Most people these days order products online either from Amazon, Flip kart or eBay. Mobile apps such as Uber, Airbnb, Etsy have become part of life of people globally. In India, Flip kart, Zivame, Snapdeal, Jabong, Shop clues, Foodpanda, Swiggy have become part and parcel of people’s life. Fewer people go out to buy things. The easier consumer’s lives have become, more complex have the marketplace operator’s experience become.

Marketplace operators are unique because they aren’t just serving one base of customers. They connect buyers and sellers, service providers and consumers. They have to make sure that both sellers and buyers experience good product and service with each other. They need to hit liquidity as fast as they can, and they are often challenged by the chicken or egg syndrome; weather to first create supply or create demand, and then balancing transactions at volume. Some marketplaces have existed for a long time. They vary in size and focus, but all marketplaces share certain features. In simplest terms, a marketplace is a gathering place for commercial transactions and it is a clearly defined space where things are bought and sold. To thrive, marketplaces require order, confidence and trust.

Over the past two decades we are seeing the rise of some massive and extremely lucrative marketplaces. An online marketplace is a type of e-commerce site where product or service information is provided by multiple third parties, whereas transactions are processed by the marketplace operator. Online marketplaces are the basic multichannel ecommerce and can be a way to reorganize the production process.

Liquidity is most important: The amount of transactions conducted on a market platform is one of the most important features of a successful a two-sided market. It is about the health of the business, to function well, there must be a significant mass, and a proper balance, of buyers and sellers. Too few sellers or too few buyers will let down by a lack of variety and high prices as buyers move quickly for what limited items are available. Too few buyers and sellers will abandon the market and seek out better places to achieve their sales goals. It is therefore a delicate balance and one that can easily slip out of equilibrium. Getting the buyer-seller right ratio in a global consumer two-sided market is a huge task. Ensuring the global pool of buyers becomes essential where the vast selection of available merchandise and top sellers across the world come for the large pool of eager buyers requires an always-on 24/7 mindset.

Systematic processing is vital: Buyers and sellers are continuously looking for better reliable structure. Let’s look at Airbnb. It is an American company which operates an online marketplace and hospitality service for people to lease or rent short-term lodging including holiday cottages, apartments, home stays (bed and breakfast) and also hotel rooms to participate in or facilitate experiences related to tourism such as walking tours, and to make reservations at restaurants. The company does not own any real estate or conduct tours; it acts like a broker which receives percentage service fees in conjunction with every booking. Like all hospitality services, Airbnb is an example of collaborative consumption and sharing. The company has over 4 million lodging listings in 65,000 cities and 191 countries and it has so far done over 300 million ckeck-ins so far.

As a marketplace curator, they hire people to continuously find and feature best apartments for temporary stay and eliminate the shady ones. It is very difficult to eliminate shady apartments because going to the grass root level is difficult globally. Generally, the best listings are surfaced first as a result of both manual paper work and algorithmic curation. As a marketplace company, manual or editorial license is a big force to retain users. Airbnb learnt this hard way. They discovered this when they replaced user-generated apartment photos with beautiful, professional-quality photos. Even though this strategy did not work, it helped them create helpful guidelines for people listing apartments, which gave them the lift-off they needed. Now, most photos are in fact user generated.

Feedback very important: While Uber has earned an impressive reputation over the years, it has also faced criticism over a few scandals. Some customers have complained that drivers had cheated them out of money and the worst complaint is few incidents of female customers were sexually assaulted by the drivers. Things like these have negative brand impact. Uber faced hassles over such issues.

Most of the cab services apps have rating systems built somewhere into the process for both buyers and sellers. So Uber, Ola, Flywheel and other service providers ask both drivers and passengers to rate their experience at the end of a ride. To actually make this data valuable, however, companies have to use ratings almost invisibly to filter out bad users and continually improve service. But, one fact is users don’t want to spend the time to do the rating and reviews. Customers expect that the company has already removed poorly-rated drivers from the system. Customers assume that a driver with lower than a 3-star rating on Uber will not exist, and as a result, very few riders worry about having a bad experience. The result is that drivers can depend on the system to weed out abusive or deceitful passengers. On both sides, ratings help people trust that they will get what they are expecting. But, in fast-paced world, this doesn’t happen, in services like these, feedback is most essential.

