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5 Steps to help you Create an Online Course That Sells Instantly!

Most saleable online courses

With schools and colleges remain closed, thanks to the ongoing pandemic situation in India, online education startups are benefiting immensely as they are trying to fill the gap with online classes and courses.

According to the latest report by Global Market Insights, ‘the e-learning market size surpassed $200 billion and is expected to grow around 8% CAGR by 2026’.

If you have a passion, knowledge, expertise, and fully aware of how to engage your audience, you can make a lot of money with online courses in a very short time. Also, adding an online course to your product suite gives you authority in your industry and enhances your credibility.

It enables you to create a community with similar interests and expands your reach drastically. With more and more people stuck in their homes, this is the best time to fan your passion. But just like it is important to do the market research before starting a new business venture. It is vital to understand why people are purchasing online courses as soon as they go live.

Why people are buying online courses?

Higher education getting expensive with each passing day, without the income source matching it. The annual feels in any reputable and good Management Institutes in India range from INR 20,000 to INR 40 Lac for a two-year full-time program. That`s a lot of money. And that is a hard pill to swallow for a lot of young people coming right out of college.

This makes higher education in India unaffordable for most working people. And the high price tag of college tuition has motivated people to look for other alternatives. Hence, more and more people are turning towards online courses that offer quality content and essential business and managerial skills.

Also, it lets students and aspiring entrepreneurs learn anytime, anywhere. It helps them to thrive in this competitive world. It`s inexpensive and also helps them to make good earnings.

From general subjects to business and industry-related skills, there are courses available on every topic and people are willing to sign up for every single day.

But how do you create an online course that sells out completely in a minute? Here are 5 crucial steps that will let you create the most saleable course:

1. Find out a profitable course idea

Before wearing the director`s hat, it is better to come up with an idea that is profitable and people would love to pay for it too. Most of the creators forget about this crucial aspect and skip it because of the initial euphoria. Though the excitement is justified, however, they should not ignore data and actual market trends.

The best way to find the pulse of the audience is to ask them. Take surveys, talk to your loyal customers, hang out in Facebook groups and other community forums to get the feel of the market. Observe conversations and see if your idea excites people.

Find podcasts, books, events, or any other courses in your niche and do keyword research to understand it better. If you find other courses in your niche, or on the same topic then it`s a good sign. That means the topic is in demand and has many takers.

2. Create a Rough Draft for Course

Compare building your course outline with hiking a mountain. Begin with the transformation in mind, then hike it and finally think about conquering the summit.

Similarly, you have a feel about the topic, you have done in-depth research, and you also know that it has many takers. Now, you can start with building your course. However, do not create the entire course yet. Start with the transformation in mind and begin working backward from there.

 

Remember, just like while climbing a mountain, you need to take regular breaks, set up base camps, eat proper food and take a rest. You need to have course modules that are essential for students to reach their final destination or to their ultimate goal of purchasing your course.

Once you know the topics of your modules, break them into course lessons. Each lesson needs to be accomplished to finish each module. After creating a rough structure of the course that will keep improving, you can move on to the next step, which is selling your online course.

3. Sell your course before you create it

After validating an online course idea, most of the creators jump right in and start creating video lessons one by one without having sold even a single copy of their course. This is one of the costly mistakes that most course creators do.

For months they work hard to create a course that nobody wants to buy. Don`t be that course creator. Be smart and better than your competitors. Sell your course before you create it and let people join in along with their credit cards. That will be your ultimate validation.

You can start the ball rolling from Facebook. Create some noise on the platform where the world is present. Funnel all the potential customers into a Facebook group and lead with value. Go live four 4 to 5 times a week during the “warm-up” period before kicking off your online course.

4. Test your beta round, create content as you go, and keep improvising it

Once you have sold a few copies, you can begin creating your online course. You can either teach your students lessons by going live, or you can create it week by week.

Teaching your students to live allows your students to ask questions as well as a chance for you to explain the content in a better way. You can also use analogies to explain them differently.

Another option would be to pre-record the lessons weekly, have one live Q&A session, where everyone can ask questions about the content. The more feedback you can get, the better.

5. Create one piece of content and optimize it

Once you have run your first beta round, it is time to decide and create one piece of content you can use particularly to drive traffic. You can either make it a five-day challenge or start a webinar. Make sure your content piece has a structure. It should address your audience`s pain points and also tell them how to destroy pain points and rebuild helpful beliefs.

