Shopping is Fun, Paying is not...

For each of us, Shopping is fun, we spend hours and hours going from one shop to another, and in a mall, from one side of the huge floor to another, un and down the esclators, even spending hours at the food court or the new restaurants that are starting up all the time ..

Yet, after all the hours of shopping, trying on, deciding etc etc, we then head to the check out counter and guess what we see ! A long line of shoppers just like you and with loads and loads of shopping !

This is when, you have to decide whether you will wait in the queue for the next 5 or 10 minutes and just leave all the shopping in the bag and just make a quick exit ....

Most prefer to wait ( after all you have taken so much time deciding ) and watch what all the others have shopped !

Increasingly, some shoppers seem to decide that the wait is not worth it and abandon the shopping trolley and go out..

What are the learnings for retailers?
If the queues are moving, then the shopper is more likely to stay and get the billing done...

But

If the transactions are not crisp, if they cannot see an organized checkout, they are very likely to not end up buying. Some people just turn around and leave as soon as they see a busy checkout.

It is the responsibility of the store staff, to check if the queue is getting to be too long and arrange to get new billing counters opened .. A sign that we are opening new counters or moving customers to counters in another area / floor where the queues are less can help break the queues..

Have you seen any such pro active stores  ? Share them with us ...

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What should we learn from SRK's and his KKR team?

After his team won the IPL -5 version in Chennai , SRK  praised each and every player. "I am proud of Gautam and the boys. We made a video of families of all our players and saw Manvinder Bisla's parents speaking about their son. They must be very proud and so am I. I want to tell the people of the Bengal, that now this team belongs to you."
He added, “This is something the youngsters should believe in – resilience, patience, perseverance – if you believe, you can win.”

What are the lessons for us from this :-

1.A simple effort... Like he said, "we made a video of all our families and we saw.......

Can you do that for your team ? With mobile phones having cameras, it is so easy to record and play with the rest of the team !! Try it, it will help in motivating your team..

2. Some thing the youngsters should believe , or every one should  believe in... Resilience, Patience, Perserverance ... if you believe,, you can win...


Share some of your own experiences, when because you came back from the lows, you were patient or you persevered, you were able to succeed finally.

Your story might inspire countless others just like SRK must have inspired his team for over 5 years, to win the tournament this time...

Shivaram
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PS: SRK, the way you were standing on the first floor is a safety hazard. Something you and we can do without !Imagine, what would have happened, if you had fallen and your team had lost the match !     Pl forward this to SRK, if you know his email id .....:)

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Why can't Cricket Commentators be Salesmen too ?

Commentators cannot stop being salesmen

As the ball soars high into the night sky, they cry out: “That one's out of here.” Oddly, seconds later the ball is caught or only just clears the boundary, tickling a fielder's fingers on the way. Of course we all get carried away, we're not all perfect at judging trajectory (heck even fielders aren't), but these occurrences aren't rare. Overstatement, especially when twigged to be deliberate, grates. Hyperbole and exaggeration have for long been on page one of the IPL commentator's manual; with a couple of honourable exceptions, it seems that hasn't gone away. Nor has the unabashed plugging of products when play is in progress. “Beautiful car,” they remark as the camera zooms in on the vehicle, mounted for display just beyond the boundary. “Wish it was mine.” What we would all wish is for commentators to simply call the game; the hawking can be left to the commercial breaks.

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/article3459006.ece

Technically, Sidhu is not a commentator, but he probably is the most "colorfull" of the lot, both in his appearance and his choice of words. Probably, the best Salesman, the Commentators fraternity ever had. I sometimes enjoy his words more than even the cricket. His analysis of the situation is very good too... Like the colourfull dresses the teams wear, his colorfull personality works too...

So, why is the author of this article so peeved about ? What is wrong with the commentators being Salesmen as well, for the products that they either officially or unofficially sell.

Each of us are Salesmen through out the day, whether we are getting our kids to eat their breakfast before they go to school, or at the office or shop or back at home, after a hard day's work...

Selling is part of the way of life, and the better we are able to learn the different ways of selling, so much the better our own lives will be.

So, if some one is practising his selling skills, let us evaluate it whether we need that "product" or not.. . If we dont like it, we dont buy it ! that all...

Let us remember, that IPL-5 is as much sports as much as entertainment and a major Sales Program for the sponsorers.

Incidentally, the industry has even special words for it... Above the line or Below the line.....

What do you think ?

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Business is down across India.Retailers - What can you do ?

What did you say today ?

Across the Indian Retail Market, Industries, Brands, Un Brands, have all started feeling the pinch of the drop in walkins to the stores, in a significant manner. Whether they are consumer durable brands, investment categories like the gold jewellers or the stock markets, every thing is down and going down signficantly.

Retailers had seen the bad patch in March, did some recovery in April due to festivals like Akshaya Tritiya. The market seems to be so down, that even my neighbour who is a Doctor is coming home early ! as he sees less patients these days ! And more and more hoardings are blank.

That for me a good thumb rule of businesses being down these days...

We have been discussing many things retailers can do( for the past 50 blogs) , on how Retailers can improve their business at this blog http://www.RetailGurukul.blogspot.com.

Generating walkin through new advertising, new discount schemes dont seem to be working as well as before.

Therefore, we need to " maximise" every walkin to the store. The very definition of walkin to a store is many a times difficult to be agreed upon in national chain stores today, but that is a topic for another day !

