IT@TT - Online

Junction96 is more than just a chain of Net Parlours. It's also a focussed and cost effective marketing channel as Amrita Ghosh found out. Here are excerpts from an interview with Raj Shekar Agarwal, MD, Junction 96.

IT@TT: When and how did you conceive of the Junction96 concept?

RSA: Dotcom Netpoint, the parent company conceived the idea of a branded chain of Internet parlours in late 1998. The first chain of Internet parlours were launched by the name Eazeenet. Eazeenet was re launched as Junction96 in early-June 2000.

IT@TT: Why did you feel the need for a relaunch?

RSA: The word Junction implies that a common meeting point for websites, vendors, corporates, surfers and consumers, at large, so that they are facilitated in their dealings with each other.

IT@TT: Tell us something about the company.

RSA: Junction96 has over 100 Internet Parlours today spread across 8 cities: Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Pune and Indore. This was part of the target set earlier, during the launch in mid-September. Junction96 uses a mix of Owned Centres, new Franchisee and affiliations with existing Internet parlour owners expanding the network. The expansion is supervised by a strong professional team in each region.

IT@TT: Could you tell us a little about your Franchisee model and Affiliate program.

RSA: In order to speed up our expansion plans, we initiated programs where we seek franchisers willing to make an investment in the business and share the gains. The Franchisee Program aims at prospects who have access, by lease or ownership to real estate in good and promising locations, and are willing to invest some money to develop it. In the Affiliate Program, if the prospect already has a Cyber cafe running, then they may want to collaborate with Junction96 to enhance their business. Revenues out of all the branding are also shared with the franchisers and affiliates.

IT@TT: Having reached the 100-parlour mark, what's your next goal?

RSA: We touched the 100 mark across the country on 1 January 2001. And are proud of this achievement within such a short span of time. In the second leg of our expansion, we aim at driving Internet activity throughout the nation by reaching out to the mini-metros and towns of the country and will aim at reaching greater numbers in the next few years.

IT@TT: What, in your opinion is the future of this cyber cafe boom? Will the market be able to sustain this enthusiasm and will this enthusiasm for surfing the Net survive?

RSA: Like in all businesses, there's a period of shakeout and the same is true of Cyber cafes. As chains like Junction96 emerge, the value delivery to the consumer will be greater and only those who can deliver that value and keep innovating their offerings will be able to survive.

One cannot forget the fact that the PC penetration levels in our Country are extremely low. Also in the homes that have PC and internet connections, facilities like printing and scanning are not available. As technology advances there'll be more and more products that a consumer/surfer will want to use but not necessarily own. This provides us opportunities to keep the consumer with us even if he/she owns a PC and an Internet Connection.

IT@TT: Junction 96 claims to be a unique Marketing Channel for corporates and websites. How do you validate your claim?

RSA: For the corporates, websites and marketing companies, Junction96 parlours have been specifically designed to be a marketing channel. Our parlours provide ready online and offline space to brands to gain exposure and communicate with their consumers. effectively. We ensure that the design, layout, facilities and services in our Parlours make them amenable to creative and innovative branding, while ensuring a non-intrusive ambience for our surfers. Right now, we have a client portfolio comprising of over 22 websites, corporates and marketing companies who see it as the preferred marketing channel for promotions and branding. Some of our client list include Wipro Infotech which promotes their PCs through our parlours, Fabmart, hungama.com, bazee.com, oyeindia, go4i, Apnaloan, Indiatimes, Investsmart, hometrade.com and tringtring to name a few. Apart from this, we also offer the advantage of quickly getting feedback on the advertising-promotional-branding exercise so that companies can modify it on a weekly basis to make it more effective or try out new things.

IT@TT: Do you have special offers for customers that ensures that they surf from your parlours and not from your competitors'?

RSA: We have interesting membership programs for the regular surfers. Apart from this, we also introduce event-led promotions on a regular basis. An example here is the Surfamania scheme which was run for a month in our parlours which gave seven hours of surfing for Rs.120 in addition to the various other benefits.

The customer service offered at parlours is yet another factor that makes us different. We have trained and friendly staff who help the surfer with all their queries and many a times also give internet training to customers who are new to the internet world. We also have plans to offer facilities like video conferencing, voice chat, e-commerce fulfilment and new value added services. We make our Internet Parlours, an exciting place by running interesting promotional campaigns at regular intervals. We have had promotional campaigns with go4i.com involving Rahul Dravid and during Christmas we initiated Santa for a Cause, a charity-cause-driven program, where Santa Claus visited our Parlours and fulfilled the wishes of our surfers.

IT@TT: Who are your competitors?

RSA: We believe that the market is still at a nascent stage and needs to be developed. There are a lot of individual Cyber cafes and some Cyber cafe chains. the real competition will emerge once the market grows and Internet reaches the masses of this vast country.

IT@TT: Where do you see yourself in a few years from now?

RSA: On an average there are 125-130 visitors walking into each of our parlours daily. Through a combination of innovative membership programs and some exciting promotions we've ensured that we also attract the right kind of audience. As a result our client list is growing and we have in store promotions round the year. We plan to grow on our strengths and become the preferred marketing channel to many more brands in the country. We'll adapt newer technologies and offer a variety of products and services to our consumers in the coming years.

IT@TT: What are your specific plans for Calcutta?

RSA: Calcutta is the place where it all began and we have so far opened 17 of our Parlours here and plan to open more in the near future. The response has been good.

IT@TT: Have you considered the North-East of India as a prospective territory for expansion?

RSA: Our aim is to ensure the spread of our activities across the nation. Our expansion programs will ensure that we are present in all feasible locations, spreading the Internet to the masses.

IT@TT: Could you share with our readers 5-10 of your favorite websites and why you like them?

RSA: Well, this is a difficult question as the list is quite big. Anyhow www.cnn.com, www.fabmart.com, www.indiatimes.com, www.inomy.com, www.rediff.com, www.fortune.com are some of the sites that I can think of right now .These websites are interesting, have substance and seem focussed on what they are delivering to the consumers.

Interviewed By Amrita Ghosh
[email protected]

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