Small Businesses – Dutch Uncles

When Should Small Businesses Consider Opting For Bundle Pricing?

Aakash Sharma — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 08:35:10 +0000

Bundle pricing, also known as product-bundle pricing, is a strategy retailers use to sell large quantities of high-quality products by offering discounts to consumers. Through bundle pricing, retailers offer many different products as part of a single package and then offer them at a lower price than the cost of buying those products individually.

This pricing method is standard among online retailers. Competitive flat rates under bundle pricing are a great way to promote more products, get noticed, and engage with the audience in an enticing way.

How does bundle pricing work?

Bundle pricing is the practice of selling a group of products as a package. The aim is to make shopping easier for the consumer and put together the related products at discounted prices.

This can be beneficial to the business as more products are sold. Small businesses are encouraged to use bundle pricing as it is a good business model for starting fresh. Bundled pricing is a great way to increase product shipments, stock-keeping units (SKUs) with low success rates and give more value to consumers.

Compatible for Small, Medium and Micro enterprises

Bundling is typical in the e-commerce and retail sectors. For this reason, newer and smaller e-commerce sites often offer product packages with cheap or discounted items.

‘‘

Bundle pricing works because 'price' is the most critical aspect for a customer while engaging in any transaction.

In a transaction where customers get bundled pricing, they feel comfortable getting a lot for less rather than paying more for individual entities. This sensation works everywhere – in the FMCG sector, clothes, crafts, telecom services, food and restaurants, and so many more.

Which Indian industries use bundle pricing?

Indian consumer goods companies are the most significant users of bundle pricing. They offer bundled prices for various products for daily use. They do this at several levels, including the B2C, B2B and D2C levels.

The value pool created by this pricing ensures that consumers and retailers get their money’s worth. Small businesses like department stores, clothing stores, thrift stores, etc., often use bundled prices to move their products and gain traction.

Pros and cons – what to do and what not to?

Bundled pricing has both advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, this is an excellent strategy to use if the company wants to launch products faster or offer customers a higher discount. This pricing method drastically reduces marketing and selling costs. With personalized pricing and product simplification, all types of businesses can use it to accelerate transactions.

However, if poorly used, bundle pricing can do more harm than good to a brand. In some cases, bundled pricing can harm popular products when put against discounted and packaged products. There is always the risk that consumers will reject the product packaging because it does not meet their wishes. Ultimately, entrepreneurs need to develop a solid strategy to create value without compromising the company’s image.

Therefore, SMEs operating in all sectors should take a hybrid approach, applying flat rates to specific products based on customer demand and differentiating other products based on this. This allows them to experiment with the most suitable sales techniques and build a good customer base.

The post When Should Small Businesses Consider Opting For Bundle Pricing? appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

Artisans and Small Business To Go Digital With Visa’s Bring India Home Initiative

Anju Nambiar — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 03:35:09 +0000

India has thousands of ethnic craftsmen, handicraft workers, and other such local entrepreneurs who can no longer run their offline presence as a business. But they cannot sell their wares online because they don’t possess the know-how for setting up a payment gateway. Most of these small businesses are not even digitally savvy enough to know that they can sell on popular marketplaces like Amazon. This is the gap that Visa’s Bring India Home initiative seeks to fill.

What’s the Bring India Home platform by Visa?

‘Bring India Home’ is a digital platform being launched by Visa which will take offline artisans and small businesses to the digital space. It will facilitate online shopping for these small businesses. BIH is a support initiative by the financial services company which will also serve as an educational platform to handhold the stakeholders in their digital transformation journey.

How BIH will help artisans and small businesses go digital

BIH will help artisans and small businesses go digital by helping them attract new consumers through incentives. Visa will also conduct instructional sessions for small businesses to educate them about digital payments, transactions, and about digital marketing techniques.

Motive behind the initiative

The ‘Bring India Home’ initiative is in line with Visa’s global commitment to support over 50 Mn small businesses on digital. It’s also aimed at supporting the small business fraternity in India to create jobs for the Indian economy. Since consumers are now spending online, Visa wants to bridge the gap between local artisans and small businesses with digital purchases.