Enabled by algorithms:  The marketplace companies are technologically driven because for them data is everything. They keep track of what customer are browsing and buying. The goal is to improve conversion rates and help the industry become profitable. Internet merchants are teeming with mind-boggling flow of data. For example, Paytm has about 30 lakh visitors every day with about 3 million page views daily. Algorithms help it crunch data on customer preferences and increase sales. Algorithms are the base for all online transaction – payment, ordering, shipping, feedback everything.  Algorithms strengthen the ecommerce companies. Huge amount of money is at stake on customer acquisitions and deep discounts.

Focus is on supply: To be successful, marketplace companies need to focus on their suppliers because the service providers will exist only if the customer receives the product within a defined time. On a flipside, customers are in touch with suppliers as well as marketplace operators depending on who is giving good discount and swift delivery. This can be taxing for a lot of start-up leaders who are focused on pleasing traditional end users. But for buyers, keeping in touch with both is a routine. For marketplace operators after collecting data, they need to take precise action to enforce short ship times. Time is essence for their very existence. Most importantly, when delivery period, quality and price expectations are violated on either side, the buyer is left high and dry, or a seller never receives payment. Therefore the marketplace companies need to have a very human-centric customer service approach. They are heavily reliant on phone calls and personal communications from their ground staff.

Conclusion: All in all, the marketplace firms need a strong foundation of information about the experience of customers and suppliers both. The retail concept of marketplace business has proliferated and is here to stay. It is common that after a time, firms experience a shakeout (an economic condition that results in the elimination of marginally financed participants in an industry) and only the sturdy ones survive. Ultimately, all online marketplaces will survive only if they prove their staying power by offering efficiency and inimitable value to consumers.

Everyone wants freedom, flexibility, work-life balance, control and loves to be his own boss, which we often label as ‘’ dream job’’.  In a rapidly changing world and work environment more and more people, globally, are opting for ‘gigs’ which are one-time, short-term assignments or projects. Skilled labour is the very foundation on which our economy rests. The same holds true for the freelance market. A ‘Gig Economy’ is a temporary condition in which flexible jobs become a routine in job market as companies tend to hire independent contractors and freelancers instead of hiring full-time permanent employees.

How does it work?

‘Gig Economy’ weakens the traditional market of full-time workers who earn their bread and butter from a permanent and fulltime employment, in which they not often change jobs and instead focus on a lifetime career. In progressive countries in world the trend of a gig economy has begun. An in-depth study has predicted that by 2020, forty percent of American workers would be independent contractors. Even in India, we are seeing the trend of more and more people opting to work independently. Many people are into supplying food to offices and homes; quite a few are into healing business, beauty parlours, some are driving cars. Some of these people have been laid off by corporate, and some are unable to get visas to work in other countries – these are part of gig economy.

Entrepreneurship

India needs billions of jobs, and it can only be produced by self-employment – the gig economy. We are living in a digital age. Majority of the workforce is equipped with mobile phones, they can be contacted from anywhere, therefore job and location can be linked easily. Freelancers can select among many temporary job offers and projects around the world, employers can select the best individuals for specific projects from a larger pool that is available in any given area. Digitalization has also contributed directly to employment as software replaces quite a lot of manual work and this consumes less time and lesser errors. Many manual clerical jobs can be done sitting at home. Gig economy helps business firms in reducing financial pressures which lead to retrenchment of staff.

Helps both business and workers

Organizations save heavily by hiring contract labour and freelancers; lot of saving is achieved on account of high-priced office space, staff welfare, training and development, electricity, water etc. Also, organizations are at liberty to hire the ‘best’ talent in market who might be difficult to maintain on pay roll because of their cost and other demands. And even from the perspective of employees gig economy helps in balancing work-life. Idyllically, the model of gig economy is a win-win for both workers and organizations. It helps both to select the best job and best worker without attaching any strings. Both can pick up any temporary gigs they can.

Another force leading to gig economy is the millennial generation’s entrance in the job market that tends to change jobs several times.  The gig economy is a solution to this condition.

Shifting culture

The gig economy is part of a shifting cultural and business environment that also includes the sharing economy which is an economic system in which assets or services are shared between private individuals, either free or for a fee, typically by means of the Internet. Gig economies can also shift into gift economy which is a mode of exchange where valuables are not traded or sold, but rather given without an explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards. This also disseminates into a barter economy or a market economy, where goods and services are primarily exchanged for value received.

