What Women Want !

By ranjith boyanapalli on August 30, 2010

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We wanted to get a woman’s perspective on online shopping, and we thank our guest author, Revs to have immediately obliged us with a fantastic post. Revs is an avid blogger too and do visit http://revsjoiedevivre.wordpress.com to read more of her work.

As independent, young women today, we are immensely pampered for choice. We have the freedom to step forward in time or back into domesticity and be totally comfortable with our choices. We might go to the best colleges in the world, get a double PhD, have an insanely high-paying job and then throw it all away to pursue our interest in music or other forms of arts.

Among all the generations of women, I think we are probably the easiest to live with and definitely the most difficult to understand. We like our independence, we like to pay our own bills but we aren’t going to deny men the pleasure of letting us in first through an open door. After all, despite our independent selves, there is nothing wrong in being pampered a little and that is exactly how we like our lives to be.

As we needle our way out of our protective environments, breaking stereotypes to form niches of our own, we juggle a lot. From being a grad student, the party-go’er, the new employee, the happy, blushing bride, the team leader, the boss, the financially self-dependent and contributing wife, the working mother, the cool grandmother, we balance between necessity and indulgence and while we are it, we want to have it easy.

Gone are the days when each and every item we owned were bought after spending a fortnight on researching via the neighbourhood word-of-mouth bug and another couple of days spent in the stores looking at colours and features and options and sizes. In out fast moving lives now, we want it all done at the wink of an eye or at the click of a mouse, to be precise.

We like our shopping and while we are at it, we want to save our time, we want value, we want quality, we want the whole shopping experience to be convenient and because we are women, we want it ALL at the same time! This is where the emergence of online shopping has taken us to a whole new, happy world. In a couple of clicks, we get to know how good or bad the product we have in mind is. We read product reviews written by some Desi nerd in Oklahoma while we sit in our living room in good old Hyderabad and decide on what model we want to buy. We don’t have to wait for our neighbour’s second-cousin’s brother-in-law to respond to our email about how he found the new phone we were eyeing, that he had already bought.

There is nothing that makes a girl happy than buying the same thing along with her girlfriends. And this is where, the whole social shopping comes as a saviour. We don’t wait in queues anymore, we don’t sulk at the unavailability of the required numbers in stores; we just click and request and pay and just sit back and track our orders online, while our trusted, reliable online shopping site takes care of our orders and make sure they land on time at our doors. Hassle free shopping and happy shoppers!

For all those of you who are sitting there, growing beards and wondering what a women wants? THIS is exactly what women want!

Zingo Contest #3 – Reviews and Winners

By Sanjana Iyer on August 17, 2010

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Hi Guys,

Thanks so much for the response to our contest #3. Sticking to the regular practice, find below the top 6 nominations and their brief reviews. The top 2 winners who win BTP vouchers are declared at the end of the post !

R’s Shattered – Fantastic expression of emotions. Your play of words is superior, and the depth of content is admirable. Will impact every one who reads it, and force out a tear in some cases. Sad and Striking.

Sangfroid – Loved the imagery you had created with those limited words. The choice of words was very appealing and you have portrayed the mood and the sequence with an ease that makes it a very nice read. A sure winner here.

Sreerag’s Reward for Love – A painful piece to swallow. But we appreciate the little message he has got in his story. We all choose to do things blindly for love. What is once considered romantic and so-in-love leaves you with a bitter consequence at a later stage. Good job Sreerag.

Vandana – She has shown different faces of human beings in her story – a child who did a rather endearing thing with his childlike playfulness and an adult who is quick to reprimand before giving it a second though. Plain old truth of growing up.

Rohit Gupta – Nice piece of fiction here, with a true shock element at the end. 55 fiction stories are famous for that end that hits your hard, and you seem to have got it right in this one. Though, it is a little wicked, the reader sits in the mind of the protagonist.

Rahul Gupta – Thorns and Life. Short, sweet and all about belief and perseverance. Conveyed an attitude so well within the limitation of the words, that ends with the tragic death of the entity, a rose in this case.

The winners of this competition are Sangfroid and Sreerag. Congratulations to both ! We shall soon contact you with your prizes. Thanks everybody for their contribution.

We shall come out shortly with a much wanted QUIZ !

Zingo Contest #3 – 55 fiction !

By Neeha Jayaram on August 12, 2010

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Do you love to write stories? We call all writers to pen down their creations here and share your Zingo with us. It could be Drama, Thriller or Romance.

The catch you say? It’s the 55 word fiction. :)

Rules

1) Your Story should be of 55 words or less (The title is not included.)

