quicker and more convenient than calling a company’s helpline number. Not to forget, the generations that are now entering the consumer market also prefer communicating through texts over phone calls. Even from a brand’s perspective, providing support on social media is a great idea. It is cost-effective and allows the brand to be prompt with its response. This, in turn, enables the brand to create more delightful customer experiences. Such experiences have a compounding effect on social media platforms where customer-brand interactions are visible publicly. Unfortunately, it is also very easy for scammers to pose as support representatives of a brand and scam its customers. The culture of support on social media offers a glaring opportunity for committing brand infringement attacks. All they need is a fake profile equipped with the brand’s logo and a description. Using these, a scammer impersonates a legitimate brand representative and directs support-seeking customers to fake login pages that collect their personal information. This information is then used to gain access to the customer’s social media and bank accounts. The scammers then use the now-hacked social media account to scam the friends and family of their original victim. In some cases, scammers ask for an upfront payment from customers seeking support. However, these customers simply end up falling victim to the scam and never getting the support they require. It isn’t difficult to imagine how such interactions reflect badly on a brand’s image and the trust it enjoys with its audience. Fake Business Profiles, Pages Just like it is easy to create a fake profile pretending to be a brand’s representative, it is also alarmingly easy to create fake company pages on social media platforms. These pages are then used by scammers to misrepresent the brand and scam unsuspecting users by asking for their personal information. In some cases, fake business profiles may post links to fake login pages that resemble the login page of the social media platform where it is posted. An innocent user may end up clicking on such a link and thinking that they may have been logged out because of a technical issue, may enter their login details into the fake login page. With this, the scammers can gain access to the user’s profile and start impersonating them to scam their friends. Email Phishing Email phishing, as the name suggests,

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Sale

Be Sale-Ready: Stock it up to score big on the Black Friday & Diwali Season Sale

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Is it too early to talk about it? Is It? Not Really! Time is running out! To a shopper, it may seem like a couple of days of sale but for brands the preparation begins at least a month early, we have already entered the festive season followed by a mega season sale on Amazon, Flipkart, and Myntra building up to the Diwali Weekend. Every brand must be aware of who, when, and where to target and what their competitors are up to. The path to score big on sale event season is not easy. Black Friday sales globally broke records in 2022, shoppers in India increased their orders by 65 percent as compared to 2021 and their spending by 64 percent during the sale week compared to the usual period. And new milestones are expected to be set in 2024. So, what are we waiting for let’s dive deeper to understand the challenges on event days and how brands can make optimal use of these opportunities during the sales season and beyond. Identify the event days to target Every eCommerce platform has different reach and preferences. Knowing where you more picked up and where you need to target is key to optimizing your marketing strategies. Event days like Black Friday and Diwali sales witness a rapid increase in order volume. Brands need to identify the gaps in the market during these event days and target ads & promo offers to reach new shoppers. Every platform has different shopping patterns and different event days, therefore brands need to keep up with platform-specific requirements. Every year consumer activity is dispersed more evenly throughout the sale period and is less focused on just Friday. A lot of companies extended the sale period to include the days leading up to and following Black Friday till the following Monday known as Cyber Monday. Even Indian festive season sale runs before the Diwali week with product expected to be delivered before Diwali. Shoppers are always eager to take advantage of the limited-time deals, which results in a higher number of orders within a short period. Brands need to ensure their systems can handle the increased load and that their logistics are well-equipped to manage such a surge in orders. Amazon Great Indian Festival 2023 witnessed a record 9.5 crore customer visits within the first 48 hours. 80 percent of the shoppers were from non-metro cities. Source: Amazon India Match product demand with Order Fulfilment One of the critical aspects of these event days is ensuring efficient order fulfillment. Brands need to ensure that they have enough stock available in their warehouses to meet the increased demand during the sales period. Having the right amount of inventory is crucial to avoid stock-outs and ensure customer satisfaction. Also maintaining a well-stocked warehouse is essential to cater to the surge in orders during these events. Brands need to anticipate the demand and stock their warehouses accordingly to prevent any inventory shortages. Keep Track of In-stock and out-of-stock items: Brands must keep real-time track of their stock status, in-stock product availability tracking, and monitoring when & where the products are going out of stock. The stock situation is key during the festive season. Brands must keep track of the trends to set promo offers and match stock to meet expected demand. Monitor Price & Promos trends: Brands must be aware of key trends across marketplaces and what competitor brands are targeting. For example – In 2022, low ticket purchases and demand for unbranded fashion products from Tier-II towns and beyond propelled Meesho ahead of Amazon in terms of order volume (Source: Redseer Report), but Amazon sold items of higher values during the same period with massive rise in numbers. Flipkart and Amazon together clocked 88% of $5.7 Billion GMV during the first week of the festive season. With strong positioning in the fashion segment, the likes of Myntra and AJIO earned good numbers. Finding the right balance between pricing and volume is crucial. Offering attractive discounts and deals can drive higher sales volumes, but brands need to ensure that they don’t compromise their profitability. Strategic pricing strategies can help achieve this balance. Keep Track of Industry Trends The success of these event days often relies on the performance of specific product categories. In this context, mobile phones have consistently been a leading product category during festive season sales. They attract a significant share of the Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV), indicating strong demand. The fashion segment also plays a substantial role in driving sales, appealing to shoppers looking for clothing, accessories, and related products. For example, in the consumer durables industry, products like electronics and appliances see increased demand during these events. Similarly, the gifting industry, which includes items like cookies and chocolates, experiences a boost in sales as people often buy gifts for their loved ones during festive seasons. Optimize Sponsored Banner (Season specific): eCommerce ad banner performance is key to upswing sales during the festive season. Brands must keep track of banner keyword performance, display targeting, and category targeting. Using season-specific banners and advertisements helps brands grab the attention of shoppers who are actively looking for deals during these events. Ensure your banner theme and keywords are compelling and drive more traffic to their online stores. Final Thoughts The eCommerce event days open new opportunities for brands to boost their sales and engage with customers. This is the moment when brands also extend their reach and are able to attract new shoppers. Identifying gaps in competitors and taking timely advantages is key to excel in the competitive landscape. Also, strengthen your strategies with a data-driven approach. Business intelligence gives brands a much-needed edge during aggressive shopping bonanzas. Proper planning, inventory management, effective pricing strategies, and appealing marketing campaigns are essential to making the most out of these opportunities. mScanIt, digital commerce intelligence can pave the road map to navigate through the challenges of season sales and beyond. Actionable insights and in-depth analysis on PIs (Key Performance Indicators), availability, pricing, keywords share, Product detail