Current Situation :-

The Standard method of Greeting is a "smile" and may be a mumbled "How may I help you ", if at all. But in these days of multiple floors of stores , multiple types of "staff" - company, brand, contract, security etc , it is increasing difficult to "standardise" even the greeting at the stores, even in shopping malls like LifeStyle or Central or Shoppers etc leave alone speciality stores of apparel, consumer electronics etc. In fact, until one goes to a particular "shop in shop", the rest of the staff can just walk by, without even bothering to look at you ! You could possibly enter and leave a store, without any one making a direct contact with you !

In such a situation, an article by Jeff Mowatt “The Art of Client Service: Influence with Ease”, Jeffmowatt.com  caught my attention. One of the 5 tips he says is a new method of greeting . And I quote him for his simple easy to understand explanation...                      

by Jeff Mowatt

Greeting Walk-In Customers: Can I help you? That's the typical greeting offered to customers. And the typical response is No thanks, just looking. These tips can ensure that your greeting makes customers want to buy and keep coming back.

Quick, what’s the typical greeting used most often by 60% of retail stores? You’re right if you guessed, “Can I help you?” The visitor’s usual response, “No thanks, just looking.” The problem is the walk-in customer is never “just looking.” They came into the premises because at some level they perceived a need. This greeting only reminds visitors that they’re not here to buy. Lousy selling strategy.

The way you and your front line employees greet walk-in customers has a huge impact on your bottom line. Here are some tips to ensure that you and your employees greet customers in a way that makes them want to buy and keep coming back.

1. For another day !

2 . Ask if they’ve been in beforeOne of the best money making greetings is, “Hi, have you been here before?” Michael Gerber, author of the best seller, The E-myth, says that his clients who have switch from, “Can I help you?” to this greeting have seen sales increase by 16%. While Gerber claims to have no idea why this works so well, I think it’s because this greeting reminds the customer that they’ve been at your business before, so it’s a familiar place. Familiar means safe. Safe means trust. And trust means buy.

“If saying, ‘Hi, have you been here before?’ can increase sales by 16%, then it’s certainly worth a test.”

With this greeting the employee can also add, “Welcome back, we appreciate your coming to see us again.” That provides that all-important recognition. They can ask the customer about what they bought on their last visit and how they like it. That provides the opportunity to provide positive reinforcement and/or clear up any concerns.

If this is the visitor’s first visit, then the employee has a great excuse to show them around, identify needs and point out specials. At any rate, if saying, “Hi, have you been here before?” can increase sales by 16%, then it’s certainly worth a test.

Unquote...

I thought this is a very simple idea, that can be implemented inmediately, without having to change any thing significant.  He quotes another author,  of a 16 % increase in conversions..

While we can argue that, the data is for America and we are in India, this is probably one of the ideas, that actually require "zero money" to try out. And the results are visible at the end of every transaction itself.

Retailers and Sales staff - Change you "Welcome" today..

Are  you ready to try it out with the next customer and let me know what was the result ?

Best of luck...

Shivaram

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Customer or Company Policy .Who is right ?

What do you think ? Who is right and who was wrong. What would you have done as a customer or as a Brand manager in such a situation. ?

Is the brand image spoilt because of a 23,000 Rs. one jean with all these articles ?

Or Is the brand correct in not refunding ? just because the customer came back after 30 days instead of 10 days as per company policy ?


I had a colleaque, Snigdha, who would always ask, when ever a decision was being made in the Corporate office, Was it policy or Purpose behind the decision that we were taking. We always thought the decision , we made "the purpose"  more important, though, she would not always agree !!!!

Quote....


Wrong size jeans: Armani to pay Rs 23K
by Dev Borah

New Delhi:The Indian arm of leading global fashion house, Giorgio Armani, has been asked by a consumer forum here to refund the cost of a pair of jeans to a customer and pay Rs 10,000 as compensation for harassment for selling him the wrong size and then refusing to exchange the garment.
Giorgio Armani India Pvt Ltd, the joint venture of Italy based fashion label Giorgio Armani and DLF Retail Brands, was held guilty of unfair trade practice by the South West Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum for not showing the correct size of the jeans on its label.
"It stands proved that the tag attached to the jeans mentioned the size at the waist as 33 inches and as deposed by the complainant actually it was 37 inches and hence it could not fit his size. Counsel for the OP (Giorgio Armani) failed to satisfy us that the measurements as shown on the label tally with the size of the jeans.
"Thus it is proved that the measurements mentioned on the label of the jeans are falsely stated which is tantamount to unfair trade practice," it said.
The bench presided by Narendra Kumar directed the fashion house to also pay Rs 10,000 as compensation for harassment and Rs 3,000 as cost of litigation.
The order of the forum came on the plea of East Azad Nagar resident Manjeet Singh who had alleged that he had bought a pair of jeans from a showroom of Giorgio Armani here, which turned out to be of a bigger size than what was mentioned on
the label, but the fashion house had refused to exchange it.
Giorgio Armani in its defence had contended that the jeans was brought for exchange more than a month after its purchase and they only replace garments within 10 days of sale.
It had also said Singh had stretched the jeans after wearing it for more than a month.
The forum rejected the contentions saying the fashion house cannot escape from its liability for "not representing their goods truly".

