Why don't Indians buy software?
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John, It is very intriguing question. I wish I can offer you a simple answer, but given your situation it is plausible. Given your account not even single sale, I have to suspect there is something you did not think or imagine of India. Given the size of it's population (1 Billion +), the size of downloads, the duration and frequency, I ought to assume some sales however small, even if handful. The only thing I can suggest given the number of downloads and interest, you or someone need to take a closer look into the data, target specific region(s) within India and set up a trip. I am sure you will learn a lot more and it may pay back, at least it may answer some of your questions. Good luck and let us know your findings.
Yusuf May I help you?
This sounds very reasonable; probably finding some local consultant will be cheaper than traveling to India?
There is only one Ashley Judd and Salma Hayek is her prophet! Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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Nope, we monitor that very carefully and after a decade we're pretty good at spotting the signs. Plus people who have a crack don't email to request a trial time limited full license key which they almost always do.
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We do have a version that is function reduced and a fraction of the full price and it sells very well in *far* poorer countries than India. The local distributor thing is definitely an idea, we've avoided that successfully since day one but it might be worthwhile. Cheers!
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One thing worth trying is to try and find a reputed software vendor/dealer in India. You may not find a national level vendor but you may find some city specific ones for major cities like Bangalore or Bombay. Offer them a commission and they may help you get some sales. Worth a shot anyway, I mean it's crazy that there are all those millions there and you can't sell to them. The USD to INR conversion is not good though, so even something that's affordable here (say 50-150 bucks) will be quite expensive there (2500-7500 INR). You might want to think of a slightly function-reduced India edition that you can sell for a lower price.
Regards, Nish
Latest article: Code Project Posts Analyzer for Windows Phone 7 My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
Five for the idea, but there is a pit trap in there. Working with an distributor could give you the fake feeling that you’re actually doing something. The big distributors tend to focus on the well-recognized products and brands with expected high sales and put the products from the small companies to gather dust on the shelf “in case somebody asks”; this regarding my personal experience.
There is only one Ashley Judd and Salma Hayek is her prophet! Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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Five for the idea, but there is a pit trap in there. Working with an distributor could give you the fake feeling that you’re actually doing something. The big distributors tend to focus on the well-recognized products and brands with expected high sales and put the products from the small companies to gather dust on the shelf “in case somebody asks”; this regarding my personal experience.
There is only one Ashley Judd and Salma Hayek is her prophet! Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
Which is why the smaller companies give a bigger commission (so the vendor has some incentive to sell them too).
Regards, Nish
Latest article: Code Project Posts Analyzer for Windows Phone 7 My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
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We were going over our analytics the other day and a question came up: "Why don't Indians buy software?". We sell a small to medium sized business application online and we have regular sales in over 70 countries. In our web analytics we see India quite high on the list of countries where people download our software, very high, like fifth out of all countries, as well Indians regularly request a full trial license from us to fully test our software so we know they are engaged and interested. The mystery is that in over a decade in business we still have zero sales to India, not one single one. This despite thousands of downloads by Indians. The countries below India in downloads, even *way* below India still account for a large amount of sales. It's not piracy, we monitor that regularly. We've contacted the Indian people who requested a license as we do everyone and we always get an answer like "We thoroughly checked it out and decided to go with another package". Is there some kind of cultural thing we're not getting? Is it that they will always try to find a local equivalent if they can? Does anyone have a theory as to this mystifying behaviour?
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That is Exact Case in my current project. I cannot name it, client from UK asks us to try various softwares and find one suitable. Later he proposes that software to business and they decline, asking to build something in-house replacement. Given the tough competition in teams, everybody wants to try everything.Damn! The point is, major support work goes to India and at client level they expect my colleagues to know about every damn software on Earth! WTF! They try most of them related when ever they get time. And my reply in most such case to such company goes as ' I am doing some task over short time, if needed for a full-fledge project, i will surely recommend this.' The most common scenario is: 'This works slow, find faster alternative, even if you wish to change code'
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This sounds very reasonable; probably finding some local consultant will be cheaper than traveling to India?
There is only one Ashley Judd and Salma Hayek is her prophet! Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
I am sure local consultant may be cheaper, but I believe taking the trip will give you the bigger picture where the local consultant will be like a binoculars looking into the whole picture. May be part of the trip could be finding reliable consult who can do follow up work. just my 2cents
Yusuf May I help you?
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That is Exact Case in my current project. I cannot name it, client from UK asks us to try various softwares and find one suitable. Later he proposes that software to business and they decline, asking to build something in-house replacement. Given the tough competition in teams, everybody wants to try everything.Damn! The point is, major support work goes to India and at client level they expect my colleagues to know about every damn software on Earth! WTF! They try most of them related when ever they get time. And my reply in most such case to such company goes as ' I am doing some task over short time, if needed for a full-fledge project, i will surely recommend this.' The most common scenario is: 'This works slow, find faster alternative, even if you wish to change code'
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India has 1000s of software shops (many of them run out of one room home offices). So there will be cheap alternatives for pretty much every piece of business software you can think of. Of course there may be significant compromises in quality/stability etc. but because they are so cheap, users get value for money.
