 "Sridhar Iyer")
Which is the most interesting sales promotion designed by you?
Citibank enjoys a leading position in India's credit card industry, with the highest spends per card, and strong relationships with many of the top e-commerce merchants in the country. Our consumer base is digitally savvy and comfortable with spending online. With this in mind, we wanted to create a platform that offers a win-win proposition for our customers as well as our merchant partners. This led to the first ever deep discount 24-hour online sale in India - the OMG! Sale - in December 2012 for Citibank debit and credit card holders. Buoyed by its success, we were keen to make the event larger and more attractive in 2013. So we made some key changes in the OMG! Sale event this year:
The sale duration was extended to 48 hours on December 4 and 5. We have differentiated offerings through expanded categories: travel, dining, baby care, electronics, furnishing and apparel. We have simplified redemptions: flat discounts across multiple categories, elimination of voucher-based discounting with the customer receiving instant savings on the Citibank card and no upper cap across most partners. Also, the top spending customers had the opportunity to win daily prizes like free mobiles from Citibank and merchants.
Who did you primarily target with it: New or existing customers or both?
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What kind of promotion was it? How was it designed?
We designed the event to bring speed and simplicity to our customers by bringing 24 leading e-commerce players on a single platform, with clearly communicated flat discounts. Our customers had the additional benefit of the chance to win surprise gifts and vouchers based on their spends or social media communications.
We also encouraged engagement on social media through contests. Customers were asked to share their experiences through catch phrases and also highlighting their 'shopping wish-list' at the OMG! Sale 2.0, for which they could win vouchers from partner sites. The announcement of the winners on social platforms led to more curiosity, enhancing excitement. The top spenders across each partner site received either an i-Pad or a voucher while the top debit and credit card spenders of each day received an iPhone 5s.
What were the challenges?
A key challenge was to create purchasing interest post the Diwali shopping season and compete with retail outlets that were running parallel year-end promotions. The OMG! site had more than 440,000 visitors over two days and received nine times more page views than our Citibank online page. It was critical to ensure that the technology infrastructure was available and accessible 24X7 for two days. Our technology teams, as well as those of our e-commerce partners, ensured there were no glitches and that the customer experience was seamless. We received two times the number of calls on OMG! Sale days versus regular days for promotions. The teams ensured that customers could shop uninterrupted during the period. This was important as the number of transaction in 2013 were four times the number of transactions in 2012.
Please elaborate on the marketing strategy
The objective was to create awareness and anticipation via online and offline channels prior to the launch of OMG! Sale 2.0.
An advertising and online teaser campaign was first introduced to urge customers to hold off their purchases till the sale. OMG! Sale 2.0 was revealed three days prior to the online event via an integrated campaign across paid, social and own media channels.
Social media played an important role. Several contests were held across social platforms, encouraging customers and prospects to share experiences and expectations with a clear Twitter handle (@OMG_Sale). Important information regarding new deals and promotions were also shared real time with customers on Twitter and Facebook and was complemented with an influencer strategy: online bloggers with high Klout scores helped us create a social media multiplier. All top merchant partners synchronised their media channels and digital assets, which allowed Citi to successfully implement its integrated marketing approach.
In the offline space we used print, radio, point-of-sale deployments in malls and on-ground corporate park activations such as 48-hour kiosks with connected terminals. We extended promotions across our ATM screens, branches, ubiquity walls at our smart branches and Citiphone IVR messages.
What sort of impact did the event have on the brand?
Citibank card spends during the OMG! Sale 2.0 was 8.4 times that of the average daily spends across the 24 merchant partners. There was 71 per cent increase in average daily sales over last year's OMG! Sale. The total sales in OMG 2.0 grew by 200 per cent over OMG 2012. We logged four times the number of transactions in OMG! Sale 2.0 compared with OMG! Sale 2012. The average ticket size increased more than 35 per cent for the partner websites on Citibank cards. The brand was trending on Twitter over five days as against three hours in OMG! Sale 1.0.
Was there any middle ground struck between tactics and strategy? Do sales promotion devalue brand?
The entire proposition is based on value and creating differentiation in the market. The number of credit card users in India is growing very fast and has crossed 17 million users. The whole initiative is about co-creating value with our customers. It allows us to differentiate ourselves vis-a-vis our competition. Citi only partnered with merchants that provided exclusive deals, which was not otherwise available to customers.
Will it be relevant in the future?
Given the rapid growth of e-commerce in India, innovative marketing programmes like the OMG! Sale will gain in popularity. We have seen a significant increase in the impact of OMG in 2013 vis-a-vis 2012 and we believe this will only grow in the future.
| OMG! Sale 2.0 |
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Aim To create a platform that offers a win-win proposition for our customers as well as our merchant partners Target Existing Citibank credit and debit card customers were the target segment Plan The 48-hour online sale was designed to bring speed and simplicity to our customers by bringing 24 leading e-commerce players on a single platform with flat discounts. Customers could also win surprise gift, based on their spends or social media communications Outcome Citibank card spends during the OMG! Sale 2.0 was 8.4 times that of the average daily spends across the 24 merchant partners. The total sales in OMG 2.0 grew by 200 per cent over OMG 2012 |
