.
Positive. ....
The customers are changing, and many customers do a lot of "window shopping, web browsing" even for going out for a casual dinner in their T shirts and half pants and chappals ! They read reviews, visit websites, get feedback from their friends both online and off line.
Positive..
At the other end, are Brands working to meet the customer in the physical world with newer and bigger stores in new markets, new towns and in new malls! But that has not been enough. They are investing more and more in inventory, bigger and bigger marketing budgets and staff who hardly understand this new age educated customer...
Negative.....
Just check how many brands have their own "websites, mobile websites, official twitter and face book accounts" ? to reach the customers at the time of "Evaluation" . A cursory corporate website is about all that they seem to have , and that was last updated when it was launched !
Why are they lagging behind ?....
Are brands getting stuck in the old physical world at the cost of missing out on the new age customers? Sure, the business might not be as big yet, in the online world and hence does not attract the management attention. The truth is very few "National Brands" especially Indian ,have understood the new world of mobile and web apps, social media and the world of consumer activism on the net !
The senior management is still cut off. Just ask how many have seen the Gangnam Video with a 1.45 billion views and you will know . Do they tweet, to they have a personal face book account, does the Brand have a popular one ?
The youngsters in the company who understand the new media, have little say in such matters to get the "VC type risk funding " that is required for large scale operations to take the risk...
Reality check...
Make a list of the top E Commerce sites and all of them are start ups by youngsters with out any link to the "established" brands.
Wake up call ....
If Brands have to be connected with "connected" customer, then they have to be not only on the Linking Road or South Extensions of the Country but also on Web, Mobile and through FB, Twitter, Pinterest as well.
Brands, are you listening ?
Share your views
00:21
Shivaram
3 comments
If any business is not building a mobile application,
they are not doing the right thing. People are addicted to their mobile phones.
Mobile apps are going to be a big thing
and no company can ignore that.
Eric Schmidt, Chairman, Google, recently in India
Companies, big and small are forever promoting their business through newspapers, TV ads and everything else in between. With competition doing more or less the same, the companies are adding more money to their marketing budgets, more money to their inventories .
Yet, Let us come straight to the point. Customer Service is uniformly a big challenge to deliver across the country, whether it is a big hotel or a small Coffee Shop. Like a Optical Store owner told me today, the customer knows more about the product today than I can know. He not only browses the net frequently, he also compares brands, services before making a decision...
Old School of Business
Why is customer service, such a challenge ? This is primarily because, the fundamental belief of management, is why train a person, if he is going to leave for a salary hike. At least the inventory is mine, and hopefully all the money that is spent on marketing will result in business some day.
But ask any retailer, the walk in to conversion ratios are any where between 20 to 50 % . What does it mean.. ?
A typical Consumer Durable retailer would have spent about Rs. 300 to get a customer into the store. A e-commerce retailer today spends about Rs. 800 to get a customer to click on their website. Yet, only 30 people who come to the store make a purchase at all..
If only, companies made the customer service better, chances are the customer will purchase the product for which he came, or at least a nearest alternative. Gone are the days, when customers just went window shopping for the sake of spending and seeing things. Today they have the money to buy !
Understanding the Salesman Psyche !
Today, a mobile phone is an addiction and a entertainment center combined for him. Often, an entire month's salary of Rs. 15,000 is spent on the latest mobile phone... Yet, this is a underutilised device in the hands of both the salesman and the company in improving his retailing skills and improving his lifestyle. Don't believe us, just Google retail training under Google play or the internet and you will be surprised to find hardly any content that is suitable for the Indian market.
Opportunity for you !
To preciously address this vast and under served market, we are building India's first mobile application based retail staff training module for various industries, on a pay per use model. Some thing like a prepaid currency. If the retailer finds the content useful, he will continue to buy new currency, if not, he will just stop.
We are looking for content developers, mobile app feature plug ins etc to build this nascent industry.
If there are veteran retailers who would like to share their immense knowledge developed over a life time of hard work, this is the place to share them and earn while doing it all from the comfort of your homes! or offices.
We are also looking for translators of content into multiple languages, both text and in future in audio as well.
Looking forward to hearing from you all about your views on customer service, and your own interest in contributing to this evolution in the mobile app ..
Thanks
Shivaram
Founder
Retailgurukul.com
