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Trends That Have Reshaped the Job Market in Travel and Hospitality

DU Desk — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 07:28:25 +0000

Being one of the biggest employing and entrepreneurial industries globally, the travel and hospitality industry is undergoing a profound transformation, thanks to pandemic-induced challenges and subsequent financial hardships. The acceptance of the ‘new normal’ has made it imperative for the industry’s most prominent players as well as new start-ups and SMEs to manage operations from a unique standpoint, allowing hospitality companies to emphasise their core business, thus improving effectiveness.

While the change in any industry is inevitable, some segments always stand to benefit from it. And with the latest changes, job seekers stand to profit big time as the challenges have allowed the industry to start in the new digital-led direction. Additional complexities and potential problems have given rise to numerous types of jobs.

Here we list new trends that have reshaped the job market in travel and hospitality.

New Age Cabin Crew

Cabin crew positions are traditional positions that have remained relatively similar throughout the history of aviation. However, getting a cabin crew position is now more competitive than ever. Airlines require the crew to be attractive and to provide excellent customer service. But now, to cut costs, many airlines also need cabin crew to perform the chores of cleaners, cooks, and security personnel – hence new age cabin crew.

Programmes and training for this job can help people develop new skills and prepare for the arduous processes involved in the role. The potential income for new-age cabin crew positions is estimated at Rs 40,000 per month.

Online Travel Agent

Over the years, customers have shifted away from the traditional type of travel agents and such companies. Instead of availing the services of travel agencies, consumers have chosen to either create their live DIY-style packages or turn to online players like MakeMyTrip, Yatra, Goibibo and more.

So, to become an online travel agent, one has to follow a relatively straightforward process to meet the criteria. All it takes is a familiarisation process with GDS and inventory management systems, and with experience, one is good to be an online agent. Initially, the potential income of an online travel agent ranges from Rs. 10,600 to Rs. 30,300 per month.

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Businesses will need high entrepreneurial opportunities to make the most of their existing customers. As customers travel in limited numbers due to COVID, hospitality businesses should make the most of it.

Travel Insurance Sales Representative

Following the COVID-19 crisis, people have become more aware of the importance of insurance, including travel insurance, than ever. While many travel and tourism jobs do not give much money, the financial arm of the industry is one area where new job seekers can make substantial money. With little training, one can earn a healthy salary in this up-and-coming role in the travel industry. Sales training courses prepare you for this career. The average wage of an insurance sales agent in India is approximately Rs. 25,000 per month.

Plan of action for entrepreneurs in the travel and hospitality space

Entrepreneurs of all scales, including SMEs and start-ups, need to adopt a multi-tasking strategy to succeed in the industry now. In future, due to decreased demand leading to low value and profitability, much emphasis will be on labour cost control. In this scenario, hospitality professionals who have multiple skills and can carry out different jobs will prioritise filling up new job opportunities in the hospitality industry. Businesses’ problem-solving and design thinking skills for creating unique experiences are set to become necessary to understand travellers’ new demands and solve their problems in a post-pandemic world.

The post Trends That Have Reshaped the Job Market in Travel and Hospitality appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

What are the Emerging Trends in the Beauty, Health and Wellness Space?

Aakash Sharma — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 10:35:03 +0000

The beauty, health and wellness industries are constantly evolving and meeting the needs of consumers. Health, fitness, hygiene, and the spirit of youth are top priority for billions of people worldwide. However, the global coronavirus pandemic has amplified many concerns for these factors, creating opportunities for proven products to meet shifting market needs.

The beauty, health and wellness industry accounts for $15.6 billion annually in India. Among these, hair care is expected to become the largest sector by 2025, with a $4.54 billion market size. Experts believe that this industry’s main drivers are natural and clean formulas, scientific solutions with practicality, consistency, transparency, and affordability-merged with businesses’ entrepreneurial expertise.

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Health and wellness are essential - with or without a pandemic. Buyer focus during the pandemic has shifted somewhat as people contemplate the shelf-life and durability of goods.

Beauty, Health and Wellness – Facts and Figures

According to a study by Indian Market Research – Euromonitor International, cosmetics and personal care products are among the primary sectors affected by the pandemic inflicted recession in the beauty, health and wellness industry.

More than 30% of respondents to an April 2020 Euromonitor poll considered consumers would be buying more health and wellness-related products permanently due to the coronavirus pandemic. Interestingly, 65% of global customers consider mental well-being a critical factor in health perceptions, and 34% take steps to manage nervousness, stress and mental health.

