In conversation with Prabhakar Tiwari, Angel Broking
Prabhakar Tiwari is the Chief Marketing Officer at Angel Broking, where he spearheads brand, performance marketing, and PR initiatives for the firm. With 17 years of experience in the industry, future-forward organizational thinking, he is focused on driving the leadership aspiration of the brand and in shaping the digital journey for delivering a top-notch customer experience.
Agency Reporter- As the pandemic engulfed the industries and businesses across the globe, how would you say 2020 fared for you at Angel Broking?
In 2020, we have observed a black swan event that changed the market dynamics altogether. People started becoming more inclined towards digital services as physical operations came to a grinding halt.
A similar trend was also observed in the investment landscape. The appeal for stock investments increased drastically. Being a digital-first brokerage firm, we became the natural choice of customers during this mass digital migration. Angel Broking drew a massive footfall of customers clocking around 1.5 lakh+ new customers on an average every month in FY21. We emerged as the 4th largest broker in India in a span of a few months.
A wide range of factors differentiated us in the market. They include flat broking charges, value-added services like ARQ Prime investment engine, intuitive user interface, and targeted marketing strategies.
In 2020, we also announced our IPO and received considerable traction amongst institutional and retail investors alike. Overall, the year coupled with our tech-driven, customer-centric approach has delivered the right momentum to us for 2021.
AR- With your vast experience in the industry, you must have witnessed some major changes in consumer behavior and market conditions, especially in the last year. Could you please shed some light on the same?
In general, the market increasingly prefers comfort, precision, and agility. It was more of the same over the last year. However, the magnitude of change was different due to the obvious reasons. It is because smartphone adoption has improved the ability of businesses to deliver across all three factors. For instance, people can now enjoy better access to trading and investments with curated services available for their end-to-end needs. At times, they don’t even have to take a deep dive into the fundamentals and technical aspects. They simply invest in the recommendations received via state-of-the-art solutions. ARQ Prime, as an example, analyzes more than 1 billion data points before extending stock recommendation.
Smartphones have also made it easier for them to be productive even on the go. They simply receive recommendations, analyze what’s on the table, and take actions accordingly. Such factors have empowered customers a lot and had a visible impact on their behavior. They are making customers more demanding and will continue to do so in the future. I believe it is something that unlocks more ground-breaking approaches while making the present-day innovations imperative for the customers and the market at large.
AR- What new digital tools did you adopt in 2020 to enhance customer experience?
We have a dedicated product team that integrates cutting-edge technologies into our wide-ranging platforms. Some of these technologies include Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Cloud Computing. In 2020, we upgraded our ARQ investment engine to ARQ Prime with an improved methodology for even better returns. We also launched SmartAPI. It enables investors to build their own trading platforms using advanced charts and automate trades if needed.
AR- What are some innovative marketing strategies you have come up with in order to shape the digital journey at Angel Broking in 2021?
We have successfully driven award-winning campaigns including Aage Badne ka Smart Sauda and #ShagunKeShares. In the former, we communicated about our iTrade Prime plan to our customers such as zero charges on delivery trades and a flat fee of Rs. 20 for others. We specifically reached out to non-metro cities and tapped unconventional platforms popular amongst millennials. #ShagunKeShares have also built on a similar approach and empowered people to gift shares as a ‘shagun’ around Diwali.
Now, for 2021, we have come up with Ek Nayi Shuruaat campaign. With it, we intend to acquaint more people with the basics of stock trading and investments. We are using a range of digital platforms for the marketing campaign including JioTV alongside others. The campaign is generating great traction amongst prospective millennial investors.
AR- How do you think COVID-19 impacted the stockbroking business at large in India? Do you think it is on its way to recovery to achieve its full potential?
In India, the sky is the limit for the industry at present. Our nation has low retail participation unlike its western counterparts like the U.S. and European nations. We believe COVID-19 has simply become a tipping point for a market change that was long-awaited. Another factor that works in the favor of the Indian market is that India has a young population with increasing net disposable income. So, the full potential is yet to be realized.