Innovative Concepts That Failed in Nepal

It is difficult to analyze the full impact of innovation because there is no single set of metrics that can capture the full significance of innovative ideas and concepts. The unmeasured and neglected area of innovation deals with ideas that due to variety of reasons fall apart. Innovation is a localized phenomenon, defined within very specific contextual boundaries in an organization. When controlling for product advantage and customer familiarity, the degree of novelty of a product does not affect its profitability. This confirms that the concept in which innovation, in and of itself, does not directly result in profitability. Customers base their evaluation of innovativeness on the degree to which a product requires a change in the mental models and behaviors, however this determination by the customer may not result in a positive decision to accept the innovation.

Failure has a value. Failure of the processes and techniques used within an organization to resolve problems may serve as a significant source of innovation. The developing realization that the current systems are increasingly dysfunctional opens the organization up to the possibility of alternative solutions. It is the energy behind this increasing level of discomfort that motivates for the search of new and innovative solutions. New product success or failure is measured financially. The main determinants of new product success are: product features, price, quality promotion, market information, service to customers, wide distribution channel etc. Most of the new products are sick or partially successful due to lower quality, high competition, improper pricing, weak promotional efforts, ineffective advertisement media, irregular supply of goods, financial inadequacy, insufficient market research, less beneficial to the users.

Some examples:

SAGOON:
Sagoon was founded by Mr.Govinda Giri in 2009, but he faced a ridiculously rough capital environment and after 14 months of trial and error, he had to shut down his search engine. In September 2013, he quit his job and started working full-time from the basement of his home. Soon he associated himself with an experienced graphic designer Swati who started working part-time for Sagoon. Giri spent eight months on market research and analysis of users’ behaviour, and then rolled out Sagoon as a Social Commerce Site. Sagoon was a social e-commerce platform that had the tagline “Connect, share and earn”. Sagoon tried to combine features of Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Instagram altogether. A user could use Sagoon.com for sharing knowledge and information and at the same time earn money and gifts too. Sagoon had features like secret sharing, calendar, reminders, to-do lists, “my day”, mood chat, e-commerce, cash back and other features of a social network all bundled.

Sagoon’s number 1 Key Performance Indicator (KPI) was the number of registered users. A social networking website should have KPIs like daily active users, returning users, time spent on the website etc. It could have chosen the correct KPIs for the business. Sagoon should have launched with a small set of features and kept a close eye on what was working and what was not. Sagoon’s IPO was a major distraction from its original narrative of being a social networking website that would pay its users for spending time on the website. When Sagoon launched its IPO, it splashed the home page with information about how people could invest. Even after a user logged in, there were many popups and links everywhere asking the users to invest. The UI felt clunky, bloated and confusing. Sagoon tried to come to the market with a bang but it didn’t give enough priority to its users.

UTL:
At one time it was regarded as quality telecommunication service provider. UTL had successfully built strong image within and beyond Kathmandu valley. But its sustainability was not possible in the long run due to decline in customer demand, weak administration and heavy financial losses. Its ordeal was the inability to judge and adapt the current market and create more customer demand. As a result the company is facing consistent loss over the years. It had tendency to defy the decisions of Nepal Telecommunication authority and try to force decisions in its favor. Increasing disputes between employees and administration of the company caused major obstruction in services. It was not able to diversify its services in a highly competitive market of today. The three Indian companies namely Mahanagar telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), Telecom consultants India limited and TATA communications are joint stakeholders around 80% in the company. These companies were unwilling to make investment in UTL. The NTA sources put forward with their statement that there is no use of issuing license to those who are reluctant to start their service. From 5, 00,000 customers of United Telecom Limited 80% didn’t receive telecommunications service they failed to resolve problem and employee and management disputes also firewalled the growth of UTL Company.

PATANJALI PRODUCTS FAIL LAB TEST IN NEPAL:
The FMCG major Patanjali Ayurveda’s six medical products have failed Lab test in Nepal after failing in its home country India. Due to its substandard quality the Ministry of Health’s department of drug administration, has asked Patanjali unit in Nepal to recall six of its medical product. The six medicinal products that have failed the microbial test include Patanjali’s Divya Gashar Churna, Bahuchi Churna, Amla Churna, Triphala Churna, Adviya Churna and Aswangandha. There were a total of 7 products for the test out of which 6 failed the microbial lab test while 1 product named BactoClav failed the identification test. Patanjali Ayurved witnessed a staggering Rs 10,561 crore turnover in FY17. To broaden Patanjali’s reach across the world, Ramdev now plans to launch 10,000 Wellness and Health Centers globally to popularize Yoga. Earlier, the armed forces’ Canteen Stores Department had stopped sales of a batch of Patanjali’s amla juice after it failed a quality test carried out at West Bengal Public Health Laboratory. In Nepal, the action has been taken against Section 14 of the Drugs Act, 1978.

LENSKART:
The art of selling is what makes a product sell in the market. Customers are highly tuned to the image of a product and brand. When Lenskart came up with the ad “Shake it off like the earthquake”, after earthquake in Nepal in 2015 killed more than 3000 people, seriously raised questions” Is this really a time to push out an offer for Vincent Chase Sunglasses. It was criticized for being so wrong and inappropriate which say the total failure. Their marketing plan was not well crafted and it created wrong impression when the people were suffering from crisis. Although it has posted with apologies, people can clearly make out what sell and what doesn’t. Cheap and apathetic advertising plan went completely wrong with common perception. Many chose to ditch the uncalled gimmick which stirred objection from all quarters.