Indian internet landscape in 2022
competitive advantage for startups servicing lower tier Indian cities
I was pleasantly surprised to find out this new year that Zomato has started delivering in my district which is a tier 4 city located new Gwalior MP in India. Swiggy has been delivering from last one years and had captured the market. People are pretty familiar and comfortable in ordering online. This is also supporting ecosystem of new restaurant offering quality food both online and offline.
Earlier there was this cold start problem. there was not many rural and lower tiered internet users to achieve economy of scale which was roadblock in creating applications targeting these users. After Jio revolutionised the telecom sector and made it affordable to everyone complimented by availability of lower priced android phones every user in any part of India can be targeted successfully. these new users now have gone through learning curve needed to contribute in internet based economy.
Mesho, Byju’s, Paytm and several highly valued startups have targeted this segment successfully. Building for these new internet users have created a differentiation and provided the scale for operation. Mesho has surpassed its competitors like Snapdeal although its business model is not very distinct. They advertised it as affordable value for money products ordered using COD which Flipkart pioneered in India.
Moving forward It is essential for any startup/company to look beyond metros because pandemic has enhanced the digital adoption and their users might reside in any part of India.
New startups can exploit the first mover advantage by targeting these new users who have no experience of using legacy software product and services. They are willing to give chance to anyone who is willing to provide a great customer experience and value.