Brands
Flipkart spends 80 percent of its digital marketing budget on mobile: Flipkart Ads business head Prakash Sikaria
MUMBAI: While addressing a session at a marketing conclave in Mumbai, that debated the relevance of mobile marketing and the need to go app first for brands, Flipkart Ads business head Prakash Sikaria shared that the eCommerce giant spends almost 80 percent of its digital marketing budget on mobile.
Sikaria’s confidence in the medium stems from the data the eCommerce site has gathered as an advertising and eCommerce platform that tracks its consumers’ usage behaviour on multiple screens.
When posed with the question ‘is mobile a minor or a major screen’ Sikaria simply asked, ‘Is that even a debate’. To back his astonishment at the topic of debate, Sikaria shared that for a eCommerce company such as Flipkart going mobile first was only natural, given that more and more of the site’s consumers are switching to spending more time on their smartphones.
“Just to put things in perspective, 3 hrs of mobile in India is equatable to 92 mins of television, which is in turn equatable to 31 minutes of desktop usage by viewers. What we see as a consumption pattern for several businesses mobile is the only screen in India, and going forward a large proportion of the time spent on any medium by consumers would be on mobile,” Sikaria shared, highlighting how India is unique in its mobile friendliness.
Sharing some data the eCommerce platform has gathered from its own consumer research and data and analysis of consumer behaviour on the platform, around 50 per cent of the time spent on mobile is used for communication. According to the consumer pattern gathered from traffic on Flipkart’s mobile app and its web usage analysis, Sikaria inferred that usually customers try the mobile app first, and once they are convinced with the services and have grown loyalty towards the brand, they move to web. This places mobile marketing as the supreme most important requirement for a brand that functions mostly digitally, as it introduces the service to new consumers.
“We have also noticed that across metrics there is better customer engagement and better customer experience on mobile from how much time consumers spend on the site per visit, to how many successful transactions they complete per visit,” Sikaria shared.
As per Sikaria, once the user has jumped the hurdle of downloading the app the engagement is far higher on mobile than on other medium like desktop, provided the app is designed conveniently for them. That is the reason every ecommerce site, every travel startup or web based business wants their app to by in everyone’s phones.
It is to be noted that between the four to five major eCommerce players in the country, television media raised about Rs 1,200 crores in advertising revenue in a single quarter, albeit it was before Diwali last year.
Now with a key player such as Flipkart thinking mobile first, should television advertisement slot seller be worried about the smaller screen stealing away the advertisers which are native to the medium?
Brands
Ather Energy doubles service network to 500 centres nationwide
EV maker scales support alongside growth to keep riders on the road
MUMBAI: Ather Energy is quietly building more than just scooters. It is building the backbone to keep them running.
The electric two-wheeler maker has expanded its service network to 500 authorised centres across India, nearly doubling its footprint in a year from 277. The move mirrors its growing retail presence and signals a clear focus on one often overlooked part of EV ownership, what happens after the purchase.
From the outset, Ather has prioritised service support in every city it enters, aiming to make ownership as smooth as the ride itself. Its Gold Service Centres bring in upgraded customer lounges, modern equipment and processes designed to make servicing more transparent and reliable.
Speed, too, is part of the pitch. Through its ExpressCare initiative, riders can get periodic maintenance done in about an hour, now available across 82 centres, turning what used to be a chore into a quick pit stop.
Ather Energy chief business officer Ravneet Singh Phokela said, “Crossing 500 service centres is an important milestone as we scale across the country. Reliable after-sales support is central to the ownership experience, and our focus remains on consistent service quality and accessibility.”
The expansion comes as demand grows for models like the Ather 450 and the Rizta, which have helped the company reach a broader set of riders across metros and emerging cities alike.
Alongside servicing, Ather continues to power up infrastructure through the Ather Grid, now one of the largest fast-charging networks for two-wheelers, with over 4,300 charging points.
With plans to scale further and deepen its presence, Ather’s approach is clear. Selling the scooter may start the journey, but keeping it running smoothly is what sustains it.