Dev Borah | May 23, 2012 at 4:59 pm | Tags: Business News, Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, consumer forum, DLF Retail Brands, Giorgio Armani India Pvt Ltd, Indian Retail, Indian Retail News, Retail News & Analysis | Categories: Retail News & Analysis | URL: http://wp.me/p2hw2z-sz

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Customer or Khast se mar ! ? What is your experience

While there are many definitions of Consumer/ Customer , I will share what I found, easy to under stand and remember.

Consumer:- A person who "buys / consumes " something . Ex. I could be a consumer of a " dinner" at a particular point of time, say 9 pm, and I might even go to a restaurant along the way, just because it was in the vicinity.

Customer :- A custom is something, that we do again and again. Like praying everyday. Similarly, a customer is one, who comes back to the store, after her first visit. While every  one who makes even the first purchase can be called a customer, I prefer those who have decided to come back, because of some "custom" that they found likeable or useful. Ex. They might have liked our service and decided to make their second purchase again at our store.

Now for the "unhappy" Customer or Khast Se Mar !

How many of us have had bad experiences when something we bought did not work out and we went back to the store, only to find indifferent service or people or careless staff/ owner etc, who seem to have an attitude which says, "good once purchased cannot be returned or exchanged "philosophy. While the number of such retailers who even used to display a placard has really come down, we still do experience such "careless attitude" in the stores even today.

Even after complaining, there is no action forthcoming.  In fact, http://www.mouthshut.com is a site dedicated for such complaints, and it is good to know, some of the companies are taking care to respond to such complaints.

Learnings :- 

It often takes quite a bit of money to get a consumer into the store. (A Rs. 1000 per every walkin is not a unusual figure for big Brands ), the responsibility of the staff, to engage the consumer in such a way, that she becomes a "Customer" and not a "khast se mar "after her shopping, is the responsibility of every staff in the store....

Have you had experiences when a store treated you like a valued "customer" or examples of when you were treated with the "khast se mar" attitude. Share it with us.....

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Do you have the time to sharpen your saw ?

Who has the time ? – Every body’s confession ?

The popular story, as given in the picture is very descriptive of the life of many of  us and certainly of many owner - retailers.

We believe that we have so many things to do at the store, that we have no time, to go out and learn new things. Additionally, most of these seminars are full day or even 2 or 3 day events in Mumbai or Bangalore, it takes away another full day for travelling to and fro.

Besides, what is it there to learn, when we have been doing this business for 10,, 20 or even 30 years?

Learnings :-

Recently, I did attended a seminar . It really opened my eyes to the many things are being introduced in the industry for problems that are plaguing us for many years now.

Problem : One of the biggest problems that retailers are facing is the understanding of what sells and what does not sell and why ? Answer :- There are Business Analytics solutions

Problem :- What is the future likely to hold ? Solution :- No need to do detailed regressive analysis of BIG DATA. Predictive analysis takes small amounts of data and converts into potential trends.

Problem :- .Customer’s today know more about the product , than the Retail Staff, simply because , for the Retail Staff it is a job, while the customer is spending his hard earned money. Solution:- New solutions to keep the RSA updated on the “fly” with new content being downloaded from the net and a hand held to show to the customer.

Problem :- . Don’t know how to sell things on the net, except that you have products ? There is a company, which will do all the “dirty work’ about photography, content writing, putting up the product on websites and all you do is down load orders and replenish the stocks.

But the biggest revelation, ( even though we might know earlier) is the customer is checking out on physical stores and actually shopping  on the net . And how physical retailers have begun to fight back at this “showrooming” phenomenon.

Check out more on such ideas on New Age Retailing at this daily blog :-

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Pay more – expect more – get more.

An increasing number of customers are searching for a Rs. 200- Rs.500  difference on a Rs. 20,000 mobile phone and for that they are willing to move from one shop to another, one internet site to another for that " BARGAIN DEAL".

Same is the case with many electronics products, where the retailers seems to offer little or no differentiation and price seems to win at the cheapest  internet site .

Let us look at this from anothe angle. Some one willing to spend Rs. 20,000 on a phone, would be reasonable to be earning about Rs. 50,000 a month ? . ( Yes, there are exceptions of workers earning 20,000 a month and buying a phone for that price )

At 20 Days a month, it averages to Rs. 2,500 per day of say 10 hours . A hourly wage of Rs. 250 per hour. Now, if you have spent an average of 4 hours from the time you went searching for that phone, to actually buying it ( touch time as it is called in manufacturing ) , excluding the cost of petrol, additional expenses on "eating out" etc, then you have actually spent Rs. 1000 of your own money . Money that probably had better uses.

Now that great  "saving" that you seem to be making of Rs. 500 is actually a loss of Rs. 500 .

Next time, you are tempted to go in search of the bargain deal, look for something where even if you paid a Rs. 500 "more " ie say the MRP of the product, you will also get some service( should there be a problem ), ask him to explain the features of the product ( instead of wasting your Rs. 250 / hour) on that . Begin to think of it , as your own "outsourcing" and work on making better returns of your own time. Can you make Rs. 500 per hour using your "core competency" of say developing software or even an app for the same phone you bought ? May be you can be an app millionaire ? Who knows.

Learnings :-

Pay more, expect more and get more , rather than penny pinch ....

