Finally, a step from the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), aimed at combating the organized retail giants. For some this might be one of the most laudable moves, by any such body, in the recent times. Well, a skeptic like me, can only wonder, how much relief would a move like this bring to the widely spread network of traditional retailers? You may ask, the rationale for behind such a thought? And my modest answer, a figure, which any retail professional can answer even if coaxed in his sleep. The figure of 12 million or 15 million (depending on which report you refer to), i.e. the number of traditional retailers in our country.
And, subsequently, the questions that arise - How many small kirana stores can we manage to train through a handful of “retail schools”? By when do we except to see even a transient shift in the way these stores are managed? According to Praveen Khandelwal, CAIT secretary general , the retail schools would aim at equipping “them adequately to retain their present hold and help them grow.”
Another area of concern lies in the “key areas” of focus for these retail schools. The aim is to include modules such as - improving the image of stores, planning of product range, reducing cost through stock management and cash control, and building customer loyalty. If I look at all these areas objectively, apart from stock management with main focus on ensuring optimum quantity at these stores, other areas seem to have more of a conceptual appeal rather than a practical one.
For instance, improving store image would certainly cost an additional investment. At the same time, for planning product range again demands investment in researching your customer’s preference, finding adequate suppliers. Not to forget, most of the traditional stores lack flexibility along with insufficiency of funds required to be spent on effective POS systems for keeping track of the inventory. Therefore, restructuring the product range for kiranas would be just like spending more on advertising of an already insolvent company. Finally, as far as customer loyalty goes, it’s an area where, in my view, none other than these very kirana stores already ‘rule the roost’. Rather, the mom and pop stores might have some useful tips for our modern retailers, who are willing to take the consumers by storm.
Mr. Khandelwal, your response please.
- Vivin Wason
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September 14th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Hi Vivin,
What I feel is that there is no need of such training. It will confuse them rather than improve. These Kirana stores contradict most of the theories of modern retail like VM, atmospherics. But at the same time uniqueness of this model lie in that only. This helps them to decrease their cost per sqft substantially in comparison to modern retailers. And as far as customer relations and market demand is concerned, they have them as a legacy and excel in that. I still prefer to go and buy a soap from my near by kirana store because there is no sense in standing in a long queue at the near by convenience store and then carry it in a seal packed packet (see how green they are) & then again waiting for the gatekeeper to crosscheck it with bill (which they seldom understands). So, I guess remodeling them with extra training will all go in vain as all major retailers now feel that it hard to compete with kirana stores (check the post on correction and consolidation in Indian retail).
September 15th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I partially agree with both of you, because educating the small kirana stores can be really beneficial, as education will ofcourse provide you with some insight on how to save that additional money, which can proove to be a boon during this time of economic crisis, it can very well turn into a bane as well, if over reacted or adapted to, Depends upon how smartly these kirana stores adapt to these strategies, Imrpving a store image and customer loyalty doesnt necessarily involve a lot of money! just some smartnes!