Retail Dude

With only a dozen of malls surviving out of more than 200, I think the picture of Indian malls is fading gradually. This is the scenario of the Indian Malls at present and I presume it will be enough for the readers to envisage what I am going to mention.

It has been almost one decade of presence of shopping centres in India, as the first center appeared in late 90s - Ansal Plaza, New Delhi and since then the expansion really accelerated in 2002 – 2003. In the year 2008 – the year of economic slowdown, the development was less than expected and it is evident due to the fact that:

• 34 centres were opened (whereas 74 were planned for opening at the beginning of 2008)

• 8, 50, 000 square meter GLA (whereas 1,800,000 square meter was expected)

Besides the economic downturn, the problem also comes from the developers and retailers. In order to understand them better, a detailed study of the same is given below:

A.) Developers - The Greed for More

On one hand, it is good to see Indian developers investing and providing excellent infrastructure to the country which certainly enhances the overall image but on the other hand it is disappointing to see the blunders done by them for their own properties. Personally, I believe that a developer can accord to both Residential and Commercials at one time but when it comes to Shopping Centres (SC); they should not fire at their own feet!

The following attributes will give a brief idea of the mistakes done by the developers in past:

1. Poor site selection:

Selecting a location without even analyzing about the primary catchment area is a mistake commonly seen. There are many instances in the country wherein erecting a mall at National Highways has been a failure.

2. Vertical expansion:

This country has seen a lot of vacant malls with multiple floors. The ideal case is to have a shopping center with lesser number of floors no matter even if the size of the shopping center is small.

3. Commercialization Issue:

Poor commercialization is like a house built on sand - it will fall down any day. The first objective should be to position anchor stores in their respective position and second is to attract the vanilla brands by using anchors as a tool. It is also important to note here that with a good floor plan and bad commercialization, things could still work but poor floor plan along with good commercialization may lead to irreversible changes.

4. Lack of professional advice:

It is always better to take professional assistance before the commencement of project rather than after its completion, which undeniably reduces the scope of improvement as well as increases costs more.

5. Design issues:

It is rightly said that easy plans normally work, the more complicated you make, the more difficult it becomes. There are many instances like: the strange floor plans - proving to be a hurdle for the shoppers, no sitting arrangements, unplanned tenant mix – not making a mall a destination, low quality local stores or kiosk and so on that is diluting the overall image of the project.

B.) Retailers – Irrational decisions

The slowdown of 2008 has been a great lesson to the Indian Retail companies; they call it lately as correction! Before the year 2008, the expansions had been enormous but now the buzz is “expanding but cautiously.” After reading the factors listed below, one can certainly say the retailers have burnt their fingers themselves:

1. Juvenile expansion:

Before the downturn in 2008, the retailers used to expand frantically almost in every SC without giving much importance to factors like location, catchment analysis, long term vision, presence of the actual buyers, reputation of the developer and much more. These lead to problem of surfeit for which the retailers are still in distress.

2. Sky –scraping commercials:

During this massive expansion, the retailers were at ease to pay high fixed rentals which resulted in high fixed operating cost. Equivalently, the slowdown had a direct impact on the turnover which landed retailers in a miserable condition.

This resulted either in closing down of unprofitable stores or re-negotiations with the developers to reduce the rentals.

Thus, the term Revenue Sharing was introduced; convincing people of the fact it is a Win - Win model.

3. Brand visibility was more important than store profitability:

The expansion (prior to year 2008) accelerated in the most imprudent manner considering the fact that brand visibility* is more important than store profitability leading to calamity for many!

*For retailers, the numbers of stores are directly proportionately to brand visibility whereas store profitability is the result of high turnover and low operating cost.

4. Poor store visibility:

In order to enhance brand visibility; more and more outlets were opened which lead to poor project (mall) and location (store) selection. This yielded in low turnover and wastage of enormous capital expenditure on every store. The selected locations were so poor that even with the best marketing and information tools; no one was aware about the existence of these stores.