Effect of COVID-19

Over last year, many people paid less attention to their appearances and looks, per se, while remotely during the pandemic. Due to working from home, more people are putting a hold on practices like makeup and fancy care retunes. However, skincare is essential – with or without a pandemic. Additionally, buyer focus has shifted somewhat due to COVID-19, as people contemplate the shelf-life and durability of packaged goods, including personal and beauty care commodities.

These are some of the emerging trends in the Beauty, Health and Wellness space.

Clinical Skincare

The cleansing campaign has completed the goals of genuine and lasting beauty efforts in the industry. At the same time, the antibacterial beauty has enhanced significantly. In 2020, people felt protected when products had medical titles like “sterilised” and “medically authorised” written on them. The “clean” trend has become a guarantee for producing “clean” beauty and wellness products in clinical settings.

By harvesting and incorporating individual plant cells in the lab, brands like Biossance and One Ocean Beauty can deliver incredibly effective and safe skincare products without harming the environment. Scientific brands like Codex and REN conduct rigorous medical testing to prove their natural compounds’ benefits and are setting new industry standards for testing.

Healthy Hair

Haircare and health care products such as scalp scrubs are very popular. However, the growth of luxury goods with more innovative and consumer products in this category is expected in 2021. The scalp has huge wellness potential, particularly in aromatherapy, owing to how quickly essential oils applied there can hit the bloodstream.

According to Cult Beauty’s Trend Forecast, “Hair tea” infusions are a growing trend, “as the hair world is colonised by formats and components traditionally linked with other methods of well-being, like the microbiome-boosting Scalp & Hair Serum by Gallinee or Davines Royal Jelly Superactive.”

Healthy Sleeping

Sleep care and its health consequences returned to the centre stage in 2020. A report from Kings College London found that 60% of the world’s population suffered from nausea and sleeplessness due to the pandemic. The quest for quality sleep will continue into 2021 with audio stimuli ASMR, soothing soundtracks and unwinding rituals complemented by beauty products designed to strengthen circadian rhythm. Companies like Elemis are committed to coordinating people’s skin while offering a relaxing “Night Scented” oil to help drift off.

The post What are the Emerging Trends in the Beauty, Health and Wellness Space? appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

What Are the New Distribution Channels for Fintech?

Shalmoli Sarkar — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 06:35:04 +0000

The financial services in India are rapidly moving towards digitisation. The financial services in India are drifting from the conventional ‘one size for all’ to a more personalised approach. Increased e-commerce shopping, convenience of payments, increasing smartphones usage, slashed data plans and emphasising on contactless payments in the pandemic are the tailwinds for the growth of fintech sector in India. According to BCG (Boston Consulting Group) report the fintech sector estimated valuation is $150-160 Billion by 2025. Pay cuts, layoffs, less revenues, increasing health expenses in the pandemic is forcing people to revisit their insurance, loans and other monetary plans. This becomes an opportunity for the fintech sector to solve people’s worries effectively and expand user base. To do so, the fintech sector is exploring new distribution channels for acquiring customers.

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According to BCG (Boston Consulting Group) report the fintech sector estimated valuation is $150-160 Billion by 2025.

New Distribution Channels for Fintech

Collaborating with Banks

Fintech companies are collaborating with reputed insurance companies in India to sell their policies and sustain growth. Leveraging the already established customer base of the insurance companies the fintech companies can expand their user base. The tie-up of insurance companies with fintech apps can simplify the entire customer journey in insurance right from purchases to claims within the comfort of click which otherwise was cumbersome by cold calls. 2021 witnessed many such instances of collaborations such as ICICI Prudential has partnered with PhonePe to sell term life insurance plans. Customers need not have to endure the gruelling paperwork and need not to go through traditional health check-up. The entire insurance policy can be completed by the app. On a similar note, to make available its insurance products digitally in Tier-II and Tier-III cities Airtel payments has partnered with Bharti AXA.

Through OTT Platforms

The work-from-model and decreased out-of-home consumption has led to an unprecedented rise of viewership in OTT platforms. Witnessing the uptick of by subscription – payment model in the entertainment space, Splitsub a combinator backed fintech startup is revamping the OTT subscription payment by letting split the costs of OTT subscriptions among friends and family. On Splitsub there are more than 90 OTT players and work-related platform such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Grammarly, Otter etc. whose subscription can be split. It is a marketplace of OTT platforms that handles the payments of OTT platforms.

Through e-commerce

SEBI’s initiative to reduce the cost structure of mutual funds has allowed e-commerce companies such as Flipkart to sell mutual funds through its fintech arm PhonePe. Automation of mutual fund sales including e-KYC will reduce the cost of mutual fund schemes, will eliminate the fees that needed to pay the intermediaries, thus making it easier for investors to buy mutual fund products.