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E-commerce Intelligence

Hit a 6 This Festive Season with the Right E-commerce Intelligence

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eCommerce has indeed gained momentum during the unprecedented Covid19 pandemic. The gain can be seen across all product categories and sectors alike. This has paved way for new players to enter the market, thus democratizing the retail marketplace for good. Last year, brands and retailers were navigating and pivoting to digital commerce and now, with the upcoming festive season, it is important to deliver to customers holistic shopping experiences and to remain relevant in today’s digitally competitive space. The amazing side to this story is that we, at mFilterIt have got you covered to make the best out of your eCommerce business in this upcoming festive season. Our 6-pillar approach will capture all the eCommerce intelligence dynamics and ensure you hit the bull’s eye! Discoverability Can your consumers find your products easily? Unless a customer can’t find you, you’re not doing something right. To be able to make sure that your brand comes to light within the first two pages of the search and understand why your competitors make it to the search, our tools give an insight into such key aspects. The tool also gives an analysis of the discount offers run by your competitors which will further help your brand develop strategies to how better offers can be made to attract more customers this festive season. Visibility Are your products being promoted? Running a successful business on an eCommerce platform and getting potential customers to buy is only half the battle. Giving them what they need at the right time with the right search is what makes a customer hooked on you. Our tool gives your business an edge by providing the right kind of visibility and also analyses the banner ad placement, competitor’s communication tactics, flash sales, and much more to help you strategize business decisions to make the most of your com sales. Availability Are your products in stock? Imagine a prospect buyer abandoning your page and heading on to your competitor’s page only the wanted product was out of stock! Such a loss! Our tool ensures that you not only get an overall stock availability but also gives a deep dive by providing availability of stock seller-wise, zip code-wise. Don’t let stock unavailability be the reason to lose out on customers this festive season. Search Analytics Is the SEO/SEM search working for you? Is your business the one that appears when a customer searches for a product you cater to? Or is your competitor outbidding you? We help you by not only giving an insight into what are the keywords doing good or bad for your business but also analyzing the ad content copy to ensure that your business does not incur wasteful ad expenditure. Performance How is the customer evaluating you? An important parameter for any business is to understand what are their customers talking about them and how well can they improve as per their customer’s liking. Our tool is adept at analysing all the ratings and reviews basis sentiment and revenue which will help you improve your product’s performance and live up to your customer’s demand. Brand Safety Are safety norms being followed? Given the festive season, it becomes a great opportunity for fraudsters to compromise on your brand’s safety by selling counterfeit products that hurt your brand reputation. Not only this, there are unauthorized sellers on e-commerce marketplaces who deal in your products which has become a major brand safety concern. Speak with us to get your free trial today!

