Internet giants like Google, Facebook look up to Indian small businesses for growth

Experts say that it could work as a revenue earning source for the internet companies

As they look at ways to monetise their platforms, internet companies in India seem to be aggressively targeting the small and medium enterprise (SME) space with dedicated offerings. In the recent past, companies such Facebook, Google and Alibaba have come up with platforms catering to the different needs of the emerging businesses in the country.

Earlier this month, Facebook launched India SME Council, its second one after the US. The council will meet several times a year and will advise the social media firm about creating advertising solutions for the small businesses registered on its portal through dedicated accounts called Pages.

Similarly, Google launched its ‘Digital India’ website earlier this month. While the website promotes Indian start-ups in the form of publishing their success stories, it also creatively mentions how various Google apps have helped these firms.
 

PLATFORM FOR SMES

• Facebook launched India SME Council earlier this month
   
• Google also launched its ‘Digital India’ website
   
• Google plans to get on board millions of small business on its Google Maps and Google My Business interface

While these initiatives might look as a brand-building exercise, experts say it could work as a revenue-earning source, too.

“The website created by Google for small businesses could be a good way to reach out to more companies and showcase its products. In the long-term, it could earn advertising revenue from these companies as they grow bigger in the future,” said Pinaki Ranjan Mishra, partner and national leader for retail and consumer products and advisory services at EY.

Google plans to get on board millions of small business on its Google Maps and Google My Business interface. The basic idea behind such initiatives is to help small businesses get located on Google Maps and highlight their business when someone searches them using the Google platform.

According to senior Google officials, the intent is to generate a steady stream of revenues through advertisements as well as business enhancement programmes. The Internet major plans to bring around 20 million Indian businesses online by 2017.

“India is one of our top five countries in terms of usage of our maps. Merchants have the option if they want to get additional promotion to opt for our Adverts Program. The ones who have done that have had a positive return on investment,” said Jen Fitzpatrick, vice-president for maps at Google.

Chinese B2B e-commerce website Alibaba also joined the race to entice Indian small firms. Last month, it came up with a platform called SMILE (Small and Medium Industries Leveraging Export), which will specifically let Indian SMEs sell their products outside India. At present, the company has 4.5 million Indian businesses listed on its platform, and it is planning to grow the numbers to 10 million with its latest offering. Similarly, Paytm, an Alibaba-invested Indian e-commerce firm, last month came up with a service to facilitate working capital loans for small businesses.

These new products and platforms indicate the internet firms want to bet big on Indian SMEs, which can provide bigger and better returns, say experts.

“The idea behind such moves by the internet companies is that for a traditional, big business house, the advertisement spending in digital is a fraction of their business, whereas small businesses prefer targeted advertisements and, therefore, they tend to spend a lot in the digital medium,” said Mahesh Murthy, founder of digital advertising firm Pinstorm.