I had slightly different view point on the "Boot theory" part. There are reasons beyond the long term thinking capability to why tier-2 users prefer cheaper and short-lived products over the expensive and long-lasting ones.
1. Expensive products also come with their own burden of maintenance and liability. E.g.: I had a choice to pick a smartphone between one that cost 25k and another that cost 50k. I can afford to pick either but I still went with the cheaper one knowing very well that the expensive one has better features overall. And the reasons: if the phone ever gets stolen/breaks, I would be unhappier in the case of expensive phone than the cheaper one. And there's good likelihood that expensive phone would also come with a higher maintenance cost.
2. There's a limit to how much I spend on what category. A 800 pair shoe would make up a much higher % of the family’s total income than the 200 pair. Everyone wants to save as much as they can for the unknown that the future brings. The 200 pair fits their level of expectation from a shoe and hence there is marginal return for them in spending any more than this.
Agreed on both of the above reasons. Should have added the caveat that the boots theory is only one of the reasons for short term thinking apart from the more fundamental/mathematical choices you have outlined above.
Would like to add, India runs on ABC --> Astrology, Bollywood & Cricket. You covered Religion (astrology) and bollywood, would have loved if cricket was also included given Dream11 and other such apps have been able to monetize the audience beyond the top 5%-10%.
Thanks for writing this! I have often found myself unable to extrapolate beyond my own experiences, and god knows how many good business ideas I have passed on because of this. One interesting bit you could expand upon is "What are the indicators of trust" for Bharat - because i feel that i critical for adoption
trust is a large theme, because virtually all businesses run in some way on trust. I'll try to talk about it in some specific contexts over the next few posts. Thanks for the idea!
This is an awesome post, loved the anecdotes and as well as all the socio economic angles you brought up. Thank you for linking so many insightful articles and theory a lot of efforts went in
On what makes the Bharat audience pay (beyond the necessary survival) can we say it's aspiration, greed and fear?
Boots, and movies will fall under aspiration.
Paying to god and education might come under both aspiration and fear.
And lot of people in this audience spend on gambling which is because of greed
That's one way to look at it, however aspiration, fear, greed are even applicable to a Tier 1 person. What is interesting to think through is which factors uniquely influence the Bharat consumer.
Many thanks, this is brilliant analysis on understanding Bharat. The line “movies give the audience an escape from reality, which is even more valuable when your reality isn’t that great” is very touching and well analysed. Understanding user intent becomes all the more important in such a situation as it many not be evident from the surface.
I had slightly different view point on the "Boot theory" part. There are reasons beyond the long term thinking capability to why tier-2 users prefer cheaper and short-lived products over the expensive and long-lasting ones.
1. Expensive products also come with their own burden of maintenance and liability. E.g.: I had a choice to pick a smartphone between one that cost 25k and another that cost 50k. I can afford to pick either but I still went with the cheaper one knowing very well that the expensive one has better features overall. And the reasons: if the phone ever gets stolen/breaks, I would be unhappier in the case of expensive phone than the cheaper one. And there's good likelihood that expensive phone would also come with a higher maintenance cost.
2. There's a limit to how much I spend on what category. A 800 pair shoe would make up a much higher % of the family’s total income than the 200 pair. Everyone wants to save as much as they can for the unknown that the future brings. The 200 pair fits their level of expectation from a shoe and hence there is marginal return for them in spending any more than this.
Agreed on both of the above reasons. Should have added the caveat that the boots theory is only one of the reasons for short term thinking apart from the more fundamental/mathematical choices you have outlined above.
A well written article.
Would like to add, India runs on ABC --> Astrology, Bollywood & Cricket. You covered Religion (astrology) and bollywood, would have loved if cricket was also included given Dream11 and other such apps have been able to monetize the audience beyond the top 5%-10%.
Thanks! there should be another post soon on the large markets for this audience, and how people are trying to monetise today.
Brilliantly written Mithun, would love to connect and bounce off some thoughts!
Thanks! Happy to chat - pls reach me at myth.12887 at gmail.com
This was brilliant to read. Thanks so much for putting it together. Can't wait for the next edition.
Thanks for writing this! I have often found myself unable to extrapolate beyond my own experiences, and god knows how many good business ideas I have passed on because of this. One interesting bit you could expand upon is "What are the indicators of trust" for Bharat - because i feel that i critical for adoption
trust is a large theme, because virtually all businesses run in some way on trust. I'll try to talk about it in some specific contexts over the next few posts. Thanks for the idea!
This is an awesome post, loved the anecdotes and as well as all the socio economic angles you brought up. Thank you for linking so many insightful articles and theory a lot of efforts went in
On what makes the Bharat audience pay (beyond the necessary survival) can we say it's aspiration, greed and fear?
Boots, and movies will fall under aspiration.
Paying to god and education might come under both aspiration and fear.
And lot of people in this audience spend on gambling which is because of greed
That's one way to look at it, however aspiration, fear, greed are even applicable to a Tier 1 person. What is interesting to think through is which factors uniquely influence the Bharat consumer.
Many thanks, this is brilliant analysis on understanding Bharat. The line “movies give the audience an escape from reality, which is even more valuable when your reality isn’t that great” is very touching and well analysed. Understanding user intent becomes all the more important in such a situation as it many not be evident from the surface.
Thanks for the feedback Ameet. Hope to deliver more of these insights over the next few posts!