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A Series: Safe about Analytics?

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Abhigna
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NEW DELHI, INDIA: Talking to Vikas Bagaria, CEO & Founder, Safetykart.com leads to a winding road of interesting debate and discussion. After all, women safety is an issue that always draws perspectives of varying temperatures and colours. But even though we nod somewhere and spar elsewhere, one point works like a magnet in drawing instant agreement- The point of irony with women safety. Females may want and are being advised to be better equipped than ever and take control of their safety, but is it easy if every small protection measure is frisked away from their hands and bags when they step aboard a mall, an airport or a crowded train?

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Trends like analytics seem to be caught in the same irony. Yes, big vendors are shoving overwhelming engines, tools, appliances down the market's throat with frenzy; but can this unheard-of power translate well on the ground, for someone which is exactly not a giant enterprise or for someone caught on the fence between moral boundaries and playing fields?

Coming back to Safetykart.com, as of today it is a bootstrapped venture (promoted by SRV Damage Preventions Pvt Ltd - formed in 2002) and was created with the objective to enable India & its citizens to be pro-actively safe. But ask its founder further about ambitions ahead, and he passionately says that ‘We aspire to become India's one stop destination Safety related products'. Talking of future plans, there is room for acquiring more products, expanding the range of categories under safety and improving the look and feel of the website for better UX. Usability is a priority, Bagaria iterates emphatically.

And that again brings to fore the possibilities with analytics and also the question of how easy, tempting and real it can turn into when one thinks of a nascent business with huge drawing boards.

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Analytics for e-commerce? Can it really help in being a step ahead in grasping customer behavior?

We are a niche service provider and interestingly when we started we found the need and patterns of customers looking for safety products through Google Search only. It helps if you can track who visited your site and where the visitor went next or checking the conversion path. For instance, Google Analytics showed a lot of interest in products for the category when Dengue outbreak phase happened.

Is it easy to drill data from a technology side?

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Bandwidth is the word. India's Internet penetration and ISP state is very different than others. If you are a well-furnished company with enough pockets and scale than things are much smooth. But if you are a start-up or at the mid-level than things can be a tad difficult. I guess a lot can be done for companies who are just starting off because stuff like VSAT or lease lines is easier for bigger companies.

Have you confronted any challenges on deploying analytics? Have you spotted gaps that current tools in market do not address?

As of now we actively monitor and analyze our data through Google Analytics. The challenges as of now are that with the latest updates Google has chosen to hide all the keywords through which People find our website on Google search. This data would have provided us a deeper understanding of our target audience and what they are looking for. Additionally, taking things on the next level, we are trying to search and develop for a tool which helps us determine where exactly a customer is most engaged on a particular page - As to where exactly is his attention going when he lands on a certain page. This tool isn't readily or freely available and therefore requires effort to figure out to integrate with the website.

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Has analytics worked for you in product strategy parts too?

Yes, the idea for a cloakroom-sanitiser for travelling women happened through understanding customers search patterns better through analytics. Any e-tailing company will be on a back foot if it is not leveraging analytics. Google Analytics provides an extensive outlook into the traffic and consumer trends and allows us the flexibility to create custom reports to analyze certain aspects more closely.

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There has to be flip side when companies track a prospect's or a customer's moves online?

E-commerce is interesting. It's like being in Las Vegas where you should not be surprised if someone keeps tempting you till your hotel door to gamble more. My point of view is that as an individual, we are in a world where we are flaunting so much already. Think of social media and you know what I mean. If you are cautious about intrusion, you can take steps like ensuring cookie controls or being discreet about information. It's easy for companies to track people even when they have left the site, thanks to search engines and adsense enabled sites, pop-ups and browser cookies. We have not stepped into that kind of tracking yet though.

So users bear the burden?

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Technology presents options on both sides. It's we, as users who are lazy enough to not opt for them to ignore the fine print. Any tool's (or a browser's) settings allow users to take control of intrusion and privacy to a great extent.

How do you see the dark or grey side of virtual commerce playing out in future, with examples like Silk Road's expose and bust?

There would always be a fraction of people who would lean towards crazy things. It may look strange but it's a bubble that is there. Imagine this fact that India ranked on top of the list of people ready to buy tickets when someone started selling one-way trips to Mars. Smart people will always try to make business from this so-called strange segment. In India it may be not visible but this crazy segment is there. Sex toys may be banned legally but we are not surprised when we see some banks with payment gateways on these transactions. So yes a small segment will stay and function. Still, I do not see this underground market as a concrete platform for future.

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