Himachal Pradesh Announces Classes 10, 12 Board Exams Dates

Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education Board (HPBOSE) has announced the dates for Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations on its official website hpbose.org. The Class 10 board exams will be conducted in the morning shift from 8:45 am to 12:00 pm and Class 12 board exams will be in the evening shift from 1:45 pm to 5:00 pm. The Class 10 and Class 12 board exams will begin from April 13 in the pen-and-paper format at the designated examination centres.

HP BOSE will conduct Class 9 to 12 examination in two terms

Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HP BOSE) will conduct Class 9 to 12 examinations in two terms, Term 1 and Term 2. Board President Dr Suresh Kumar Soni will hold a press conference tomorrow, October 7 to explain course division, evaluation and other subjects in Term-1 and Term-2 examinations.

For utilitarian products and services, those that serve a purpose and not much else, customers want convenience. An example could be the rice or wheat used for daily meals – these products are noticed only when quality goes down or price goes up. The only value that companies can add is to provide regularity, convenience, and predictability with respect to the product and its shopping experience. In direct contrast, hedonic products and services, those that provide enjoyment or satisfaction, are purchased for the experience of consuming. For example, an ice cream or a spa visit – these are opportunities to delight the customer through variety, quality of service, ambience, and interaction. The convenience needed for utilitarian products might be more easily obtained in the online setup through ease of ordering, avoiding the hassle of transport, and unhurried examination of nutrition information. However, the enjoyment of a hedonic product is often physical and involves sensory elements: the aroma of good coffee, watching a loved one trying on a piece of jewellery, a soothing spa experience. Online consumption is simply not sufficient for hedonic experiences. Which brings up the question of technology.

The mechanics of online shopping are largely in place and improving over time, and the pandemic has accelerated customer adoption of online shopping. Online shopping, however, is an instance of technology substituting an existing service, i.e., physical stores and on-call delivery. Over time, online shopping portals have added features such as try-on and 3D views of products, especially wearable products. This, again, is a case of technology complementing online shopping, virtual reality trying to cover up for lack of real experiences forced by the pandemic. When the pandemic is behind us, technology will have to go beyond substituting and complementing to augmenting shopping experiences. Augmented reality and virtual reality will race at a faster pace to enhance shopping beyond a real shopping experience – for example, the variety of online shopping for fashion apparel combined with “feeling” the texture of the clothes, in a gamified environment.

Privacy vs personalization, or both?

Personalized and customized online shopping experiences have gone hand-in-hand with privacy concerns, prompting latest legislation such as the GDPR that aims to protect customer data privacy. Despite digital advances, this has left marketers scratching their heads as they figure out ways to understand and serve the customers without invading their privacy. The smart salesperson in the store who could show you the exact pair of shoes you wanted by observing you and “understanding” your need was nice, but the algorithm that recommends shoes you might like isn’t so nice. With the imminent switch from third-party data to first-party data, marketers in all domains need to figure out how to understand customers by deeply understanding aggregate behavior to predict and carefully relying on individual behavior to customize. As the pandemic eases, this is one space to watch out for.

With the pandemic wearing out, an era of prosperity and development could be in sight. For companies, this could herald a time to make headway on both business goals and societal goals. For shopping behavior, while deals and discounts could still carry the day, smart marketing will need to prioritize customer value in order to sell effectively with a customer-first philosophy.

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