This document discusses strategies for international expansion across different business models. It provides Zomato's approach as an example, starting in India and now operating in over 20 countries. Key aspects discussed include evaluating market potential and resources, using organic or inorganic growth, and localizing the product for each market through customized features and content in local languages. The challenges of expanding into different categories like social/messaging, online-to-offline, gaming, and B2B are also summarized. Localization goes beyond just translation and requires understanding regulatory frameworks, cultural norms, and customizing themes, graphics and gameplay to each local market.
3. ABOUT INMOBI
3rd largestmobile advertisingplatform, afterGoogle
andFacebook
1.56Bn+ userson theInMobi network
200Bn+ impressions/month
13Bn+ events ingested in aday
GLOBAL REACH AT SCALE WITH LOCAL
SERVICE
4.
5. Speakers
Pramod Rao: SVP Growth at Zomato. Pramod is
currently the SVP Growth, responsible for
international expansion and growth at Zomato. He
has been part of Zomato’s growth from the early
days and has worked on Social Media, Marketing
and Growth strategies for the company. Pramod
started his career as a Consultant with Bain &
Company and has an engineering degree from IIT
Kharagpur.
Supriya Goswami: Head of Marketing, India &
South East Asia at InMobi. In her current role she is
responsible for managing the InMobi Brand,
leveraging different channels such as Public
Relations, Marketing Communication, and Events, for
India and SE Asia. Supriya has an undergraduate
degree from Lady Shriram College for Women, an
MBA from Insead and a Masters in Human
Resources from Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
6.
7. Zomato started in 2008 in Delhi NCR; currently present across 23 countries
8. India
UAE
Sri Lanka
UK
Qatar
Philippines
S Africa
NZ*
Turkey*
Indonesia
Brazil
Poland
Italy
Australia
USA
Canada*
Ireland
Lebanon
Czech
Slovakia
Portugal
Chile
• Local team:
• Leadership
• Content
• Marketing
• Sales
• Customized product (e.g.):
• Widget introduction from Urbanspoon
• Daily menus in Czech
• Zip-code search in UK
• Focus on user traffic and engagement
2008-11 2013 2014 20152012
Organic Organic (Bilingual) Inorganic / Acquisition markets
* Zomato already had significant presence in these markets before acquiring the leading player
Extended presence to 22 countries in 2 years
and 9 months
International expansion and growth a result of aggressive and scalable go to market
model
10. Organic vs Inorganic – example approach
UAE example (2012) - Organic Australia example (2015) - Inorganic
• 2-3 existing products in the market
• No major market leader
• Lack of structured content
• Strong market potential
• High eating out / ordering in propensity
• Ease of execution (2-3 main cities,
<10k restaurants)
• 2-3 existing products in the market
• Market leader (~90% share) w/ good product
• Mature structured user generated content
• Strong market potential
• High eating out / ordering in propensity
• High cost of organic execution (5 big cities,
>40k restaurants)
11. Our approach to growth in international markets
Product Market Fit
Localize content
Early adopters
Community driven marketing
Critical mass of users and user
generated content
Strategic partnerships
Monetization
13. Social / Messaging
• Conceptually may seem to scale…BUT Very cluttered category
• Market consolidates typically towards the top 3 in each market/category
• India- FB, Whatsapp, Hike
• China- WeChat
• Japan- Line
• Korea- Kakao
• Need a unique value proposition OR Niche targeting
• Location based networks
• B2B messaging apps
• Need to localize app based on cultural nuances in each market.
• Do not ignore offline marketing to bootstrap the user network for social apps
• E.g. GroupMe ’s grilled cheese food truck at SXSW 2016
14. O2O (Online to Offline)
• Regulatory Framework
• Local partnerships
• Operational Support: Local hires to run the business
• Scale your business by doing things that don’t scale – Get it right
with the first 100 customers in each market, the rest will follow.
15. Gaming
China: Localization is not only about Translation
Fragmented ecosystem: Number of players in the mobile app
ecosystem is a lot higher in China than in the West
Distribution Payment Discovery
CHINA
WEST
App Store promotions
• Unlike in Google Play, for games monetizing
through in-app-purchases, the App Stores in
China offer promotions in exchange for revenue
share.
• Due to presence of multiple app stores in China,
it becomes important to pick and choose the
right app stores to promote your game in
Game Centers in Social Apps
• Social messaging platforms like WeChat and QQ
are getting in to game distribution through their
game centers!
• To maximize acquisition, publish your game in
the popular social game centers in China
16. Gaming
China (2/2)
Perspective and Color Schemes
Themes adapted to Chinese culture
Characters & In-Game Graphics
West
China – Gunz Dash
Top Endless runer
game in west
Darker more realistic
themes.
Top Endless runner
game in China
Light and colourful
themes.
West China
Human Characters Fantasy Animated cartoons
Game Play Complexity
West China
Challenging
Game Play
Eg. Puzzle
games restrict
the number of
moves in the
west.
Simple, fast
and engaging
game play.
Eg. Puzzle
games are time
based in China.
60 seconds per
turn is popular.
17. B2B
InMobi in China
• Tech
• MVP
• Localization post establishing
market potential and scale
• Entry Model:
• JV v/s Independence and flexibility
• Talent:
• Local Leadership
• Deep understanding of local norms:
• Communication is top down
• Cultural nuances