In the recent past, there’s been evident change on the front pages of pink coloured business newspapers in the country. The ecommerce entrepreneurs are now replacing the space of the traditional stories of old businesses. The rules of the game are changing. The Internet is now dominating Indians and changing mindsets in the way we not just connect, but also share and shop. Since ecommerce has become the next big thing and everyone wants to jump in the wave, even Facebook has taken the leap.
This Raksha Bandhan, Facebook is going to be launching an online shopping festival named Tied Together. In the initiative, the company has tied up with media agency GroupM and will be setting up a website between August 12 and August 29. As stated in a report in Economic Times, media agencies have stated that Facebook’s pitch note reads, “Unlock the power of social media that can reach 10 crore potential customers through this event.”
Shopping festivals are becoming quite a trend in the country lately. In the last year, Google held a shopping festival in association with GroupM. In the year before that, Google launched the Great Online Shopping Festival. Earlier this year, Google was seen holding Great Indian Travel Festival (GITF) with Mediabrands. Also Magicbricks has taken up a joint venture with GroupM and Google to launch a property festival that will be called the Great Online Home Festival. Now Facebook of course couldn’t have stayed behind.
The desi big marketplace majors like Flipkart and Snapdeal are thumping it out with the vilaayti giant Amazon and are carving the best of strategies to woo the consumers. Through big discounts and deals, all the ecommerce guys are now spending all their energies to attract more consumers and lure them into changing their shopping habits.
The companies that participate will have to pay a fee that will be shared by Facebook, GroupM and other media agencies. Facebook with over 11.2 crore users in India, is looking for a title sponsor at an asking rate of Rs. 3 crore and a principal sponsor at a similar rate besides associate sponsors for Rs.1.5 crore each.
Facebook is looking to tap the intensifying fervor in India for online shopping. It is going to make the best use of its current position in the social media market with the huge subscriber base to drive traffic to the shopping site.