Hence, it was a Win–Lose situation wherein; the developer was successful enough in leasing out his space but not the retailer!

The road ahead:

The coming year will have a lot of consolidation. The existing smaller or vacant malls will either be converted into commercials or will be acquired by the larger players. The commercialization strategy will improve as the developers have seen enough and have learned to reject the worst and select the best. The tagline “everybody is welcome” will no longer be entertained and the landlords will be more selective in case of tenant mix and assigning locations.

Conclusion:

To assimilate the above, complete and professional asset management services are required to assist the developers and to create a good balance between the customers, retailers and the owners. It is possible by correct succession of steps beginning from thorough market research till the designing of the property.

Considering the fact that Indian real estate market has high potential and long way to go; the current phase demands improvisation through professional consultancy and other allied services. It is the time to see how owners employ the best use of these services in future.

And if all this is incorporated, one can hope that Indian Malls can once again be on a path of glory.

-
Amanpreet Singh Banga
Commercial Manager, Segece India, New Delhi, India

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CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is regarded as key to the success of any Retailer. Most of the retailers across the globe are investing in Customer Retention and Loyalty Building Programs. In case of a Specialty Retailer who caters a niche variety of product, these can be achieved by well designed CRM Program. But in case of Large Format Retailers like Wal-Mart, Tesco, IKEA or Big Bazaar for that matter, it will not be solely depend on CRM, though it plays an important role. Customers of such Retailers expect Best deal in comparison to others and 24X7 Availability of products. Thus Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) plays pivotal role in success of Large Format Retailers.

SRM is a process which helps Retailer in identifying there key suppliers and integrating them in there business to create a win win situation for both the parties. SRM fills the gap between suppliers and retailer’s understanding of market demand and thus create a win win situation by aligning retailer’s sales plan and supplier’s manufacturing plan together. It ensures that retailers get the best contract and suppliers get long term commitment. Moreover it eliminates the possibility of any kind of dispute between both parties by bringing them on same page in regard to all policies like returns, facing, pricing etc.

The process of SRM can be penned down as follows:

• Identification of potential suppliers based on qualification required.
• Evaluating and selecting suppliers on various parameters like product, price, capability, background, brand etc.
• Entering into agreement with selected supplier in terms of price (term of sale); return policy, ordering policy etc.
• Identifying key suppliers in different product categories based on sales volume and demand of product.
• Selected strategic suppliers will be CPFR (Collaborative Planning Forecasting and Replenishment) Vendors and will have limited access to Retailers Sales Plan so that they can align there Manufacturing Plan accordingly.
• Retailer need to regularly monitor the performance of Suppliers.

In my next post I would be discussing on CPFR in detail

_______________________________________________

- Rajeev Damani

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Hello Readers,

Its been an awfully long time since any post in the blog and due apologies for it. This post is more of a thought, that i was having for a long time now and thus wanted to share with all of you.

India has now proven what a strong economy is all about. Although it has been the last fortress to conquer to all brands across the globe, they still flock to this amazing demography. The varied profiles of the Indian masses have made it even more challenging for hitting the right positioning bucket. Brands are made and brands are eroded in this country. But when i come down to the basic idea of branding and its stages, the last being its ambassador, i wonder does it still work that way?

A simple exercise: Think of a 2 brands (Products, Goods etc) which have in the last 10 years been built routinely built upon from scratch?

In most probability you will come up by sayin “Ipod” (but wasnt it Apple Incs branding that it shouldered), or say Viao (but isnt it a Sony First?). The point i am tryin to make is that do not count brands which are the children of some huge names. Are you left with any? Yes you might get a few in the service  category! (Websites, Restaurants et all)

The most popularly talked about brands and leading examples in classrooms are all brands which are pre millenium. Does it mean, that it is getting increasingly difficult if not impossible to follow the brand building exercise? Or are they very short lived? What about brand icons, associations that we have read about? Do they dont apply anymore.

