START-UPS TAP A BIG POTENTIALIF BUSINESS is your first love, the coming time is yours to woo. The hesitant flirting the Indian entrepreneur started with February 14, St. Valentine’s Day, a few years ago has now turned into a fullfledged affair. Varied trades spruce up their offers in the run-up to the Festival of Love, which industry experts say has become the second-biggest business opportunity in the calendar, even surpassing Diwali and New Year. Businesses, so it seems, aren’t falling behind the changing festival mix of Indian youth.For K Vaitheeswaran, who co-founded online retailer Indiaplaza, business around valentine’s Day has been growing by leaps since 2006. “Direct spending on Valentine’s day is nearly 30-40% more than Diwali, making it a rich opportunity for retail entrepreneurs to boost their topline,” he says. From gifts, candies to expensive gadgets, Indiaplaza helps lovers exchange articles through the internet, across boundaries and even away from their parents’ eyes. The first time Indiaplaza tried to cash in on Valentine’s Day was in 2002, but it was a washout then, with not much ‘awareness’ about the day.In 2003, there were protests and agitations over Valentine’s Day celebrations across the country, Mr Vaitheeswaran recalls. But the tough beginning was soon followed by a surge in the day’s appeal and business started to boom. “(The protests) created more excitement about the day’s importance. And because the protests were offline, people switched to the ecommerce website to send their gifts across. Thereafter, the sales started showing a rising trend on this festive day,” he says.According to US National Retail Federation, US consumers alone spent nearly $13.7 billion last year on Valentine’s Day shopping. This was a 22% rise from the past five years. As for the domestic market, an independent study on the consumer markets in India, presented at the 2007 International Marketing Conference, suggests that the Western fancy has started to take roots in Indian markets as well. The study noted that Valentine’s Day sales in 2007 were about 15% higher than that during Diwali at these retail outlets and this is expected to increase by 20-25% in 2008.Only the Christmas season rings in bigger revenues. And it seems entrepreneurs in the country clearly aim to boost the day into first place as more and more start-ups start to capitalise on the opportunity.Despite the pressure to buy gifts, most of the money spent on V-Day this year would keep up the trend set in the previous years. Spending would go to tokens of affection – cards, candies, flowers and nightouts. Floricultural start-up Ferns ‘N’ Petals, for instance, is gearing up for the Cupid’s arrival in a manner unlike any other. Apart from selling flowers, Vikaas Gutgutia’s company is banking on service as a major differentiator for this year. The company has planned to offer midnight delivery service, in addition to selling cakes and chocolates with its flowers on Valentine’s Day. It is also offering its customer the choice of buying gold-plated flowers. Says Pawan Gadia, vice-president at Ferns ‘N’ Petals, who jump started the company’s much-touted franchisee model, “Product innovation for such days is the key to success. You always have to think what different can you do this year which would excite the customer. A mundane run-of-the-mill product line each year does not help when you are working in such a business environment.” F’N'P is hoping to increase its Valentine’s Day sales by 40% this year, adds Mr Gadia.What is a day of gifts without cards? According to Anil Moolchandani, founder & MD of Archies, Valentine’s Day sales account for nearly 12% of the company’s full-year sales, making it the single-biggest occasional sale period for his company. “The trick is to promote and market as much as you can when your business is linked to an occasional sale,” he says. “Essentially, occasional sales help you build a brand presence and to add to this with more and more companies joining the occasional bandwagon for this day, it is becoming easier for any start-up in this space to cash in on the Valentine’s Day sales,” he adds.Archies, founded in 1979, introduced its first Valentine’s Day card in 1984 and it took sustained marketing efforts till 2000 for this occasion to “become critical mass for the company,” recalls Mr Moolchandani. Somebody once wondered cheekily why Valentine’s Day comes exactly nine months before the Children’s Day on November 14? The guys who make it all happen, the matrimonial websites, are also tapping into the business potential of Valentine’s Day.Bharat Matrimony, one of India’s largest matrimony websites, sees the day as a raw material for its business. Says Murugavel Jankiraman, founder and CEO, “We are planning to ramp up the promotional