In my last blog, I wrote about Card protection services in
India. You read that there could be an interesting competition between CPP Card services & One Assist in future. In this blog, I am going to write about
what I have monitored within few days. But first, let me give a brief about
these companies.
CPP India is a part of CPP Group Plc, which is headquartered
in UK. CPP India started in 2008 to cater assistance services to Indian
consumers. This company is spread across entire world. Below is their revenue
& operating income across various regions:
|
|
North America
|
Southern Europe & Latin
America
|
Northern Europe
|
Asia Pacific
|
|
Revenue (in million pounds)
|
45.8
|
44.4
|
249.5
|
6.5
|
|
Operating Profit (Loss) (in
million pounds)
|
6.9
|
10.6
|
33.6
|
(2.2)
|
From above table, you could see that CPP is currently having
losses in Asia Pacific Region. This region covers countries like India,
Singapore, Malaysia, and China.
One Assist has been started by two Indians, who saw an
opportunity in assistance services market in India. It is funded by Sequoia
Capital India & Lightspeed Venture, who invested $3.5 M.
The question is why these companies think that India could
be a profitable destination. First reason is that India is a developing country,
which is in process of becoming a developed nation. In this process, people of
this country might start relying heavily on plastic cards for payment as it is
the case with people of developed nations. In India, it is still not the
dominant means of payment, people of this country have just started relying on
plastic cards. So, it is expected that there could be modest growth in demand
of financial cards in India.
Secondly, this market is still in very nascent stage and a there
is huge potential, provided Indian consumers are made aware of these services.
Now, here comes the interesting story of what I have noticed
in past few days.
You would agree that face of any company is its website.
When I wrote my last
article, I went through websites of both these companies and found out that while
there is a provision to purchase products online in One Assist portal, but the
same provision was not available in CPP India website. Also, the website of CPP
didn’t look very promising. However, CPP Malaysia had option to purchase
products online. I thought if CPP wants to do good business in Indian Market,
then online purchase option needs to be given to consumers. To my surprise,
when I saw CPP India website few days later on, it was given a complete face
lift. There was an option to purchase their products online. They were also showcasing
their tie ups with various banks. This was a great improvement in their website that I liked. But still there is a scope of improvement in their wbesite.
Later I called call center of both these companies to enquire
about their products. I was greeted very politely by customer executives of
both these companies. Both of these companies explained & offered me
assistance services for cards. CPP said that they could get my PAN Card reissued
(in case of loss/theft) without any extra charge, while they said they couldn’t
provide replacement of driving license though. However, One Assist went one
step ahead and said that they could provide DL & PAN card reissued (in case
of loss/theft) without any extra charge. Also, they said One Assist could provide
assistance services for smart phones too.
When I asked if I wish to purchase their products how I
would be able to purchase it, below is the response from their Customer representatives:
CPP Call center
executive: We can help you with your
purchase process and you will be able to complete your purchase on call itself.
They asked me my credit card details & I said I don’t use credit cards;
however I have a debit card. To this they said, we cannot process your debit
cards on call. You will have to connect to your bank. I wondered whether they
are aware of recently introduced debit card payment processing on their portal
or not.
One Assist Call
center executive: We can help you with your purchase process, but it can be
done online. Here, they didn’t have any purchase process on call. When I asked
I would like to do this purchase on call itself as I am not very comfortable
with online payment. To this they replied, we have Cash or Cheque pick up
service too. If you wish, I can help you with that.
Overall I felt that One Assist Call center executive was
more aware of various processes and was able to influence me to purchase its
product. CPP executive was also polite, but if he says that please contact your
bank if you want to purchase through debit card, then of course they have lost
one potential customer or they have not succeeded in promoting their company
identity.
At this point in time, it is very important for these
companies to enlighten Indian consumers about these services. The next
important thing is to have as many payment channels available for consumers to
complete their purchase process. Last but the most important point is to have
an excellent service.
