The BPO and KPO brigade might soon become a passe with global corporates as they increasingly embrace Market Process Outsourcing (MPO).

Market research outsourcing traditionally saw outsourcing of marketing services like off-shoring peripheral processes like analytics, survey programming, data processing, report writing. However, the industry is fast moving towards outsourcing of core marketing functions like web marketing, email marketing, customer relationship management, blogs, collaterals, case studies, though leadership marketing, demand generation, new media strategies.

EmPower Research, a KPO, gives a conservative figure to market research segment at USD 5-6 billion this year growing between 30–40 per cent every year. The European Society of Market Research, a global association of market research professionals, however pegs the segment at about $21 billion, of which 50 per cent can be outsourced.

Says Vinod Harith, president CMO Axis, “These are specialised digitised marketing processes that can be delivered globally with India offering world class skills combined with an over 60 per cent cost savings. Also as global companies look for growth in emerging markets, they look for partners who understand these markets.”

Technology companies, BFSI for customer communication collaterals, offer design communication; publishing companies in the UK and the US are the early adopters of MPO. Harith says, “The US alone is an $8 billion MPO market. As of now 70 per cent of the work like graphic design, content are being outsourced to local players for basic kind of work, but soon there will be requirement for specialised process driven service providers as the work gets more complex.”

“In the US, you have to shell out about $5,000-$15,000 for a white paper, while in India it can be done at a 60 per cent lower cost,” he adds.

“There are huge opportunities for agencies providing integrated services including research and understanding of client business, target and strategy.”
Sudha Kumar, CEO - Prayag Consulting

Small and medium businesses (SMB) is another market segment for MPOs. “For SMBs, marketing is part time but very crucial work. Neither do they have the bandwidth to attract talent for marketing with hefty packages, nor can they compromise on the marketing output quality. So there’s a need for specialised agencies they can outsource to for cost effective quality output.” The deal size per MNC is around Rs 3 crore per year, while that with per SMB could be around Rs 24 lakh per year. Empower with 120 people team in market research earns 25 per cent of its total revenue from MPO.

Sudha Kumar, co-founder and CEO of Prayag Consulting, says, “There are huge opportunities for agencies providing integrated services including research and understanding of client business, target and strategy.”

According to Sangita Joshi, co-founder and managing partner, EmPower Research, the market research sector could be employing close to 20,000 – 25,000 people as of today. CMO Axis plans to hire close to 180 more people in the next two years. A person employed with a market research outfit could even earn anywhere between Rs 3–4 lakh at entry level to Rs 10- 12 lakh.