If i may talk of the Indian Consumer, is it becoming difficult to get that brand loyalty or followers from them? or Is it that the basket of offerings have increased and hence the result?

These questions are more or less inter related and have plagued me for quite some time now. I wanted to know the various points people make to encourage a discussion. The most logical thing that came to my mind was that the consumer today is more aware and therefore has comparisons and benchmarks of their own. They know what quallity and service means to them in their own yard sticks. I do not see any company fulfilling them all at any point to all the segments. Therefore a universally appealing brand is missing. We have more switchers than ever in any context. What people think is branded (having a name tag) is what is craved for. It could be the technology, the product offing or even the latest “in thing” that enthuses its customers. Its not about the association you build these days. That stong presence of a community is certainly missing. Its something that you want to “own” , which in branding terminology is something in you, that wants to be a part of the brand. Aspirations being build onto a personality to create ambassadors of it. Branding expertise is very low in India where manufacturers still think that branding means advertising. Ideally the brand response has been low to the consumer expectations is what comes to me.

This wasnt the case in the past, where the most strongest of brands today in the market have been created with a certain degree of pedigree in their own fields. How was the associations made, which is remote in todays context? I also beleive that the brands in history are the ones where the product arose of a need, which ideally gave them the exclusivity of addressing a need. Most brands today compete with each other of pushing products to people. Lifestyle concepts have risen only in the last decade, which might be another contributing factor of very less brands making its presence felt.Companies that build for the long-term and establish brand equity, rather than brand image, should outride any ups and downs of markets and of customers.

Will it then help build a brand in its true sense?

Cheers

Sudip

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It’s a long time we talk about green – a buzz word of the past as in the recent time it was busted by the more powerful words like RECISSION, ECONOMIC CRISIS etc. But what I think is this crisis gave more motivation to retailers to make their business model more sustainable and future proof, so that they can erase the word crisis from their business books. And this sustainability is tightly related with Green initiations. But this green thing is not only for sustainability, if you can be creative in sustaining you can also win awards and also free media coverage and in result good word of mouth and advertising for FREEE. So where are these goodies -?

I came across two such communities who organize the Green awards and I think there might be more. And there main reason behind this is to create awareness of Green issues and to promote companies to reduce their carbon footprint and to serve the society in a better and sustainable manner.

The first organization is GREEN (GREEN is a catalyst for social and environmental change), UK’s first truly green communication agencies who organized Green Awards. And according to them the Green Awards were set up to recognize and reward creative work that communicates the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility, sustainable development and ethical best practice in any sector and across any marketing discipline. The award was launched in 2006 and in the three years since its inception, the ceremony has become established as a major event on the eco-calendar, enjoying great prestige and substantial media coverage.

And the GREEN 2008 Goes to —-

1. Green Awards GRAND PRIX & Best Green Internal Communications)- Nokia: The Power of We

2. Best Green Outdoor- Coca-Cola GB: Talent From Trash

3. Best Green Packaging - Lush Ltd: Squeaky Green - There’s no greener packaging than no packaging & Cadbury: Cadbury Eco-Eggs

4. Best Green Website - Friends of the Earth: The Big Ask(www.thebigask.com) & largeblue: green.tv(www.green.tv)

The second organization is IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group) which is a membership community for the e-retail industry, whose vision is to maximize the commercial potential of online shopping. With more than 18 years experience in a rapidly-changing e-commerce market IMRG help members maximize the business opportunities, and stay up to date with developments in the e-retail marketplace.

The IMRG celebrates the green initiatives by organizing “The Online Green Awards” . More than 140 business leaders, academics and representatives of industry associations gathered together for the second annual On Line Green Awards – affectionately known as the OLGA’s – at the Kensington Roof Gardens in London.