Running an effective and high-converting webinar or courses comes with practice. This will be a long-term game, so work smarter, not harder. However, if you follow the above-mentioned steps, you will succeed in creating an online course that sells.

You can learn some of the most tried and tested tactics through an online course from Bada Business through our Problem Solving Courses. To know more, click here: https://www.badabusiness.com/psc?ref_code=ArticlesLeads

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Technology

Indian Tech Services Revenue Could Reach $300-350 Billion by 2025: Nasscom

Laptop| Representational Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay)
Laptop| Representational Image (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

The technology services sector in India is could accelerate growth by 2 per cent to 4 per cent over the next half a decade, as per a report by Nasscom titled ‘Future of Technology Services – Winning in this decade.’ According to the report, the industry could reach $300-350 Billion in its annual revenues. At present, the technology services sector accounts to 27 per cent of the country’s total export. It also supports livelihoods of around 44 Lakh people, as per the report. The industry also contributes to 8 per cent to the overall economy by providing impetuous to more than 50 digital initiatives across various sectors including banking, finance, health among others. 6 Benefits How Technology Can Be Beneficial for Your Business.

Debjani Ghosh, President Nasscom, said in a statement, “The Indian Technology services sector can utilise the potential of deep technologies like cloud, artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT, etc., through effective transformational practices, thereby contributing to the overall economy in the coming decade.” “The government needs to encourage and support digital literacy and skilling to ensure its talent, energy, imagination, knowledge, and unmatched commitment unites to address the customers’ surging needs,” added Ghosh. 3 Technological Trends that will define the future!

The coming decade will also experience growth in the technology spend, which would be primarily driven by the increase of  digital reinventors, technology natives and a growth in demand for Digital 2.0 accelerated by the industrialisation of cloud, AI and cybersecurity, said the Nasscom. According to the report, the technology services are expected to mount to $300-350 Billion in revenue by 2025, boosted by the cybersecurity ad loT digital spending.

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Technology

Want To Grow Your Business on Instagram? Here Are 4 Tips That Every Entrepreneur Should Know

Instragram (Photo Credits: Unsplash)

Instagram can be a boon to anyone wanting to promote their business. An entrepreneur can easily target the audience with the use of this image and video-sharing social networking service. With a massive user base, Instagram can be a profitable platform for marketing activities for anyone wanting to kick off their businesses. On the app, you can use images and videos that are appealing that have the potential to lure customers.

Putting Instagram into use, a businessman can always help position the brand and increase its credibility online. The app has all those features to bring out the best show of your products as compared to other social media channels.  You can click and share the picture of your product, you can make reels of them and you can also make videos for better effect and result. If you are looking for some Instagram marketing tips for entrepreneurs, we’ve got you covered here.

Here are 4 Instagram marketing tips for entrepreneurs:

  1. Make your hashtag game strong

Be aware as to which hashtags are trending on Instagram. Use a variation of hashtags and geotags that are popular with users. If you use the hashtags that popular with the audience, chances are that your products may hit the ranking and would be at the top, thus helping it reach the maximum number of people.

  1. Have a catchy and crisp bio with a link where you want to direct your audience

Having a catchy bio can help the users land on a page you want them to. You will be able to tap the right set of audiences if you mention the details of your products and give a gist of it in the Instagram bio.

  1. Use quotes from experts

While you post on Instagram, one trick that you can use is to use quotes in your posts from experts and famous personalities from the business that you are in. That way, chances of your post appearing in the trends are more likely. You can also use a watermark on the images with your logo. Posts, reels, and videos with quotes by famous personalities have a high interaction rate on Instagram.

  •  Use Instagram live

One thing you should keep in mind is interaction with the customers. You can use the Instagram live option to give tips, talk about your products to people and take their feedback. Using the Instagram live option, you can take your customers along with you wherever you go, to any events and conferences. This will give you an edge over others when you find new ways to go live and engage with your audience.

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Technology

4 Amazing Ways To Promote Your Business Online in 2021

Business (Photo Credits: Pexels)

In the 20th century, big or small, all businesses need an online presence in order to be successful. Luckily, you neither need a big advertising budget nor a marketing degree to put your business on the map. A laptop and an internet connection and you are ready to go.

So if you are struggling to find out the best ways to promote the website of your business then you are in the right place. In this article, we are going to cover some most effective ways to promote your business.