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Direct Carrier Billing

Direct Carrier Billing: Complete Guide to Building Seamless & Secure DCB VAS Ecosystem

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What is Direct Carrier Billing (DCB)? DCB mobile payment method that allows users to make purchases and pay for digital content, goods, or services directly through their mobile phone bill or prepaid balance. It enables users to make payments without the need for credit or debit cards, making it convenient and accessible for a wide range of users. How does Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) work? DCB relies on the integration between the mobile network operator (MNO), the content provider, and the payment service provider (PSP). When a user wants to make a purchase, they choose the DCB payment option. The user is prompted to confirm the payment, usually through a text message or a pop-up window. The mobile operator verifies the user’s identity and approves the payment. The purchase amount is added to the user’s monthly phone bill or deducted from their prepaid balance. Supported services: DCB is commonly used for various digital content and services, such as mobile apps, games, music streaming, video streaming, eBooks, and more. It is particularly popular for micro-transactions and in-app purchases within mobile apps and games. What are the benefits of direct carrier billing? A seamless user experience One of the key advantages of Direct Carrier Billing is an improved user experience. By eliminating the need for payment card information (credit or debit), users can make purchases quickly and easily, without having to navigate through complicated payment forms. This can be especially important for mobile users, who may be using their device on the go and don’t want to spend time entering their payment information. With DCB, the payment process is seamless and integrated into the mobile experience, making it easier and more convenient for your users to make purchases. Greater security compared to payment cards Another benefit of Direct Carrier Billing is its security features. With DCB users do not need to enter their credit card information or other sensitive data to make a purchase. Instead, the transaction is completed by simply entering the mobile phone number and confirming the payment, which is then added to the user’s monthly mobile phone bill. This reduces the risk of fraud and provides a layer of anonymity that can be attractive to users who are wary of sharing their personal information online. Of course, fraud is an issue when any financial transaction is involved. Cybercriminals are always on the lookout for opportunities to exploit vulnerabilities. However, mobile billing anti-fraud solutions can be deployed to protect the mobile billing payment page and block suspicious and fraudulent transactions; giving you and your customers reassurance that everything is being done to protect their accounts. Increases financial inclusion for mobile users Globally 1.4 billion people are unbanked, without access to a financial account. This means they don’t have access to traditional payment methods such as credit and debit cards, and therefore may struggle to pay for many digital services and products. Direct Carrier Billing removes this barrier by allowing users to pay for goods and services via their mobile phone bill or pre-paid SIM. This makes it easier for users with limited access to credit or bank accounts to make online purchases, opening up a new world of opportunities for digital content and services. This is advantageous for merchants looking to expand into markets where a significant percentage of the population remains unbanked, such as in Iraq where only 22.7% of the population have a bank account compared to 10.30% who have a mobile phone connection and 75.0% who use the internet. For mobile operators, facilitating DCB transactions helps them provide additional services for their unbanked customers, and increases customer satisfaction and retention. Higher conversion rates In addition to increasing financial inclusion, Direct Carrier Billing can also lead to increased conversions. DCB transactions involve minimal clicks and form filling. Whereas with traditional payment methods, users may abandon their cart if they encounter any difficulties during the payment process. This can be due to a variety of factors, such as complicated checkout procedures or concerns about security. With Direct Carrier Billing the payment process is streamlined and easy to use, reducing the likelihood of cart abandonment and increasing the chances of a successful conversion. New revenue streams DCB allows mobile operators to earn a commission on transactions made by their customers. This commission can be a percentage of the transaction value or a fixed fee per transaction. As more customers use this method to make purchases, you will also benefit from increased transaction volumes. This can result in higher revenue from transaction fees and potentially lead to negotiating higher commission rates with merchants due to increased volume. By developing stronger partnerships with merchants by facilitating DCB as a payment option, there may also be increased revenue-sharing opportunities and deeper integration with merchant services. Increase customer retention Finally, Direct Carrier Billing helps make customers ‘sticky’. By providing an easy-to-use payment method that is integrated with the user’s mobile phone bill, you can increase customer loyalty and reduce churn. This can be especially important in an industry where customer retention is a key factor in generating revenue. DCB can also provide a platform for cross-promotion of other services, such as loyalty programs, value-added services, and promotions, which can result in increased sales revenue as well as increased customer retention. So, if you’re looking to enhance the user experience and generate revenue, Direct Carrier Billing can provide your customers with additional services and products, with a seamless, convenient, and secure payment method. DCB vs Credit cards DCB (Direct Carrier Billing) and credit cards are two different payment methods with distinct characteristics. Here’s a comparison between DCB and credit cards: Accessibility: DCB is often more accessible than credit cards because it allows users to make purchases using their mobile phones, without the need for a traditional banking relationship or credit history. This makes it particularly useful in regions with low credit card penetration or limited access to banking services. Payment Process: With DCB, the purchase amount is charged to the user’s mobile phone bill or deducted from their prepaid balance.

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