Jio, Vodafone, Airtel put their best pitch forward to woo consumers

The big three are doling out bundled deals and lucrative offers, betting on content and brand alliances as they go all out to woo subscribers

Scroll down a screen or turn a page, it is impossible to miss the rash of offers that telecom companies are laying out for consumers. And their deals do not just bring in the best-priced packages, but a slew of entertainment options as well—from Amazon and Netflix subscriptions to free movie and music downloads. Jio, Vodafone, Airtel and Idea are all cashing in on the voice and data revolution, hoping to differentiate their brands and build a universe of loyal consumers. But in doing that, say brand experts, they are turning into indistinguishable versions of each other instead of evolving as distinct entities with unique identities.

Last week, Airtel introduced an Infinity plan that allows postpaid subscribers of the telecom operator to avail free Amazon Prime subscriptions through the Airtel TV app.  Essentially, any postpaid subscriber with a plan of Rs 499 and above are eligible for a Prime membership which is actually worth Rs 999. And it is not just Airtel that is promoting the bargain deal, Amazon is a partner in its pitch.

“This exclusive offer enables us to reach Airtel’s significant customer base across the country, providing entertainment anytime, anywhere on a reliable service, with great playback quality and low data usage,” said Vijay Subramaniam, Director, Content, Amazon Prime Video India at the launch of the service. So it is not just Airtel that wants to expand its subscriber base through this offer, Amazon Prime is in the game too.

Across the universe of telecom brands, such associations are driving the bouquet of deals on offer. Last year, Vodafone offered a free subscription for Netflix to its post-paid subscribers and then a free subscription to premium magazine service Magzter. Idea has done the same. “We have witnessed a robust increase in our customer’s digital content consumption on all the Idea apps. In line with the expectations of our customers, we have now tied up with Magzter to bring the best of magazines and news in a convenient digital format within the MyIdea App,” said Sunil Tolani, Head – Digital, Idea Cellular when he launched the offer.

 

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• Airtel has tied up with Amazon Prime and  Samsung, subscribers get free access to Amazon content for a period of time and cashback on select 4G smartphones 
• Vodafone has Flipkart and Samsung as partners,subscribers get special deals on a range of 4G phones on Flipkart and cashback on select Samsung smartphones
• Jio has exclusive content deals with Arre, Alt Balaji and Viacom 18, it also has a cashback deal with Apple for iPhones

This is a sign of the times to come say several studies. The shared economy that has come to mark a host of industries (travel, automobiles and hospitality among others) encourages alliances between brands from diverse industries to allay costs and offer customers a seamless experience across different needs. Trust, convenience and a sense of community are the hallmarks of such an economy but that is hardly the case when it comes to the telecom industry in India that has been marked by bitter scuffles between all the players. Still point out brand experts the objective behind Airtel, Vodafone and Jio’s bundled offers could end up creating a better and differentiated consumer experience.

The new offers are also a smart business decision says Prabhakar Mundkur, advertising industry veteran and chief mentor at HGS Interactive. "Basically the telecom companies have been able to offer Netflix or Amazon Prime free for the first year because the consumer will have to upgrade this data plans significantly to watch these. 1 GB of video watching a day means 365 additional GB a year," he said. And once users become regular subscribers to such content, telecom providers are assured that the consumer will have a regular download benefiting both telecom companies and the platforms offering these services, he added.

Besides the operators are also looking to tie the customer up within their family of brands. For instance, the only way to access even the third-party apps is through the telecom operator’s personal app. Also cashback and refunds that accrue only through the app are also available only on the respective payment or wallet apps. So cashbacks from Jio accounts are sent only to JioMoney, Airtel to Airtel Payments and Vodafone to M-Pesa. The risk here is that customers may find it cumbersome to claim many of the offers being promised by their operators and eventually lose trust in the brand.

There is another danger that the brands need to be aware of say experts. The telecom offers are all very alike and if the companies do not focus on the promise being made to the customer, they could end up as clones of one another. This would render the customer acquisition process that is currently underway, pointless as brand loyalty and customer stickiness would both be under pressure.

Loyalty has been under threat ever since Jio launched its services in the country. Its 4G VoLTE service offering made data so cheap and accessible that not only did it send data prices crashing but it led many to walk out on their old operators. Reliance Jio was aggressive in the acquisition process and was early to the offers game and that has led to the present scramble among telecom operators. But to build a brand that can stay the race, all the telecom operators may need to focus more on the promise of service rather than the size of the offer bundle.