Here are tools to promote your website to get more exposure:

Introduce your website to Search engines:

Search engines are responsible for directing the majority of traffic so make sure you submit your website’s link directly to them. After this, you need to work on your search engine optimization (SEO). Some popular search engines are Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

Socialize on Social Media

The best thing about promoting on social media platforms is that they have a much larger audience. The one currently using social media can be your potential future customer. Some of the popular choices are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, etc.

Blog and Spread the Word

If you are running a small business, chances are you are wondering if blogging is worth it. The short answer is yes. Blogging is a relatively easy and inexpensive way to promote your business and attract more prospective customers. You can create a blogging site at Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress, etc.

Click and Share

This works similar to social media except here you communicate exclusively by sharing pictures. Some of the popular click and share platforms are Instagram, Picasa, and Flickr. You can use these platforms to promote your business and experience a boost in traffic.

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Technology

4 Breach-Proof Ways to Protect your Company`s Sensitive Data against the Cyber-attack!

cyber attack

As work-from-home becomes the new normal, businesses are restructuring their work-from-policies to ensure the security of client data.

From the hacking of the 2018 Winter Olympic games to the recent scam with NDTV`s well-renowned journalist Nidhi Razdan, it`s clear- digital domains are the new battlefronts. Though the companies are taking the required preventive measures, the cyber threats on global brands like Delta Airlines, and Best Buy proves that no matter how large or small, companies are still vulnerable to emerging cyber-attacks.

According to the report of CSO`s State of Cybercrime 2017, ‘by the year 2021, the cybercrime damages will cost the businesses around the world $6 trillion annually as the unfilled cyber-security roles will have tripled. ‘

The key findings from the report clearly state that in the coming years every Tech business will actively protect their businesses against cyber-security threats.

So how can you ensure the privacy and security on the internet for your business? Let`s have a look at the most successful ways to protect data in an organization that will ensure data security:

  1. Update Latest Security Patches

The best way to protect your company`s data is to ensure that your tech professionals are keeping up with the latest hardware and software patch updates. To complete tasks in time, your employees may not update their software because they do not want to be interrupted. Hence, to ensure online privacy protection, you must implement an updated patch plan.

  1. Encryption of Data

From encrypted hard drives, phones, USBs to data encrypted before its transfer to a cloud system, data encryption has become an integral part of the protection of sensitive information. Businesses in today`s world have become vulnerable due to the rise of remote work. With devices frequently leaving the safety of secured networks, encryption ensures that the data remain inaccessible in case of theft or loss.

  1. Invest in Emerging AI solutions

AI or Artificial Intelligence is growing and expanding its branches with each passing day. Integrating AI with security plans can provide you with many benefits.

  1. Create a Response Plan

A cyber-attack or a data breach can prove a lot costlier than we can anticipate. Hence, creating a breach response plan will ensure that your tech professionals how to deal with the situation, in the worst scenario. A response plan will help companies adequately store their data, fix vulnerabilities, and also notify the tech professionals.

With the rise of many startups and small businesses, India is experiencing a ‘data revolution’. Protecting sensitive information has become more essential than ever. By applying the above-mentioned tips, you can ensure the protection of your company`s data.

Apart from the data protection, businesses might throw some uncertain challenges that can catch you unprepared. Find business templates meant for entrepreneurs just like you. Manage many aspects of your business with the minimum investment of time and money with our Everything about Entrepreneurship course. To know more click here: https://www.badabusiness.com/?ref_code=ArticlesLeads

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Business motivation Technology

Doing Business Online? Here Are 3 Things You Should Know About SEO

The pandemic has led to digital boost. Many businesses have turned online to sustain in the market. Nowadays, startups live and die by the clicks they get. If the website is not optimised for search, potential customers won’t find you, which will affect your business. But Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is constantly evolving. If you are not keeping up with new rules and strategies, then you might not sustain in the online market. If you are not in a position to hire an SEO expert, then here are some tips to boost your ranking.

Invest in rich and helpful content

If you are in the online business, you must be knowing the importance of good content. When users do a web search, they are looking for someone to solve their problem- if your website does not do that then you risk losing them right away.

One way to stop users on your site is by using videos. Pages with video retain visitors longer than those without. When they click an interesting video and watch it for a minute or long then Google thinks that users are satisfied with your content. As a result, your website ranks higher.

Realise that SEO is more just than keywords

While SEO focuses on keywords and site traffic, but its more than that. SEO is about sharing high-quality content and standing out among competitors. To implement a good SEO strategy, start with your content. The site’s content should be easy to read and it should answer the questions what your audience is looking for. Also, the site should offer customer support which will encourage visitors to linger.