The problem really comes out, when you want the product serviced or you have something else  you are a customer or a retailer, there seems to be too much emphasis on the price at the cost of every thing else.

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Restaurants - Wake up to a new opportunity for week end profits

Today happened to be my daughter's 18th birthday and we all had decided to go out dinner. Since, it was her responsibility to fix the restaurant, she had not "thought through " , (her first responsibility of becoming an adult) , and when we landed up at the restaurant, it was full, and we ended up waiting for more than one hour waiting for the table.

Once seated, we saw week end specials were being advertised, we ended  up ordering a number of those items. As can only be expected, the delivery was slow( obviously, the restaurant is not geared for such rush week end business) and we ended up spending more time waiting for food to arrive than in eating it, all the while other customers were waiting to be seated. Even the waiters were not trianed to make an estimate of the total food required for a table of 8 and we also contributed to the problem by ordering piece meal.

Learnings :-

For us :-

1. Don't go out on Sundays without a reservation
2. Keep plenty of time on your side, including time to park and walk. From the entry into the mall gates till the time we got out of the car, took more than 20 minutes.

Profitable learnings for the restaurant :-

1. Focus on "items that can be made fast", not on "weekend specials", which by nature will take more time to make..
2. Train your steward, to estimate the total food required, with a caveat that one dish may become extra, but ordering later on will take a lot of time, due to the busy time. Most diners will go with the suggestion.
3. Evaluate, if you can have two menus , one for week days, when people are conscious of money spent while at work, and another a smaller/ different menu but priced slightly higher . After all many hotels have started having two prices for their buffets. One cheaper with lesser number of itemes for the week days and another one only for week ends, with larger number of items for a higher price. Finally, what people will eat in terms of quantity will any way be the same.  But , they sure make a little more money this way.
4. Finally, learn to make a proper estimate of the waiting time. Nothing is more frustrating for diners to be told the waiting time is 15 minutes, but made to wait for more than 30 minutes.
5. If you have to turn away customers, remember to give them your visiting card with phone no, facebook and twitter names, etc asking them to save your number on their cell phones, and call up next time before they come in. This way, you will get free recall with  your regular set of customers.
 

 
 
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Train the "last man standing"

Mrs. Kumar had seen a special offer in the morning newspaper for a buy 2 Get 1 free from the large departmental store, where she always wanted to buy from. A Sale was on and she wanted to get the best items before the were all "sold" out.

So, she was at the store as soon as the store opened for business. But to her surprise, after she had selected the 2plus 1 offer, when she went to the Retail Sales Associate for a clarification, she found out that the RSA had not even heard about the offer !

We have all experienced service of this kind before, but it has become more and more often these days, especially in large branded stores, often run by employees only...


Why is Customer Experience in retail stores so poor ? 

As more International brands find the "last big market" is really India, they are coming in and opening new stores in every city possible. Indian Brands are also trying to get the wallet share of the same consumer and are also expanding existing stores, adding new stores at feverish pace to be ready for the real onslaught once the FDI in multi brand retail opens up in the next couple of years.

While Product, Price, Promotion, Place are all possible to be controlled by the Corporate or the Regional office teams, the one challenge that all brands are facing is the acute shortage of "Retail Staff" to man the counters at these stores.

Consumers are experiencing poor service levels, inadequate knowledge of the product, price, latest schemes etc. The problem gets even more complicated with the store staff not necessarily fluent in Hindi or English or even the local language, the brands want them to speak the "brand language" which is typically English and the consumer speaking in his own language, which could be English,, Hindi or even the local language.

With salaries and incentives generally being low, week ends being the busiest days of the week, more and more staff are migrating to Call Centre duties, even if it means night shifts. Atleast the money in call centers are double the typical salary levels in retail stores in India.

What is the solution :-

In fact, I hear, apparel brands had stopped training 3 years ago, all because of the 100% attrition rate ! Ie, in one year, the whole store staff have changed .

Like the way online retailers are getting the better of physical retailers on price, the only solution for physical retailers is to offer such an "extra ordinary service", the customer is willing to shop at physical stores !

But for such service to be offered, the staff has to be trained. However,  a recent example I am aware of shows, that retail sales managers dont have the "inclination" for training.

But, one brand which had stopped training has now begun to train its staff, not only in the store operations, but also exclusive English speaking classes.

The commitment of the staff if training is made available can be seen from the fact, that after working for 6 days at the store, they are going to class on their weekly off day ( 7th day ) for 4 hours to just learn English !

Wish more and  more brands wake up to this reality of the poor service levels at the stores and their impact on the Brand, on which crores of rupees are often spent on Brand Ambassadors, Merchandise etc.

Afterall the Brand Ambassadors can bring the customer to the store, but for making the sales,  a Retail Sales Associate is required.

Share your experiences in retail shopping with us :-

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Online vs Offline ! What physical retailers can learn from online stores…

Physical stores don’t seem to have picked up one of the fundamental best practices of the online trade. Tracking their walkins . Websites do it all the time ex. click through on their pages, their links and an entire industry has even been built on the pay per click model !

Tracking Walkins in a store.
As we have been observing, the number of stores managed only by employees of the Brand  is ever increasing. As customers becoming increasingly more and more knowledgeable than the staff at the store, as investments increase, the challenges of taking on competition increases, the need to improve the returns of these investments is again increasing every time.

