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promote your business cost effectively

How to Promote Your Business Cost Effectively

Promoting a business is an ongoing challenge for businesses. In the current economic climate, it is important to keep your business in the public eye. Whether you’re just starting out or have been in business for years, these proven advertising and marketing strategies will help your business find new customers without spending a fortune.

Promote Your Business Cost Effectively_email_marketing

Not only is email marketing a low-cost method for getting the proverbial word out on any business, it also offers one of the best returns on the investment of your time. However, to succeed with email marketing, you need to attract the right customers to your website, something that’s not as simple as it sounds.

By building compelling content like infographics and other online tutorials, you can attract the right customers who will hopefully sign up to your email list. You can also add the names and email addresses from business cards of prospects that you have gathered. Once they sign up, you’ve still got work ahead of you by having to share useful information with them on a periodic basis while trying to make the sale. Your mailings let them know what your business has to offer, and you can keep everyone up-to-date on any special deals, offers or sales that you might have.

Effective email marketing is a skill that involves writing compelling sales copy and it can only be developed over time. However, as long as you think more about the consumer and adding value to their lives, and you allow that principle to govern your behavior, you’ll succeed over time. It is easy to get started with an email service like MailChimp. Most have free versions. As your list builds and your needs become more sophisticated, you can upgrade your account.

2. Social Media Marketing

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If you haven’t used social media (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, etc.) to promote your business yet, you are missing on an opportunity to potentially have your company or its products go viral. Although you might have seen advertisements for pricey social media marketing campaigns and social media tools, you don’t need any of these things to get started to promote your business. You can sign up for business pages on LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest for free.

By creating complete business profiles and pages, working to gain followers by regularly posting interesting and informative content is a great way to make your business more well-known and to keep your audience base satisfied.

3. Start a Website or Blog

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Although you might think that you need to hire a professional web design company to develop a website or a blog for your business, this isn’t the case.

Yes, if your business has been around a while or if you want a tailored look or special features, such as high-end design or an eCommerce platform, you might want to take professional help.

But if you are on a tight budget, you can probably do it on your own. There are free platforms out there that you can use to create an attractive, fully-functional site without paying a dime! For example, you can get a totally free, high performing blog from WordPress.

You will have to pay for a domain and Web hosting, but you can find these things for about INR100 a month (such as from GoDaddy). For this minimal investment, you can build a reasonably good home base for promoting your business.

While building a blog is something that takes years to develop into any real semblance of an audience, it also offers one of the best and most cost-effective means for reaching a vast swath of people. As long as your audience is engaged and finds real value in the information you share, it will slowly build up over time.

4. Referral Marketing

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80% of all businesses fail before their first 18 months of operations. If you don’t want to be part of that 80%, you have to focus on delivering real value to the consumer. If you do deliver real value, then there’s no reason why your customers shouldn’t be referring you to their family and friends.

Referral marketing, also known as word-of-mouth advertising, is by far one of the most effective and low-cost ways to market your business online or offline. Place a link in your email signatures and on your website that connects people to popular review sites such as Justdial, Sulekha.com, MouthShut or TripAdvisor where consumers can post their opinions on their experiences with you. An affiliate or referral program is a great way to reward your loyal customers for sharing the news about your business with their friends and associates.

By providing this avenue for consumers, not only are we putting a very cost-effective method for marketing on autopilot, but you’re also sending a strong and powerful message that you put delivering real value and the consumer’s satisfaction first and foremost above all else.

5. Get Added to Internet Directories

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Local consumers are increasingly searching online for shops, grocery stores, restaurants, car dealers, realtors and other businesses in their local area. The importance of hyperlocal searching cannot be overemphasized for a small business. Not surprisingly, four out of five people use search engines to find local information, like a company’s business hours, address, phone number, online reviews, busy times and more, according to Google.

There are a ton of highly reputable website and business directories out there, and you need to make sure that your business is listed on them. For example, Google, Yahoo and Bing! offer these listings. The listings are mostly free and you might be surprised by their value.

Many of the sites have top search engine rankings. So people looking for your business will find these links quickly because they end up on the first page of search results. You can also gain traffic and potential customers from those who are viewing these sites looking for businesses that are similar to yours.

6. Get Active with Online Communities

No matter what your business or industry niche might be, chances are good that there are plenty of related online communities out there that you can check out. From forums to social media groups and more, these communities can provide you with many great opportunities to promote your business.

