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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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"...

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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,...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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