And the OLGA 2008 winners are

1. Consumer Award Winners –

a. Small Retailer - Celtic Sheepskin

b. Large Retailer – Ocado

2. Panel Award Winners –

a. Small Retailer - Arena Flowers

b. Large Retailer - Dixons.co.uk

c. Large Supplier - Home Delivery Network

d. Green Thinker – Kelkoo

e. Grand Prix – eBay

You can surf through following links for more info and nominations –

GREEN - http://www.greenawards.co.uk/

IMRG - http://www.imrg.org/

One more interesting website to know your Own “Personal Carbon Footprint” –

http://mtc/InGreen/Pages/HouseholdEmissions.aspx

- Prateek Katiyar

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We have seen worst in the last quarter and even during the beginning of this New Year. We were unable to properly welcome 2009 because of the global crisis and credit crunch. But what I am hearing form all around is the worst is still to come. What will be that worst even a blurred thought of that shivered me to the bottom. So instead of thinking of the worst, I tried to analyze things and tried to find out are there some facts that really backup the predictions people are making or it’s just a negative aura around people which forcing them to say like that. I can see in the last few months to cope with the economic crisis RBI and Govt. had taken lots of steps and so do the retailers and manufacturers. The Reserve Bank swiftly initiated a series of measures, which helped to assuage liquidity conditions, while reassuring the market that the Indian banking system continued to be safe and sound, well capitalized and well regulated. And because of some of the steps taken by govt. we saw an increase in consumption demand mainly reflecting rise in basic exemption limits and tax slabs, Sixth Pay Commission awards, debt waiver for farmers and pre-election expenditure. So there is still consumerism prevailing in the market, there can be different factors for that like the policies and measures taken by govt., reducing oil prices, bumper promotions given by retailers, reduction in inflation, decline in WPI driven by decline in prices of minerals oil, iron and steel, oilseeds, edible oils, oil cakes, raw cotton. Also retailers are controlling their inventories and manufactures are regulating their production, Manufactured products inflation, year-on-year, also moderated to 5.9 per cent on January 10, 2009 as compared with the peak of 11.9 per cent in mid-August 2008. So the policy measures are now in place and many other are in pipeline which resulting as a healing effect for the situation and I can see some stability in the economy. And as far as consumer behavior is concerned, Most of the consumer behavior we saw in 2008 will continue well into this year, Rosalind Wells, the National Retail Federation’s chief economist, predicts “Shoppers will be seeking value and trading down to discount and off-price retailers in order to stretch their purchasing power.” indicating shoppers will shop.

The GDP growth declined but it’s still positive and there is still GROWTH. I might sound too optimistic so using this open forum I will appreciate reader’s comments on this topic. I know in the back of everyone’s mind this is a question- “Are there any signs of recovery?”

- Prateek Katiyar

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Rajeev’s honest post calls for a round of applause. Honest being the key-word. Here and Now.

It will not be untrue to say that the average urban consumer has lost significant trust / faith on the average business. We all seem to know that a Nike or Reebok “can” be bought at heavy discounts & why! That, unfortunately also means that apparently very “robust” brand identities have lost much of their values! And that we all seem to be in the know that what Koutons does, as an USP, is not very different to what the Benettons of this world offer, at Factory Outlets or Clearance Sales. Too many brands are on “upto XX%” discounts, for too long, to pull the perceived premiumness off!

So, what’s next?

One - Why can’t we (marketers) broaden our user-base, significantly? It’s already proven that FMCGs, which cater to almost the largest user bases worldwide, are the least affected by slowdowns. Yes, it IS definitely much easier to sell one garment & make a killing but then, let’s not crib when that “one” customer walks away! Premium should now become a dirty, very dirty word. Across products, services & realty!

Two - Having decided on #1, the second action comes naturally. Penetrate! No, Adidas does not need to do a Bata, yet. But, that’s the way to go. There were times when MNC brands & their custodians used to crack jokes about Bata. I am sure the tables have turned since. The kind of low-cost presence Bata has across most of India, the level of trust people still have in the brand, much more than make up for its decidedly stodgy marketing. Bata & Raymonds are two great retailing examples which have stood the test of time and even geography. There are many wonderful learnings we can pick up from them. And no, it’s NOT unfashionable to replicate success formula, even that of “grand-dad” brands.