Regards, Nish
Latest article: Code Project Posts Analyzer for Windows Phone 7 My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
So they order the free trial, hand it to a local to play with, and the local then duplicates the functionality for a tenth the price... :-D
Will Rogers never met me.
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So they order the free trial, hand it to a local to play with, and the local then duplicates the functionality for a tenth the price... :-D
Will Rogers never met me.
That is probably a good way to do it in India :-)
Regards, Nish
Latest article: Code Project Posts Analyzer for Windows Phone 7 My technology blog: voidnish.wordpress.com
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Sorry, I think you misunderstood. We sell a small business product, it's not a development tool there are no developers involved, usually plumbers, electricians, computer repair shops etc. It's a software package used by small businesses to run their service business. Think commercial off the shelf software only distributed entirely online. Our sales are *very* strong in the U.S. and Canada so that doesn't account for it either. This is a pattern that has developed over a decade now, it's not a one time thing. It's mystifying.
There is no failure only feedback
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I think you misunderstood. The developers of your competitor's software are located in India and they want to stay up to date what you guys are doing.
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kdgupta87 wrote:
a outoftopic question, can u say how my own country (BANGLADESH) doing in ur webchart
Spaces, capitals, punctuation and correct spelling are required, it's too fucking hard to understand what you're saying. I assume you have a full keyboard and not a mobile phone keypad to type with.
Michael Martin Australia "I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible." - Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
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Some are but very few. That wasn't what Nish was talking about anyway.
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Is it written in .NET? Can it easily be decompiled? I think they aren't working for your competitors, probably rip it off and sell the knockoff dirt cheap in their home country. If this were the situation the only way you would find out is the lack of purchases from India...
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We were going over our analytics the other day and a question came up: "Why don't Indians buy software?". We sell a small to medium sized business application online and we have regular sales in over 70 countries. In our web analytics we see India quite high on the list of countries where people download our software, very high, like fifth out of all countries, as well Indians regularly request a full trial license from us to fully test our software so we know they are engaged and interested. The mystery is that in over a decade in business we still have zero sales to India, not one single one. This despite thousands of downloads by Indians. The countries below India in downloads, even *way* below India still account for a large amount of sales. It's not piracy, we monitor that regularly. We've contacted the Indian people who requested a license as we do everyone and we always get an answer like "We thoroughly checked it out and decided to go with another package". Is there some kind of cultural thing we're not getting? Is it that they will always try to find a local equivalent if they can? Does anyone have a theory as to this mystifying behaviour?
There is no failure only feedback
John C wrote:
It's not piracy, we monitor that regularly.
If you’re happy with your security, so are the bad guys. :)
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
John C wrote:
It's not piracy, we monitor that regularly.
If you’re happy with your security, so are the bad guys. :)
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes:rolleyes: Ok. Believe me when I tell you that we've been doing this for a long time and have been the victims of piracy a *long* time ago. We know exactly what is worth doing and more importantly what isn't worth doing and the implications and we know exactly where to look to find out if we have a pirated anything floating out there and we monitor it regularly.
There is no failure only feedback
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:rolleyes: Ok. Believe me when I tell you that we've been doing this for a long time and have been the victims of piracy a *long* time ago. We know exactly what is worth doing and more importantly what isn't worth doing and the implications and we know exactly where to look to find out if we have a pirated anything floating out there and we monitor it regularly.
There is no failure only feedback
John C wrote:
Believe me when I tell you that we've been doing this for a long time and have been the victims of piracy a *long* time ago. We know exactly what is worth doing and more importantly what isn't worth doing and the implications and we know exactly where to look to find out if we have a pirated anything floating out there and we monitor it regularly.
The ease of defeating a security device or system is proportional to how confident/arrogant the designer, manufacturer, or user is about it, and to how often they use words like “impossible” or “tamper-proof”. :rolleyes:
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
John C wrote:
Believe me when I tell you that we've been doing this for a long time and have been the victims of piracy a *long* time ago. We know exactly what is worth doing and more importantly what isn't worth doing and the implications and we know exactly where to look to find out if we have a pirated anything floating out there and we monitor it regularly.
The ease of defeating a security device or system is proportional to how confident/arrogant the designer, manufacturer, or user is about it, and to how often they use words like “impossible” or “tamper-proof”. :rolleyes:
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
You don't understand the south/southeast Asian mindset. You are not making any sales because if not pirating your software directly (which they are very good at) they are reverse engineering (hoards of educated/unemployed/underemployed developers) your product. You don't stand a chance. :)
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes