WHY INDIAN SMEs MARKETING IS LENDING BEHIND IN SALES?

WHY INDIAN SMEs MARKETING IS LENDING BEHIND IN SALES?

One of the fastest growing economies of the world is of India. In the last half decade, the economic growth has steadily accelerated and most importantly, remained very stable. This growth has been driven by robust socio-economic policies of the government, an influx in the domestic and foreign capital and rise in disposable income and consumption among many other positive attributes. One other major factor that is being touted as the backbone of India's economy is Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector.

Whether it is agriculture, manufacturing or service industry, SMEs are mushrooming in a myriad of sectors across the country. Statistics show that SME accounts for 45% of industrial output and 40% of the total exports in India. It generates employment for 60 million people and creates 1.3 million jobs every year. Given that a majority of India's population lives in villages and the SME sector has also emerged as a key factor to urbanize rural India.

However, in spite of its contribution to the socio economic growth of India, SMEs face a number of challenges.

Lack of capital due to inadequate access to finance and credit . The inadequacy of funds to funnel in the operations of a small business prove to be a major hindrance to the development of the small business. Small businesses lack the creditworthiness needed in the capital market. Small businesses have a poor creditworthiness. The banks and industrial investors need a collateral security, due to most of the small businesses being operated in the rural and semi urban area these businesses lack the collateral security to get finance for their business.

• Managerial Skills - The operations of small businesses are carried out by a limited number of employees. This means that a single person usually manages the operations. The pressure on this manger is immense to satisfy the demands of production. Also, the manager might lack managerial skills required to operate a unit.
• Marketing - Marketing is one of the most important links to sell whatever the business plan to or has produced. Without marketing these businesses will not be able to achieve their goal of sales they planned. Direct marketing is not possible due to the lack of necessary infrastructure. The shortage of finance does not let the business hire a good middleman. These middlemen exploit these businesses by paying low prices and delaying payments.
• Technology - Small businesses are not able to adapt to the latest technologies. there are no proper resources available to update the machinery and equipment. This might affect the production or manufacturing process with the products being made in low quality at a higher cost because of which they are not able to compete with the competitors in the market.

Because of these challenges, the Indian SMEs are unable to scale to their full potential, rise up to the standards of their international peers and become self sustainable. On the positive side, these challenges should be perceived as untapped opportunities for the SME sector. These challenges offer a broad scope to strengthen the foundation of SMEs in India. The Indian government has been making commendable efforts to empower SMEs to overcome these hurdles. The National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme encourages SMEs to adopt Information and Communication Technology tools and applications for their business processes. Then, there is Assistance to Training Institutions Scheme, which provides financial assistance to national level training institutions operating under the Ministry of MSME to strengthen SME infrastructure and create entrepreneurship skill development programs.

Indian SMEs: What should they learn from our Leadership Thoughts?

They say change is the only constant. One has to agree that truer words haven't been spoken.

India, change came with the Liberalization, Privatization, and Globalization drive in the 1990s. There was a need to establish quality domestic enterprises. This was done so that enterprises can compete with global enterprises. Therefore they can create their own niche in the international markets. Thus the Government of India (GOI), started creating a favourable environment for Small & Medium Businesses (Indian SMEs). Flourishing in the middle of a challenging environment, Indian SMEs experienced many ups and downs in the past few years, 2020 being the worst that it could be. India is expected to emerge as one of the leading economies by 2024. A major focus in his crucial time is being given.

Thus we have made guide for Indian SMEs owners on what Industry leaders are doing differently and what they can adopt in those practices.

'Dedication is the key to Success'

is one phrase that accurately sums up the need for marketing your Own brand. There are so many ads consumers watch on a daily basis. So what does one do to successfully drive home their message? How does one identify their target audience? How to create sufficient buzz around your product to keep yourself relevant in the market? Marketing department exists to achieve these goals.

For any business, the marketing strategy follows certain tried and tested methods to create a thought-provoking campaign that lasts in the minds of their clientele.

Here are some key pointers for your marketing technique:-

• Good Automation Tool - In this Digital Era, a good automation tool is a must have, e.g., E-Laundry Software, this is a laundry software made by OMRA Solutions to automate all work of laundry businesses. Another example is, CRM Software's, Billing Software's that we can build for your dynamic behavioural marketing. Marketing automation software is used to help to capture leads, develop relationships, and move prospects through the sales funnel at scale.
• Prior to starting a marketing strategy, it is imperative to define a target market and keep them in mind to generate content. For Example, Asian Paints reoriented its marketing focus on women after research found that it's the women of the house who primarily make decisions when it comes to home décor.
• Use Point of Sale system (POS) so that you can analyse sales data, maintain sales history, improve pricing by integrating barcode scanners and credit card authorization. Use accounting software like E-Laundry Software to help you calculate tax payable, to keep a track on the debit amount to be paid, credit to be received, inventory management, invoices, etc. By using mobile wallets you can add or spend money or purchase goods.
• A business plan is one of the most important documents for a small business. It should have information about the team (work experience, skills, education background), the objective of the business, the business summary( services, products, awards), some existing problems and solutions for them, market share of the business, competitors of the business, and some information on future financial projections (profit, sales).

ACCOUNTING & FINANCE

Nowadays, SMEs (Small and Medium Businesses) generally require bookkeeping software, which focuses on recording financial transactions via a general ledger. So, it's a smart solution to have a automation software with yourself.

True SMEs accounting software should be having better tools for financial data management, reporting, analytics, tax preparation, etc. SME accounting tools have become increasingly affordable in recent years, making them the preferred choice for most businesses. Accounting operations involve different jobs like - manage invoicing, process payment, handling payroll, tracking inventory, and managing financial reports. As a result, they rely on different software solutions. Therefore a lack of synergy between these solutions may be a big problem for the company. Funds or finance is a huge problem in small businesses. No business can function without adequate finance/funds. The main reason for this issue is less availability of credit loans not getting approved because of weak finances, you might have bad or low creditworthiness. You might have to, therefore, borrow funds at a high- interest rate which will affect the finances and your credit rating as well. Banks also do not have flexible terms which make it more difficult.

Concluding to the aforementioned words

When it comes to Indian SMEs, one has to be careful. All aforementioned changes cannot be carried out without a well thought strategy. They face the issue of capital crunch. Therefore whatever they possess needs to be judiciously used. The old things need to be gradually phased out. At the same time skilling their employees to work efficiently with the new technologies is a major requirement.

Step by step methodical approach to successfully bring up Indian SMEs to the global standards so as to increase our exporting capabilities should be kept in mind. It is strategy that should precede action in all spheres. What we often tend to forget is that we have done this successfully before. We established our pharmaceutical and automobile industries. Today when needed, India beautifully rose to the occasion to manufacture lacks of personal protective equipment (PPE) gear and became an exporter from an importer to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic & to help in Indian Economy.