Three - In steps one & two we may have managed to Buckle our Collective Shoes. Like Johnnie Walker & one Mr. Gandhi once preached….let’s start walking now! Walk the talk. Let our brand communications not try to project the “unachievable” aspirations any more. The bluffs have been called off, time & again. Why spend shooting in Monte Carlo when the buyer cannot possibly afford to fly to even Mumbai? Every bloody product & service went “aspirational” with a vengeance, in the past 3/4 years. It “was” easy, as the heavily misused (term) TG was so easy to fit-in, into such communication! That same TG is now nursing its deep wounds from Dalal Street to Wall Street, via Chanchalaguda Prison. Let’s get real boys!

Four - The foreplay ends here & out comes the unpalatable truth. We now know that ballistic rates of increments or career paths are History. So are possibly the obscene bonuses & incentives. How about a little bit of real, hard work? You know, it feels good, really good, to “earn” the pay-cheque every month. Try it, and you’ll sleep a happy one tonight. Well, if that erodes market-cap of sedative marketing companies…good riddance

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Not on the List? The Truth about Impulse Purchases

For years, retailers and manufacturers of consumer products have taken for granted the notion that attractive presentation and a bit of whimsy profoundly influence most shoppers’ purchasing decisions. In his 1999 book Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, psychologist and market researcher Paco Underhill described supermarkets “as places of high impulse buying…. Fully 60% to 70% of purchases there were unplanned, grocery industry studies have shown us.”

Underhill’s book and subsequent studies have since prompted retailers to devote growing resources to in-store promotion — for example, featuring certain products at the ends of aisles and in checkout lines to encourage impulse buying.

But Wharton marketing professor David R. Bell and two colleagues beg to differ, describing the idea that most supermarket purchases are unplanned as something of an urban legend. In a new research paper, “Unplanned Category Purchase Incidence: Who Does It, How Often and Why,” Bell and his co-authors arguethat the amount of unplanned buying is closer to 20%.

Their research does not indicate that in-store marketing is unimportant, but that retailers may need to rethink strategies for it. The researchers found that certain traits of shoppers, including age, income and their particular shopping style, have a greater effect on making unplanned purchases than does the store or environment.

In other words, Bell says, “the differences are based on who they are rather than what they’re exposed to. It relates to the issue of nature vs. nurture. Is it demographics or the in-store stimulus? The prevailing view is it’s more nurture. We’re saying it’s more nature.” Bell’s co-authors are Daniel Corsten, professor of operations and technology at the Instituto de Empresa Business School in Madrid, and George Knox, professor of marketing at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. Their paper is based on a detailed study of grocery shoppers’ behavior in the Netherlands, but the findings can be applied generally to American retailers as well, Bell says.

The researchers began by reviewing a substantial body of academic literature that appears to support Underhill’s estimate of unplanned purchasing activity. The authors say that the literature, partially underwritten by the Grocery Marketing Association and the Point of Purchase Advertising Institute, has fueled the substantial growth of in-store marketing budgets in recent years.

“The debate over the extent of unplanned purchasing and the underlying drivers has enormous practical significance,” the authors write. “It dictates where marketing dollars are spent (in store or outside the store) and in what amounts.”

Looking at Real Purchases

What the researchers found missing in the previous studies was “appropriate and robust” data from actual purchases that would indicate what shoppers’ intentions were when they went to a store. The previous studies also did not clearly define “unplanned purchases” to Bell and his colleagues’ satisfaction. Does it mean switching brands of detergent from what a shopper usually buys, or buying any product from a category not on a shopping list? And if a shopping list included detergent but not a brand or size, is the final purchase planned or unplanned?

The starting point for Bell’s study, which was partially funded by a large European consumer products company, was a review of data from 2,945 supermarket shoppers over a two-week period in July 2006. The consumers shopped at 21 different supermarkets, making 18,000 purchases in 58 categories, such as bread, beer, coffee, produce, detergent, diapers and shampoos and conditioners.

