Directi officially launches BigRock.com

Part of the $300+ million Directi group, BigRock has entered the Indian market with a complete suite of innovative web-presence solutions ranging from domain name registration, business-class email services, website hosting and design services, e-commerce solutions and digital certificates at highly affordable price points powered by a strong technology platform.

Talking about the launch, Bhavin Turakhia, Founder and CEO, BigRock.com, said, "The Indian Web industry is buzzing. And with the launch of BigRock.com, businesses, professionals and individuals will be empowered to strengthen their brand presence, boost their business growth and unleash their true potential in today's competitive scenario.BigRock promises to be a one stop shop for all kinds of web imperatives required by our customers at very affordable prices."

Outlining the company's India strategy,Tarun Davda, Business Head, BigRock.com, averred,"This is a momentous occasion for us as we foresee a huge potential in the market and a large base of consumers that are untouched throughout the country. In India, the ratio of domain names registered to the number of internet users stands at 1:45, whereas it is 1:5 in countries such as the United States. India represents a $100 Million market opportunity and is growing at 25% annually. We aim to target the 15 Million strong SMB market in India and offer end-to-end web presence solutions at highly affordable price points. We are committed to expand the market and establish a leadership position with 20% market share over the next three years."

BigRock currently has a workforce of 75 people spread across its three offices in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi, and a sales and support team available 24/7. The core areas of the company's activities in India will include design and product development, sales & marketing and strategic partnerships.

The initial strategy for the company is that it is going to concentrate more on getting small and medium size enterprises to be their clients. Over the past nine months the company through word of mouth and indirect online marketing have already got around 25,000 clients on board. Davda also added that while 50% of the 25,000 clients are from the 6 major cities across the country the remaining 50% belong to the 150+ Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns in the country.

As a part of the promotional activites the company will be rolling out two TVCs and one ad across the video streaming platforms online starting the 17th of January 2011. The creative duties have been handled by Ideas@work which is founded by Prashant Godbole and Zarvan Patel. Besides the company will also have a multimedia marketing campaign which will be a pan India initiative. While the TVCs will be rolled out in various regional languages too for cross channel promotions.

As a first in the category, BigRock will aim to reach out to its target audience via an integrated marketing campaign and has earmarked an outlay of INR 10 crores this fiscal towards advertising spends. BigRock has also launched an innovative SMS service where anyone can check the availability of their desired domain name e.g. by sending it via SMS to 5607080.

Bhavin Turakhia added, "The Indian consumer is ready for world class web solutions that help them realize their individual and business ambitions. BigRock will fill a critical void in the web-presence industry with its innovative suite of web products & solutions designed to fortify businesses' competitive advantage and unleash their true potential. With a proven platform that powers over 5 million domain names worldwide, we are committed and confident of unlocking tremendous value for our customers in India."

The company launched the service at the back of the insight that as per industry reports, the number of Internet users has grown by 200% from 27million in 2005 to 81 million in 2010. Also, the total number of domain names in India has shown a 90% growth from 1.14 million in 2005 to 2.15 million in 2010. Further, a report by Access Markets International Partners suggests that Indian SMBs are expected to increase their spends on Internet activities by 16%. It further states that most Indian SMBs are also showing a major interest in setting up their own websites providing necessary information and online services related to the company online within the next year. | By Prabha Hegde [prabha(at)adgully.com]