Brands
Bajaj Electricals eyes Rs 5,000 crore turnover in fiscal 2014-15
KOLKATA: To commemorate completion of 75 years of business in 2013, Bajaj Electricals, has kept aside Rs 15 crore out of the Rs 60 crore earmarked for advertising and promotion during fiscal 2013-14 for both above the line (ATL) and below the line (BTL) activities. The company has tapped all media and even created a software application (app) to mark the occasion.
What’s more, the manufacturer of lights, fans and home appliances is targeting a sales turnover of Rs 5,000 crore in fiscal 2014-15.
Bajaj Electricals chairman and managing director, Shekhar Bajaj, confirms: “In the current fiscal (2013-14), we are looking at a turnover of Rs 4,200 crore. In the next fiscal (2014-15), the company is looking at a turnover of Rs 5,000 crore.”
Of Bajaj Electricals’ six strategic business units – engineering and projects, home appliances, fans, lighting, luminaries and Morphy Richards – the company will continue to focus on home appliances, wherein it is practically the market leader.
“Every year, on an average, the company sells 37 lakh irons and more than 15 lakh mixers,” informs Shekhar Bajaj, stressing that the company will remain focused on low-end home appliances and will not venture into the white goods’ sector. “We are practically the market leader in almost the entire home appliances segment comprising fans, toasters, OTG and others. We have a competitive edge in that segment,” he adds.
As for engineering and projects, Bajaj Electricals joint managing director Anant Bajaj informs that as on 1 December, 2013, the division’s order book stood at Rs 2,100 crore approximately. Of which, orders worth nearly Rs 1,000 crore are from rural electrification projects, a majority of them under the Rajiv Gandhi
Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana. Plus, the unit will start the next fiscal (2014-15) with an order book of about Rs 1,500 crore; he adds.
The engineering and projects vertical clocked revenues of Rs 1,200 crore in the current fiscal and is looking to clock Rs 1,500 crore in the next fiscal, concludes Anant Bajaj.
Brands
Uber launches hotel bookings feature in partnership with Expedia
From hotel bookings to room service at your door, the ride-hailing giant is making its boldest push yet into everyday life
CALIFORNIA: Uber is done being just a taxi app. At its annual GO-GET product event, the world’s leading mobility and delivery platform unveiled a sweeping set of new features designed to plant itself at the centre of how people travel, eat and shop, hotel bookings included.
The headline move is a partnership with Expedia Group that lets Uber users in the United States book hotels directly within the Uber app, with access to a catalogue that will eventually grow to more than 700,000 properties worldwide. Uber One members get 10 per cent back in Uber One credits on all hotel bookings and savings of at least 20 per cent on a rolling list of more than 10,000 hotels globally. Vacation rentals from Vrbo, Expedia Group’s home-rental brand, will be added later this year. The partnership is expected to expand beyond the United States. From June, Uber rides will also be integrated directly into the Expedia app, with push notifications sent to travellers ahead of hotel check-in to book discounted Uber rides for the duration of their stay.
Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive of Uber, framed the expansion in terms of the modern condition. “Uber is becoming an app for everything, helping people go, get, and now travel all in one place,” he said. “We’re all living through a moment of real cognitive overload: too many apps, too many decisions, too much noise. At the end of the day, our job is to help people reclaim their time, spending less of it managing the logistics of life and more of it actually living.”
Ariane Gorin, chief executive of Expedia Group, struck a similarly ambitious note. “Travel should feel effortless, and this partnership gets us one step closer to offering a seamless traveller experience,” she said. “By connecting our two-sided marketplace with Uber, we’re bringing Uber rides directly into the Expedia app and Expedia Group’s lodging inventory into the Uber app through our Rapid API technology. Together, we’re helping travellers spend less time planning and more time enjoying the journey.”
Beyond hotels, the product announcements come thick and fast. Travel Mode, available within both the Uber and Uber Eats apps, offers curated recommendations on local favourites, tourist destinations, OpenTable restaurant reservations and on-demand delivery to hotel rooms. Uber One International means the membership programme now works globally, allowing members to earn credits on rides abroad that can be redeemed once back home. A new Shop for Me feature lets users request items from any store, even those not listed on the app. Eats for the Way allows riders in select cities booking an Uber Black or Uber Black SUV to have a drink or snack waiting for them in the car. Voice Bookings, powered by artificial intelligence, lets users book a ride conversationally, without touching their phone. And a redesigned One Search bar consolidates results for places, food and items across the entire Uber platform in a single query.
Uber has now logged more than 72 billion trips since it launched in 2010. The question it is now answering is what comes after the ride. The answer, apparently, is everything else. Whether users want a hotel in Paris, a coffee in the back of a car or a snake plant from the local garden centre, Uber would very much like to be the one to provide it. The app economy’s land grab has a new front-runner.
NOTE: The image used is AI generated and only for representational purposes.