When interacting with others on these sites and communities, it is important that you contribute useful and helpful information and not promote your business overtly. But in the process of doing so, you can post a link to your website and say with which business you are associated. This can help you gather up a nice network of connections and establish you as a local expert in your field.

Once people get accustomed to seeing your name and recognize you as an expert, they may want to give your company a try or send business your way.

7. Press Releases

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There are websites out there that allow you to submit press releases at no cost. So you should consider utilizing these resources when you have some news to share about your business. It doesn’t have to be earth-shattering news, but it should be news.

By submitting a press release, you expand your reach and let more people know about what your company has to offer and even possibly reach an interested journalist who will then contact you for a story.

Write an informative article about what your company offers and have it published in the local newspaper and on websites. Then get permission to reprint this article and email or send it out to clients. This will give credibility to your product.

8. Guest Blogging

If you have friends in a similar industry as your own, such as those who you might have met through online communities, you can always ask to submit a blog post for their websites.

When writing the post for them, make sure that you don’t make it sound too sales-like or for the purpose of just promoting your own business. Instead, focus on providing some information or tips of substance and value. But ensure that you do have a blurb at the end about yourself and your business with a link back to your site.

The whole endeavor needs to be high quality. Remember that guest blogging is only valuable on reputable websites. So don’t take just any guest blogging opportunity that you can find. Instead, find opportunities on websites that you know are well-respected and are frequented by individuals who are interested in your niche.

How We Can Use The Art Of Story Telling In Advertising

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Our human brain is designed to absorb stories that teach us something about life. That’s how stories shape up our personalities. Any story whether it’s high on emotions and drama or if it’s based on logic and rationalism, the moral makes the difference. Yes, in order to gain the reader’s attention, the story must be as gripping as it can get. That’s where the story-teller ought to weave his/her magic. You see today, stories are successful as long as they are able to engage their listeners. And today even short stories are the biggest motivations for an individual. Can Story-telling be integrated into Advertising?

Post World War II, the advertising sphere mainly prospered on the basis of showing the brand products intelligently or by just displaying its features, benefits etc. It actually took quite a long time to bring in the art of Story-telling in this field, that too, amidst several apprehensions. But the experiment was worth it. By creating a story, the consumers were able to connect more with the product and its value.

Story-telling 1How does it work? A product is infused with a human quality, trait or even with a human personality, surrounded by a premise or a background narrative. The story has a moral in the end, which is the link to the product’s USP or any of its distinct features. Advertisers even use existing stories and folklore and fuse their products into them, converting the outcome into a winning formula.

It’s the 21st century. People have become more aware and alert about the products they buy and the brands that they choose to stick with. Because of that, advertisers need to become more street-smart. They need to know the target group’s feedback, likes and dislikes, and their opinions towards a specific brand. Stories do work well even today, but you can’t create superficial tales that look and sound far-fetched. They need to have some sort of authenticity to link it to the product. Today, your art of Story-telling all depends on your central idea and the flow of your story. It’s about how are you going to communicate your message through a simple story. Appeals and genre come a bit later.

Story-telling 2Brand stories are basically either based on fictionalized circumstances or inspired by slice-of-life experiences (day-to-day life experiences). But in the end, for both types, it’s the same method of educating the audience i.e. bringing the product or service into the ad itself along with the logo of the brand. Sometimes, it’s just about hitting the audience right on their face with an intense and frank story of events which will convince the audience to act at once. Take the example of children. They tend to buy items that they recognize, courtesy a strong and captivating background story that intrigues their young minds. Then come the stories that are partially depicted in testimonial form.

Still, one more question arises that, how do modern-age advertisers learn and apply the art of story-telling? Yeah, because narrating as well as characterizing a story in an ad format is not an easy job.

This is where experiences count the most…

Simple instances and jokes that you hear every day in your life has a story to tell. Listening to the radio, checking the social media, hearing out your friends, even eavesdropping on a romantic conversation helps! It has the potential to give you some crazy but fabulous ideas. They all are nothing but a story waiting to be told in the end. It’s how the products create a stir in the market. It’s how the brands are able to create life-long bonds with the consumers of the modern era.