Benefits for small businesses

Small businesses will be able to expand their product reach to digital shoppers. Local artisans will also be able to give millions of online Indian consumers access to their unique, Made-in-India products. Small businesses and artisans will be successfully able to survive and revive during the pandemic and beyond by taking the digital route.

Scope of the initiative

The Bring India Home Initiative will cover 17 Indian states in India and will empower local artisans and small businesses in these states to list their products online. It will bring exposure to their products to online shoppers in India and thus facilitate digital sales for these small businesses which were previously offline.

‘‘

BIH is a support initiative by the financial services company which will also serve as an educational platform to handhold the stakeholders in their digital transformation journey.

What’s in it for me?

Visa’s is one of the largest global card issuers and one of the largest payment networks worldwide. In India, they’ve had a long and strong presence as a foreign card network which has further strengthened after their recent compliance of RBI’s (Reserve Bank of India) data localisation rules. As such, they are a veteran in India’s fintech sector. Visa has been actively coming up with a slew of initiatives to support the fintech industry like the ‘Visa Fintech initiative’ for fintech start-ups in India.

Ever since the pandemic broke out, Visa has been an active campaigner for the small business sector alongside other tech giants like Amazon. Before BHI, they had announced a partnership with ‘iFundWomen’, a marketplace for women-owned businesses and launched a grant programme to support women entrepreneurs in India. Bring India Home is a part of these initiatives. They have been very vocal towards supporting the small business community worldwide. Start-ups and small businesses particularly in the Fintech sector and other industries can expect more such initiatives from the payment giant.

The post Artisans and Small Business To Go Digital With Visa’s Bring India Home Initiative appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

Facebook’s Small Business Loans Initiative For India

Aakash Sharma — Sat, 21 Aug 2021 03:35:08 +0000

Facebook India has launched a new programme called ‘Small Business Loans Initiative’, which partners with Indifi online lending platform to promote small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) on Facebook through independent lending partners. It is a pivotal move to help small businesses get credit quickly.

India is the first country where Facebook has launched the programme. It is open to companies registered in 200 cities and towns in India.

What is Facebook’s Small Business Loans Initiative?

Facebook’s Small Business Loans Initiative aims to give small businesses access to business loans and narrow the credit gap in the Indian SME sector. This programme allows SMEs to obtain loans between Rs. 5 to Rs. 50 lakh in 200 cities across India.

Getting a loan on time is especially difficult for small businesses that are just starting or have a bad credit history. Facebook’s strategic partnership with Indifi is critical in resolving that hurdle. Indifi is a major digital lending platform for providing business loans to Indian SMEs and Facebook’s partner in providing loans to small businesses. The initiative is set up with the potential to draw more partners.

‘‘

Facebook's Small Business Loans Initiative allows small businesses to apply for a loan through a direct online application and without collateral.

The move comes months after the government introduced new social media and OTT laws for all tech companies operating in India. With this, Facebook has shown its commitment to creating financial opportunities for Indian enterprises.

SMEs and SMBs working on using Facebook as a business platform

As per a survey done last year by Facebook in collaboration with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank, in 2020, almost one-third of small and medium-sized businesses operating on Facebook cited cash flow as their most significant problem in working. The small business loans initiative is designed with these figures in view.

India has 1.5 million (15 lakh) SMB Facebook pages, and such businesses on Facebook have grown more than 70% year over year. Through Facebook’s collaboration with Indifi, small businesses that promote with Facebook can get credit loans at a predetermined interest rates of 17-20 per cent annually.

Government support

Facebook’s Small Business Loans Initiative was featured in the “Enabling MSME Growth through Financial Inclusion” online event hosted together by Facebook India and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

FICCI praised Facebook’s efforts to provide small, medium and micro businesses with the right opportunities, skills and solutions. The commerce body supports closer partnerships with the private sector to develop Indian MSMEs. It backs companies like Facebook that are helping small businesses and making it easier for them to get credit access.