Social Media Platforms

What began as a platform for fun and meeting your long-distance friends is now a platform that is now looked upon as a customer acquisition platform by the financial institutions and banks. Various financial institutions and banks are experimenting with social media payments, game-based insurance application and interactive wealth management and investment apps for the digital-savvy population. With creative posts and digital advertising, social media has the ability to catch the audience’s attention.

Digital Insurance Apps

Digital Insurance apps such as Policybazaar.com, Coverfox, Acko offers a consolidated platform that enables customers to search, compare, find and buy insurance products at affordable premiums from multiple carriers. Customers from such apps can make informed decisions by comparing all the products for a financial stream from a single platform. These apps can also claim initiation and settlement digitally which enhances customer satisfaction.

What is in it for Fintech companies?

With Gen Z becoming the future consumers of fintech, it is known that their affinity is more towards the gadget and internet. To acquire customers, it is imperative for the fintech companies to leverage the above-mentioned new distribution channels for the usage of various financial products and services.

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If you are a Retail start-up, this is how you can enter new markets

Aakash Sharma — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 12:35:03 +0000

The Indian retail market has always been enormous. A November 2019 report by India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) estimated that by 2021, the traditional retail industry would account for a significant level of 75%, organised commerce will reach 18%, and e-commerce retail will account for 7% of retail sales of the total market.

Even more interesting is the development of many areas and chambers of retail in the e-commerce market. This includes expanding physical retail brands to contain the growing popularity of healthcare, agriculture, food and beverage, food technology, and retail start-ups.

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While customers agree to be patient and wait for products from small businesses, they still demand to have choices over their shipping speed and be kept fully informed about their delivery progress. They also expect first-class consumer service.

The Future of Retail Start-up: Knowing the Niche is Important

The future of retail will be in omniscient commerce channels. According to the new 2021 standards, digital trends are shaping the future of retail in India. Over the past year, the middle-income group has driven up most of the retail consumption in India. These developments have allowed market leaders to observe structural changes in the retail and e-commerce sectors in India.

In 2006, only 3% of people bought online, and now there are 500 million active internet users in India every day. As of 2019, this internet boom resulted in around 10% of purchases being made online.

In general, the size of the retail segment is set to increase. The traditional methods combined with e-commerce start-ups in the retail industry will play an essential role in reviving the sector as they will have more digital advantages than other methods.

Scaling New Ways and Markets in the Industry

The retail chain starts with the production and manufacturing units. The core of its capacity is a manufacturing company’s ability to supply small supermarkets or Kirana stores. The basic setup of a retails commerce business helps to meet the distribution sector’s challenges through direct channels and local supermarkets.

Today, start-ups have a lot of big data created through direct customer feedback, thanks to the D2C model, that they have never received before. Digitisation has opened up new sales opportunities for start-ups.

The digital wave has led many supermarkets to adopt technology more and more quickly. This has caused many intermediaries to resort to traditional multi-level sales transfers and establish digital navigation in Indian sales channels. The modern retail industry is a significant job creator and is bringing formal workplaces to the community.

A Retail Start-up Needs to make things Easy for Customers

There has been a dramatic increase in online shopping over the past year due to the pandemic. Online shopping is only expected to grow, providing excellent opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses to build strong digital businesses.

While customers agree to be patient and wait for products from small businesses, they still demand to have choices over their shipping speed and be kept fully informed about their delivery progress. They also expect first-class consumer service. That means acknowledging their inquiries within a consistent timeframe and supply tracking information or delivery updates. And by satisfying these needs, a new start-up can establish a name for itself in India’s retail sector.

What’s in it for you?

If you are one of the several who wants to start a retail business in 2021, there is a lot you can do to maximise your chances of success. Primarily, you need to provide a comfortable working experience for your customers. The long-term success depends on its ability to attract loyal customers who come back and often buy from it. So, don’t miss the opportunity to surprise them and thank them for their customer service.

Another reason why now is the best time to set up a retail start-up is that more customers are encouraged to “buy local”- Vocal for Local– to support local businesses. Buyers want to support companies that share their values and beliefs. And in 2020, this trend has intensified as Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign.

The truth is that technology today is not only an opportunity to develop products in the comfort of one’s own home. But it is also a reality for more tangible small businesses and start-ups to attain success. If you want to be a part of the technology-driven success stories, start with your niche market, connect with customers, and surprise them.

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