Walkin tracking :-If the marketing budget of the company is divided by the estimated walkins into the store, we would get the “cost per walkin “ number. And this number is likely to surprise the Corporate Office staff as much as the store staff. A value of Rs. 1000 per such consumer for a consumer durable brand is a good indicator. This large Rs.1000 is the money that is being spent to get the “consumer” into the store, whether she ultimately does any shopping or not.

What are retailers doing about this ? The walkin tracking is hardly given the importance that it deserves. Speciality retailers claim a walkin conversion of over 80% and shop in shops or mall counters claim a “check in – conversion ratio of about 35 % to 40 %.

What are current practices and what new options are coming up ?
The current practices include a. an estimate by the store staff b. A “manual walk in counter” by the security which is clicked c. A “auto” clicker in some stores which uses a “beam” of light that counts the walkins. None of this is really accurate.

New options include infrared tracking devices.

Using infrared walk-in tracking technology, stores have found
a. Opportunities in improving the assortment mix ( a mobile store in an business district had a skewed mix towards trendy phones  vs business phones and obviously had poor conversions). By  tracking walk-ins into the both the sections they were able to convert the trendy areas into the business areas and improved the sales
b. A coffee shop in a mall , used to open at 11 am  But by tracking the walk-ins for a continuous 24 hours cycle, they found out that workers coming into work, at the mall would  be a good target and began opening the coffee shop at 8 am . This alone helped increased the business!
Learnings and Results :-Businesses should work to get accurate walk-in and conversion data and evaluate the impact of tracking monitors on their business. After having invested huge sums of money and time in building the store, it is surprising more technological inputs are not being used to track walkins ! which is the fundamental health indicator of any business.

A good analysis of time of walkins, number of walkins, day ( weekdays vs week ends ) all can help improve the business in multiple ways.

Check out more such business improvement ideas daily here on this blog
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Customer is smarter than the Retailer

Time was when, during the Licence Raj era, the Retailer had all the aces up his sleeves. He knew the price. the supply sources, when there would a short supply, the customer knew very little, was happy with what he got etc etc.

How times have changed, the customer knows when the international product was released, what is the USD price, when is it likely to be officially released in India, how to even get it even before its official release here . Similarly, even for an Indian product, he will know, what is the price of it in a physical retail store, in an online store, in a "factory outlet " store, what discount he can get in a franchisee run store, what he cannot get in a company run store etc etc.

What it all means, is the CUSTOMER is now in Control. The "Control" has shifted from the Retailer to the Customer.

Learnings :-

Each Retailer has to work to get the "Control" back to him, and this is only possible through building "relationships" and giving a suitable "experience". Price is neither a "relationship" or an "experience" in itself as some of the "price warriors" will soon find out, that a low price is not a very sustainable offer for too long. The party will have to end some time.

One of the "relationship" the retailer of any kind can build with the customer is his "PEOPLE" at the front end customer facing side of the business. For too long, these "last mile connectivity" people have got the short end of the stick .

Training is a very good starting point and from the basics of selling to more detailed knowledge of products, to complex behaviour training, can help significantly. A small percentage improvement in the conversion of the walkins will more than compensate for the price paid for training, with a substantial ROI .

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Rules are for whose benefit anyway ! Retailer or Customer ?

I was in South Bombay, and was having lunch at a small restaurant Smoking Lee when I noticed this sign on the door.

On enquiring I was told, they were servicing a combo offer of a noodle/ rice dish and a side dish at a very competitive rate of Rs. 150 . It was so popular that on weekends, the store would be so packed with people, that  customers who wanted to order a la carte from the menu had some times no place to sit while it was occupied by the Combo customers ! A la carte menu is single dish, priced separately and hence much more profitable than combo offers.

Guess what the store did ! They put up a sign, that the combo offer is not longer available for in house dining and they can only do door delivery orders.

Now, at this restaurant on a working day, I was the only guest and one more guest , who was a regular came to ask for the combo offer, (he did not  even look  at the menu) . He was then told, that they have stopped offering the combo offer and it was only available on a door delivery!

Reluctantly, the customer ordered the combo offer and asked to be delivered at his home a few buildings away !

Surely, with a  little more thought, the “ combo offer” can be made available on all days, except perhaps week ends . The restaurant is otherwise empty most of the days and yet this simple thing does not seem to have occurred.

When I enquired, I was told only about the rush on week ends and no answer as to why this needs to be applied on working days as well !

Learnings :-

While we all have our challenges in operating a retail store, before new “rules” are applied, some thought should also be given to how the rule should be applied .Like I said in the past, the owners no longer sit in the business these days, especially in chain stores and once a rule is applied, it will take a applied in full and it will take a long time and customer understanding or complaints to change it again !

Have you come across any such customer un friendly rule in a retail environment . Do share . The best such example will get a prize !

Share it with us at :-
Retailgurukul@gmail.com
Check us out at http://www.retailgurukul.com
Followus on Twitter, Facebook, Linked
Call us on  90 360 365 24.
Vote us on Retail Gurukul idea on Www.wagonrsmartideas.com contest under retail/bangalore/shivaram

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Mumbai Indians snatch a life from the jaws of Death at the Bangalore Match !