Aim for the sweet spot

Some SEO strategies offer short term growth. Others play the long game, building huge amounts of backlinks. The sweet spot is high search volume, low competition and low keyword difficulty. Short-tail keywords like “racing games” will have higher volume and enormous competition.

Long-tail keywords like “best racing games to play in 2021” will have less volume and less competition. You should go for one like “coolest racing games,” which has less competition but more search volume. No only good strategy will result in higher SEO performance, but you will enjoy more visibility and sales, too.

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Technology

11 Types of Phishing Attacks that are too Clever to be Detected

phishing attack

11 Types of Phishing Attacks that are too Clever to be Detected

Cyber-attack has been around since the inception of the internet, with phishing attack topping the chart. A phishing attack is a type of cyber-attack which is used to steal the confidential information of the users such as credit card numbers, login credentials, and a lot more.

According to ‘Acronis Cyber Readiness Report 2020’, around 39% of global firms experienced a videoconferencing attack last year. India faced the highest rates of such attacks with 66% of companies reported to have encountered videoconferencing attacks.

We read about such incidents every day, and move on with our to-do list. However, when an award-winning Indian TV journalist Nidhi Razdan revealed recently that she was being duped into believing that she had been hired by Harvard University, the gravity of the phishing attack is realized.

Nidhi Razdan worked as a news anchor at one of the top news channels for 21 years. In June 2020, she announced that she was parting ways with the channel to take up a job as an associate journalism professor at Harvard.

However, after noticing numerous administrative anomalies in the hiring process, she contacted the University authorities. After hearing from the university she realized that she has been a victim of a sophisticated phishing attack.

In hacking`s lingo, Razdan`s case is a spear-phishing attack, which is a more potent version that is harder to detect.

A data report by Cybersecurity company Kaspersky`s in August 2020 revealed that the phishing attacks post-COVID were becoming more targeted. The small companies were more on the radar. These phishing attacks came in the form of emails from HR about the changes in the medical leave procedure, and employee dismissal.

What is a phishing attack?

Phishing is a type of online scam or a cyber-attack, where criminals impersonate legitimate organizations via electronic communication, text message, advertisement, or any other means of communication to steal personal information.

It usually involves a link that will appear to take you to the company`s website to fill in your information. The website is designed so cleverly that the information you fill in will go straight to the criminals.

If you are thinking about why this type of scam is called phishing then let us tell you the reason. The term ‘phishing’ is taken from the working fishing because the hackers are dangling a fake ‘lure’ (the genuine looking fake website) hoping users will fall for it.

Types of Phishing Attacks

Here is a list of 11 types of phishing techniques, you must know about:

Standard Email Phishing– This is the most common of all phishing attack techniques, and is an attempt to steal sensitive information through an email that appears to come from a legitimate organization.

Malware Phishing– This phishing attack uses the same technique, but encourages the user to click a link or download an attachment.

Spear Phishing– Spear phishing is a well-researched and highly-targeted attack. It is generally focused on business executives, public personas, and infamous personalities.

Smishing-Targeting the smartphone users Smishing is an SMS-enabled phishing attack. It often comes in the form of account notices, political messages, and prize notifications.

Search Engine Phishing– Fraudulent websites are designed to collect sensitive information from the victims. These websites can be found in the organic search results or as paid advertisements for popular search terms.

Vishing- Vishing technique involves a malicious caller prompting to be from a bank, tech support, or any government organization trying to extract the confidential details.

Pharming- Popularly known as DNS poisoning, pharming is a technique where a user is navigated to a spoofed page often to steal valuable information.

Clone Phishing– In this type of phishing attack, the criminal lures its victim by compromising a person`s email account by swapping a legitimate link, attachment, or other elements with a malicious one.

Malvertising– This type of phishing attack uses digital ad software to publish normal-looking ads. These ads contain malicious code embedded within them.

BEC (Business Email Compromise)- BEC involves a fake email id that appears to be from someone associated with the target company. The email requires urgent action like wiring money or purchasing gift cards.

Man-in-the-Middle Attack- This phishing technique involves a middle source that monitors the correspondence happening between the two unsuspecting parties. These attacks are generally carried out by creating phony public Wi-Fi networks at public places.

As digital technology is evolving, these attacks continue to find new ways to exploit vulnerabilities. Therefore, it is best to take precautions like using good protection for your operating system. Do not open the links and emails from random and unknown senders.

