According to regulatory filings accessed by Tofler, Netcore Cloud's operating revenue grew 7.53% to Rs 7,029.8 million in FY23 from Rs 6,538.2 million in FY22. However, the company's net profit declined 15.6% to Rs 665.9 million in FY23 from Rs 789.5 million in FY22. (Edited excerpts)
How do you define marketing?
Does Netcore leverage WhatsApp for Customer Experience (CX) compared to popular CCaaS or CPaaS solutions in India? If not, what is the difference in your approach? And secondly, with the implementation of the DPDP Act and the possibility of having to erase customer data on request, how prepared is Netcore to comply with these new regulations and what measures has it taken to address these challenges?
Our recently published report revealed that 80% of consumers now purchase through channels other than traditional websites like Shopify and marketplaces. More and more people are completing the purchase process using platforms like email, WhatsApp, and Instagram. This change in consumer behavior is important for marketers to understand. It highlights the need for marketers to leverage these new-age channels to create more interactive and engaging experiences.
E-commerce as an experience has expanded beyond consumer-facing interactions and marketplaces to include a variety of communication and social media tools to become a full-fledged shopping experience, forcing marketers to rethink how they deliver experiences to consumers across these diverse platforms.
From a data perspective, all of these platforms are starting to ask for explicit consent in the purchase process. They enforce this consent through the channel. On the backend, we act as the technology
Have you come across any instances where customers have requested for their data to be erased or do you feel there is still a lack of awareness among users regarding this option?
No, we have not seen any such cases so far. But there are many instances where brands tend to spam users on these channels. These channels have set very high standards when it comes to spam control as there is a high chance of them being misused if they do not adhere to the policies. For example, Whatsapp has set very high standards when it comes to spam control and this automatically means that the brand has now officially created a channel and is adhering to the spam regulations set by the channel.
Everyone from Gupshup to Sprinklr to Infobip is using WhatsApp to deliver customer experiences. How do you differentiate your approach from other platforms?
The basic connectivity is provided by multiple partners, but what we have is a comprehensive customer experience stack backstage where customers plug their information into. For example, take Nykaa as a customer. Nykaa inputs their first-party data, which is their customer base of 100 million. Nykaa then uses our platform for all the segmentation and journey creation where they create specific targeted cohorts of buyers and other parameters like recency, frequency, monetary value, etc. Then they use our platform to deliver the right kind of segments on channels like WhatsApp. This is the crux of it and in Nykaa's case, it's the customer intelligence that empowers them backstage to be able to send the right kind of message to the right kind of consumer on WhatsApp, that's where we make the difference.[plugininformationForexampleletustakeNykaaasacustomerNykaaplugsintheirfirst-partydatawhichmeanstheirbaseof100millioncustomersThentheyuseourplatformtodoallthesegmentationandjourneycreationthatiscreatingspecifictargetedcohortsofbuyersorotherparameterslikerecencyfrequencymonetaryvaluesetcThenusingourplatformtodelivertherightkindofsegmentsonchannelslikeWhatsAppThatisthecruxofitthecustomerintelligencethatwehaveinthebackwhichisaidingthecustomerinthecaseofNykaatobeabletosendtherightkindofmessagetootherrightkindofconsumeronWhatsAppisshowwearemakingtherefference[plugininformationForexampleletustakeNykaaasacustomerNykaaplugsintheirfirst-partydatawhichmeanstheirbaseof100millioncustomersThentheyuseourplatformtodoallthesegmentationandjourneycreationthatiscreatingspecifictargetedcohortsofbuyersorotherparameterslikerecencyfrequencymonetaryvaluesetcThenusingourplatformtodelivertherightkindofsegmentsonchannelslikeWhatsAppThatisthecruxofitthecustomerintelligencethatwehaveinthebackwhichisaidingthecustomerinthecaseofNykaatobeabletosendtherightkindofmessagetotherightkindofconsumeronWhatsAppishowwearemakingthedifference
Given the large investments and importance of customer retention, how do you monitor and manage customer acquisition costs (CAC) in a B2B environment where migration to new systems is often difficult for organizations?
At Netcore, we do everything from a customer perspective. When we discuss customer acquisition cost (CAC), we do a deep dive from the customer perspective. If we compare current CAC to two years ago, we see a significant increase, which reflects the trend of 30-40% annual CAC growth across the e-commerce sector. This increase is primarily driven by increased competition and rising costs on platforms like Google.
As a result, brands are increasingly prioritizing retention of existing customers and maximizing revenue. Instead of focusing solely on reacquisition, brands are keen to foster deeper relationships with their current customer base. Netcore facilitates this by providing tools and solutions that help brands enhance customer engagement and grow revenue from within.
If you are expanding outside India, what are the specific strategies your company is focusing on while selling your products in developed countries where solutions are likely to already exist compared to the Indian market?
When we talk about expanding outside India, we leverage some key strengths that set us apart: We have leveraged our years of industry experience to establish ourselves as a top player in global email marketing.
What challenges do you see currently in the Indian market, especially in e-commerce?
The e-commerce space faces several significant challenges. The biggest issue is the rising customer acquisition costs (CAC), which is a major concern for all B2C and e-commerce players today. Another challenge is the proliferation of data across multiple channels. Brands find their sales data scattered across platforms like Shopify, marketplaces, offline stores, and advertising.
Additionally, customer retention rates tend to be low due to high consumer choice and low brand loyalty. At Netcore, we address these challenges by focusing on enhancing customer experience and engagement through our platform; driving revenue from existing customers and supporting growth efforts amid rising CAC. Our expertise lies in building customer data platforms and data lakes that provide a unified and holistic view of consumer interactions. Take Nykaa for example. We help Nykaa consolidate data from online and offline interactions, social media engagement, and past purchases into a unified profile. This comprehensive view enables Nykaa to personalize customer experience and tailor recommendations based on individual preferences and behaviors. Our personalization and AI-driven capabilities ensure that every customer interaction with Nykaa is meaningful, fostering long-term loyalty in a competitive marketplace.
A major concern in India was customer dissatisfaction while interacting with bots, especially difficulties in understanding and resolving queries. How does Netcore's AI experience address these challenges?
We recently launched Netcore Core Marketer, an AI-powered virtual marketing assistant. The tool is designed specifically for marketers, not consumers, and aims to help marketing leaders like Nykaa and Forest Essentials leverage our powerful data engine to gain deeper consumer insights.
Netcore Core Marketer provides marketers with valuable insights into consumer behavior across channels. It assists in brand affinity based segmentation and optimizes delivery based on user preferences. For example, if someone interacts more on WhatsApp but prefers email, AI will adjust the delivery methodology accordingly.
Our AI also provides predictive analytics, providing insights into expected sales based on the past six months of data and trends. What previously took days of calculations and logic can now be done in real-time. Additionally, it also helps marketers set up goal-based campaigns. For example, you can automate campaigns to acquire customers at a specific cost, resulting in improved conversion rates.
Conversion rates have started to improve significantly, with some reports showing increases of up to 40%. And this is just the beginning. As Netcore Core Marketer further refines its features, we are getting closer to our dream of creating personalized experiences and segments.
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