3 Public Service Ad Campaigns that Made Viewers Stop and Take Notice

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Are Public Service Ads really necessary? Many would say so. Older versions were simpler, easy to understand and focused on very specific subjects. Of course today there is a whole host of issues to counter against. Lately, social advertising has muscled up enough to compete against some of the best commercial ads though. Reason? These are innovatively thought through, sensitive ads crafted by some of the most creative minds of our industry.

Let’s look at 3 such PSA’s that have managed to send the right message to the masses and that have dwelled in their minds.

Anti-Smoking Campaigns

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Anti-smoking ads showing up through various media channels are more emotionally evocative than ever. Some show graphic imageries such as tobacco’s effect on the body provoking negative emotions. Some manage to tug on heart strings with their personalized story lines. Others use bold storylines to elicit responses. Even second hand smoke has made the news. Although quitting may be a long arduous process, the recent impactful ads have most definitely created a stir.

Incredible India Campaign

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Even braving controversies and changes, the Incredible India campaign has managed to make a positive impact not only on the masses but travel and tour operators as well. International and domestic audiences too have begun taking note of India’s heritage sites, its culture and hospitality trends with new eyes.

India Polio Ad Campaign

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Many Bollywood stars have lent their time and voice to public service campaigns but none compares to the baritone of Amitabh Bachan, pointing and urging people to get their children vaccinated against polio. Of course the sheer number of vaccinators tied to this initiative has helped too. And the effect has been significant with large scale reception to polio eradication drives

Ultimately to be successful, a far reaching public service campaign needs a creative team that produces a well-researched innovative portrayal of the truth.      

How to add visitors to your website?

How to add more visitors to your website?

 Traffic is not liked by everyone especially on the road unless it’s  on a website. Following are a few ways you can grab eyeballs and make your website a hit amongst the masses, because in this age of digitalization , all you need is a good website to stay afloat in the digital sphere.

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1) Intriguing content- Content is the key to generate inquisitiveness and interest of the visitor, moreover a good content speaks volumes about the website and its  founder.

2)Posts on social media forums- social media forums like twitter, facebook, Linkedin have taken the digital world by storm, so having your audiences updated through catchy posts that voice details of your website is your best bet.

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3)Advertising is thy friend- Ads help you reach out to your audiences in the most engaging manner with interesting audio visuals enhancing the facets of your website.

4)Foster a sense of oneness- Your audiences are like your family who support and shower love through their responses and comments , so reciprocate their emotions through fostering a sense of community.

5)Make sure your site runs smoothly- fix technical glitches if any like slow pace and unresponsiveness, this will increase the frequency of use of visitors.

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5 secrets for mastering the art of leadership

A leader is the one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.

- John C. Maxwell

1.Know your organization like you know yourself – A good leader is a pupil himself first, who has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge along with extensive inquisitiveness, which forms the cornerstone of his deep insight into the organization.

2.Open to suggestions – A good leader is predominantly a good listener, who’s always open to contributive suggestions and ideas from his team and fellow colleagues

5 secrets for mastering the art of leadership

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3.Efficiency is thy virtue – Efficiency forms an integral part of good leadership. A good leader is a highly skilled craftsman who devotes all his energy to his work in order to make sure that there is no room for flaws.

4.Problem solving on point -  A good leader has an exceptional trait of analyzing the problem thoroughly before drawing conclusions, which involves anatomizing the problem and scrutinizing every alternative solution to it.

5 secrets for mastering the art of leadership

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5.Power of communication – The key to effective leadership is powerful communication which aids in the smooth flow of network. Communication is not just confined to speaking but listening as well and the two when balanced, form the underpinning of a vociferous leader.

5 secrets for mastering the art of leadership

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5 Wrong Traditional Beliefs That Hold You Back!

 

 

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rego advertising blog

”To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.” – Mahatma Gandhi

These are famous words by the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, which are etched in every individual’s mind, living in this country, yet often it’s the pessimism that makes room in our minds, cornering the optimistic beliefs and stagnating our growth. There are 5 such misconceptions nurtured by individuals that often end up becoming hurdles in their path to success.