Also, change your passwords every month and avoid using the same password for different platforms. Never share your details with anyone. If you find you are the victim of a phishing scam, register your complaint with a cyber cell.

Being an entrepreneur is tough! To safeguard your business from cyber threats and other challenges click here :  https://www.badabusiness.com/?ref_code=ArticlesLeads

 

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Technology

Flipkart and Niti Aayog Collaborate To Enhance Women Entrepreneurship Platform To Help Women Entrepreneurs in India; All You Need To Know About the WEP

Women entrepreneurs in India (Photo Credits: Unsplash)

New Delhi, January 12: With an aim to enhance community experience for women entrepreneurs in India, e-commerce marketplace Flipkart and NITI Aayog have joined hands to launch the revamped Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP). The WEP is a unified access portal which brings together women from parts of India to realise their entrepreneurial aspirations. Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Chief Executive Officer of the Flipkart Group, said MSMEs and start-ups have enabled the industry to better understand their challenges and needs.

The vision of the two partners- Flipkart and NITI Aayog is to make ‘Community’ a very interactive, rewarding and intuitive question and answer platform leveraging WEP resources. Through this, the entrepreneurs can utilise it for fruitful discussions and for sharing knowledge, ultimately benefiting the women entrepreneurs’ ecosystem in India.

Women entrepreneurs face unique obstacles, right from a lack of networking opportunities and mentors to the challenge of balancing work and family. When women come together or form communities, they are better equipped to tackle challenges that come their way, and shared experiences from mentors and professionals can further help them to take their passion and entrepreneurial ambition to new heights.

The idea of the platform was first mooted by NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant who announced the setting-up of a Women Entrepreneurship Platform at 8th Global Entrepreneurship Summit held in Hyderabad during 2017, with an overarching theme of ‘Women First, Prosperity for All.’

Here’s all you need to know about Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP):

  1. The Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) is a first of its kind, unified access portal.
  2. It aims to bring together women from different parts of India to realize their entrepreneurial aspirations.
  3. The revamped version will also include an additional feature to offer mentorship to the women mentees with specific knowledge concerning a problem area through a dedicated online mechanism facilitated under FICCI-FLO’s empowering the Greater 50% mission, it added.
  4. The ‘Community’ on the WEP platform aims to connect women entrepreneurs seeking clarifications on aspects of setting up new businesses with those who have experience in setting up businesses and hence can contribute by solving queries.
  5. These include queries like registering businesses, GST, funding, effects of the pandemic, progressing already established businesses.

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant hopes that the WEP will become a digital place for entrepreneurs to not only seek information and support, but also help each other out. He said the WEP will serve as a forum for people’s voices to be heard – helping inform policies and programs to better suit the needs and requirements of people.

Meanwhile, Krishnamurthy said as a homegrown company, the constant and intense engagement with local Indian businesses, MSMEs and start-ups has enabled us to better understand their challenges and needs, adding that the WEP plays a critical role in uplifting and empowering women-led businesses in their growth ambition.

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Business motivation Startup Strategy Technology

PM Narendra Modi Urges Youngsters To Join ‘Prarambh’, the Startup India International Summit on January 15-16; Here’s How To Register Online

Startups (Photo Credits: Unsplash)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called upon youngsters of India to attend ‘Prarambh’, the Startup India international summit on January 15 and 16. The Prime Minister asserted that the summit seeks to bring together top minds from industry, academia, investment, banking and finance besides young start up leaders. Taking to Twitter, the Prime Minister shared his LinkedIn post in which he noted that virtual interactions have become the new normal during the COVID-19 pandemic and said a big advantage of this is that people can be a part of programmes sitting at home. “With most events being held virtually, it has given a great opportunity for youngsters to be a part of many interesting domestic & global forums. One such opportunity is coming up in the form of Prarambh on 15-16 Jan. I urge our youth to be a part of it,” Modi tweeted on Monday.

Referring to the ‘Prarambh’ summit, the prime minister said India would also be marking five years since the Startup India initiative began. He said that this initiative has propelled India to being among the most attractive start-up eco-systems globally. Lauding the capabilities of the youths in India, the Prime Minister said that no words can do justice to the spirit of India’s youth. “Their penchant for innovation has led to outstanding results. Our start-up heroes are not merely coming from big cities but also from smaller towns. This is a good sign,” he added

Talking about the work from home opportunities, the Prime Minister noted and said work from home is in, so is greater adapting to technology. “For me, it meant more programmes online, which were extremely productive and insightful. There were interactions with scientists, medical professionals, COVID warriors, academics, industry leaders, young innovators, spiritual leaders and more,” Modi said.