Indian labour market is seeing a shift towards gig economy, with an increasing number of workers seeking contractual or freelancing opportunities, and services sector is embracing it at the fastest pace, says a report. Employees are increasingly willing to sacrifice the additional benefits that come with a permanent job, such as gratuity or health insurance, in swap over for a greater amount of flexibility. According to some global job sites, recruiters too prefer their remote work programmes. People are opting for part-time jobs and these are seeing a seasonal trend in contractual hiring in the services sector, where jobs of this nature increase towards the close of the year and remain relatively low at other times. They see a spurt between the span of November to February. Sectors such as media, real estate, legal, hospitality, technology-help, management, medicine allied and educations are operating already in gig culture.

Uber is synonymous with Gig Economy

If there is one company that is synonymous with the gig economy, it is Uber. It lets you use your personal vehicle to start earning money through its Uber Partners app. This is a very flexible platform that allows you to choose when and where you drive and set your own schedule. Uber also has a generous referral program for bringing in new drivers and customers. Uber has entered many nations in world and has given spurt to other cab companies such as Ola, Tab Cab, City Cab, Priyadarshini etc. There are many other e platforms such as ServiceSutra, UrbanClap, On-Call, Timesaverz and Quikr etc which send workforce to the destination where they are required. So, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, housemaids, gardeners, cleaners, beauticians, healers, physiotherapists…..you name it and these e service providers send you the required workforce.  There e-companies partner with the workers who complete their work and leave with their fees.

From being just another handyman, gardener, carpenter, electrician or beautician these workers have become individual brands, marketing their skills and talent. They get recognized by hirers and are seldom in demand because of satisfied customers. The e-platforms beautifully word their profiles on websites along with their specialization and pictures. These professional have multiple platforms for listing their names, in case they become dissatisfied with the present arrangement, and they immediately switch on to another.

Paves way for creative destruction

At least for present time gig economy will stay on. In the digital age things move fast; people have no patience, everyone wants things to fix. As these alternative employment models mature, new ones will crop up. The concept of creative destruction (new technology dislocates old technology) is only half of Joseph Schumpeter’s message. We have not yet understood his point: his point that entrepreneurs will disappear as innovation becomes mechanized in corporate labs – as it has today in Japan  and that ultimately the very success of capitalism will create socialism needs some serious thinking.

The world of marketing is brutally competitive; each brand fighting for mind share of customers. Advertisements can strengthen a product’s existence in the market. There is so much creativity in advertising that it can change the scene for a product in shortest no time.   While creative advertisement might be entertaining, comparative advertisement, one of the aggressive forms of marketing, is a whole new ball game altogether. But are creative ads more effective in inspiring people to buy products? Yes they are.  They certainly outshine ads that simply describe catalogue product attributes or benefits. Numerous empirical experiments have found that creative messages get more attention and lead to positive attitudes about the products being marketed, but there is not sure short evidence that shows how those messages influence purchase behavior. Each individual has his/her unique perception, likes and dislikes. At the same time, some creative campaigns have failed miserably because customers found them too bitchy.

We come across advertisement wars regularly, where brands take on one another. Some brands openly mock the rival brand through print, digital or broadcast media. We have witnessed Apple’s campaign vs. Microsoft’s, TOI’s vs The Hindu’s, Pepsi vs Coke, FedEx vs DHL and many more such. It is marketing, morals and ethics are for book reference, big or small brands are all game in mudslinging at each other and they don’t shy away from getting dirty in this game of ad wars. Such advertisements where companies make direct references to the competition are interesting for the rest of the world to watch. Here are some of the brilliant virtual ads from around the world:

Kingfisher and Jet Airways

Kingfisher and Jet Airways nagged at each other with these billboard advertisements.In its panic, Jet Airways invested Rs. 10 crore in ad campaign to publicize its rebranding through its “We have changed” ad campaign. Jet insisted that they have grown consumer friendly and more services are on offer. But, Kingfisher through “Equus Advertising” resorted to the ways of Ambush marketing and hijacked the campaign from Jet airways. The Jet hoarding at Cadbury Junction, near Jet CEO Naresh Goyal’s residence in Mumbai, was superseded by a Kingfisher billboard saying “We made them Change”.

Though today the scene has changed. Jet Airways has booked profits in the fiscal year 2016, while Kingfisher Airlines is in crisis.