  • Failing at something gets you the tag of a failure: Life in itself is a learning process and there’s always room for mistakes, since it’s the mistakes that teach you eminent lessons, which need to be rightly imbibed and implemented when encountering similar situations, after all Failure is the stepping stone to success.
  • Too old to start a new venture: Age is no barrier to foray into an unexplored or uninhibited field. As it’s said, with age comes wisdom, which makes an individual fully equipped to tackle the most unconventional and distinct endeavors.
  • Approval of family and peers on eminent issues: Considering approval of family and peers is no harm but thrusting their opinion on self to an extent that one’s own view is overshadowed does not fall under the parameters of being ethical.
  • Perfection equals success: Sometimes it’s the imperfections in life that become an impetus for people to strive harder in order to attain success. As human beings we are inherently flawed and that’s what keeps us going.
  • I am destined to do it: Man is equipped with the caliber and vision to choose the best for himself, owing to which he can judge what’s wrong and right for him, thus man makes his own destiny and not the other way round.

4 Money Saving Tips That Work Every Time

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#Rego Advertising

Once you start getting your paychecks for your work, it’s really tempting to spend it all on everything you set your sights on. While you need the money for basic expenses like travelling, food, bills, etc. At times it’s nice to spend that money on things you may not need but still want to buy it. And before you’ve realized it, you end up spending your entire salary without saving anything. However, it’s not too late, all you need to do is start saving, even if it’s less, but at least it’s a start.

Another important thing to consider is where and how to save money. Fortunately for you it won’t be a problem as we have rounded up 4 failsafe ways for you to save money.

Record your expenses

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The first step in saving money is to know how much you spend. Try making a list of your expenses and find out where your money really goes. Record even the smallest of expenses like buying a small pack of gum or a coffee at the cafeteria. Practice this habit for a month and you will come to know, every detail of your expenses. It will also help you to limit your spending on various things and save more money too.

Make a budget plan

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Once you know how much your expenses are, the next step is to create a budget. Planning your budget involves dividing your expenses into ones that incur regularly and other small expenses. A budget plan ensures that you don’t over-spend on certain things and keep the money you’ve saved for emergency.

Shop Online

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In today’s digital age, almost everything is available online; one needs not go to their local store when they can buy it online, that too at a cheaper rate. Many people don’t make the most of this and end up paying even more for things that could be bought at a discount online. Online shopping benefits many on a limited budget and you too can opt for this.

Set reasonable savings goals

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When you want to buy something you really need, saving money for it is really easier. That’s why, it’s necessary to set a savings goal, especially one that can be easily achieved. If your goal is to buy a new home or save for retirement, it’s important to monitor its progress otherwise you might lose sight of it and end up spending that money on other expenses.

Although saving money at times might not be easier, especially in cases when money is tight, it’s important to remember that the money you save now will benefit you a lot in the long run. So make it a point to save your money at every available opportunity you get and sooner you’ll be saving more than spending it.

10 Myths about Present Generation

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Today’s generation is the most misunderstood lot, having being raised with technology and comforts that didn’t exist some 20-30 years back. It sure has raised some jealousy and misconceptions about them by the older generations.

Let’s take a look at some of the myths about the present generation and bring out the facts related to them.

They lack patience

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One of the myths about this generation is that they want everything right now and don’t like to wait for anything. In fact, today’s generation is an opportunistic lot who would rather jump at an opportunity than wait for one to come by.

They are constantly distracted by their devices

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With technology nowadays playing a bigger part in our lives, it comes as no surprise that today’s generation would be constantly on their smart phones or tabs. They actually make use of this technology for their benefit and it helps them be more productive too.

They don’t learn anymore

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There’s another myth about today’s generation not being interested in reading. In reality, they get all their knowledge from various websites and blogs which are much easier than going through a bunch of books for reference.

They are lazy

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A word to describe the present generation would be – lazy. This is not true as there are various hard working individuals who excel at their jobs.

They don’t respect authority or elders

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Today’s generation has no respect for authority or elders, is a common phrase amongst many older people. However, the reality is that the present generation does respect leaders and people from whom they can learn a lot.

They lack work ethics

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They don’t take their career seriously and don’t follow the rules is another thing that ticks off most employers. The truth is that they want things to be done on time and beyond a client’s expectations.

They are arrogant

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If you have interacted with today’s generation and have been surprised by their attitude, it’s no wonder you might have termed them as an arrogant bunch. It’s actually their hunger to prove themselves, which is often mistaken as arrogance by the older generation.

They are not driven

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Most people think that the present generation doesn’t like to work hard and want things to come to them easily. The fact is that they are driven, by certain things such as work that gives back to the community or the environment.