The Prime Minister added that there were virtual summits, both bilaterals and multilaterals with world leaders, he noted, adding that “path-breaking” development schemes were launched through public events organised digitally.

About Prarambh:

‘Prarambh’ – Startup India International Summit – on 15 and 16 January 2021 in a virtual format. It will be organised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry. ‘Prarambh’ means ‘an auspicious beginning’. As a verb, it implies ‘to start’.

The idea is to attain attention of global capital for startups in India, mobilize domestic capital, provide opportunities for accessing international markets to our startups and evolve enabling policy provisions.  The first day of the Summit has been devoted to host dignitaries and stakeholders from BIMSTEC member States. The day will witness participation of renowned stakeholders from startup communities of BIMSTEC member states engaging in multilateral discussions and showcasing best of their innovations.

Here’s How You Can Register for the Prarambh Summit:

  1. Youngsters can registered themselves on the official site i.e. https://www.theprarambh.in
  2. Click on ‘Register Now’ at the top of the page and fill in all the details that have been asked.
  3. Enter details like your name, address, email-id, sector, select country and state, city and category and then click on ‘Submit’.
  4. Youngsters can check the official website as it has all the details of the 2-day Start-up India International Summit.

The main objectives of the Prarambh Summit are given below:

  • Encouraging and inspiring the youth for innovation and entrepreneurship
  • Exchange knowledge on best practices on nurturing startup ecosystems
  • Develop capacities of entrepreneurial ecosystem
  • Mobilize global and domestic capital for investments into startups
  • Provide opportunities to startups for entering domestic (private and public) and international markets
  • Showcasing high-quality, high technology and frugal innovations from India
  • Enable ease of doing business for startups and investors.

The who’s who of the Indian as well as global Startup ecosystem are making a beeline for this event. Please mark this date for a marathon of in-depth knowledge sessions and exchange of global ideas! Prarambh is expected to bring together top policy makers, industry, academia, investors, startups and all stakeholders from across the globe. In addition to deliberating on good practices from best of the ecosystems across the world, the sessions of the Summit are designed to showcase the spread and depth of entrepreneurship based on innovation in India.

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Technology

Indian Businesses Aim To Tap Consumers Directly in 2021 via Digital Platforms, Says Report

Bengaluru, January 7: As the economy limps back to normalcy, India’s focus will now be more on the digital side in terms of growing businesses. According to a new report, as the economy recovers from the lull caused by COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are preparing flexible models that operate in an online-offline mix. Moreover, the focus for digital platforms in India will be on selling directly to the consumers in 2021, the report said. “Small businesses in India are today evolving themselves as per the consumer and industry requirements”, it added.

According to the findings, entrepreneurs today understand the power of online presence and digital operations. “There has been a 3 times growth in unique businesses creating online stores,” the report mentioned. The payment gateway and ecommerce platform has on-boarded more than 2 lakh small businesses from tier II and tier III cities during the lockdown period. Akash Gehani COO & Co-founder, Instamojo, was quoted by IANS saying that small businesses are hungry for growth and much more resilient than we could’ve imagined. “Merchants have come to understand the diverse nature of consumers and that innovation is the key differentiator,” he said.

Instamojo had launched a report on the e-commerce outlook for 2021 which draws the experiences of more than a million small businesses across the country. Explaining how online presence has grown over the years, Gehani explained that small businesses owners are making necessary changes to their brands, to the way they operate, and also the way they deal with their customers online in order to survive in the growing e-commerce space. He said that more than 70 percent of these entrepreneurs had no prior online presence.

The report by IANS said that as a large number of businesses went online in 2020, they also recognised the importance of a wide social media presence. MojoVersity, Instamojo’s e-learning platform for entrepreneurs, saw a 9 times growth in enrolments and 11 times growth in the number of merchants getting digitally certified in 2020. The number of businesses updating their social media handles on their Instamojo online store went up an average of 30 percent (QoQ).

“As more entrepreneurs emerge from smaller towns and cities in India, accelerators and incubators are also expanding their services into markets to help nurture the upcoming businesses. Industry reports indicate that 40 percent of investors will come from Tier II and Tier III cities,” report added.