2) It should have an incident, one or more characters and a resolution.

3) Multiple entries are allowed.

4) Post your story as a comment and you could be the top 2 who walks away with Gift vouchers.

5) Contest Ends Aug 16th. Winners will be announced on Aug 17th.

So what are you waiting for?

Zingo Contest #2 – Poetry

By Neeha Jayaram on August 9, 2010

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Hi Guys,

Here are the much awaited reviews of the Top 5 poems, and the winners at the end.

Is Rohit Kapoor - Awesome poetry Rohit. There was so much colour, feelings, hope, love, yearning, vision, passion and life in all that you listed as your dreams. The raw honesty was very refreshing to read and we at buy the price, hope the universe conspires to make it all a reality for you.

Richa Sharma - A rather painful piece that has pocketed so many feelings in it. Extremely open and uninhibited, that’s a welcome change in poetry. Love the way the verses have been split into uniform snippets. Hope you are in better spirits now than what you were when you wrote this poem.

‘Opportunities come knocking by’ by Ayesha Siddiqua – Inspiring gyaan-filled poetry. We appreciate the fact that you haven’t pushed words to rhyme in your poem. The natural flow makes it easy to follow it without trying too hard to make connections. Although the poem has a list of to-do’s and not-to-do’s that we’ve heard atleast a hundred times before, you’ve played with the words in a neat way to get it through without much trouble

‘Questions’ by Prateek Varma – You have pondered nice and hard and asked questions that every one of us asks in as much or lesser words at some point of our lives. Some of the questions have answers and some don’t. We hope you do find your answers somewhere down the line Prateek. Your words glided so gently from one thought to another and it was such a pleasant read.

‘Mystic Angel’ by Rahul Singh – A delightful way of describing a person(a girl, at that) in a poetic form. We liked the way you have given importance to details – the minute ones to the ones that are more overpowering, each enhancing the poignancy of the description. Good job Rahul.

The two winners are Rohit Kapoor and Richa Sharma.

Congratulations winners. And thank you, to all the other participants who have penned down some exemplary pieces of poetry.  We’d like to appreciate Sonaali, Rohit, Pawan, Karan, Vivek, Aaryan and Rahul for their enthusiastic participation and hope to see you again in our future contests.

Zingo contest #1 – Blogging

By Neeha Jayaram on July 28, 2010

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What is your Zingo?

We at buytheprice take pride in honouring achievers who have made a differene to the world, purely as a result of pursuing their passions, whom we call as Zingo Leaders. Check out some of them on our site at (http://www.myzingo.com/index.php?file=zingo).

We believe that everyone one of us have a passion and all of us, in the path of pursuit of our passions end up making a difference to the world. So, we decided to start fortnightly “Zingo Contests”, where we would choose one Zingo, and invite readers to nominate themselves or their friends whom they know has a keen passion towards it. We publiush the nominations here and rewards the top nominations with free vouchers and honour badges !

Zingo contest #1 – Blogging

First of all, I would like to thank all the participants for nominating their blog. We had a total of 14 nominations, 10 under the “personal” category and 3 under the “knowledge” category. Please find below our review of the nominations and the winners at the end.

PERSONAL BLOGGERS

Prateek Verma (Snow Leopard’s Blog): Prateek’s blog can easily be categorized as a must read. All his posts have a very distinct and key opinion about matters, and infact goes beyond to being informative about certain topics that arent very regularly touched upon. He is averaging about a post every 2 days, for the last 3months, and never was a boring moment on his blog. Varied and Informative.

Check out his blog at http://unpredictableblog.wordpress.com.

Swati Duggal (Delhizens Blog): From informative to engaging, Swati was able to arouse an interest in her readers. Her blog site, ‘tax free thoughts’ is a creative and apt name for this blog. Her posts seem to voice her opinions, and are driven by experience around her life. This blog calls a spade a spade, and lets logic rule on all the issues being discussed. Involving, and makes you think !

Check out her blog at http://www.taxfreethoughts.wordpress.com

Rahul Singh (Verbosity): An awesome read and a regular blogger. Full of wit, pictures, great language and humour, this blog is a must read, more for the language and presentation. This blog seems to have taken that extra effort to keep in mind, the blogs’ readers while drafting. With a few taggings, travel pictures, dig at oneself, Poetry etc, the blog has variety and is not monotonous. Considering “I am What I think”, we say “He is what he writes”, and it shows !