How can businesses get benefits from this initiative?

Indifi will not charge small businesses enrolling in Facebook’s Small Business Loans Initiative a processing fee. Indifi will make the funds available within five business days of receiving the small business application and all completed paperwork.

Many small businesses find it challenging to get low-budget loans because they cannot convince lenders of their repaying credibility and business mettle. But small businesses can get loans between Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 50 lakh through this programme. Small companies, wholly or partly owned by women, can also get a 0.2% discount on Indifi lending rates.

Moreover, Facebook will not be monetising this partnership and will help connect small businesses with Indifi. At this point, companies seeking aid do not need to advertise on Facebook, thus making the assistance smoothly available. This is undoubtedly a promising phenomenon for small and medium-sized enterprises and new entrepreneurs looking to fuel their ideas in the current economic climate.

The post Facebook’s Small Business Loans Initiative For India appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

Helping The Indian MSME To Go Global With International Cooperation Scheme

Aakash Sharma — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 03:35:10 +0000

The International Cooperation Scheme is a demand-driven programme through which the Government of India provides compensatory financial assistance to small businesses. It assists eligible Central or State government organisations, registered industry associations, companies, and trusts to support and strengthen the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector.

The SME division of the Ministry of MSME is primarily responsible for the overall administrative oversight and implementation of the International Cooperation Scheme and assistance to training institutions.

Who have received how many benefits yet?

In 2020-21, the government reimbursed Rs.1.67 crore to 80 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the Indian coir sector (an agro-based rural industry) to participate in international activities abroad as part of the International Cooperation Scheme.

Under the plan, Rs.3.59 crore were released in 2018-2019 to promote 454 small, medium and micro-enterprises. During 2017-18, the government released financial aid of Rs.4.08 crore for enabling 723 MSMEs.

‘‘

The International Cooperation Scheme aims to realise the goal of ‘Vocal for Local’ and help Indian small businesses to have a robust impact on the formal economy.

Objective of the International Cooperation Scheme

While several government programmes are already in place to support Indian SMEs and MSMEs, which are also hard nailed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Cooperation Scheme aims to achieve more specific objectives.

They are:

Technology injection and update of Indian micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs)

Promotion of the export arm of MSMEs

Modernisation of MSMEs

The plan includes the following activities:

Delegating MSMEs to international trade fairs/exhibitions in other countries to explore new areas of technology upgradation, facilitate joint ventures, enhance MSME’s product markets, and cooperate with foreign countries.

Attending and participating in international exhibitions, fairs and meetings of overseas buyers and sellers for Indian SMEs and micro-enterprises.

Participation of Indian MSMEs in International conferences/ trade exhibitions held in India has international participation.

Holding global Conferences and Seminars on topics and themes of importance to the Indian MSMEs.

Organising International Conferences/ Seminars/ Workshops in India by the Ministry of MSME or its subordinate organisations.

Providing financial assistance for airfare and space rent on a reimbursement basis.

Who can apply

Registered public bodies and industry associations involved in promoting and developing the MSME sector can apply for the International Cooperation Scheme.

The qualification conditions for monetary assistance under the program are as follows:

The claimant must be a registered organisation (e.g., companies under the Companies Act, societies under the Societies Act, etc.) whose primary purpose is to promote and develop MSMEs.

The organisation must have been involved in such activities for at least three years and have a good track record.

The organisation should have periodically reviewed the accounts for the last three years.

The activities of a business to be funded under the programme should have a robust international significance.

How to apply: Procedure for accessing financial assistance under the programme

Applicants may request financial assistance in the form prescribed by the Ministry (available at www.msme.gov.in) to the Director (International Cooperation), Ministry of MSME, Udyog Bhavan, New Delhi-110011. An estimated budget for programme proposals and other relevant documents are required for the application.

The post Helping The Indian MSME To Go Global With International Cooperation Scheme appeared first on Dutch Uncles.