The Mumbai Indians were some 51 for 5 chasing a total of 172 in this match, when Pollard and Ambati Rayudu started their onslaught.
Look at the “symbolic surrender” of the Mascot of the Royal Challengers Gayle ! at the Bangalore Airport Security Checkin on Tuesday night. Abject surrender of the match . It is not to say, the RCB did not fight valiantly to win the match. It is only that the MI teams determination to succeed was higher.

What are the lessons for we mere mortals at the Retail Store ?Many a times, the sales target seems unreachable ( 51 for 5 chasing a 172 ).
Many a times, the stars have not performed ( Sachin out at 0 )
Many a times, the responsibility will fall on a guy who has not done well before .( Rayadu was never their star, yet scored his highest runs here and helped MI to win this match.)
If we believe, that any situation is worth a fight, then there are good chances, that with determination, it is possible to win, even a hopeless  case like what the Mumbai Indians must have faced.

What are the lessons from the RCB point of view ?Many a times, the sales target seems very reachable ( with 172 on the board, 51/5 by the opposition, winning is just a matter of time )
Many a times, some one becomes the fall guy ( 2 overs and 34 runs in the 17 and 18th over changed the match completely ). You could lose a large and important order in the last stage of the “Sale”. How many times, have we faced this problem at the store, due to the inability of the inexperienced staff to close the sale ?
Many a times, when the situation can turn either way, and you can become a hero or a villan, some one has to take the responsibility. ( Gayle bowled the last over  and MI covered the required few runs)
Yet, when we saw the RCB team at the Bangalore airport just a few hours ago, none of this loss appears to be on their minds, and what mattered seemed to be to get to the next destination for the next match.
Wins and losses are part and parcel of every effort. You win some surprises, when everything was appearing lost and you lose something,  when you have every thing going for you.

The magic is the team spirit ! Every body contributes !

But there is always something to look forward to , and that is “TOMORROW is another day “.
Best of luck to whichever team wins this IPL 5 series, but each man and the few women in the teams would have learnt lessons that they will not forget in a hurry. And the fans, would have got their money’s worth of entertainment. But I wish we all learnt lessons even in the Cricketing Madness called IPL 5.

 

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Necessity is the mother of innovation...

Retail is really "mundane" business. A retailer needs to do the same thing again and again, to gain "operational efficiencies" and make profit.

It is like driving a bike again and again, after some time, you begin to do it like you are breathing, without giving it too much thought.

Unless, you decide, bike riding has to be better than riding in a hot sun ! And look at what this guy has done to his riding !

Let us look at one of the most "mundane" activities a retailer does on a daily basis, and after some thought, does not even bother to do himself. !

Initially, when the store opened, the retailer would have opened the lock of the store himself,with all the pride. Ex. A store ribbon cutting ceremony for example is a symbolic "lock opening". 

After a few months or an year, the lock opening is now a necessary mundane activity to be done and completed as soon as possible to get the store open for business.  or .....

Every retail employee would like to be a owner of his own business some day and opening a "lock" of the store can be a simple motivational reward for a job well done ! He, the Chief Guest of the day, can be made to"open " the lock of the store .

Learnings :-

To convert a "mundane" activity into a "motivational" activity is what make a Good Store Manager into a "Star Store Manager".

Share what did you "innovate" in  your store today ?

RetailGurukul.com

Also on Facebook, Twitter,Linked in

call us on  90 360 365 24,

Follow us on http://www.WagonRsmartideas.com and vote for Retailgurukul from Bangalore/Retail/Shivaram.

Pl forward to your friends.

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Endurance 365 Days Challenge - Are you Ready ?

Nikhil is a young software engineer, who got his first camera gifted to him by his USA based uncle. He then claims to have shot 80,000 photos, to the point where the "button for shutter release" just woreout.

Now, he has bought his own new camera and is on a 365 days  Endurance challenge. ie Atleast one new "quality" photo everyday.

Retail sales by its very nature is a 365 days business, with little respite for "voluntarily taking time off", especially, if you have a BIG GOAL to achieve.

Yet, if a retailer takes up this 365 days Endurance challenge, where by everday, he and his team does one new thing to his business, in the areas of Products, Price, Promotion, Publicity, People, Physical Evidence,

It is possible to challenge your staff, to try out a simple challenge of trying to redo the mannequin, so that the customers find the effort attractive, than it was  before.

This way, the staff will find that they are being asked to take on a new responsibility and while some will take time to take it on, some will surely take the initiative and begin to do something new.

PS: We should be careful not to criticise the effort of the staff, but to encourage them to improve . Because a public criticism will stop any initiatives being taken like in this 365 Days endurance challenge.

PS : Check out our proposal on Retail Staff at the WAGONRSMARTIDEAS.com contest, vote, comment and please forward to your friends.

Shivaram

www.Retailgurukul.com

FB,Twitter, Linked in RetailGurukul

Cell 90 360 36524.

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WagonrSmartIdeas.com. Contest 10 lakhs prize money !

Rs.10 lakhs+Wagon R+Venture Capital Support....

WagonR has again announced their 3rd Annual WagonRSmartideas.com contest, where we can enter our BIG idea across Agriculture, Arts, Construction, Education, Internet, Manufacturing, Media, personal hygiene, personal and professional services, retail and wholesale areas can be covered with your BIG idea. There are multiple rounds and  prizes and votes to be won....

My own submitted idea is about http://www.RetailGurukul.com, which will be India's first online/offline Retail Staff Training portal focusing on S.M.I.L.E. ie Selling Skills, Marketing, Inventory, Loyalty, English speaking skills will  be provided to them at their stores at their convenience, with the advantages of the internet, cost and time convenience.