The shoppers completed short questionnaires after each trip, checking off purchases in a category and indicating whether a purchase was “planned in advance of the store visit” or simply “decided in store and purchased.” The shoppers attached their store receipts to ensure accuracy. More information on household traits and perceptions of the supermarkets where they shopped was gathered in 90-minute in-home interviews.

The questionnaire and the interviews provided Bell, Corsten and Knox with demographic data, including income bracket and life stage; “shopping style” information, including whether a shopper considered himself “fast and efficient”; and whether the shopper learned about prices from newspaper advertising or in the store. The respondents also were asked about their knowledge of a particular store and its prices, range of offerings and image; if they shopped on weekdays or weekends; and whether shopping trips were long or short.

Bell noted that American shoppers are different from their Dutch counterparts in at least one respect that may merit further study. While most Americans drive to a grocery store, people in the Netherlands are just as likely to walk or ride a bicycle as they are to drive. The researchers found that shoppers who walk to a market are less likely to make unplanned purchases than those who bike or drive.

The most basic information the research revealed is that no unplanned buying was done on slightly more than 60% of all shopping trips. On the rest of the trips, the shoppers made an average of three unplanned purchases — far fewer than previous research indicated.

The amount of unplanned buying goes up with the total number of categories in which shoppers make purchases, such as bread or milk. But because a smaller percentage of shoppers are doing much of the impulse buying, the average number of unplanned purchases stays low.

More telling data about what makes shoppers behave as they do came from correlating 32 variables with the fact that the majority of all shopping trips include no unplanned purchasing. Here are some of the variables compared with the overall average:

• Young, unmarried adult households with higher incomes do 45% more unplanned buying.

• Households led by an older person and those that have larger families do 31% to 65% less spontaneous purchasing.

• There is 25% less unplanned buying among shoppers who mainly use newspaper ads for price information.

• People who consider themselves very “fast and efficient” shoppers are far less likely to make impulse buys — 82% less than the average.

• If the purpose of a shopping trip is “immediate needs or forgotten items,” the rate of buying in unplanned categories falls by 53%.

• Unplanned purchasing goes up by 23% if the shopping trip itself is unplanned, but it goes down by 13% if it’s a major or weekly trip.

• If a shopping trip includes stops at multiple stores, there is 9% less unplanned buying at the second or third store.

• Unplanned purchasing goes up by 44% if the shopper goes to the store by car instead of on foot.

“The message … is that the amount of unplanned buying that takes place is more about person-to-person variance than about the store environment itself,” Bell says. “Can you really jack up unplanned buying with stimuli, when the greatest amount of variance is in people?”

Two Strategies Emerge

The answer to that question, according to Bell and his fellow researchers, is yes, but it will take sales strategies based on more thinking and market research. The researchers note that their data has enough detail to enable them to offer two possible strategies retailers could use to increase spontaneous purchasing in their stores.

“They can ‘do more’ with existing customers, or they can make a deliberate attempt to attract … shoppers who are more likely to make unplanned purchases,” they write. “The ‘do more’ strategy takes the existing mix of shoppers as given and focuses on the in-store environment. The ‘attract better customers’ strategy involves a broader change to marketing strategy, store image and so on.”

The data indicate that the “do more” approach, using, say, better in-store signage or increasing the number of promotions, would be less difficult but perhaps less effective than trying to attract more customers who are inclined to do more unplanned purchasing. The benefits of the two strategies would need to be weighed against the cost.

“Overall, traits [of customers] appear more important than states [of stores] in generating unplanned category purchase incidence,” the researchers write. “This raises some important questions for both retailers and their suppliers. Retailers may wonder if their current in-store marketing budgets are too high. Suppliers might want to revisit budget allocations: Should they re-prioritize marketing activities designed to place the brand firmly into the shoppers’ [planned purchases]?