activities around Valentine’s Day period considering that online activity for our website picks up around this period. Unlike other festival days, Valentine’s Day is connected directly to our core business, and it always helps to use such events, which directly relate to your core business as effective marketing tools.”Like Bharat Matrimony, luxury bags maker Baggit too plans to leverage on this opportunity, “More than anything else, it’s an occasion to gift and dress up and clearly a fashion brand would see synergies in that. In fact, we are timing our sale this year on February 12, very close to Valentine’s Day,” says Baggit founder Nina Lekhi. “In case you have a product targeted for the youth, Valentine’s Day would be the point to test response to a particular campaign, which you might want to roll out on a larger scale later,” she adds. In short, what has worked for these entrepreneurs is the packaging of their products. “On days like the Valentine’s Day, there may be little sale in terms of quantity for many business start-ups, but the trick is to fix yourself a niche area and make it high margin business for yourself, as events like Valentine’s Day do not tend to be mass market phenomenon,” says Mr Vaitheeswaran. “With Love’s Light Wings Did I O’erperch These Walls,” said Shakespeare’s Romeo to his sweetheart Juliet.For a start-up with aspirations to make a big mark on the competitive business stage, Valentine’s Day can give wings and plant a kiss of success on the entrepreneur’s cheeks of desire.
Frequently Asked Questions About Compounding Pharmacies
If you are facing the need to use a compounding pharmacy for the first time, there’s little doubt that you have questions. Compounding pharmacies are available, but they are not commonly used by most patients. Here are the most frequently asked questions about these pharmacies.What Is a Compounding Pharmacy?In essence, this type of pharmacy is one that customizes medications that are not commercially available. Medications are prescribed by a physician, veterinarian, or other medical provider. The medications are then compounded, or put together, by a state-licensed pharmacist. These pharmacies are typically utilized for people and animals that have unique health concerns that commercially available medications cannot address.Are These Types Of Medications Safe?You must understand that compounded medications are off-label. This means that the FDA does not approve them. That said, compounded medications are considered safe when put together and sold by reputable pharmacists. Before you order or ask for a compounded medication, ask your doctor to recommend a pharmacist or pharmacy. Not all professionals are skilled in the art of compounding medications.Why Do I Need This Medication?There are a variety of reasons why you may need a compounded medication. For example, if your pain management drug is difficult for you to swallow, your pharmacist may suggest a liquid or transdermal version. If you are experiencing sensitivity to an ingredient in your hormone replacement, your doctor may have a medication compounded without that particular ingredient.Compounded pharmacies also make medications for veterinary patients. Often, flavoring is added or liquid is made in order to increase palatability for a pet.Where Do Medication Ingredients Come From?The ingredients that are put into compounded medications come from the same suppliers as the big pharmaceutical companies. These companies are inspected and regulated by the FDA. The ingredients in your compounded medications are considered safe for consumption.Who Regulates These Pharmacies?Just like typical pharmacies, compounded pharmacies and pharmacists are licensed at the state level. There is also an entity known as the Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board (PCAB) that has developed national standards that compounding pharmacies must follow.Does the FDA Inspect Compounding Pharmacies?The FDA does not inspect compounding pharmacies, but this should not dissuade you from making use of their services. The FDA does not inspect typical pharmacies. The regulation of pharmacies and pharmacists has always been handled by individual states. The FDA does, as has been stated, inspect and regulate the facilities that produce the ingredients that go into these medications.Compounding pharmacies are on the rise as people become more aware of them. Up until the 20th century, all pharmacies were of the compounding type. It wasn’t until just a century ago that the pharmacies we are used to seeing today arose. If your doctor suggests a compounded medication, you can feel safe in taking it. Follow the same safety protocols as you would with a typical medication, and speak with your doctor should you experience any adverse events.