Check out his blog at http://www.bullseye81.wordpress.com

Revathi Priya (In my own little world….): Easily, one of the most entertaining blog, and definitely a very popular one in the blog circuit (67 comments for just a sneeze IS something). Very witty, very frank, and easily one of those lovable bloggers, who create that relationship with their readers. Answers all comments, is regular, and shares so much of her and her life which makes it a must visit blog. If you are feeling low, this is the place to visit. (Tip – Keep a Tamil Dictionary handy to enjoy better)

Check out her blog at http://revsjoiedevivre.wordpress.com

Richa Sharma (Life is like that only): Emotions are tough to express but Richa has a flair to communicate them so easily. Her latest blog post, “A tribute, A testimonial and a goodbye” sums up her entire blog journey. Very intense, genuine and frank, this is a must read, especially to truly understand life and love, and the change love is capable of. Very few can write about sensitive feelings the way she does, and when you read, you are totally absorbed.

Check out her blog at http://lifeislike-that.blogspot.com

Sreedhar Panaman (Nonsense…Well Drawn!!!): This blog, though has not been updated regularly, is a good read. 3 Posts since the start of the year, but each of those are well written, and most importantly are filled with jest. Would really have liked to read more on this blog.

Check out his blog at http://panmanpp.wordpress.com

Purba Ray (A-musing): Very Regular and Popular blogger. Amazing command over the language and posts filled with wit and intelligence. Covers issues that are both current and observed in life and is very close to being that perfect blog. It certainly is one of those blogs, which if a reader stumbles upon, would immediately bookmark considering it a great find. Do Check out her descriptions of her trials of being petite for a sample.

Check out her blog at http://www.purba-ray.blogspot.com

Arjit Srivastava (The Virgin Blog): His latest blog post named “Chat with God” sets the tone for the content and style of this blog. Certainly not the regular blog you stumble upon, and yet addictive in its own way. “The Art of Commenting” is a on your face categorization of those who comment, especially which all bloggers might relate with. Very intelligent writing, and special in its own way.

Check out his blog at http://virgin-blogging.blogspot.com

Sapna Katti (Sapna’s Blog): A true version of a personal blog, and one of those blogs, which grows on you with time. You have to know her to appreciate the blogs better, as it is personal. The blog provides relief in the form of funny forwards and relevant comic strips at times, and must say, that they are hand picked. Pleasant, No rush read, this.

Check out her blog at http://dreamysap.wordpress.com/

Magali Caira Vaz (Life etc): Magali’s own personal scrapbook and a very cute blog. Gives you a peep into her life, which is as bright and colorful as the blog’s theme. A few years down the line this would be nostalgic. Visit this blog regularly to stay connected to Gen Z.

Check out her blog at http://www.magalic.com

KNOWLEDGE BLOGGERS

Lokesh Prabhu (My journey to a deferred MBA Degree): This is one knowledge blog which will be beneficial to all college graduates who are thinking of pursuing studies abroad. Very informative, and even includes interviews with current students in prestigious universities. This will help various students to take an informed decision. Would have been nice, had he included more links on application process, university ranking etc. If you are applying for an MBA in the US, do check this blog out and contact Lokesh.

Check out his blog at http://lokeshprabhu.blogspot.com

Vinoth Sampath (C2w Winners): A blog based on the famous Contest2Win.com site, Vinoth’s blog gives away the answers for all the puzzles and games on c2w.com, and helps people to win the prizes. The blog is well made, and seems have a following, but we think that this blog is killing the spirit of games on c2w.

Check out his blog at http://contests2wins.blogspot.com/

Dezul Udani (New Offer Everyday): First things first. This blog is a great source of information about the various contests being conducted by the different online and offline brands. Wouldnt be surprised to see this blog having a great following. This helps both the brands by spreading their brand building initiative and helps fans/followers to know them all at one place, and aim to win freebies. Good work.

Check out his blog at http://offereveryday.com/

WINNERS

The winners for each category are as below,

Personal – Swati Duggal and Purba Ray

Knowledge – Lokesh Prabhu and Dezul Udani

Congrats to all the winners, and we shall contact you shortly regarding the prizes !

buytheprice goes 70!

By Neeha Jayaram on July 12, 2010

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It’s no longer just 10 but 70. Buytheprice has now a new look which provides consumers not just 10 but 70 products. The site is just as user-friendly and appealing. The UI and special features like the Zoom in, and real time status all remain the same. The transaction process has just become simpler as well. We have reduced the number of transaction steps so that you, the consumer, has not just a secure but easy process as well.

It doesn’t end just there.  You can now be the first to know about various deals on buytheprice, not just category wise but sub-categories as well.  For instance, previously a consumer who subscribed for Electronics received alerts for laptops, computer accessories, memory devices etc. But now the new improved subscription system, allows consumers to choose the sub-categories he prefers. Even features of Shopping Assistant have been escalated to category/sub-category specific and brand specific as well.