They are all the same

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One of the biggest misconceptions is that today’s generation is the same. It’s true if you look at them as a group instead as individuals. And that’s what they all try to do, carve out an identity for them rather than just follow the herd.

They change jobs too frequently

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They are constantly changing jobs and don’t stick to one place is perhaps one of the reason why employers are reluctant to hire them. The thing is, they all want to experience many things in life instead of learn things that are present in the industry.

10 guilty pleasures we all enjoy in Life

When it comes to guilty pleasures, we all have some stocked away in a tiny closet of your minds that is indulged every now and then even though we do not really prefer talking about the same. According to several dictionaries and meanings, guilty pleasures are those which are enjoyed by people and considered pleasurable at the same time. The guilt associated to these pleasures is often related with embarrassment rather than moral guilt.

Sleeping and lazing around-

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One of our biggest guilty pleasures, we end up sleeping and lazing around a lot more than we actually should though we never admit it. We often make thousands of excuses just to hit the sack or snooze button depending on our state of mind and mood

Online gossip columns and websites-

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This is another guilty pleasure that we rarely admit to. There are thousands of film and television industry gossip columns that we secretly end up reading even though we cringe when someone finds us out. We always love finding out more information on our favorite stars, celebrities, businessmen and other leading lights across the globe.

Following people on social networks-

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Sometimes it is so relaxing and cathartic to follow people around on social networks and glean information on their lives. We can literally do this for hours at a stretch while browsing social networks though we will never really admit it!

Junk Food-

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One of the biggest guilty pleasures on earth, junk food is something we simply cannot stop binging on! We will always declare our love for health food and maybe even stick to a routine but this is one guilty pleasure that often surfaces when we’re stressed or simply looking for something to beat life’s monotony.

Drawing pictures in magazines-

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Let’s face it; we’ve all done this and never owned up!

Reality Shows-

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Though we never admit to watching the same, we all secretly get our dose of the same!

Stealing good ideas and topics-

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Though this does not qualify as stealing in the technical sense, we do love browsing the web for ideas that can be tapped or used later.

Smoking-

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We also conceal our smoking habit at times and it works as a guilty pleasure whenever we’re stressed.

Cake, chocolates and ice cream-

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Another of our guilty pleasures, we simply love gorging on these though we never admit to the same.

10.Social networking-

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No matter how much we talk about controlling our urge to be online, we end up doing exactly that with even the invisible option used at times.

What do average Indians spend their money on?

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Consumer spending in India has increased rapidly in recent times and stands at approximately INR 159628.06 billion in the second quarter of the year 2015 according to market observations and studies. Consumer spending has always stood at around INR 9136.68 billion all throughout 2004 to 2015. These are statistics obtained from official and governmental sources. The high consumer spending figures indicate that Indians are still bullish about the market and economy. Consumer confidence is at an all time high and there is a sense of certainty over the inception of the new government. India has been topping consumer confidence indexes with a score of 126 as per Nielsen’s survey published some time back. The index of confidence is steadily growing though some of the euphoria surrounding the advent of the new government has dropped or faded in recent times.

Yet, consumption has still been rampant in basic categories as job security has always been a major concern for Indian citizens. Yet, urban Indians continue to be really optimistic about professional prospects in the country. Approximately 66% of Indian citizens are said to be sorted with their personal finances and have a willingness to purchase products in sectors like electronics, exotic food and beverages, real estate, automobiles, education and other consumer products. Housing and automobiles are the biggest consumables in the country though electronics and other consumer products report the highest volumes in overall consumption. India is now the third largest economy in Asia and is witnessing huge growth volumes in terms of overall consumption. The stable government will now lead to greater consumerism during festivals like Diwali and Rakhi. These are times when consumer spending peaks in sectors like apparel, food and beverages, appliances, automobiles and the like.

Even the biggest consumer products companies in the country have reported an increase in profits to the tune of 8-10% on a yearly basis. Consumer products have seen skyrocketing growth in the country with more and more multinational and international companies are coming to the country. Even food and beverage companies are reporting increases in profits owing to fast paced consumption. The best fashion and lifestyle brands have also set up shop in the country and people now spend up to 20% of their income on accessories, apparel and gadgets annually. With greater discounts and offers provided by manufacturers and retailers, consumerism has increased even in income segments where actual cash in hand figures have not increased to a large extent.