Dove vs Pantene:

This is an ad war of 2010. The story started on July 23, when Mumbai woke up to hoardings that screamed: ‘A Mystery Shampoo!! 80% women say is better than anything else’. P&G, it was later found, was planning to unveil the new Pantene on August 1. When the suits at HUL found out, they saw an opportunity to score a point. They ambushed P&G. On July 28, even as the P&G hoardings stood tall on its skyline, Mumbai woke up to another hoarding that was upfront, and suggestive of its source of inspiration. It said: ‘There is no mystery. Dove is the No.1 shampoo’. Dove is one of the four brands in HUL’s shampoo portfolio. The HUL national campaign took just one day to go from brief to execution, and was handled by Ogilvy & Mather India. This was the quickest advertising turnaround in the company’s history.

Apple vs Samsung:

Two tech giants Apple and Samsung are always seen warring; we have seen their ad wars for last couple of years, we have seen these two rival brands competing for supremacy in the smartphone market. In 2011, Samsung began its ad campaign to promote their then new smartphone, Galaxy S II. In the ad, they showed Apple fans waiting in line for the next iPhone release were ironically checking out the Samsung Galaxy S II of passers-by. The ad not only mocked iPhone users with lines like “Why don’t you guys just get 4G phones?” but also took the opportunity to feature their larger screens.

McDonald vs Burger King:

In a tug of war between McDonald and Burger King, McDonald’s came out with a print ad, backed up by a video, for which it erected a huge roadside sign giving directions to a Burger King Drive 258km away, next to a sign reading ‘McDonald’s Drive 5km’.  In a quick retort, Burger King created a new ending for the McDonald’s video, which shows a French couple driving from the sign to the nearby McDonald’s Drive. They order coffee to sustain themselves on their 258km journey to the Burger King Drive, where as they tuck into their Whoppers the man says to the woman: “It wasn’t that far at all.” The tagline on the ad reads: “Thank you McDonald’s for being everywhere”.

Uber vs Ola:

In India the taxi war between Ola and Uber is benefiting the customers. Uber banks itself as a premium service where the user is paying an affordable price for the experience of travelling in luxury cars, whereas Ola always focused on getting more cars, taxis, and auto-rickshaws on their platform and more riders to use their services. But the lines are increasingly getting blurred with the launch of Ola’s business class service called Ola Prime. In May 2015 both taxi aggregators launched their ride sharing verticals called Ola Share and uberPOOL. With these, users can now share cab rides with others heading to the same destination or in the same direction. It took Ola four years to come out with its nationwide (multi-channel) campaign titled ‘Chalo Niklo’ by Happy Creative Services, which aimed to position Ola as the go-to transport platform of choice for immediate and spontaneous city travel needs, across cabs, autos and taxis. Both Uber and Ola have used social media for their campaigns. While they keep fighting for cutting into each other’s market, while customers are enjoying the rides!

Ford vs General Motors:

The advertising wars between Ford and General Motors started in the first decade of the 20th century and are still going strong more than a century later. The two brands have ridiculed one another over price, features, safety, looks, financing and luxury features. Each advertisement seems to say how their brand is more reliable, harder working, more powerful, and ultimately more American. This rivalry has involved each brand’s fan base, as t-shirts, bumper stickers, and other memorabilia bashing and praising each brand have become extremely popular. Even today, this rivalry continues on and has expanded to social media and the use of YouTube. In fact, GM recently went on the attack releasing a series of commercials featuring demonstrated ability of GM trucks to fare better than Ford trucks in car accidents!

Britania vs Patanjali:

Today, Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali has its presence everywhere and is sweeping away everything in its path. From local stores to Amazon,Patanjali Products have a strong presence on all shelves. The product quality is best in breed, the prices competitive and the distribution chain is probably the first that is surpassing even the Cola majors. FMCG majors are unable to match Patanjali strategies. Britannia is so scared by Patanjali biscuits that they’ve launched their own Baba Ramdev, guess who it is Farhan Akhtar. Britannia NutriChoice has rolled out an ad film featuring Bollywood actor-director Farhan Akhtar conceptualized by Lowe Lintas, the film looks to showcase NutriChoice as the healthy offering among biscuits. This just shows strength of Baba Ramdev as brand ambassador, that Britannia had to hire the versatile and suave Farhan Akhtar – their Farhandev.