“More fundamentally, this research suggests that different consumer segments have different and varying ‘receptivity’ to different marketing activities. If so, marketers need to develop … plans with an understanding of these varying levels of receptivity in mind.”

Bell suggests that one possible avenue for learning more about how much impulse buying a person might do is to use the data retailers collect through their customer-loyalty programs. “They need to learn more about the shopper from a holistic perspective.”

Courtesy: India Knowledge @ Wharton – Subscriber Newsletter

- Arnab

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Hope you did read the 1st? That would help….

Last quarter was bad - globally. Pathetic specifically for India. We found vehicle sales plummeting, sophisticated software companies revealing crude misappropriations, IIP on an all time low, re-ignition of the India-Pak short-circuits & what not. Overall a gloomy situation, fanning senses of insecurity.

However, two sectors have been growing relentlessly, silently at times and definitely (without any fudging that is). Telecom and FMCG. How? Why? Aren’t the consumers delaying expenditures here?

As we did discuss a few months back, certain sectors seem to be completely “insulated” from eventualities!

Not only have FMCG & Telco majors like HLL, ITC, Airtel notched up better top-lines. They have also managed significant improvements on their bottom-lines! IF cost-cutting and SKU-rationalising were the secrets behind such successes, then shall we say that all other did ”very poorly” in comparison?

The difference is simple & just requires us to remove the blinkers. Even if for a little while.

Almost ALL the growth of these companies came on the back of exceptionally good “rural” traction! I have sopken to quite a few people from our hinterlands in the past week or so. You know what? They have not even heard about Satyam or Nifty or Madoff! Neither have their “liquidity” dried up. Fuel price cuts have made them very happy though. Moser-Baer’s clever DVD pricing has delighted them. But big cuts in airfares are way above their radar!

I presume that’s a whole lot one can say about resilience of the Indian economy.

Pet Shop Boys had a huge top-of-the-pop hit around the 90s. It featured on MTV for not less than 3 months, regularly. The track was “Go West”.

It’s time we had such good news. Go Rural dudes, there’s enough for 3 generations…..to make a success of.

Related Reading : http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMDkvMDEvMTQjQXIwMjIwMQ==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

- Arnab

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The Brand Gap is one of the most highly read books on branding, written by  Marty Neumeier. The book deals with the essentialities of branding. The book is a real good read, when you want to know and simplyfy the strategic decisions of branding to the actual work. The presentation deals with the issues discussed in the book. Its one of the most wonderful depiction of concepts through imagery. One of my favourites. This is just a remake of the original slide, but was worth enough to share it. Please find the presentation here https://cid-c651926f6a1fb45f.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Brand%20Gap.ppt

Cheers!

- Sudip

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These days came to fill some colors to the black and white balance sheets of american retailers, or we can say black, cyber and mobile days came to save the holiday season in this weak economic period. And as a result retailers not only got huge footfall but also an awesome sale. Some store managers quoted –

“Morning traffic was “awesome”, and “even better than last year.”

“I’m guessing it was about 85 percent credit and 15 percent cash,”

“People are happy, and few — if any — mention the economy.”

 As soon as I heard about these black Friday and cyber Monday, one thing came into my mind and that was Big Bazaar. It’s the only retailer in India who leveraged these similar occasions in India like “Maha Saver theen din” on Dhanterash and something similar even on Independence Day(I am not saying other retailers don’t do these kind of promotion but the kind of advertisement Big bazaar do just overwhelm all others). And because of this it made huge retail sales, regardless of razor thin margins due to offers there was profit, reason was volumes. But there is negative aspect of these days and that is handling tremendous traffic and rush, which Big Bazaar many a times failed to handles and same happen on Black Friday, retailers were unable to handle rush and on Cyber Monday most of the retail websites goes down too often causing inconvenience to customers. But in the last what matters were the sales for retailers and special offers to consumers.

And whats there in this for Indian retailers – a lesson to form a community not a competition and organize these days nationwide and organized retail wide, together they will be better equip to handle rush and to make profits.

- Prateek Katiyar

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