This is possible, because of CLOUD Computing, Cloud Telephony and under a SAAS model.

May be you have your own ideas on what you have always wanted to build, but did not know how to go about. But with so many areas open for entry, I wish each and every blogger on this network is able to put together atleast one entry .

It will give you a good opportunity to share your ideas beyond the boundaries of the blog. Over 15,000 entries were received last time and this time over 20,000 are expected.Even if we are able to go beyond the first couple of stages, it would b a great achievement.

My own entry can be checked at shivaram /Retail/Bangalore and has the following image attached.

http://www.RetailGurukul.com

My request :-
Click on the link and vote for my idea, write a comment, back link to your website /blog. Use this as an oppotunity to help the cause of the Retail Staff across as many fora as possible.

Next time, you are out shopping, you might be able to get a good shopping experience and you can thank RetailGurukul for the training .

If you had a bad experience, then tell them to learn from the RetailGurukul.com website and improve their service. Remember to blog and tell us. We will help improve your experience.

Www.WagonRSmartideas.com is the link to go to now and check out the contest prizes...

Preparation for submission :- If you have an idea, and want to submit, please prepare seperate chapters as per the word control mentioned and then load the content once and for all. Note, once content is submitted, then you cannot change. Difficult to make any changes there after or get any support, as their help desk is over burdened with too many questions as it is.

http:///www.WagonRsmartideas.com

Best of luck,

Shivaram
http://www.retailgurukul.com
On Twitter, FB, Linkedin RetailGurukul
Phone 090 360 365 24.

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Offline browsing, online shopping. A new way of life...

A new word is entering the vocabulary of the consumer. Even if he  does not yet know the exact word, he knows how to extract the maximum benefit of the internet. Comparison shopping….

My 18 year old daughter Apoorva , wanted a new phone and after a lot of surveys, figured out that she wanted a HTC Explorer and got a commitment of Rs. 9,000 payment from me. Then, she did what most net savvy youngsters have started doing.

By this time, she had figured out, that the phone was priced at about Rs. 9000 at physical mobile stores like Croma, Univercell and Sangeetha in Bangalore. A little internet search on www.flipkart.com  revealed that it was priced at Rs. 8500 there. A little more comparison shopping showed  her that it was priced at Rs. 8090 on a classified advertising site called Sulekha.com, something she never knew existed , provided, the order was placed using a facebook login, where she could get this additional discount of some 400 Rs. And she went ahead and placed the order on Sulekha.com and it was promptly delivered a few days later.

Learnings :-

What are the learnings for physical retailers ? who seem to be opening more and more stores, each bigger than the other ? Already , it is such a big problem in the US, that the word “comparision shoping “ is common knowledge, where a shopper goes to a physical store, browses, compares feature for feature, get the price, and then gets the best price from the internet retailer, who has no “physical overheads” to pay for. Big Box retailers are closing down and one of the best companies BEST BUY is having a lot of problems...

Questions :-

Is there a way to keep such customers loyal to a physical store or is there a way to keep such customers loyal to even an internet retailer or is just price the only way to drive traffic.

Answers :-

It might be difficult to get a single answer that is right , but one way to go could be a brick and click retailers, who might just display products in a physical store, and deliver it from their “e retail” warehouses in some far off corner , but with good road connectivity. Bhiwandi , just of Bombay seems to be a good location for many warehouses ..

May be, e retailers like Flipkart or Indiaplaza and others could tie up with physical retailers, and each can leverage their respective strengths.

A recent study showed, retailers  who are good at physical retailing have struggled to get the digital model right, and those who are internet retailers have struggled to get the physical model right( though not many have tried it on a large scale ).

I am sure there is a lot more to come in the near future... stay tuned. And share your experiences…

shivaram

http://www.RetailGurukul.com
Fb, Twitter, Linkedin RetailGurukul
Cell 90 360 36524

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Why men dont shave these days and what women have to say about it..

Why don’t Cricketers shave these days … and you, their  fans ?

Have you closely watched these IPL cricketers these days ? They are having  at best, a 3 days working week for the past few weeks.  Even in this 3 day working week, at best they work for about 3 and half hours, each  on those days.

Yet, when you observe their faces, you will think, they have worked day and night ! After all that hard work, sweat and toil on the field ..Don’t have any time to even shave, work that takes less than 30 seconds!.

What is it that has come over all these young and dashing cricketers, film stars and other famous personalities? For a change, I can’t fault the politicians. They shave ! even if they cannot run our country.

FANS . Wake up. Tell all your favourite  STARS , that they look “terrible” when they don’t shave and with all those close ups being beamed across the world, especially when they fail so miserably, the minimum you expect them is to have a cleanly shaven face , for the crores they are earning walking up and down from the pavilion! That might add a few more fans, especially ladies and a few more advertisement opportunities if they shave ! Ladies loved cleanly and regularly shaved men. Ask them

But, all this is not the main point of this blog. It is for the Sales people  like you and me, in various jobs, stores and in the field, especially those youngsters who think they are “HEROES” in their own right.  Please note, none of your customers would like dealing with unkemptly dressed Sales people,  who don’t know how to dress for their own benefit !

