Indian Retail that had been rocking a year back is facing rocks today; some of it due to circumstances beyond control, but some definitely within control. Based on experience, discussions, talks over the past year……thought that some of these can be listed down….

1 Size is becoming relevant - All those large sized expansion over the country; large stores need to be curtailed. Medium &
small is the way forward.
2 The older single & few location retailers should use the time & opportunity to organize themselves quickly - associations;
cartels for purchasing, marketing. Use this opportunity to emerge as a strong force.
3 Price Wars shall rule the roost with the big guys undercutting each other. Here everyone would incur losses to get in the
famous footfalls!
4 Loyalty programs initiated earlier have failed to deliver & shall continue failing miserably particularly those with points.
Name of the game is instant gratification.
5 Convenience offered by retailers with location shall reign for all daily needs like groceries, vegetables & fruit.
6 Retailers will need to forget Advertising & get into POP, research & data shall rule the roost but more important from a
catchment perspective.
7 Retail brands shall gather momentum, whilst simply manufacturing brands shall continue loosing their sheen.

I am sure some of the major chains with deep pockets may disagree, but will have to tweak some of these for their business plan however robust it may be.

An ideal combination for India would be the hub & spoke retail - city wise; state wise & geographically.

I would love to hear comments on this!

Devangshu heads Third Eyesight (website:http://thirdeyesight.in), a consulting firm focussed on retail and consumer products. Previously, he has held senior management positions in retail and management consulting organisations, and also co-founded a fashion sourcing company. Read the rest of this entry »

An email debate on the above initiated by Harris - Managing Director of Witco the chain of luggage speciality stores down south Read the rest of this entry »

Example II

Having shifted to Mumbai & the new MNC expected me to report for the presentation in a JACKET???? Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of days ago, a friend sent an sms asking the above question. Quite relevant, in the current “india shining, retail rocking” scenario. Read the rest of this entry »

I had tried this out on Internet & worked pretty well. Adapted this to Retail & seems to work reasonably, if not equally well. Do not know if there are others who have tried this out in Retail, but welcome comments: Read the rest of this entry »