What a Birthday present!!

Almost to the day, it has been a year since “An Indian and A Retailer” made its debut. The thoughts of this blog grew into an in-depth, experiential book about Indian Retail, titled “The INDIAN reTALEs”.

All this happened in the space of the past 365 or maybe 366 days!

And on the first birthday of the blog, I hold a physical copy of “The INDIAN reTALEs” and wish a very happy birthday to the blog.

This book has been published by Unicorn Books and is now available for purchase with an online discount of 25% at pustakmahal (dot) com. It would be available at leading book stores over the next couple of weeks.

Please start enquiring at your nearest book store about the book and get your hands on it as soon as possible.

Thanks to everyone who supported, encouraged and motivated me along this journey. Hope you enjoy reading the tales as much as you have this blog.

From my memorablia collection

Offers and promotions are a default part of any value retailer’s life and cannot be wished away from any communication element. By the time the Giant store was launched RPG Foodworld had established the 365 day promotion as a norm and several other retailers had also started to mimic that.

In that context, the challenge was to communicate offers, but come up with a creative idea to communicate the size and scale of the new format in terms of the store itself as also the products available. The risk of being seen as yet another store, especially a supermarket had to be managed as also the concept of a hypermarket had to be established as the term hypermarket itself was completely new to the consumer’s psyche.

This led to an interesting launch campaign, which leveraged the traditional sight of a person pushing or pulling a large cart laden with things. Coupled with some mind boggling numbers in terms of store size and number of products available, the communication was an instant hit; of course helped along by some very attractive offers. Sharing some visuals from my scrap book for everyone to enjoy; The advertisement, Invitation, etc.

What’s in a name!

Selecting names whether it is for a new born or a new store has similar levels of involvement and effort. So, it was during the run up to the first store launch. Several names were discussed and discarded. A little known fact was that the team landed on the name big bazaar. The idea was to communicate the largeness of the offering. Various designs were discussed and finally a blue, yellow and red colour scheme with the word ‘big’ being the central visual point was agreed upon. Design guides were made and other related communication and design elements were being developed and processed.

One fine day there appeared a recruitment advertisement for another yet-to-start chain and lo behold, the name of the proposed chain was big bazaar. The first half of that day was complete pandemonium with everyone trying to figure out how this could have happened and if our application for registration had been declined for any reason. After much huffing and puffing, it came to light that the matter had slipped between tables by someone, somewhere.

So, the hunt for another name started and after a furiously fast search, dip stick studies and feedback sessions, the name Giant Hypermarket was decided upon. The logo design was the same. Giant replaced Big and Hypermarket replaced Bazaar. Going forward, even that gave way to Spencer’s Hyper.

If you believe in numerology and the original name did not have to be given up, who knows how the Indian Retail landscape would be today!

But then, like the famous bard said; what’s in a name, a rose smells as sweet whatever it is called.