Effectively Growing Your Digital Marketing
In the past, if you owned a small, or even medium-size, business, you may have been able to get away with very little marketing. Well those days are gone. Not only do you need to market nowadays (no matter what size business you own) but you need to be involved in many different types of marketing. They are all a part of your marketing strategy.The changing approach to marketing for your businessIn days gone by, the marketing approach that business owners used was outbound marketing. With outbound marketing, the advertiser placed ads in various places (print ads, television, radio, etc). Although that marketing approach worked for a long time, eventually, the target audience got smart and learned how to block the ads in various ways. Of course, that left the business owners with a really big problem.A newer (and probably more effective approach in this digital technology age) is inbound marketing. Inbound marketing is the opposite of outbound marketing.Because they are coming to you willingly, they are prequalified and; therefore, they are customers who suit your business needs more closely. There are several different ways that you are able to reach your customers and to positively influence them.You can interact with your target audience over the Internet, through the various social media channels that you have chosen for your particular business, and various other means of online communication. The truth is that business people nowadays are too busy and too impatient to spend a lot of time on anyone or anything. If you can interact with them quickly and effectively, they will listen to you and they will keep coming back for more. It is a win-win situation.Take advantage of what is in front of youMost likely, by now, you recognize the importance of interacting with your target audience (and anyone connected to your target audience) online. Online interactions give you to opportunity to reach a very large number of people in the shortest amount of time possible. However, it is very important for you to understand clearly that even though you are involved with inbound marketing for your business and if you are seeing positive results from your marketing efforts, that in no way means that you should abandon your outbound marketing efforts.Traditional marketing is still very important and you should still retain that as part of your overall marketing strategy. In fact, the two types of marketing should work together and, if you work them correctly, you will see that they have a synergy that is very powerful and that achieves the results that you are hoping to achieve. Some of the marketing strategies that you will definitely not want to abandon are word-of-mouth, referral, and just plain open communication. They will all take you very far.The good thing about inbound marketing is that it will not eat into your budget very much at all. In many cases, you can achieve results from your inbound marketing efforts without spending any money at all. Of course, the price that you will have to pay is not in dollars. It is in time and effort, which are definitely valuable commodities for you as well. There are many different ways in which you can make a positive difference through your online marketing strategy.
Become an influencer via online marketing: You need to realize (if you haven’t realized already) that social media is an extremely powerful and influential tool. It behooves you to make the most of it and to leverage all that you can of social media for your business. You may (or you may not) be surprised at how much you can achieve through your social media efforts.
Increase your list of customers through your social media channels: The most popular social media channels can help you to increase your list of customers. If your branding is strong, which it definitely should be at this point, those social media channels will work in your favor. The fact is that people really want to interact through social media. It is quick, effective, and fun and many people are really interested in being a part of the whole social media scene.
Pay close attention to analytics: It is essential that you track your business’s progress extremely carefully. One of the many reasons why analytics are so important is that they allow you to understand what you are doing right and what isn’t working. They also allow you to identify trends and you can continue to hone what you are doing and you will see that the results will be positive.
Influence people so that they become loyal to your brand: Content really is king when it comes to your business’s success. People are not only interested in what you have to say but they are also extremely excited to tell you (and anyone else who is listening) what they think. They want to feel as though you value their opinions. And, why not? It is a human quality to want to be accepted and appreciated.
Position yourself so that you are top of mind for other people: Again, this goes back to the importance of content. If you share top-quality content with people on interesting, relevant topics, there is no doubt that people will be very interested in what you have to say and in how you say it. In fact, they will probably want to keep coming back for more and they will be excited about sharing your words with people whom they know and trust. That is exactly what you want to happen.
ConclusionWhen it comes to your marketing strategy for your business, it is important to remember that both traditional marketing and inbound marketing are important and your marketing strategy will be the most successful if you can use both marketing approaches together. Together, they will create an incredible buzz that people will not soon forget. If your story is sincere and told with heart, people will listen to what you have to say with pleasure. Together, there will be no stopping you!