We have taken into account the consumer feedback which we spoke about a few months earlier and implemented the changes mentioned. You can now Shop more and Save more as well! :)

Shop Star!

By Neeha Jayaram on July 6, 2010

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SHOP STAR ! It is the new game we created for our community, that is both fun as well tests your awareness of product prices. The game has 20 slots, with 8 products and 8 matching prices that are hidden. You are scored on the number of pairs you manage to uncover in the shortest time possible.

Some of the vital stats are,

Days since launch – 6 days
Total number of times played – 4834
Highest score achieved – 88 (Dipesh Ghosh)
Maximum number of times played by a user – 240 !
Average number of times a user plays – 6 times

We are quite happy with the way, the game has been encouraged, especially as this is the first game that we built inhouse and launched on btp platform and not on a social network platform. It gets us closer to the audience, where we can also let him know of our other deals. We hope to design and release more games in the overlapping space between games and shopping !

Shop Star is still on till next week, So click on the link to start playing and test how well you know the prices !

http://www.buytheprice.com/games

The Chinese Look Alike!

By ranjith boyanapalli on June 30, 2010

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Every popular consumer brand in India has the curse of its spurious counter parts. One of my marketing professors once said that Parachute holds the record with about 80 spurious blue bottles claiming to be parachute. Most of them are sold in rural India where oil in a blue bottle is parachute and a soap in red is Lifebuoy. This market thrives on the lack of availability of the real brands, the consumers ignorance and the retailers market. Cut-to-today, where you see half page ads on cheap Chinese replicas of leading electronics brands up for grabs at ridiculous discounts to the unassuming consumers. The former two reasons of lack of availability and consumer ignorance cannot be attributed in this case of an ad in a pink paper distributed across metros. Is better margins on these products being the main driver or is it the discount driven customer who is sacrificing quality for price.

For example, one can look at the following image and mistake it for a Samsung Corby. The images and features are showcased in a way to convince the customer, except that the name which happens to be Fashion Mobile VOX 507. I am really curious as to who owns the design of the phone ?

corby_look_alike

looks so similar to corby !

There are multiple theories as to why China emerged as a very strong manufacturing hub, one of them being that many important economies including India moved to being a service economy, to become more efficient while for china it found to play to its strength as a manufacturing economy. No doubt that they can make products cheaper than anywhere else and can also make amazing replicas of popular brands and throw them into the Indian markets, which boasts of high consumption capabilities. Indian retailers also supported this trend for the high margins they get to earn. The initial set of consumers who saw tremendous value of flaunting an impeccable replica at half the cost started having trouble over its performance and maintenance issues as time progressed. I believe that the new age Indian who is much more individualistic, strong minded and by himself a brand, will pretty soon chuck these replicas in favour of genuine brands. He would rather support a new and unknown brand, which differentiates itself on genuine value and whose USP is not being a look alike.

What do you think?

Yourstory.in – Make your own price

By Neeha Jayaram on June 8, 2010

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Yourstory.in is a leading online platform that is devoted to first generation entrepreneurs, start-ups and supports their cause. They cover various news regarding ventures, motivations, challenges and successes. Check out the article below where they have covered buytheprice.com.

http://www.yourstory.in/entrepreneurs/non-tech-entrepreneurs/4114-ranjith-boyanapalli-founder-myzingo-buythepricecom

We would like to thank Yourstory.in for covering buytheprice and supporting our passion :)

Our Customer’s Voice

By Neeha Jayaram on May 19, 2010

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Like every car needs to be tested and every book needs to be proof read, as its been 2 months since our launch, we wanted to be tested by our customers. So based on various parameters we took a feedback from our existing customers. Our various areas were first impression of btp, product range, Experience and Delivery time.

Our rating scale was 4=wow, 3=good, but can do better, 2=not impressive at all, 1=too bad to even mention.

From our feedback, our customers were most impressed with our delivery time which was an average of  3.5. Closely following was Impression on btp on 3.45. The main areas we have scope for improvement was product range as many of our customers felt that they would prefer more products. One of our feedback was “I had a wonderful experience. Got the products in time, delivery schedule is perfect. product range is somewhat to be expanded. A variety of range is expected.” Another customer said that,”The best online shopping experience I had. But I would recommend that you add more products.”

Taking into consideration every feedback, you will notice certain changes on buytheprice in the months to come. When you do see them, remember that you were the one that helped make it happen!

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