Dress Sense, starting from the top ! -

1.       The hair style should suit your personality, hair should not be hanging all over  your ears and the side burns should be adequately trimmed. Depending upon the brand you sell ( youth brands -, spiked hair, gelled hair style might be ok. Otherwise , not ok. Moustaches, beards are all in keeping with the brand that you represent

2.       The spectacles that you wear, should not be having peeled paint, broken or tilted to a side . It should not be too big or too small. Get a good brand .

3.       The shirt should be clean, neatly pressed and edges like the collar, cuff should be clean. No pen marks should be seen on the shirt pocket.

4.       Tie. Learn to tie the knot properly, and if you don’t know how, please go to a suit store to learn.

5.       The Belt should be of adequate size and length. Not hanging out . The color should match the shoes.

6.       The Pants should be fitting right and please leave all your personal belongings in the bag or in the locker room.

7.       Socks should be black and not falling all over the shoe

8.       Shoes should be the standard formal wear ( Oxford type ). Not those that look like boats ! or those worn by some Emperor some centuries back. And always polished to a shine.

9.       The watch should match the dress . Sports watches are meant for sport store work wear . Formal watch, if it is a formal brand you sell.

10.   Religious symbols, tattoos, bracelets etc. It is better they are kept hidden within the shirt.

11.   Finger ring . Only one, which is worn on the wedding finger of the left hand and preferably plain or with a single stone) is best .

12.   Body odour ( sweat or smoke ) are strictly prohibited. “kumKum” on men’s forehead. Please, religion is all fine , but can you leave that “kumkum/ bindi”  to the ladies ! These days, even they don’t want to wear “bindi”. Then why are you wearing it ?

If you follow the above, you will actually do much better sales than those days, when you did not follow the above. Want to check and challenge yourself ?

And if your excuse, is that you did not know all these before, you now know. Will you follow it from now onwards ?

More such advice and guidance at

http://www.RetailGurukul.com

Also on FB,Twitter, LinkedIn.

Ph. 090 360 365 24

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If a project succeds, who gets the credit, and if it fails, who will take the responsibility ?

Of all the stories Dr. Kalam, ex-President of India,  relates as the most inspiring. Dr. Kalam highlighted an important quality of leadership by giving the example of his ex-boss, Dr. Satish Dhawan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Back then, Dr. Kalam was the project director for SLV-3, India’s satellite launch program.

In August 1979, when the first SLV-3 launch was a failure, Dr. Dhawan called a press conference to accept responsibility for it.

The following year, the satellite launch was successful; this time, he asked Dr. Kalam to address the press conference, rather than seeking the limelight himself.

A good leader, Dr. Kalam noted, takes responsibility for failure and passes the credit for success to his team.

As managers, we often do exactly the opposite. A leader must inspire his team to loyalty and commitment.

What have we done in the past  in a successful situation and when we faced a failure ?


Check out http://www.RetailGurukul.com
http://www.RetailGurukul.blogspot.com
followus on Twitter, FB and Linkedin @ RetailGurukul.
Ph. 090 360 36524.

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Security Guards..How to "Really"use them to reduce thefts !

In earlier days, the owner would typically sit near the entry/ exit door of a retail store, and would literally know every one of his customers and would know what came in and what went out. He was personally involved in every action .

But as the number of modern retail stores increases across the country, the need to protect the merchandise and other valuables increases significantly. The owner is no longer running the day to day operations, which is left to a employee and his team.

Scenario :-
Unlike in the past, the complexity of the modern retail store, the huge sizes of 1000s of square feet, multiple floors. ( any Relaince or a More Hyper mart ), the chances of theft and pilferage only increases.

The responsibility of detecting this is now a more complex operation as well. Apart from the now common CC TV which is centrally monitored, what is more important is the role of the Security Guards.

Challenges:-

The typical Security Guard in any retail store is often an outsourced resource, and most of them are too young, and  not educated to really find a more paying job, even inside the same super market. At the other end are very old security guards, who cannot do any manual work,and hence, the only job they can get is that of a security guard.
A formality at most stores...

How to convert a formality into an asset :-

Frankly, none of the employees care  about them. In fact, most employees dont even know the name of the security guard, probably because the guard changes almost every other day. The contract with the security agency is for so many guards and at the lowest rate per person...

Yet, the fact that theft, pilferage continuous and probably increased over a period is often "lost", mainly because they are not personally held accountable. See the wastage on the floor of any super market and you will understand the size of the problem...

Instead, if the Security Agency, the guards are all taken into confidence and made to be part of the store team, the commitment of these simple folk( often from far off villages) will surprise even the most hard nosed store manager.

In fact, in my earlier role as a Regional Manager, I was surprised, one day, that the security guard, Mr. Mishraji came with a mosquito repellent purchased out of his own funds, because he saw mosquitoes were entering the store when ever the door opened. And he suggested that we use this to control mosquitoes. All we had done, was to include the Security Guards as part of the morning meetings so that they knew the store operations, targets and challenges...

Incentive scheme ?
An incentive scheme which is a share of the theft / pilferage detected will make them feel a part of the store, apart from the including them in a theft preventiion program . Try it, you have nothing to lose Right ?

Share your insights !

Shivaram
www.retailgurukul.com
Facebook, Twitter, Linked in RetailGurukul.
Ph. 90360 365 24.

Pl forward to any of your business friends in the retail industry...

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